Lately, I’ve been getting questions about whether a ham needs to log radio contacts, whether they need to submit a log, and how to do it. Logging is a complex topic that can require a long and detailed explanation, but I am going to focus on the questions I’ve been hearing lately. I’ll also provide some links for further investigation. Continue reading Should I Submit A Log?→
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Frank SWL (F14368), who writes: I’ve written three articles about the next contest project in January 2025, a list of our sponsors for 2024, and a list of listeners who worked this contest 2024. Check them out here: https://icomjapan.blogspot.com/ Frank also shared the following banner for the 2025 contest:
Lately, I’ve been getting questions about whether a ham needs to log radio contacts, whether they need to submit a log, and how to do it. Logging is a complex topic that can require a long and detailed explanation, but I am going to focus on the questions I’ve been hearing lately. I’ll also provide some links for further investigation. Continue reading Should I Submit A Log?→
Recently, I’ve been getting questions about whether a ham needs to log radio contacts, whether they need to submit a log, and how to do it. Logging is a complex topic that can require a long and detailed explanation, but I am going to focus on the questions I’ve been hearing lately. I’ll also provide some links for further investigation. For starters, the ARRL has a good introduction to logging.
A paper ham radio log
Why Keep A Log?
The FCC does not require you to log your amateur radio contacts. Many radio amateurs, especially if they just operate casually on 2m and 70 cm, don’t bother to keep a log. Probably the most common reason for having a log is to have a record of your radio contacts, in terms of stations worked, on what band and what conditions. This might be just for your own personal satisfaction or you might want to keep track of these contacts so you can get credit for an award, such as the ARRL Worked All States (WAS) award.
Paper or Electronic?
The Old School way of keeping a log is on paper as shown in the figure above. This approach is simple and reliable technology but is quite limited in the information age. These days, most hams that record log information store it electronically. Imagine that you log thousands of contacts over time and then want to find a particular callsign or location. Much better to do this electronically. There are many good software programs available, too many to list here. I currently use Amateur Contact Log from N3FPJ. The good news is that there is a standard file format for storing and moving ham radio contact information: Amateur Data Interchange Format (ADIF). If you want to change logging software, you export an ADIF file and import into the new program.
I Worked a Contest Station, Do I Have to Submit a Log?
Sometimes radio ham works a few stations that are active in a particular contest and they wonder if they must submit a log to the contest sponsors so that these these stations get credit for the contacts. The almost universal answer to this is: No. Don’t worry about submitting a contest log if you aren’t really “in the contest.” The stations you work still get credit for your contact with them. (This is true for all major contests…I am still looking for a contest where this is not true.) Contests are designed to encourage activity, so they want everyone to join in, even if they aren’t all that serious about contesting. (The contest sponsors will appreciate any and all logs submitted, so consider that.)
If I Am Actively Working a Contest, What Do I Do?
If you are actively participating in a contest, you should use a logging program that is tuned for that particular contest. This is important because the contest logging software knows about the scoring for the contest and lets you know if you have already worked a station you hear. The most popular logging software for contesting is the N1MM Plus software. There are other programs you can consider. Typically, you would use N1MM during the contest and then export the info into an ADIF file, which is imported into your “main” logging program.
What is a Cabrillo File?
While the ADIF file format is most universal in ham radio logging, there is another file format used for contesting. This is the Cabrillo file format. Your contest logging software can generate a Cabrillo file for submitting to the contest sponsor. You may also want to generate an ADIF file to import into your normal logging program.
I Worked a POTA Station, Do I Have to Submit a Log?
Parks On The Air (POTA) is set up so that only the activator station submits a log. If you are working an activator station, you are a hunter station. The POTA scores are all based on the activator logs and hunters cannot submit a log. What you can do is register on the POTA website to see the contacts that the activators have submitted for you.
I Worked a SOTA Station, Do I Have to Submit a Log?
