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OT: About Grid Squares

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Ken G Kopp

OT: About Grid Squares

Many of us use QRZ.com listings to determine the grid
square for a given station. Use caution ... QRZ apparently
uses the address location to determine the grid square that
the website shows..

There are numerous situations where the address is a P.O.
box that is -not- in the station's actual grid. An example is
a nearby city that happens to be split by a grid border of
two grids and there are several stations who have P.O.
boxes that are -not- in the grid where the station is located.

If the station you're logging is a mobile ... all bets are off. (:-)

FWIW

Ken Kopp - K0PP
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James Bennett

Re: OT: About Grid Squares

The other issue that I run into a LOT is with folks who are either on vacation, traveling, or have moved and simply have not updated their records. They send one grid square on WSJT-X and yet QRZ has something completely different. My grid is CM98, but operating on vacation in April as DU8/W6JHB I was in PJ19, and of course QRZ knew nothing about that.

Jim Bennett / W6JHB
Folsom, CA

> On Aug 2, 2017, at 9:35 AM, Ken G Kopp <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Many of us use QRZ.com listings to determine the grid
> square for a given station. Use caution ... QRZ apparently
> uses the address location to determine the grid square that
> the website shows..
>
> There are numerous situations where the address is a P.O.
> box that is -not- in the station's actual grid. An example is
> a nearby city that happens to be split by a grid border of
> two grids and there are several stations who have P.O.
> boxes that are -not- in the grid where the station is located.
>
> If the station you're logging is a mobile ... all bets are off. (:-)
>
> FWIW
>
> Ken Kopp - K0PP
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k6dgw

Re: OT: About Grid Squares

Multiple ramifications here. Unless the ham has specifically entered
his station coordinates, the coordinates in QRZ, and thus the grid, will
usually default to the Post Office that services his ZIP code. It is
"usually" because even that doesn't always happen in very small
communities. And to complicate things, my home grid is DM09dn. I often
operate W7RN remotely with my call. That grid is DM09ei, and the two
are good to four characters. W1YL also operates W7RN remotely ... from
FL, which isn't good to any characters. I think you have to get the
grid from the station during the QSO, if grid matters.

73,

Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County

On 8/2/2017 9:42 AM, James Bennett wrote:
> The other issue that I run into a LOT is with folks who are either on vacation, traveling, or have moved and simply have not updated their records. They send one grid square on WSJT-X and yet QRZ has something completely different. My grid is CM98, but operating on vacation in April as DU8/W6JHB I was in PJ19, and of course QRZ knew nothing about that.
>
> Jim Bennett / W6JHB
> Folsom, CA
>

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Jim Brown-10

Re: OT: About Grid Squares

On 8/2/2017 10:21 AM, Fred Jensen wrote:
> I think you have to get the grid from the station during the QSO, if
> grid matters.

Or from the QSL or LOTW. Grids mostly matter on VHF, and nearly
universal practice is for the grid to be part of the first "over" in
every QSO, regardless of mode. All software to run K1JT's WSJT modes
default to sending the grid when calling CQ and answering a CQ.

qrz.com has a great mapping feature that shows where the software thinks
his/her QTH is. It's easy to zoom in to see if the map location agrees
with a street address, and you can click on "explore on a grid map"
below the map to see the outline of the 6-character grid.

Another great grid mapper is on aprs.fi which is designed to track APRS
stations. If you enter a grid, the software will outline it on what
looks like a google map. Again, it's easy to zoom and pan this map to
see streets and other details. I discovered this when chasing a mobile
who was lighting up nearly a dozen grids on a trip from ND to AZ, mostly
working MSK144 (meteor scatter).

When you set up your qrz.com page, it's easy to enter your QTH either as
a grid square or lat/lon. But when you don't do that, qrz.com uses your
license address.

I also chase CQ Fields, which are the rectangles defined by the two
letters in the grid square. The field is rarely part of a QSO, so you
have to figure it out from available data. When the ham hasn't entered
his QTH, in some countries qrz.com will pick the geographic center of
the country. This can yield very wrong results in large countries like
Russia or Australia. :)

73, Jim K9YC

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EUGENE GABRY

Re: OT: About Grid Squares

>
> On August 2, 2017 at 12:49 PM Jim Brown <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> On 8/2/2017 10:21 AM, Fred Jensen wrote:
>
> > >
> > I think you have to get the grid from the station during the QSO, if
> > grid matters.
> >
> > >
> The bottom line is, copy what is sent/you hear.
>
> I am a very strong advocate of copy what you hear rather than rely on "some document" (QRZ or those new "pre fill" data files some contesters load into their logging software) published somewhere. In the spirit of requirements for awards contests and certificates, we are supposed to log what we hear, not look it up later and change if we think we made a mistake, right?
>
> If you heard/logged it wrong, make another contact.
>

Joe Subich, W4TV-4

Re: OT: About Grid Squares

In reply to this post by Jim Brown-10

A third excellent tool for determining grid square is the tool at
http://www.levinecentral.com/ham/grid_square.php

73,

... Joe, W4TV

On 8/2/2017 1:49 PM, Jim Brown wrote:

