Requesting an Additional Callsign Certificate
When submitting a QSO to LoTW, you must present a Callsign Certificate that matches the station callsign
you used over the air when making the QSO. Thus if you've made QSOs using callsigns other than your present primary callsign, you'll need to request a
Callsign Certificate for each. This process is more straightforward and rapid than requesting your Initial Callsign Certificate
because your initial certificate is used to authenticate your request.
LoTW requires that you request an additional Callsign Certificate using the same computer with which you will accept that additional callsign certificate.
These instructions assume that your Callsign Certificates reside in the folder C:\MyLoTWCertificates
(if you've stored them in a different folder, adjust the instructions accordingly).
To request an additional Callsign Certificate,
1. | Start TQSL and select the Callsign Certificates tab, which displays a list of your Callsign Certificates. |
2. | Open TQSL's Callsign Certificate menu and select the Request New Callsign Certificate... command; the Request a New Callsign Certificate dialog will appear. |
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3. | In the Request a New Callsign Certificate dialog, |
| 3.a | Specify your station callsign, DXCC entity, begin date, and end date |
| | 3.a.1. | specify the station callsign for which you seek a Callsign Certificate |
| | 3.a.2. | select the DXCC entity |
| | 3.a.3 | set the QSO begin date to the date of the first QSO made using this callsign |
| | 3.a.4. | if additional QSOs will be made using this callsign, leave the QSO end date blank; otherwise, set the QSO end date to the day after the date of the last QSO made using this callsign |
| | 3.a.5. | click the Next button |
| 3.b | Enter your name and address |
| | 3.b.1. | for US callsigns, the mailing address you enter must match your address in the FCC database |
| | 3.b.2. | click the Next button |
| 3.c | Enter your email address; click the Next button |
| 3.d | You will be prompted to enter a password |
| | 3.d.1. | If you're using a shared computer, you should protect your Callsign Certificate by entering the same password in both textboxes;
you'll be asked to provide this password each time you direct TQSL to digitally sign a log file.
If you control access to the computer you're using, you can leave both textboxes empty, thereby avoiding the need to provide a password each time you direct TQSL to digitally sign a log file. |
| | 3.d.2. | Click the Next button |
| 3.e | If this callsign certificate is for your personal callsign, |
| | 3.e.1. | set the Sign Request panel to Signed |
| | 3.e.2. | in the list of Callsign Certificates, select your Initial Callsign Certificate |
| | 3.e.3. | click the Finish button, and proceed to step 3.g |
| 3.f | If this callsign certificate is for a club station, or for another station for which you will serve as QSL Manager, |
| | 3.f.1. | set the Sign Request panel to Unsigned |
| | 3.f.2. | click the Finish button |
| 3.g | If your computer has internet access, you will be asked if you want to upload this certificate request to LoTW; click the Yes button;
if your computer does not have internet access, |
| | 3.g.1. | you will be prompted to save a file whose name is the callsign and whose extension is .tq5 ; save this file in the folder
C:\MyLoTWCertificates |
| | 3.g.2. | this file will be referred to as theCallsign.tq5 |
| 3.h | The Callsign Certificates tab will now show an entry for your certificate with a pending icon:
(because the Callsign Certificate doesn't actually yet exist, and thus is not functional). |
| 3.i | You can close TQSL by opening its File menu and selecting the Exit command (on OS X, by selecting the Application menu's Quit tqsl command). |
4. | If you did not upload the certificate request to LoTW in step 3.g,
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| 4.a | upload your certificate request file to the ARRL via https://p1k.arrl.org/lotw/upload ; use the Browse button to navigate to the folder C:\MyLotWCertificates and select the YourCallsign.tq5 file you find there. |
| 4.b | Retain the YourCallsign.tq5 file; its presence in C:\MyLotWCertificates will be required when you accept the Callsign Certificate that the ARRL will send you, so don't delete it! |