Behavior of time field entry

[Mark_Molus]

Based upon reports of lost QSOs, I have continued to use paper logs in the field. Post activation, I transcribe those using HAMRS, and I haven’t lost anything yet. I did struggle with the mapping feature not working as expected, but eventually realized that the symptom was related to missing grid data, and have just made it a habit to check the status of that field when saving. I change the lookup source and backfill each record as necessary. However, I am becoming very frustrated with a different issue, related to time…

I’ve noticed that as I check my hunter log at POTA.app that the times logged by the activator do not come close to matching the times I’ve marked in my own (offline) log. I suspect that this has caused multiple P2P QSOs to be unrecognized by POTA.app.

When I was transcribing my own log for an activation yesterday, I noted that several of the entries were ignoring my input in the time field. It appeared that the application didn’t like to wait for me to type in 4 digits (looking back and forth at my paper log) and simply used the current time as default, and ignored additional input until I hit the tab key. Once I discovered that this behavior was repeatable, I double-checked my log when completely transcribed, and manually edited and resaved each record with an incorrect time. I then submitted my log.

This morning, I checked the adif file using notepad, and found several records which STILL had an incorrect time.

???

I’m not a fan of the use of current time as a default. This reduces the value of the app as a tool for transcribing paper logs, which is otherwise very helpful. Let me use the “current time” button as necessary, and don’t try to anticipate what I am going to type.

Mark
K4MRM

[KZ3L]

Is the “pause time” button not working properly for you?

Time Defaults to current GMT time and cannot be changed

I’ve used this software quite a bit, but today was a challenge. It prompted me to update to the latest version. No problem. I log my activations on paper and then hand jam them in at my leisure at home. When I was entering the QSO information, the time block kept defaulting to the current GMT time instead of the time that I entered in the box. Sometimes, it simply would not let me put in a time and I had to go back and edit the QSO. In spite of my gallant efforts, 3 QSO’s ended up with the wrong…

Assuming you are using v. 0.11.6, and upgraded from an earlier version, you may need to force-close the app and restart it to get the “pause time” button to work properly.

[Mark_Molus]

In an apparent display of ignorance, I ask: What is the “pause time” button?

[KZ3L]

Please read the linked thread above and look at the pictures embedded in the thread. It should be pretty clear once you see the screen shots.

[Mark_Molus]

I agree with the poster in the referenced thread. The use of that button is not intuitive. I’ll answer the question you posed there. To the right of the label “Time”, I would put a pair of radio buttons: “Live” and “Manual”.