Summits On The Air (SOTA) is set up so that both activators and chasers submit logs to the SOTA website. However, the SOTA system operates on the honor system, so an activator can claim a contact with you without you submitting a log. So if you hear a SOTA station, go ahead and work them. You don’t have to submit a log. On the other hand, if you want credit for chasing a summit, you need to submit a log. So that activator is fine not having you submit a log but you may want to do that to get credit for you.
How Do I Get Credit For Working A Country?
The gold standard for chasing countries, I mean entities, is DX Century Club (DXCC). If you are interested in DX, you should register with Logbook of The World (LoTW) with the ARRL. To get credit for working an entity (country), you need to submit your log and it must match the log submitted by the DX station. This is a higher level of confirmation because both parties must submit the log info and it must match within reasonable error limits.
There are other award systems for working countries, offered by QRZ, eQSL, etc.
How Do I Get Credit For Working a Grid on VHF/UHF?
The VHF UHF Century Club (VUCC) is the VHF/UHF equivalent to DXCC. Here the emphasis is on working maidenhead gridlocators on the bands above 50 MHz. Again, Logbook of The World is the database that authenticates confirmed contacts on these bands. Both parties must submit the log info and it must match within reasonable error limits.
What If Someone Needs My Log Submitted?
Most of the time, us normal hams are not considered DX. That is, that other station in the Cayman Islands doesn’t really need our contact confirmed. But there are exceptions. You might be in a state the other station needs confirmed. Or maybe it’s your county they need. In such a case, you might want to make a special effort to provide your log information to the right database. It will depend on what the other station needs…if they are going for an ARRL award, then Logbook of The World is the right place to upload your log. But they might be after a QRZ award or eQSL award, in which case you would need to provide your log to those websites.
Wrap Up
These are some of the questions I’ve been hearing.
What did I miss?
Anything else to add?
Many thank to SWLing Post contributor, Frank, who writes: Its me Frank SWL F14368 The SWL contest 2024 is now finished Can you please remind our listeners to send the logs before September 10, 2024 to this email address: swlcontest@gmx.fr All participants will receive an E-award ! The rules of the contest was here https://icomjapan.blogspot.com/2024/01/rules-of-swl-contest-2024-june-july.html […]
By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM In the run-up to the Nutty Idea XHDATA D-200 DX Contest, I really thought that sorting through the data might take a while. Why? Because I heard from so many people who said they had bought the D-220, were pleasantly surprised at its performance, and thought the contest sounded like fun. […]
Originally, the XHDATA D-220 DX Contest was intended to be on shortwave, but prompted by a question from Dennis, K2DCD, I consulted with Thomas (our Maximum Leader) and he said “I say with a radio this basic, simply go for anything and everything logged.” That makes sense and sounds like pure, unadulterated DXing pleasure. So […]
It’s everything to everyone. Field Day 2024 is about a month away. It’s a contest, readiness drill, science fair, publicity stunt, geek festival, and party all rolled into one. It’s the Grand Poobah of amateur radio events. And this year my challenge to Off Grid Ham readers is not to... Read more »
I was happy to contribute an article to the recent ARRL Parks On The Air (POTA) book. This piece is based on my Pikes Peak mountain topping article that appeared in the June 2023 issue of QST. This book is a collection of articles about POTA from 14 different authors, each writing about a different aspect of the program. The articles are all easy to read and generally provide a first-hand account of how the author has experienced POTA operating. There is plenty of beginner information and operating tips sprinkled throughout the book. More experienced POTA enthusiasts will probably pick up a few new ideas as well.
The Table of Contents below lists the articles and authors, giving you a good idea of the material covered. The meat of the book is only 118 pages long and it is quite easy to read.
My piece covered the triple activation I did from the summit of Pikes Peak, combining POTA, SOTA, and the June VHF Contest into one mountaintop adventure. For POTA, the park was the Pike National Forest (K-4404). I’ve done this type of combo activation in the past, sometimes just SOTA + POTA or just SOTA + VHF Contest. This time I did all three.
