[Dxbase] Dazed and confused about green fields, and more

Sun Jan 14 17:24:10 EST 2007

Today I, for the first time, made a DXCC application (for endorsements) 
using LOTW QSLs. I'm having trouble getting DXbase to cooperate in this 
process.
I submitted the application using the LOTW Web site. LOTW gave me a list of 
the 42 QSLs it chose for the award category endorsements I applied for 
(mixed, CW, phone, 160M, 80M, 40M, 10M). My idea was that then I would go 
to DXbase and check the DXCC box in the AWARD field for each of these QSLs. 
This is where my problems began.
1. Some of the AWARD fields are colored green. What does this mean? I 
vaguely recall reading that this is a feature, added maybe a year or two 
ago, that indicates at a glance if the QSO record has been used for a 
(DXCC?) award. But I'm not sure. I couldn't find any information on the 
coloration of this field. I checked in Help, under Logging | QSO Log Field 
Description | Award -- no mention of colors. I also searched Help for the 
word 'green' - no luck.
I'm having a problem with this field. I noticed that sometimes when the 
DXCC checkbox is checked, the field is green, and sometimes it's not. If 
it's checked but not green, and I click the field to open the drop-down 
list, it turns green. But if I go back later to check again, it's usually 
not green anymore even though the box is still checked.
Anyway, I dutifully checked the DXCC Award checkbox for all 42 Q's that I 
just used for my LOTW DXCC endorsement application. Later, I went back to 
DXbase to spot check it, and I find that eight of the boxes are still not 
checked. There's no way I missed checking eight. I was very careful. 
Somehow the checking didn't stick. Most (but not all) of the Award fields 
are also not green when I first look at them. They turn green as soon as I 
click on the field to show the drop-down list if the DXCC checkbox is still 
checked, or they turn green as soon as I check the box if it has become 
unchecked and I need to check it again. But they don't stay green, and as I 
said it appears some of the boxes don't stay checked.
2. Even more weird: When I was initially finding (using the Previous QSOs 
dialog) each of the 42 QSOs to check the DXCC box, I noticed that some of 
the DXCC Award boxes were already checked as soon as I clicked to get the 
drop-down list! I don't understand how this can be, as these QSOs were all 
confirmed only with LOTW and this was my first award application. None had 
been used for DXCC credit before, and the LOTW Web site confirmed such. (I 
started to think that maybe after I had been checking a few DXCC boxes, that 
some super-smart DXbase code was "knowing" that I wanted to check the box 
and was doing it for me as soon as I clicked the Award field? Somehow I 
don't believe this one.)
3. One some (about 10 out of the 42) QSO records, as soon as I found the 
record with the Previous QSO dialog, I'd get an error message that said "The 
record <> could not be found in the CQWAZ numeric Statistic Table. Updates 
to this table will now be aborted. Correct your database and Initialize 
Tables when repaired." I dismissed this error message and proceeded 
normally since I had no idea what it meant. A quick glance at each record 
didn't show any problems, like with its CQ zone for example. The second 
time through, when I had to go back to find the eight DXCC award checkboxes 
that didn't stay checked, I only got two of these error messages.
So, to summarize my issues:
1. What does a green Award field mean? In any case, mine aren't green 
consistently.
2. Checking the DXCC Award check box doesn't seem to "stick" in many cases.
3. I get the CQWAZ Table error when finding some QSOs with the Previous QSOs 
dialog.
I should add that I initialized tables, and restarted DXbase twice during 
the time I was checking the 42 award checkboxes. The problems persisted 
throughout the whole process.
Yours dazed, frustrated and confused,
John, W1JA
John Pelham
E-mail: john at radiophile.com
Web site: http://www.radiophile.com 