CassiopeiaConsole or short HamCC allows to quickly type in Ham Radio QSOs via commandline sessions. During online QSOs, transfer handwritten logs or maybe when going through a bunch of QSO paper cards.
The special mini language used is somewhat inspired by hostilog by Peter, DF1LX.
CassiopeiaConsole is designed to be used as an API in other programs to support a textbased interface but can also be used as standalone console logger.
- call with format check
- locator/QTH with format check
- event mode for contests or xOTA
- worked before detection
- storing QSO in ADIF ADI format
- automatic date and time
Searching for a name was not very easy. But on my daily walk with our cat I tend to watch the stars while she is wandering through the gardens nearby guarding her territory (and she can be very patient with that).
So Cassiopeia came to my mind, as the constellation is very prominent in front of the Milkyway.
Cassiopeia, it is said, upset the gods when she claimed to be more beauty than the Nereids. What a lucky circumstance as CassiopeiaConsole claims to be the fastest logger around...
You may set your call, your name and your locator via arguments.
# hamcc -c XX1XXX -n Paul -l JN20uu
See --help for all other arguments.
After starting the program you will see different rows.
[ */- ] [ -c XX1XXX | -l JN20uu | -n Paul ] [ Event information ]
[ 2024-08-20 d | 18:58 t | B | M | C | @ ]
QSO> _
Diagnose information
- the first row shows
- information about the current QSO
- the star in the first box shows, that you are editing a new QSO. It may show the number of a cached QSO you are about to edit
- the dash in the first box shows, that there are no further unsaved QSOs. Otherwise, it shows the count of cached QSOs
- information about you
- event information (contest or xOTA if available)
- information about the current QSO
- the second row shows the information already available for the current QSO. The signs left most in each box are corresponding to the format characters.
- the third row shows the command prompt where you will type in the QSO
- The fourth row may show status or format error information
Just start typing at the command prompt.
Think of the whole QSO as a sentence and the information like band, callsign, etc. are the words.
If you hit the SPACE-key the current information (word) will be evaluated. If you hit ENTER the QSO (sentence) will be saved and the input will be cleared for a new QSO.
There is a step back as long the QSO is not written to disk.
These commands will only work when run as program
- Typing
!will write all QSOs (if any, see first box in first row) to disk - Key UP/DOWN scrolls through available QSOs
- DEL key deletes the selected QSO
- CTRL-C writes all QSOs to disks and quits the program
HamCC stores the QSOs in ADIF 3.x ADI format (via PyADIF-File). Per default the file HamCC_log.adi in your user home will be used. If you are using the same file every time, new logs will be appended. This behaviour and the file path can be changed via arguments (run HamCC -h for further information).
Some graphical loggers (e.g. DragonLog) are able to watch for ADI file changes from other programs and immediately import new QSOs.
If you start HamCC with an already existing ADIF file it will set the state of the last QSO (date, time, band, mode) and collect all available calls for the worked before check.
With argument -L HamCC creates a backup of your QSOs, loads the QSOs from the file to cache and
enables you to edit or delete QSOs.
HamCC needs a bit more RAM until you save the QSOs to disk again. Expect 10 times the ADI file size. 10000 QSO is about 4MB ADI file size. Loading, editing and saving works smoothly even with such big amount of data.
The single words must conform to a format to be evaluated as valid QSO information.
Example session (you are Paul, XX1XXX at JN20uu)
- Type in
8or80mfollowed by SPACE and HamCC recons you are using the 80m band - Now type
sorssband HamCC saves the mode SSB after you hit SPACE - We are ready for the first QSO? Ah,
DF1ASCis calling so type it in and hit SPACE (I won't repeat it from now on) - He told you his name Andreas and we prefix it like
'Andreas - You want to leave some comments? Type in
"#Ant Dipol, Rig FT-991A"
Your console should look something like
[ */- ] [ -c XX1XXX | -l JN20uu | -n Paul ]
[ 2024-08-20 d | 19:37 t | B 80m | M SSB | C DF1ASC | @ | . 59 | , 59 | ' Andreas | # Ant Dipol, Rig FT-991A ]
QSO> 8 s df1asc 'Andreas "#Ant Dipol, Rig FT-991A"
After hitting ENTER the QSO will be cached (number of cached QSOs is displayed, see marking) and some information will be stored for the next QSO.
v
[ */1 ] [ -c XX1XXX | -l JN20uu | -n Paul ]
[ 2024-08-20 d | 19:38 t | B 80m | M SSB | C DF1ASC | @ | . 59 | , 59 ]
QSO> _
The table shows all available pre- and postfixes. The following will work for API and if run as program.
