Station desk guide
Merge ADIF logs without deleting real QSOs
Duplicate detection is evidence, not permission to delete. Two records can share a callsign and minute while representing separate QSOs, especially during nets, contests or band changes.
Normalize only safe comparison fields
Trim whitespace and normalize callsign, band and mode casing before comparison. Keep the original field values available for review.
Build a conservative identity key
Compare callsign, date, time, band or frequency and mode. A configurable time tolerance can find logger-clock differences, but larger tolerances produce more false positives.
Review groups with source provenance
Show which file each candidate came from and place field differences side by side. Never remove all records in a group; select the exact copy to exclude.
Keep an audit trail
The merged output should identify its source count, while a separate manifest records exclusions. Originals remain the rollback plan.