BV7 by DF3CB

Converting WF1B Logs to ADIF Using BV7 by Bernd, DF3CB

Many RTTY contesters have old RTTY contest logs which were created with RTTY by WF1B in DOS which they would like to convert to ADIF for import into their main logging program or to upload to LoTW or eQSL. RTTY by WF1B log files have a .BIN file extension. Starting around version 5, Ray included an ADIF file conversion program called ADIFCONV.EXE with the package. ADIFCONV.EXE works in DOS only and converts WF1B .BIN files to ADIF. (RTTY by WF1B version 5 can still be downloaded free from http://www.rttyinfo.com/rttyinfo/downlods.htm.) If you have old WF1B log files on a DOS machine but wish to use your Windows PC to convert the logs to ADIF, you will have to copy them over to your Windows machine using a floppy disk. If your Windows-based PC does not have a floppy drive, USB floppy drives are relatively inexpensive.

For those looking to convert WF1B .BIN logs to ADIF on a Windows-based PC, there is a freeware program called BV, written by Bernd DF3CB, which will do this file conversion as well as many other file type conversions. At this writing, the current version of BV is version 7. Thus the program is referred to as BV7.

1. The process for installing BV7 is to go to the BV7 webpage at http://www.df3cb.com/bv/ and click on the Downloads Page. On the Downloads page you will download three files:

bv7_setup.exe (BV7 installation setup file)
bv7_manual.zip (PDF manual in English. The manual also available in German and Russian.)
bde_setup.exe (Borland Database Engine installation setup file. BDE is required to run BV7.)

2. Read the installation notes on the Download Page. Install BDE (bde_setup.exe). Then install BV7 (bv7_setup.exe). Note for Win7 users, it's been reported that you should install BV7 in C:\bv7 and BDE in C:\bde or some other directory. BV7 will not work when installed in C:\Program Files\bv7. XP users should install BV7 in C:\Program Files\bv7.

3. Run bv7.exe. As the program starts, the Confirm dialog box will appear. Click "No".

4. Go to the Windows menu and click on "Tools (Import/Export)".

5. In the Tools Wizard screen, Import/Export Logs should already be highlighted. Click Next.

6. Using the "Log type" pull-down menu, select the Input Log as "RTTY by WF1B Contest Software".

7. Now Click "Add Log" to add a WF1B.BIN log file to be converted.

8. Navigate to the location of the .BIN file on your hard drive. Select the file you wish to convert to ADIF and click Open. In this example, I will be converting my 1994 ARRL RTTY Roundup log 'ARRL94.BIN' to an ADIF file.

9. When the Tools Wizard screen reappears, you will notice the 'File name' is now populated with the file you just selected in the previous step. You will also notice the file name has been added to the right-hand side of the screen with an blank check box. In addition, the 'Log size' is populated with the number of contacts found in the file. In this example, BV7 found 704 QSOs in the file ARRL94.BIN. You now want to analyze the log by pressing the 'Analyze log' button as shown in the first screen below. This analyzes your log to make sure it is a good file for conversion. When the 'Analyze log' button is pressed, BV7 analyzes the log. If the file is good, a check mark will appear next to the file name on the right hand side of the screen as shown in the second screen below. If the file is good, click 'Next >>'.

Note: If the file is not good, the file name on the right hand side of the screen will turn gray. I can only guess this means the file is corrupted or not in a format that BV7 likes. One of my files did not pass the 'Analyze log' test. It was the log file from my 1993 HK0 trip to San Andres. I had used the DXpedition mode in WF1B. I don't know if this is the reason or not. I went ahead and tried converting the file to ADIF with BV7 and it only analyzed about half the log. However, when I used ADIFCONV.EXE on a DOS machine, it converted my HK0 to ADIF with no problems.

10. The 'Choose Output log' screen appears. The default output is 'BV Logs (Version 7)'. Use the 'Log type' pull-down menu and select ADIF.

11. Look at the 'Filename:' field. If this is the first file you are converting a file, the filename will be the same as the filename of the .BIN file except with the .ADI extension. However, if you previously converted a file, then the file name will be the same as the last file you converted. This is so you can easily convert several .BIN files into a single ADIF file. By default, the ADIF files are exported to C:\Program Files\BV7\tmp\. If you want to save the file to a different location on your hard drive, use the Browse button. There are options where you can filter the import by date if needed. There are also check boxes for other options. The 'Remove contest exchanges from report' check box is already checked. It's a good idea to leave it checked. In addition, I chose to 'Replace contest reports with the standard reports (59/599)'. When you are finished, click the 'Next' button.

12. BV7 will then convert the .BIN file to an ADIF file and show the results. In the example below, 703 of the 704 QSOs were read and written to the ADIF file. There is apparently something wrong with one of the QSOs that was logged. If you try to write to a file that already exists, BV7 warns you and gives you options on what to do (see second screen below).

This completes the conversion from WF1B .BIN log file to an ADIF file.