Logbook

I have always kept a paper log.

Not for contests, of course, but for everything else. Well, not 2m FM contacts, for the most part, and certainly not those 2m FM contacts made while portable. But everything else. Contests are logged, first in CT (a backup copy from someone else), and since 2004, N1MM Logger.

All of those paper logs, and all the ADIF files from N1MM, end up in DXLab Suite's DXKeeper.

The DXLab Suite lets me track things like DXCC progress, WAS, and VUCC. But to think of it as a logger that track awards would be a gross miscarriage of justice. There are 7 or 8 different modules in the suite, all of which are independent programs, but all of which function together. It's pretty cool.

Examples of what it does:

• Logs contacts
• Tracks award progress and creates submissions
• Collects DX spots from net-based or packet clusters and announces them by voice
• Tracks solar reports from WWV and predicts propagation
• Displays a map of the world and plots logged contacts or DX spots ... or the country you are working
• Digital interface that will do at least PSK31 (and others - not one I use)
• Controls your radio via CAT or C-IV
• Generates and prints QSL labels, envelope labels, or actual QSL cards
• Discovers QSL routes and managers and enters them in the log

I probably need to do a demo of this program for the local club. It really is a DXLab Suite.

Did I mention that AA6YQ distributes it free? You still have to pay Bill Gates to run it, but otherwise, nothing.

As for always keeping a paper log ... I kept one of stations heard on the AM broadcast band when I was a kid and later, of stations I'd talked to on CB.