Whatcha guys using?

N3FJP ARRL Field Day Contest Log 5.8

Yeah, this.

N3FJP

N1MM, especially when BroncoGlenn sets up all of the networking and it's ready to go!  It worked great, and he made it painless.

I've had some extremely bad experience with N3FJP losing log entries and the server randomly disconnecting. It's also not very good for cw or digi.

If you're just using one station on ssb its probably ok.

Say what?  I've not had any such issues, and all I do is CW.  Anecdotal, I know, but N3FJP works great for me (I'm not a hard core contester).

With that said, however, you might only want to use the N3FJP Field Day log, if you also use their Amateur Contact Log for general logging.

Hmm.

Both of the clubs I field day with swear by N3FJP's software.  The bigger club runs 4A and logged ~ 3,000 QSOs
last year with 2 stations dedicated to cw on the overnight.  The little club usually operates at 2A but everyone in the club likes code.  Of all of the drama I've experienced at field days I can say logging software has never been an issue.

Attached File


It is a trick I got from the Russians.

We invented the Fisher Space Pen at an ungodly cost. This is what the Russians used.

A necessity for guerrilla portable operations

Picc's is a digital logging device.

I use SQUIRL.  Very fast, very easy.

http://www.qsl.net/kc8opv/squirl-fd/

Saves all to easy to read text files.

I've used with with the local club for 5 or 6 Field Days, always good.

The CW issue I have is that it won't let you use enter to send the next part of the exchange like virtually every other logger out there. It forces you to use the F key macros. So I can't just sit there bouncing on the enter key to call CW; instead I have to press <IIRC> F1, then when I type the other station's call, I have to hit F5 (instead of enter) to send the exchange, etc. It also won't allow you to leave a partial class and tab into the section field - e.g. if i type 3<TAB> instead of it letting me enter the section, it actually has the gall to ding at me and refuse to move the cursor until I delete the 3. That's just horrible design for doing high speed head copy.

My club has the full license for all of his loggers and at 3 separate events now we've had issues where the server either dropped logged contacts (in one case, 25 CW contacts) or it just randomly dropped off the network, leaving me unable to continue in local mode and having to grab a pencil and notepad in the middle of an exchange.

N1MM and WriteLog have their own quirks, and especially can be annoying to configure, but I've never had them lose contacts or lock up because of a network failure.

It does make dupe checking somewhat tedious though

Ah, OK.  I don't know anything about that stuff, and have never used it.   I do everything by hand.   I just type in the call, class, and section, and then send my info with a paddle.

Semi-old school, but I'm not trying to set any records.  Just make a few contacts.

With SQUIRL it will beep and flash at you if you enter a dupe.

N3FJP and no issues either in either contests or daily logging. N1MM is another program that seems to work well also.

Yeah, the other CW guy in the club who uses a bug has no problem with it

Contesting is my main ham activity though so I have a certain way I like to do it. When I'm backpacking I'm fine with a straight key and a note pad. But whenever we do a contest I tend to take things way too seriously.

I built this for winter field day so N3FJP could key my KX3.



It worked, but the software was annoying.