Log Program Criteria

Over the years, my interests in ham radio have changed -- and that is one of the great things about the hobby. Early in my ham radio practice, I was a rag chewer. Then I became interested in DX and chasing country totals. Then I became interested in packet when PacketCluster first came into being and was part of a Midwest network as NB9C. Then came contesting. Then going out on DXpeditions. Now I'm looking at portable operations.Over all of this time, I've had a fairly complex logging program. Since I've started doing computers, I've only had two different logging programs -- very fortunate, in my opinion.But my current logging program was far too complicated for the amount that I used it.I haven't submitted cards for DXCC for years. I don't track 9,000 other awards. I don't run my radio much with my logging program. I don't do other modes with my logging program like RTTY, PSK, or CW.The biggest thing, though, was that when I went to use the program, I couldn't intuitively figure out what to do to start the stuff I wanted done. And since I use a ton of programs, I'm pretty good at figuring out how stuff works pretty fast.So earlier this year, with an upcoming DXpedition in mind, I decided to change my logging program. Absolutely nothing against my current logging program -- I'd still recommend it highly to most anyone. But, for me, the increasing feature set simply made it too complicated for what I was doing with radio.In my search, I evaluated programs based upon the following criteria:

• Seeing the log and the QSO at the same time. I didn't want to look across a row in a database to see all of my QSO information with a particular station. I wanted it presented in a form that made sense.
• Easy import and export. I do almost all of my radio work using WriteLog. Contesting or not, everything is ready to go for the modes I use. Essentially, I need to be able to export WriteLog files to my logging program.
• Complete LOTW compatibility. Not every ham in the world can have a PC and internet connectivity enabling Log of The World uploads. But a huge majority can and that's what I'd like to promote using for QSLing.
• Easy tracking of QSL status. I want an easy way to update when I send out a QSL in response to a receipt from a fellow ham who is not using LOTW.
• Decent support. Mostly determined by how long the program has been around and the updates to it. That is a bit subjective on my part, but that's OK.

Pretty simple, huh?The point isn't that you should go and use this criteria for getting your logging program. The point is that everyone's work in radio is different. You should evaluate your tools based upon your radio work and establish your own criteria for selecting programs.Scot, K9JY