diff --git a/app.go b/app.go
index 10214b0..0b88a4a 100644
--- a/app.go
+++ b/app.go
@@ -773,11 +773,13 @@ func (a *App) startup(ctx context.Context) {
 
 	// LoTW user-activity list (who's a LoTW user + last upload). Loads the cached
 	// CSV if present, and auto-downloads in the background when it's missing or
-	// older than a week (the ARRL list changes daily). Manual refresh is in
-	// Settings → LoTW.
+	// older than a DAY — the list carries each station's last-upload date, so a
+	// stale cache would misreport recency (a station that uploaded 2 days ago must
+	// show as recent, which only works if we refresh roughly daily). Manual
+	// refresh is in Settings → LoTW.
 	a.lotwUsers = lotwusers.NewManager(dataDir)
 	go func() {
-		if a.lotwUsers.Count() == 0 || time.Since(a.lotwUsers.Updated()) > 7*24*time.Hour {
+		if a.lotwUsers.Count() == 0 || time.Since(a.lotwUsers.Updated()) > 24*time.Hour {
 			if n, err := a.lotwUsers.Download(context.Background()); err == nil {
 				applog.Printf("lotwusers: auto-downloaded %d LoTW users", n)
 				if a.ctx != nil {
@@ -789,7 +791,17 @@ func (a *App) startup(ctx context.Context) {
 		}
 	}()
 	go func() {
-		if err := a.clublog.EnsureLoaded(); err == nil {
+		_ = a.clublog.EnsureLoaded()
+		// Auto-refresh a missing/stale country file (ClubLog adds date-ranged
+		// exceptions constantly — e.g. event calls like IR0WWA get new SARDINIA
+		// periods). Without this a stale cache resolves recent event QSOs to the
+		// base country. Best-effort; the on-disk copy still serves if it fails.
+		if a.clublog.NeedsRefresh(3 * 24 * time.Hour) {
+			if err := a.clublog.Download(context.Background()); err != nil {
+				applog.Printf("clublog: auto-refresh failed: %v", err)
+			}
+		}
+		if a.clublog.Loaded() {
 			d, n := a.clublog.Info()
 			fmt.Printf("OpsLog: clublog cty.xml loaded — %d exceptions (%s)\n", n, d)
 		}
diff --git a/internal/clublog/manager.go b/internal/clublog/manager.go
index 7bbdcc5..5143aab 100644
--- a/internal/clublog/manager.go
+++ b/internal/clublog/manager.go
@@ -50,6 +50,17 @@ func (m *Manager) Info() (date string, count int) {
 	return m.db.Date(), m.db.Count()
 }
 
+// NeedsRefresh reports whether the cached country file is missing or older than
+// maxAge — so the caller re-downloads it to pick up newly-added date-ranged
+// exceptions (e.g. an event call's fresh SARDINIA period).
+func (m *Manager) NeedsRefresh(maxAge time.Duration) bool {
+	fi, err := os.Stat(m.Path())
+	if err != nil {
+		return true // missing
+	}
+	return time.Since(fi.ModTime()) > maxAge
+}
+
 // EnsureLoaded loads the cached file into memory if present. Does NOT download.
 func (m *Manager) EnsureLoaded() error {
 	if m.Loaded() {