Contents - Index

Main Log

The 'Main Log' page provides a permanent place to store ADIF QSOs of note. You could store all your important QSOs there, or you could just store the ones of particular interest, that are suitable for an award, or as a record of places/people/grid squares worked. Entries in the Main Log can be plotted on the maps in a number of different ways. The 'Main Log' menu-subitems let you do this: all QSOs, confirmed or unconfirmed, or for a particular band or mode. The Main Log stores ADIF-format (Link will open in your Browser) logs, which, unlike the Cabrillo format, have the facility to add positional information in their tags: either in the dedicated 'LAT' or 'LON' tags, or in the encoded 'GRIDSQUARE' tag. The QSOs, therefore, do not rely on the callsign database for their positional information, and indeed, are likely to be more accurate than positions derived from the postcode and suburb, which is the method that is used to geocode the callbook data.

The Main Log is used as the datasource for the Grid Squares table, which is designed to be an easy way to keep a tabular and visual record of accumulated Grid Squares that might be needed when working for an operating award, or as a personal record.

QSOs are added to the Main Log through the 'Main Log > Load Main Log' menu-item. If there are existing QSOs in the Main Log, you will be given the option of overwriting them, or you can append the new QSOs to the existing ones. A better method is to Merge QSOs from the Auxiliary Log. You can then check that they are indeed the QSOs you want before appending, and make any last minute edits. You can also merge just the selected QSOs from the Auxiliary Log. The programme is designed to be quite flexible in its approach.

When you first start the programme, you will see that there are already some QSOs in the Main Log. These dummy QSOs are there to act as an example, demonstrating the capabilities of plotting in various ways, and export facilities. Once you have familiarised yourself with the programme, you can easily Delete them with the 'Main Log > Delete Main Log' menu-item, then replace them with your own log entries.

There are a number of other log-tools available to the Main Log: 'Show on Map', 'Copy Line to Clipboard', 'Edit Line', 'Delete Line', and 'Delete All Selected'. These are accessed by right-clicking the desired log lineand choosing from the context-menu.

Note that the Main Log facilities are only available during the Trial Period, and if the programme is subsequently registered with an 'Advanced' licence. You can always upgrade a 'Standard' licence if you wish to enable Main and Auxiliary Log storage and plotting.