feat(adif): store the ADIF submode (FT4/JS8/PSK31) as the QSO mode on import

[patrickrb]

Problem

WSJT-X, JTDX and JS8Call — the primary clients that post to Nextlog's ADIF import and /api/qso endpoint — log the operating mode of a digital QSO as an ADIF SUBMODE beneath a generic parent MODE:

Client / mode	ADIF sent	Stored before	Wanted
WSJT-X FT4	<MODE:4>MFSK<SUBMODE:3>FT4	MFSK	FT4
JS8Call	<MODE:4>MFSK<SUBMODE:3>JS8	MFSK	JS8
WSJT-X FST4	<MODE:4>MFSK<SUBMODE:4>FST4	MFSK	FST4
fldigi PSK31	<MODE:3>PSK<SUBMODE:5>PSK31	PSK	PSK31

The importer only read MODE (fields.mode || fields.submode), so every one of those QSOs was stored under its generic parent. But the app treats FT4, FT8, PSK31, etc. as first-class modes — they're in the search page's mode list, and the mode filter / mode statistics / charts group by the flat contacts.mode column (there is no submode column). The result: an FT4 run imported from WSJT-X silently dropped out of the FT4 filter and showed up as a lump of MFSK, skewing per-mode statistics.

Solution

Add a small pure helper resolveAdifMode(mode, submode) in src/lib/adif.ts and use it when inserting a record:

• Promote the submode to the effective mode when one is present (MFSK+FT4 → FT4).
• Except the voice sidebands USB/LSB, which stay SSB — promoting them would split every phone QSO out of the SSB filter and phone stats.
• Falls back to MODE, then to SSB, exactly as before when no usable submode exists.
• Normalizes to uppercase, matching how modes are stored and exported elsewhere.

Backwards compatibility

• Existing rows are untouched — this only affects newly imported/posted records.
• MODE-only imports (FT8, CW, RTTY, SSB, …) resolve to the identical value they did before.
• No schema change; contacts.mode stays a flat varchar. Export is unaffected (it already emits the flat stored mode, and the app already treats FT4/FT8 as top-level modes).

Testing

• New tests/adif-mode.spec.ts (6 cases): submode promotion, USB/LSB → SSB, MODE-only fallback, uppercase/trim normalization, SSB default, and an end-to-end parseAdifRecords → resolveAdifMode check on a verbatim WSJT-X FT4 record.
• Full ADIF suite (adif-parse, adif-generate, adif-datetime, adif-mode) — 34 passed.
• npm run typecheck clean, eslint clean on touched files, npm run build succeeds.

Future follow-up

• Optionally reconstruct the MODE+SUBMODE pair on export for the strictest ADIF readers (FT4 is technically a submode of MFSK in the ADIF spec). Deferred because it needs a mode→parent lookup table and the current flat-mode export is already what the rest of the app assumes; LoTW/Cloudlog/N1MM all accept MODE=FT4.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
nodelog	Ready	Preview, Comment	Jul 24, 2026 6:08am