> On 8/2/2017 10:21 AM, Fred Jensen wrote:
>> I think you have to get the grid from the station during the QSO, if
>> grid matters.
>
> Or from the QSL or LOTW. Grids mostly matter on VHF, and nearly
> universal practice is for the grid to be part of the first "over" in
> every QSO, regardless of mode. All software to run K1JT's WSJT modes
> default to sending the grid when calling CQ and answering a CQ.
>
> qrz.com has a great mapping feature that shows where the software thinks
> his/her QTH is. It's easy to zoom in to see if the map location agrees
> with a street address, and you can click on "explore on a grid map"
> below the map to see the outline of the 6-character grid.
>
> Another great grid mapper is on aprs.fi which is designed to track APRS
> stations. If you enter a grid, the software will outline it on what
> looks like a google map. Again, it's easy to zoom and pan this map to
> see streets and other details. I discovered this when chasing a mobile
> who was lighting up nearly a dozen grids on a trip from ND to AZ, mostly
> working MSK144 (meteor scatter).
>
> When you set up your qrz.com page, it's easy to enter your QTH either as
> a grid square or lat/lon. But when you don't do that, qrz.com uses your
> license address.
>
> I also chase CQ Fields, which are the rectangles defined by the two
> letters in the grid square. The field is rarely part of a QSO, so you
> have to figure it out from available data. When the ham hasn't entered
> his QTH, in some countries qrz.com will pick the geographic center of
> the country. This can yield very wrong results in large countries like
> Russia or Australia. :)
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
>
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>

Jim Allen

Re: OT: About Grid Squares

In reply to this post by Ken G Kopp

I know of one ham who has a tower in one grid square and another tower in a different grid square, both in his back yard.

Be careful out there!

73 Jim Allen W6OGC

Sent from my iPad
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Jim Brown-10

Re: OT: About Grid Squares

In reply to this post by EUGENE GABRY

On 8/2/2017 11:41 AM, EUGENE GABRY wrote:
> The bottom line is, copy what is sent/you hear.

Of course. But this discussion is, I believe, about finding grids for
QSOs when the grid was not exchanged on the air. I ran into that with
nearly all QSOs I submitted for the CQ Field award, because I was going
through 20 years of logs and QSLs to find QSOs with stations in nearly
200 Fields.

73, Jim K9YC

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w7aqk

Re: OT: About Grid Squares

In reply to this post by Ken G Kopp

Jim and All,

Back in the late 50's, a few of us living in Albuquerque drove up to the 4
corners monument northwest of Farmington, NM. It's the only place in the
U.S. where four states come to one common point. We set our antenna right
on top of the monument, so we were in 4 states at the same time--NM, AZ, UT,
and CO, and 3 call areas--5, 7, and 0!

Well, that's what we thought we were doing! Not long ago I read a piece
that said the monument may be in the wrong place!!! Apparently it was
miscalculated by some amount, but not nearly as much as originally claimed.
Also, once the marker was placed, and accepted by relevant parties as being
official, it was official, regardless of any computational error.
Therefore, I guess we were O.K. Back then the marker wasn't much to look
at--just a small pedestal. Now I think it is a bit more elaborate. I also
think the Park Service frowns on doing what we did!! Hi.

Dave W7AQK

----------------------------------------------------------------
I know of one ham who has a tower in one grid square and another tower in a
different grid square, both in his back yard.

Be careful out there!

73 Jim Allen W6OGC

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Wes Stewart-2

Re: OT: About Grid Squares

Sort of like NIST saying WWV is on exactly 10 MHz. It is, because they say so.

I live a few hundred meters from a national park and receive mail sometimes
addressed to "Park Neighbor." I have dealt with park rangers and administrators
for a quarter century. Many of them get quite perturbed when ordinary taxpayers
actually want to use the Park Service's parks.

Wes N7WS

On 8/3/2017 12:03 PM, w7aqk wrote:
> ... Also, once the marker was placed, and accepted by relevant parties as
> being official, it was official, regardless of any computational error.
> Therefore, I guess we were O.K. Back then the marker wasn't much to look
> at--just a small pedestal. Now I think it is a bit more elaborate. I also
> think the Park Service frowns on doing what we did!! Hi.
>
> Dave W7AQK

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Alan Bloom

Re: OT: About Grid Squares

In reply to this post by w7aqk

On 08/03/2017 12:03 PM, w7aqk wrote:
> Jim and All,
>
> Back in the late 50's, a few of us living in Albuquerque drove up to the
> 4 corners monument northwest of Farmington, NM. It's the only place in
> the U.S. where four states come to one common point. We set our antenna
> right on top of the monument, so we were in 4 states at the same
> time--NM, AZ, UT, and CO, and 3 call areas--5, 7, and 0!

In 1996, during a cross-country bicycle trip, I went off-route to visit
4 corners so I could brag about riding through 4 states in 10 seconds. :=)

http://n1al.net/bike/CC_tour/day23.htm

Alan N1AL

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Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ

Re: OT: About Grid Squares

Administrator

We're slipping past the max OT posting limit on this one. Let's let the topic rest in the interest of reducing email overload for our other readers.

73,
Eric
Moderator
elecraft.com
_..._
>
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Martin

Re: OT: About Grid Squares

In reply to this post by Ken G Kopp

Another great tool to determine a locator or the distance between 2
locators is:

http://qthlocator.free.fr by F6FVY

It uses google maps. Just enter a known locator or click on a known
location (e.g. your house) and voila. Maybe it is one of the fathers of
that sort of tools. I've first seen it 12/2006.

--

Ohne CW ist es nur CB..

73, Martin DM4iM
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