If I'm going to take the time to compose a reply, I'll do it for the
list, figuring that others might also be interested. I faced this
question when I got back on the air in 2003 after a long absence. It may
have been dumb luck, but I am VERY pleased with DXKeeper, the choice I
made then. I've recommended it to many friends, and those that have said
anything about it have said they like a lot too.
DXKeeper is by Dave, AA6YQ, and is part of a suite of six or eight
programs that can be used individually or linked together. They are all
FREE, and are supported on a Yahoo Group that Dave actively monitors and
answers questions, usually within a few hours! I started with DXKeeper,
the logging program, and soon added DXView, which looks up beam headings
for a call (or country), sunrise/sunset, computes distance from your
QTH, tells you on what bands and modes you've worked that country, etc.
DXKeeper has a nice logging window for entering the QSO, and when you
enter a call, all QSOs with that station show up in the main log window.
There are spaces in the entry window and the log for most of what we
log, including name, QTH, State/Province, county, reports, frequency,
mode, grid, zone, power, comments, notes on QSLing, and lots of other
stuff. It keeps track of lots of awards, including all the major ones.
It makes applying for DXCC and WAS like falling off a log. It uploads
and downloads to LOTW, eQSL, and ClubLog almost automatically when you
tell it to do it. DXKeeper imports logs in ADIF (.adi) and several other
formats from other logging programs. I'm an active contester, and after
each contest, I export the log as an ADIF, import it into DKKeeper, and
let DXKeeper send it to LOTW, eQSL, and ClubLog. And it keeps track of
the awards that I chase -- DXCC, WAZ, CQ Fields, and IOTA. DXKeeper
will print QSL labels for both the QSO info and mailing address on a
half dozen sizes of standard adhesive labels that you can run through
your printer.
http://www.dxlabsuite.com/Presentations/DXing%20with%20DXLab%202014-09-19.pdf
http://www.dxlabsuite.com/
The other parts of the suite include a rig control program that does
lots of stuff if you need it (I simply use it to read frequency and mode
from the radio to put in DXKeeper); a very nice "front end" for freeware
RTTY/PSK programs; a program that collects DX spots that you choose from
geographic areas and sources that you choose, checks them against your
log, and gives you a display of countries, states, etc. that you need
and that are spotted in your geographic region. I use all of those. I
don't use one that looks up QSL info, or one that does propagation
prediction.
AA6YQ received a Technical Excellence Award several years ago for this
software.
73, Jim K9YC
On 2/11/2018 8:28 PM, Michael Goins wrote:
Been off the air a while and getting re set up with a old laptop here. I've
never computer logged, etc. so I'm looking for advice about programs to
consider for the computer. Chase DX, want to work PSK, RTTY again, etc.
Please reply off list.
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
|