The book is available directly from the ARRL or from the usual book outlets such as Amazon.
Equipment and category After months during which we haven’t been able to travel because of Covid-19, and with a load of annual leave to use up at work, I thought it would be good to get away for a bit of a break at the end of November. I booked a hotel in the main…
For the last 15 years I have almost always operated CQWW SSB from M4A in the multi-single or multi-two categories. It’s one of the highlights of my year. However, with the current coronavirus situation limiting our ability to meet up, I found myself limited to a single operator entry this year. I decided to go…
This weekend saw the annual SSB Field Day event and once again I took part with the Camb-Hams at G3PYE/P. For the past couple of years, we’ve entered with a checklog because frankly life is too short for QRP and we got a lot more enjoyment from the contest by using an amp. This time,…
After I left you on the last post I had decided I was going to run a 240v AC line to my shack as well as a secondary 120v, 20A line for my computer and radio stuff. The idea was to get all this on line before the IARU HF Championship contest over the weekend so I got up early Friday (before my wife got up and complained that the power was off) and got to work. It took a whole lot longer than I had planned but the finished product is pretty clean and runs the SB-200 really well. My idle HV now sits at 2500v instead of 2400v and only sags to 2100v instead of 1800v.
In my last post I mentioned that I had planned to try out those Svetlana tubes I got at Hamcom last year in my SB-200. I swapped them out before the contest started and they seemed to tune up just fine, providing about 500W out on all bands with 80w of drive. I ran the whole contest with this setup.
The conditions were not very good until around local grey line when EU started coming in on 40m and 20m. Up until then, I was working almost exclusively NA stations which is pretty boring for a DX contest! Operations were pretty tame and according to N5EIL, the Reverse Beacon Network was reporting only 800 some unique calls operating in the contest which is pretty small number. None-the-less, I really enjoyed operating with the amp and the new antenna and got about 73,000 points from 440 contacts. I'm really finding this Gap Titan to work really well on 40, filling in several slots for DXCC on the band. Until now, I've never had a decent 40m antenna. Even the dipole I had up in Iowa was too short for any effective operation on the band.
The only thing that bugged me during the contest was the louder-than-ever AC cooling fan in the SB-200. Sunday I decided I'd look at fixing it. It's pretty trivial to remove the fan, just remember to shut the power off and let the amp sit for a while to bleed off the HV. I took the fan out, oiled it a bit and put it back but in all that, I actually made the fan louder. I needed a better solution. I ran to Fry's and picked up a few 80mm 12v computer fans and set to wiring them in. The easiest way to get 12v DC in the amp is to tap off the filament voltage (6.3v AC) and rectify it. (see image below) I used double sided foam tape to stick the fans on the inside of the tube chamber where the old fan sat and ran the wires through the mounting holes for the old fan. I hooked up the rectifier on the bottom of the chassis and measured about 15v DC on the output. Looks like I'll be over-volting the fans a bit but I have spares so if they fail, no big deal.
Keep in mind, in order to measure all this stuff I've had to move the amp to the operating position, plug it in, and power it on. There are LETHAL voltages present inside the cabinet. I had the fans hooked up and they were spinning. They were very quiet. I thought, "hmm how much air is moving now?" and made the (nearly) fatal mistake of sticking my hand inside the chassis to feel the air flow. I must have let my finger hit the filament clip (+2,500V) because in a moment I saw a flash of plasma, the undeniable sound of arcing, and that scent of lightly burnt flesh. My left arm went numb for about 10 seconds but I walked away from that incident with a few 2nd degree burns on my middle, and index fingers, and my thumb. BE CAREFUL AROUND HIGH VOLTAGE!!!
I almost didn't want to share this bit because it's probably the most stupid thing I have ever done but maybe my tale can help keep someone else from making the same mistake.
