ARRL Announces New Version of LoTW Software

[IK0ZCW]

05/16/2013

After much testing, the ARRL will release a new version of Trusted QSL, the open-source development project responsible for developing and maintaining the three Logbook of the World (LoTW) client-side applications: TQSL, TQSLCert and the TrustedQSL library. After six weeks of public beta testing, version 1.14 is ready for official release and will be available for download from the ARRL website beginning Monday, May 20.

In December 2012, Dave Bernstein, AA6YQ, and Rick Murphy, K1MU, recruited a group of volunteer software developers to contribute to this project. After considering input from ARRL management and the ARRL’s LoTW user support group in the League’s Membership and Volunteer Services Department, as well as the ARRL-LoTW e-mail discussion group on Yahoo! Groups, the volunteer development group put forward a set of priorities that would be addressed by a sequence of incremental software releases.

A small group of testers began exercising version 1.14 in March 2013; this testing exposed several defects, all of which have been corrected. Testing then progressed to an open beta test period that allowed interested parties to download, install and try out this newest version of Trusted QSL.

The initial release in this sequence -- version 1.14 -- includes these new features:
- Log files can be signed and uploaded over the internet to LoTW in one operation.
- Errors in Station Locations are reported (for example, incorrect CQ and ITU zones).
- QSOs that need not be re-submitted (“duplicates”) are brought to the user’s attention.
- Error reporting has been improved.
- Installation on Windows has been improved.
- Users are notified when a new version becomes available.
- Documentation has been improved.

Upgrading to version 1.14 is not mandatory, but is encouraged. Users who choose not to upgrade will not be able to access the new features in version 1.14, but they will still be able to upload logs into the LoTW system.