The AM Forum

A lot of people have asked me to make a generally available version of the logging software I use for my own personal use.  This software is derived from the logger we use for the AM Rally, and versions are also used to manage the Lonely Guys AM Net, when I'm net control of the Grey Hair Net.

(http://www.classeradio.com/qelog/qelog_help.jpg)

A little background:  Things started to get out of hand using Excel / Paper when I reached about 500 AM Stations logged.  It was just too hard to find stations, even though the list was sorted by call district and then by call suffix.  Another problem was to remember who was checked in to a QSO, when I last worked the station, and handling updates to station information.  It was a very manual process.

So, the solution was to write logging software to handle the job.  Now I have more than 1500 stations logged.

Finding a station and "checking them in" is limited to how fast you can type (so it's quite fast).  You click on the window above the Call Sign column, and start typing the call you want to find.  The list is instantly sorted, and matching entries are propagated to the top of the list.  Once the station you want is at the top, you simply type the enter key, and that station is checked in.

There are customized versions of this for the AM Rally, the Lonely Guys and Grey Hair Net.

Yes, there is other logging software out there, but this one is very simple to use, efficient and keeps copies of "sessions" for archival purposes.  The database is a plain text file which can be imported into Excel and other programs, if desired. 

I have made this available because I have been asked by many folks if they could use this software.  Here is the link for more information:

http://www.classeradio.com/qelog (http://www.classeradio.com/qelog)

Can it import or export ADIF?

Not at the moment, but if that's a feature that would be useful, I could probably add it.  Data conversion is usually not a big problem to solve.

ADIF functionality would allow easy import and export since most logging programs use it.

I'd have to agree about ADIF.
I use LOG4OM which is a free program and every bit as functional as HRD which is not free. Like most logging programs, it uses ADIF. I did not submit last year's N1BCG AM event logs because ADIF was not supported. It's very easy to export any / all contacts to ADIF, so at least if your program can import ADIF, would make it much more user friendly.

Wow, doesn't LOG4OM support exporting or "saving-as" to some format other than ADIF, such as CSV ?  QELog store its database in plain text, CSV (except that | is the delimiter instead of a comma).  This is easily imported into almost anything that resembles a database such as Excel, Access, Paradox, etc.

I've messed around with some other logging programs before I finally wrote this one.

None of the ones I tried had what I considered to be a fast search and check-in feature (at least the ones I tried weren't fast enough for me).

I know when I'm running a big net, sometimes I'll do a call-up and get 8 or 10 stations checking in within a 30 second or LESS period of time.  The ability to check stations at a high rate and without removing one's hands from the keyboard while doing so is a must over here.

However, back to the original feature request - yes, I am looking at implementing import from (and exporting to) ADIF.

Regards,  Steve

From what I can tell, most logging programs out there are not designed for net operations. Most are designed for serial QSOs: one after another. Many programs are highly optimized for contest operations. So, by including functions more suited for net/check-in type operations, you've provided some functionality not available elsewhere.

ADIF and Cabrillo seem to be the two standard data formats in logging software, with ADIF being the more common. It's been around since about 1997. The standard is up to version 3. There are also text-to-ADIF and Excel-to-ADIF converters available (most are free).

You know, it might but the "export" function defaults to ADIF.
I had 20+ years of logs that used a program written in dBase - man I miss dBase! I finally got the logs imported by going from dBase, to Excel, to CSV. Found a guy in Germany who wrote a CSV to ADIF conversion and that crossed the last bridge for me.