How QSO Matching And Confirmation Work

Overview

A QSO is confirmed on QSL Shack when both operators have independently logged the same contact here and QSL Shack has paired the two entries. Nobody is asked to approve anything and nothing is mailed.

That is a deliberately strict definition. A confirmation mark in an ADIF file, a QRZ confirmation, and an LoTW confirmation are all claims made somewhere else. They are imported and kept in their own fields, and none of them confirms a contact here. Only two logs agreeing does that.

Matching runs by itself. You do not have to start it, and there is no time limit on a contact waiting to be matched.

How A Match Is Decided

Two entries are paired when every one of these is true.

Each operator logged the other. You logged him and he logged you. The comparison is on the base callsign, so a modifier such as /P or /MM makes no difference. A modifier says where an operator was, not who he is.

The band agrees exactly. If one of you recorded no band, the other must also have recorded no band.

The mode agrees exactly, under the same rule. A blank only ever matches a blank.

The times agree. If you both recorded a time, the two must be within 30 minutes of each other. If either of you left the time out, the UTC date alone has to agree. The 30 minutes is tolerance for two operators writing down the time differently, not a deadline.

Neither entry is already settled. A contact already confirmed, rejected or set aside is never matched again.

If more than one entry in his log could be yours, the one closest in time wins.

The date, the time, the band and the mode are therefore the four fields worth filling in every time. The form only requires the callsign and the date, but a blank band or mode narrows what you can pair with to operators who also left it blank.

How To Log The Other Half Of A Contact Somebody Already Logged

When another operator logs a contact with you before you log it, it appears in Awaiting You at the top of your logbook, with their callsign, the date and their comment.

1. Open your logbook and read the Awaiting You queue.
2. Press Log a QSO and enter your side of the contact.
3. Save it.

The pair confirms as you save. You do not go back to the queue and do anything to it.

The queue shows contacts logged against you whether the other operator marked them public or private, because private controls his public logbook and not whether you can see that he logged you.

How To Check Imported Contacts Against Other Logs

Contacts you import are checked at import time if you ask for it, and can be checked afterwards at any time.

1. On the import screen, tick Look for matches with other operators' logs before pressing Preview import. Anything that matches is confirmed as the import finishes, and the results screen lists what confirmed.
2. If you left it off, the results screen offers Match my QSOs now. Press it.

Running the check again later is always safe. It only ever adds confirmations, and it never changes a contact.

What Happens When A Contact Confirms

Both entries are marked confirmed at the same moment, and both operators are notified.

A certificate is issued. The pair is given one certificate number that both operators quote for the same contact. It is printed on the certificate itself and it is the identifier in the contact's public web address, so either of you can show it to anyone. It is issued once and never reissued, so every printed copy always matches.

The distance is recalculated. Until this point neither entry knew where the other station actually was, so the distance was measured to the middle of a country. With both halves in hand the real figure is computed from both stations' own positions and written to both. It only ever improves: if either station cannot say where it was, both keep the number they already had.

QSL cards are exchanged. Each operator's card for the callsign he worked under is posted to the other's board, where it waits to be accepted or declined. If a member has never designed a card for that callsign, the default card is used, so a contact is never held up by a missing card. Each version of a card reaches a given board once, so redesigning your card lets it reach a board you have already reached, while the same card twice is still one post.

What Confirmation Locks

A confirmed QSO cannot be edited or deleted. The Edit and Delete controls are not drawn on it. All of its data is fixed, because a certificate somebody may already have printed has to stay true.

This is also why a service that confirms a contact later does not change it. If LoTW confirms a contact that was already confirmed here, it is reported to you on your LOTW Exception Report as Also confirmed by LoTW, and nothing is altered.

If a confirmed contact is wrong, the correction is a conversation with the other operator rather than an edit.

What To Watch For

A contact that never confirms usually means the other operator has not logged his side, and there is nothing to fix. If you are sure he has, compare the two entries for the band, the mode and the date. An exact disagreement on any of those is enough to stop a pair.

An operator who is not on QSL Shack cannot confirm anything. Where the worked callsign is not a member, your logbook shows an Invite link beside it.