Logging Basics

Logging Basics

The entry strip

The entry strip logs a QSO from any <input> inside it — press Enter to save. Fields: callsign, RST tx/rx, name, QTH, grid, band, mode, TX/RX frequency (split), start/end time, comment and note.

• Callsign drives everything: the flag, offline DXCC resolution (country, CQ/ITU zones, continent) from cty.dat including /MM /AM /B and call-area handling (/8, /W6), plus ClubLog DXpedition date overrides.
• Callsign lookup (QRZ.com / HamQTH) fills name / QTH / grid and shows the photo and a QRZ.com tab. Configure it in Settings → Lookup. Portable calls (/M, /P) are looked up on the home call too.
• No lookup account? The name / QTH / locator are recovered from the last time you worked the station, and for US calls the offline FCC (ULS) database fills state, county and a 6-character grid as you type. A real QRZ/HamQTH hit still wins.
• A green NEW badge appears on the County field (Info / F2) when the US county has never been worked.
• ESC clears the callsign (and stops CW).
• F1–F5 select the five tabs of the details panel — Stats, Info, Awards, Me, Extended — as the tab labels show. While the CW keyer or the voice keyer is running, F1–F12 send your macros instead, and the tabs move to Ctrl+F1 … Ctrl+F5. The labels keep reading F1–F5 either way, so the panel does not change size when you switch a keyer on.
• The frequency readout is scroll-tunable: roll the wheel over the hundreds / tens / units-of-kHz digit and the rig follows.

Callbook lookup options

Settings → Lookup takes a Primary provider and an optional Failsafe, consulted only when the Primary finds nothing or errors. Test checks the credentials without saving them.

• Set both to none during a contest to skip the network entirely.
• Successful lookups are cached locally, so the same callsign is not fetched twice; the TTL is how long before a fresh query. With the cache off, every callsign is fetched each time it is typed — slower, and it counts against a QRZ.com daily quota.
• Nickname logs the name the operator goes by on the air rather than their registered first and last name, falling back to the full name when none is published. QRZ.com only: HamQTH already does this.
• Show the photo beside the worked-before matrix may noticeably slow lookups on a busy contest day.

Super Check Partial / N+1

Enable in Settings → General (downloads the community MASTER.SCP list). As you type a call, a docked two-column widget shows known calls that contain what you typed (Partial) and calls one character away (N+1) — click one to fix a busted call.

Editing a QSO

Double-click any row in Recent QSOs (or Worked-before) to open the full editor — every ADIF field across tabs: QSO info, contacted station's details, award refs, QSL info, contest, sat/prop, my station, and a generic extra fields editor for any ADIF field not promoted to a column.

Bulk operations

Select rows in Recent QSOs (a Select all button takes every displayed row), right-click:

• Fix country & zones from cty.dat, or update from the callsign databases (QRZ / ClubLog), with a progress bar.
• Bulk edit field — set one field across many QSOs: QSL/confirmation statuses and dates, my station, contest, propagation, contacted-station refs, comment, gridsquare, even the frequency (band recomputed, out-of-band values refused).
• Send to a QSL service, export selected / filtered to ADIF or Cabrillo, delete (optionally withdrawing the QSO from QRZ.com and Club Log — Settings → External services, off by default).

Find duplicates

Tools → Find duplicates groups QSOs by same call + band + mode (optionally same day or same minute) and lets you pick which to delete.

Notes

• Worked-before matrix shows prior contacts with the entity per band/mode slot as you type.
• Award references are detected live as you enter a call — including from the QTH, name, comment or grid you typed (see Awards).
• The pill in the top bar is the station switcher: click it to change profile. It is labelled with the active profile's name, because every profile of one operator carries the same callsign; the callsign and the locator are in its tooltip.

Manual entry — logging from paper

Manual entry holds the frequency, the band, the mode and both times, so you can type a contact off a sheet of paper while the radio stays where it is. Switch it off and everything follows the rig again.

The widget strip, in your own order

The row of widgets beside the entry form — rotor, keyers, antenna switch, amplifier, watch list and the rest — is reorderable: drag to rearrange it.

A widget you have switched off keeps its place and comes back where you left it. The widgets travel as one group, so QSO entry and the F1-F5 panel go before or after them rather than in among them.

When the shared logbook stops answering

On a MySQL logbook, a contact logged while the database is unreachable is saved to a local file instead, and nothing is lost: it joins the logbook automatically as soon as the database answers again, whether it came from the entry form or over UDP.

One thing to know while that is happening: worked-before does not include those QSOs. They are not in the logbook yet, so a station you have just worked can still show as new.

See also: Recent QSOs and Filters · Import and Export ADIF