Placeholder x for characters and 9 for numbers. Types marked with auto are prefilled but can be overwritten. Types marked with memory are retained for the session.
| Info | Format | Type | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Callsign | xx9xx | format checked | |
| Locator/QTH | @xx99xx or @QTH(Locator) | format checked | |
| Name | 'xxxx | _ for spaces | |
| Comment | #xxxx | memory | _ for spaces |
| Band | valid ADIF band | memory | |
| Mode | valid ADIF mode | memory | |
| RST rcvd | .599 | auto | default CW 599, phone 59 |
| RST sent | ,599 | auto | default CW 599, phone 59 |
| QSL rcvd | * | toggles the information | |
| Event ID | $xxxxxx | memory | Contest ID or one of POTA, SOTA |
| Rcvd Exch | %xxxxx | Contest exchange or xOTA reference | |
| Time | HHMMt | memory | partly time will be filled |
| Date | YYYYMMDDd | memory | partly date will be filled |
| Date/Time | = | auto | sync date/time to now (overwrites online mode for current QSO) |
| Frequency | 99999f | memory | in kHz |
| TX Power | 99p | memory | in W |
| Your Call | -cxx9xx | memory | |
| Your Locator | -lxx99xx | memory | |
| Your Name | -nxxxx | memory | _ for spaces |
| Finish QSO | linefeed | command | ENTER-Key |
| Clear QSO | ~ | command | clears input not cached QSO |
| Show QSO | ? | command | |
| Sent Exch | -N9 or -Nxx | auto | set start value (if number) for contest QSO No. or own xOTA ref |
| Toggle online | -o | command | toggles online (automatic date/time at saving) and offline |
| Show version | -V | command |
For callsigns, mode, locators, RST and contest id lowercase will be converted to uppecase.
Some info allows to use _ which will be converted to spaces.
QSO> #Long_comment 'Long_name
It is also possible to enclose the sequence in quotes to type spaces instead.
QSO> "#Long comment" "'Long name"
RST fields supports the whole range like 59 for phone, 599 for CW or -06 for digimodes.
For CW the last digit can also be an a for aurora, s for scatter or alike
(see R-S-T System on Wikipedia).
If you only give minutes to time e.g. 23t the time will be filled with the last hour as if 1823t was given
(assuming last time is something like 18:12 or so).
For partial dates it will be filled in the same manner for each 2 digits missing from left to right.
So the date 240327d, 0327d or 27d will be filled as if 20240327d was given.
HamCC also supports the hostilog shortcuts
for modes and bands (bands limited to hostilog shortwave mode).
Only the mode shortcut d will result in MFSK for ADIF compatibility.
HamCC adds two shortcuts for modes
mfor MFSK (which also works viad)dvfor DIGITALVOICE
If you typed in a contest id HamCC starts to increase a QSO contest exchange (see -N)
which you may want to communicate to your QSO partners. If the exchange is not a number it is simply carried as text.
The exchange is stored in STX and STX_STRING if it is a number. Else it is only stored in STX_STRING.
Changing the contest id resets the QSO counter.
[ */- ] [ -c XX1XXX | -l JN20uu | -n Paul ] [ $ ARRL-10 | -N 001 | % 007 ]
[ d 2024-08-20 | t 13:06 | B 10m | M SSB | C | @ | . 59 | , 59 ]
QSO> $ARRL-10 %007 _
The received contest data will simply be stored without further handling. If it is a number it is stored as SRX and SRX_STRING. Else it is stored as SRX_STRING only.
To leave the event mode for the following QSOs type a single $ followed by a SPACE.
For xOTA just enter one of SOTA, POTA e.g. $pota instead of the contest ID.
Then set your own xOTA reference with -Nxx-999 and track the QSO partners reference with %xx-999.
HamCC is also able to import QSOs from STDIN.
# echo -e "8 s df1asc 'Andreas 20241105d\n4 f df1asc 1202d" | hamcc --stdin
or put the QSOs in a file (one QSO per line)
e.g. qsos.txt
8 s df1asc 'Andreas 20241105d
4 f df1asc 1202d
Commandline invokation
# hamcc --stdin < qsos.txt
Another possibility is to use argument -q per QSO
# hamcc -q 8 s df1asc 'Andreas 20241105d -q 4 f df1asc 1202d
The source code is available at GitHub
HamCC - CassiopeiaConsole © 2024 by Andreas Schawo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0