After I left things for a couple hours to nurse my hand (and my mind) I went back (with proper precaution) and luckily the amp survived the event. I put the Centron tubes back in and buttoned everything up, applied power, and was happy to see that the amp had not been destroyed. The breakers had tripped which probably prevented the whole thing from being far worse. Even more, I was happy to see that the Centron tubes were working far better than the Svetlana ones, providing 100w more output on all bands, at half the grid current, which meant I could drive the amp with 100w instead of 80w. Looks like the NIB tubes will go back on the shelf for backup. I let the amp sit for an hour or so and I was very pleased with the reduced noise - the amp is no louder than my computer fans now - and cooling performance. With the old fan, the top of the case would be quite warm to the touch, even when idling and now its only a few degrees over ambient.
The last thing to do before everything is perfect is to figure out how to keep the room cool. During the contest, my shack got up to 85 F quite a few times while the rest of the house was in 79 F range. Unfortunately the only thermostat in the house is in the bedroom, on the other end of the house. Running the furnace fan helps some but I think I need to balance the vents some more to make it really effective. Just new house things I guess!
The FT8 mode was first released as part of the WSJT-X software in 2017. This new digital mode was adopted relatively quickly and is now a major force in amateur radio. You’ve probably heard the praises and complaints about it. On the plus side, it enables radio contacts under very poor conditions while detractors say that it is not real ham radio because the computer is making the contact. FT8 is an excellent example of a disruptive technology, impacting daily ham radio operations. This summer, I had two operating experiences (VHF contests) that really drove this point home.
My temporary station setup on the porch for the VHF contest.
ARRL June Contest
In the ARRL June Contest, we had very good sporadic-e propagation on 6 meters (and even 2 meters). I used my IC-7610 for 6 meters and usually had one receiver listening on the SSB calling frequency and the other sitting on the FT8 frequency. My strategy was to operate FT8 while keeping an ear on the SSB portion of the band. If signals were present on SSB, I switched over to that mode. The idea is that the run rate on SSB is inherently faster (and more fun), so it is my preferred way to make contacts.
There was definitely activity on the SSB portion of the band, but it came and went throughout the contest. There were times that I was able to run on a frequency, calling CQ and having a steady stream of stations to work. Other times, I had to search and pounce, tuning around the band to find a new station to work. The FT8 story was different: most of the time there was consistent activity and new stations to work, but at a slower rate.
The FT8 operators tended to stay on FT8, even when the signals were strong. If they wanted to maximize their score, they probably should have switched over to SSB to make contacts at a faster rate. But they didn’t and that is their choice. (One thing I’ve come to accept is that I don’t control the choices that other radio hams make in terms of operating mode and band.) On 6 meters, I made 428 contacts with 80% of them on FT8. Radio operator decisions affect the types of QSOs made and if I focused only on SSB, I would surely have had more SSB contacts (but how many?)
CQ WW VHF Contest
In July, the CQ Worldwide VHF Contest was even more striking. While I was hoping for a repeat of the band conditions from June, the CQ WW conditions were not very good. However, I did manage to make QSOs using FT8 on 6 meters. The run rate was low and I often struggled to complete the exchange before the band shifted. Again, I listened on 6m SSB and picked up contacts there whenever possible. My QSO total for 6m was 164, with 90% of them via FT8.
After the contest, I heard from contesters that used only analog modes (SSB and CW) who reported that the contest was a complete bust. Even with hours of operating time, some folks only made 10 or 20 QSOs. This clearly tees up the choice: if you don’t want to work digital, you can severely limit your number of contacts. On the other hand, if you use FT8, you can make contacts under weak conditions, but at a slower rate with a computer in the loop.
Like many contesters, I would much rather have a nice run of QSOs on SSB filling up my log. It is just way more fun than sitting there watching the computer screen report the slow progress of FT8. But in the end, we all have the same choice when conditions are poor: actually making contacts using FT8 or sitting there hoping that band conditions improve enough to support SSB.
2 Meter Band
I did make some FT8 contacts on 2 meters, but found only a small number of operators using that mode. I expect that FT8 activity will increase on that band as people figure out they can squeeze out a few more contacts & grids using that mode.
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