One placeholder per id in a single IN (…) hits SQLite's bound-variable cap:
bulk field set died at 168 000 QSOs with 'too many SQL variables' (10 000
passed). One chunker now serves bulk set (text/int/extra/frequency), the
delete, the post-upload markers and the export-selection iterator — the last
collecting and sorting once at the end so its chronological contract holds
across chunks. 500 ids a statement keeps every backend far from any limit.