Goals

A goal is a list of what you’re still chasing: US states, POTA parks or bands. Add it to a connection with a Goal is in rule, and the connection only alerts for spots that would work something you still need. Contacts you log through Long Lines Relay mark entries worked automatically, or you can mark them by hand.

Why you’d use it

You’re working all 50 states on 20m this year. You have 41. A goal with a US states requirement, plus a Goal is in rule on your DX Cluster and POTA connections, means you get alerts only for stations in the 9 states you’re missing, and each state drops out the moment you log it.

How it works

A goal has a name, a time window, a marking method and 1 to 10 requirements. Each requirement is one kind with its entries:

Kind	Entries
US states	Any of the 50 states (no DC or territories)
Parks	POTA references such as US-2763. The reference need not be in the POTA list.
Bands	160m, 80m, 60m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, 10m, 6m, 2m, 70cm

A requirement is complete when you’ve worked All of these, or At least a number you choose. Under “At least”, once you reach the number the remaining entries stop alerting too. A goal is complete when every requirement is. You can have up to 50 goals, with up to 500 entries in a requirement.

What marks an entry worked

Only a contact you logged, or your own hand mark. A spot never marks anything worked.

With From my log, using the relay, every contact Long Lines Relay posts for your callsign is checked against the goal, if its UTC date is inside the goal’s window:

• Band comes from the contact’s frequency.
• Park comes from POTA spots of the station you worked, within 30 minutes either side of the time you logged it. Exactly one park in that window marks it. No spot, or spots at two or more parks, and Long Lines can’t tell (see Reviews below).
• State comes from the first of these that applies:
  1. The state your logger sent with the contact, if it is one of the 50. (DC or a non-US code gives no state.)
  2. If the station had a POTA spot within 30 minutes, the park’s state. For a park that straddles a state line, the station’s FCC license state if it is one of the park’s states, else none. A park outside the US gives none.
  3. Otherwise, the worked station’s FCC license state.

With By hand only, logged contacts don’t mark anything; you mark entries yourself.

Either way, a hand mark is kept until you clear it.

Reviews

When you log a station that had a POTA spot that day but none within 30 minutes of your contact, or that was spotted at two parks around then, the contact goes to Needs a look on the goal’s page. Reviews only open on relay goals while a Parks requirement is incomplete. Choose the park, or Not a park contact. A station with no POTA spot at all that day is treated as not a park contact without asking.

If the two parks are in different states, the contact’s state also waits for your pick. On a goal with no incomplete Parks requirement, no review opens, so such a contact marks no state.

The goal rule in a connection

Goal is in passes a spot when it matches something still needed in a requirement that isn’t complete: the spot’s band, its POTA park, or its US state. A POTA spot’s state is its park’s state (by the same straddling rule as above); any other spot’s state is the spotted station’s FCC license state. DC and territories never match. How the goal is marked doesn’t affect matching.

The rule turns itself off when the goal is complete or ended: it then passes every spot, so the connection alerts for everything its other rules allow. The goal’s page tells you when this happens.

Only Parks on the Air spots carry a POTA park. On a connection with another source, park entries can never match, and the editor warns: “Parks in this goal can’t match here”, with a Create a Parks on the Air connection button.

The connection’s Preview adds a line such as “3 more matched your other rules but were skipped. You’ve already worked those.”

Set it up

1. Open Goals and select Add goal.
2. Enter a Name, such as WAS 20m 2026.
3. Under Time window, choose Counts contacts: Between dates with Starts and Ends (UTC days, end day included), or No end date for a lifetime award.
4. Under How entries get marked, choose Mark entries worked: From my log, using the relay or By hand only.
5. Under Requirements, a new goal starts with all 50 US states. Change the Kind, add or remove entries with Add a state, Add a park or Add a band, and set Complete when you’ve worked to All of these or At least.
6. Select Add requirement for more (up to 10).
7. Select Save goal.
8. Open a connection, select Add rule, choose Goal in Field, pick the goal, and save.

On the goal’s page, select a needed entry and Mark as worked to mark it by hand. To clear one, select Show 9 worked (the number is your count), then Mark as needed on the entry. Each worked entry shows its evidence, such as “Worked K4ABC · Oct 3, 21:14 UTC · Logged in N1MM, matched to a POTA spot at 21:09”.

Relay contacts count only from when your first logged contact reached Long Lines. Mark anything you worked earlier by hand.

Common setups

Worked All States on 20m this year. Kind: US states, all 50, All of these. Window: Between dates, Jan 1 to Dec 31. Marking: From my log. Add the rule to a DX Cluster connection with Band is 20m and to a Parks on the Air connection with Band is 20m.

Parks in your state you haven’t hunted. Kind: Parks, the 40 parks you still need in North Carolina. At least 30. Window: No end date. Rule on a Parks on the Air connection.

A weekend QSO party. Two requirements: US states (all 50, At least 25) and Bands (80m, 40m, 20m). Window: Between dates covering the weekend. When it ends, the rule turns off; select Copy for 2027 on the ended banner to start next year’s.

When it doesn’t work

“Entries aren’t being marked automatically”. The relay hasn’t sent a contact in 7 days. The page says “Not connected” whenever no logged contact arrived in the last 7 days, even if the relay is running and you weren’t on the air. Open the relay on your logging computer, or mark entries by hand.

A contact didn’t mark its park. Check Needs a look. If the station had no POTA spot that day, Long Lines treats it as not a park contact; mark the park by hand.

A logged contact didn’t count at all. Its UTC date is outside the window, the goal is set to By hand only, the goal was already complete, or the relay rejected it (wrong callsign, or logged more than 30 minutes before it was posted). See Long Lines Relay.

The connection alerts for everything. The goal is complete or ended, so its rule is off. Change the dates, add a different goal, or delete the rule.

“Can’t delete WAS 20m 2026 yet”. A connection still uses the goal. Open each one listed, remove the goal rule, then delete.

Saving with new dates warns that entries “go back to needed”. Contacts that marked those entries fall outside the new window. Hand marks are never undone.