What is a Cabrillo file?

Your contest log, in plain text

Cabrillo is a shared file format that tells contest organizers who you operated as and what contacts you made. You can read it in a plain-text editor. You usually get it by exporting from your logging program; you do not need to write it yourself.

A file’s contents determine its format. Renaming an ADIF file, PDF, or spreadsheet to .log does not make it Cabrillo.

What the file looks like

This example shows the headers for a Washington single-operator, low-power, fixed station in King County, with both CW and phone contacts. All personal details and contacts are made up. Use your own entry details and actual contacts.

START-OF-LOG: 3.0
CALLSIGN: K7ABC
CONTEST: WA-SALMON-RUN
NAME: Sample Operator
EMAIL: operator@example.com
ADDRESS: 123 Example Lane
ADDRESS-CITY: Seattle
ADDRESS-STATE-PROVINCE: WA
ADDRESS-POSTALCODE: 98101
ADDRESS-COUNTRY: USA
LOCATION: KING
CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP
CATEGORY-MODE: MIXED
CATEGORY-POWER: LOW
CATEGORY-STATION: FIXED
CATEGORY-BAND: ALL
CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: ONE
CATEGORY-ASSISTED: NON-ASSISTED
OPERATORS: K7ABC
QSO: 14050 CW 2026-09-19 1700 K7ABC 599 KING N7XYZ 599 PIE
QSO: 14280 PH 2026-09-19 1705 K7ABC 59 KING W6XYZ 59 CA
END-OF-LOG:

START-OF-LOG:

Begins the file; 3.0 is the Cabrillo version.

Headers

CALLSIGN and CONTEST describe the entry. CATEGORY-MODE: MIXED means this entry uses both CW and phone.

QSO:

One contact per line. Read its fields in the table below.

END-OF-LOG:

Closes the file on its own final line.

Review the entry headers in your logging program or a plain-text editor. Keep your original export before changing a copy.

Headers and entry details

Write each header on its own line as HEADER: value: the header name, a colon, a space, then its value. Keep START-OF-LOG: 3.0 first, put the entry headers before the contacts, and keep END-OF-LOG: on its own final line. The entry headers can be in a different order from this example.

Use plain text with ordinary line breaks. Keep each complete QSO: on one line, and separate its fields with spaces, not tabs or commas. A line wrapping on screen is fine; inserting line breaks between its fields is not. Use uppercase header names and the category values shown below.

ADDRESS: is your mailing / award address. Your operating location may be different. A previously submitted file may preserve that location separately in X-STATION-ADDRESS: lines.

Loggers may use ADDRESS-CITY:, ADDRESS-STATE-PROVINCE:, ADDRESS-POSTALCODE:, and ADDRESS-COUNTRY: for separate mailing address parts. A state in the postal address does not fill in the sent exchange on your contacts.

Other headers you may see or need for your entry

Review your category choices even if your logger supplied CATEGORY: or HQ-CATEGORY:. A single combined label does not replace the separate operator, mode, power, and station fields.

A previously submitted file may contain HQ-RECEIVED:, the organizer’s UTC receipt timestamp. Keep this header unchanged in your records.

Use a contest location abbreviation

LOCATION: describes your operating location for this entry. The header and each contact’s exchange have separate jobs:

• Alaska: write LOCATION: AK. Put a city such as North Pole in the address, and record AK as the sent location on each contact.
• Colorado: write LOCATION: CO, with CO in each sent exchange. Put Longmont in the address.
• Canada: use your province or territory, such as LOCATION: BC, MB, or NB, rather than the broad country name CANADA.
• Washington: a fixed station in Walla Walla County can use LOCATION: WAL. For operation in multiple counties, use LOCATION: WA and record the actual county abbreviation on each QSO, including county changes.
• DX: use the DXCC entity prefix, such as LOCATION: DL for Germany.

A grid locator such as BP64 belongs in GRID-LOCATOR:; it does not replace the Salmon Run location exchange.

A location header does not fill a blank QSO exchange. This fictional Alaska contact includes AK immediately after the report sent, followed by the other callsign, report received, and county received:

QSO: 14050 CW 2026-09-19 1700 KL7ABC 599 AK K7ABC 599 KING

Do not leave a blank space where the location should be. Missing fields can make the remaining values look like the wrong callsign, signal report, or exchange. Check the original contact record before filling a missing value; the collector cannot reconstruct what was exchanged.

Read a contact from left to right

The first QSO: line in the complete Washington example breaks down like this:

Both date and time use UTC, which can be a different date from your local time. In the second contact, PH means voice and the reports are 59; the CW example uses 599. Record what you actually exchanged.

Some programs add a final 0 or 1. That is a separate transmitter identifier, not part of the received location. Leave it in place.

What is the Salmon Run exchange?

The exchange is the information stations give each other during a contact. Cabrillo supplies the file structure; each contest defines the exchange.

Salmon Run uses a signal report and a location. Washington stations send their county abbreviation, such as KING or PIE. Other US stations send their state, such as CA; Canadian stations send their province or territory abbreviation, such as BC; DX stations send their DXCC entity prefix.

If you operated outside Washington, your sent location is your state, province/territory, or DX prefix. The Washington station’s received location is its county. If you operated in Washington, you send your county and may receive any of those location types.

59 or 599 alone is missing the location. WA alone does not identify a Washington county.

Salmon Run exchange rules · Washington county abbreviations

The official standard

• Cabrillo overview (WWROF)
• Cabrillo header specification
• Cabrillo QSO data specification

If you edit a copy, use a plain-text editor, keep each contact on its own line, and separate fields with spaces. Keep your original export.

Find export and ADIF instructions for your logging program →