SOTA CSV File Upload Facility

This is a tutorial on how to use the SOTA/WOTA CSV File Uploader

The uploader allows SOTA activators and chasers to quickly log their radio activity on the WOTA site. It has the following main features:

  • Compatible with SOTA CSV file formats - both the original and V2
  • Automatically converts SOTA summit references to WOTA identifiers where possible.
  • Logs both activator and chaser contacts.
  • Recognises and logs summit to summit contacts.
  • Marks contacts as confirmed where applicable.
  • Allows WOTA references to be used in place of SOTA summit references.

TL;DR - If you can’t be bothered reading the tutorial

  1. Select the CSV Logging menu item
  2. Upload your SOTA CSV file
  3. Check the generated Activator and Chaser contacts
  4. If happy, use the Upload Contacts button to add them to WOTA

TUTORIAL
Uploading Your File
Log in to the WOTA site and access the ‘CSV Logging’ menu option under ‘My home page’:

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You will be presented with the file uploader screen:

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Use the Choose File option to pick your SOTA CSV file from your computer. Then press the Submit Form button. If you want to go back to the main SOTA website select the Back button. The WOTA Id drop down isn’t currently supported, so please ignore that.

Checking Your Results
The next step is to check the contacts that have been generated from your log file. The File Check and Submit page contains a number of areas:

  • Your username is shown at the top of the page. You can only submit log files where you are the activator or chaser.
  • The content of your uploaded file is shown in the next text area.
  • Below that any errors found during the check phase are shown.
  • Then there are two tables. The first is a list of the activator contacts (see below)
  • A list of chaser contacts.
  • The Upload Results text area (initially blank)
  • Three buttons: Back takes you to the Upload page, Cancel takes you back to the WOTA site and Update Contacts submits your contacts for inclusion on the WOTA system.

Activator Contacts
If you specify a SOTA summit then activator contacts are listed from that summit. If you enter a valid WOTA ID in this field, such as LDW-010 or LDO-050 then this will be recognised. For the V2 SOTA CSV file, if you have S2S contacts and they are on an associated Wainwright summit then the Summit to Summit is detected and flagged automatically, and a Chaser contact is also created.

Chaser Contacts
If using the V2 SOTA CSV file then any contacts with a station located on a valid Wainwright summit are recognised and a chaser contact created. Note that if you edit the SOTA CSV file and enter a valid Wainwright reference for stations located on a non-SOTA Wainwright then they will also be detected. A third option is to add an entry in the comment field of the form ‘WOTA: LDO-001’. The title WOTA, the colon and the spacing must all be in the above form.

Editing Contacts
The edit facility is fairly rudimentary and should be considered as an inferior alternative to getting the input CSV file right. Having said that it does allow rows to be deleted (using the Trash icon - the row will turn Red) where the contact isn’t right, or some details can be edited. Once edited the row will turn Red. If you edit the Summit reference, which should be a valid Wainwright reference, the corresponding Summit Name won’t be updated automatically. The reference will however be read correctly.


A deleted contact


Editng a Contact

Uploading Contacts
Once you are happy with the results press the Upload Contacts button. The activator and chaser contacts will be added to the WOTA database. The results of the
upload process are shown in the Upload results text area. Check that the results are as expected. If you attempt to upload the same results more than once they will be listed as uploaded, but will not be duplicated. Contacts are marked as confirmed ‘there and then’ if the station you have worked has already uploaded their contacts. If not, when they do the contact will be confirmed. The awards system is also updated with any associated points.


Typical Upload Results

Checking Contacts
Please feel free to check correct operation of the upload facility by viewing your activator and chaser contacts from the main website menu options: List activator contacts and List chaser contacts.

If Something Goes Wrong
If you have a problem please contact Mark Wickens (you can always use the contact form or look up M0NOM on qrz.com for my email address). The system stores a copy of the CSV file uploaded and the results so I just need the time of the upload and what was wrong.

Supported SOTA CSV File Formats
SOTA CSV files come in two main versions: the original version and version 2.0 (at the time of writing).

Here are two examples. The first example is the original SOTA CSV file format. Note that the first column doesn’t contain ‘V2’ and the format does not allow you to specify the chaser summit for S2S contacts:

GX0OOO/P,03/06/2019,11:49,G/LD-011,144MHz,FM,G0TDM,TDM - JOHN - PENRITH
GX0OOO/P,03/06/2019,11:52,G/LD-011,144MHz,FM,G4WHA/M,WHA/M - GEOFF - On route Penrith
GX0OOO/P,03/06/2019,11:54,G/LD-011,144MHz,FM,G0HRT,HRT - ROB - SOUTHPORT
GX0OOO/P,03/06/2019,11:56,G/LD-011,144MHz,FM,G0UXC/P,EXC/P Peter S2S G/SP-017 (his 1st act'n)
GX0OOO/P,03/06/2019,12:04,G/LD-011,144MHz,FM,M1DHA,DHA - ALAN - BARNOLDSWICK
GX0OOO/P,03/06/2019,12:06,G/LD-011,144MHz,FM,2E0MOW/M,MOW/M - CHRIS - 2mls N Blackpool

The more recent V2 format:

V2,M0NOM/P,G/LD-022,18/05/19,1347,144MHz,FM,M0OAT/P,G/LD-059,Thx for contact from Seat Sandal
V2,M0NOM/P,G/LD-022,18/05/19,1351,144MHz,FM,G4VPX/P,G/LD-053,Thx for contact from Seat Sandal
V2,M0NOM/P,G/LD-022,18/05/19,1354,144MHz,FM,G1OHH,,Thx for contact from Seat Sandal
V2,M0NOM/P,G/LD-022,18/05/19,1357,144MHz,FM,G1ZAR/P,G/LD-007,Thx for contact from Seat Sandal
V2,M0NOM/P,G/LD-022,18/05/19,1405,144MHz,FM,G4OBK/P,G/LD-017,Thx for contact from Seat Sandal
V2,M0NOM/P,G/LD-022,18/05/19,1425,14MHz,SSB,G0TDM,,Thx for contact from Seat Sandal
V2,M0NOM/P,G/LD-022,18/05/19,1428,144MHz,FM,G4WHA/P,,Latrigg  LDW-206
V2,M0NOM/P,G/LD-022,18/05/19,1432,5MHz,SSB,MI0JLA/P,GI/SW-007,Thx for contact from Seat Sandal
V2,M0NOM/P,G/LD-022,18/05/19,1436,144MHz,FM,G6PJZ/P,G/LD-057,Thx for contact from Seat Sandal