Had experimented quite a bit with N1MM’s super big contesting logger, which I believe I will still be using for Field Day next month. But I still wanted to find something that…
- integrates with fldigi (and a couple other digital-mode programs I’d want to use)
- is designed for regular day-to-day (i.e. non-contest) logging
- is good for managing logs (e.g. fixing things after the fact)
- integrates with LoTW from the ARRL
…and log4om appears to be exactly that. I (mostly) like how it looks, how it’s designed and laid out, and the incredible flexibility.
Yes, there was frustration and swearing involved in getting it to work.
The YouTube videos from the software’s author are very informative and helpful, but boy howdy does that guy need a lesson in what to drink before recording his voice. He clears his throat very loudly right into the microphone. A lot. It’s deafening. It was almost enough to make me throw in the towel and search for something else.
Well anyway, after a few hours of reading the forums and re-watching a couple videos, and applying some I-can-do-my-own-IT-support efforts, I finally got fldigi and log4om working together nicely. Manage to receive some PSK31, and enter a fake log entry (and watch the fldigi log line get picked up automatically by log4om).
Then switched to CW, did a little more wrangling and swearing, then suddenly remembered that when fldigi is doing CW, it does not send “keying” info to the radio. Rather, it transmits tones from the soundcard (same as it does for all its other digital modes). Well, duh. That means the radio should NOT be in CW mode at all. It should still be in [DATA][USB] mode.
And doggone it if I didn’t make an actual CW contact with a fella in Michigan.
In so doing, now I have a real log entry that I can highlight and see if log4om will successfully leverage TQSL and sign and upload that contact to LoTW.
Wish me luck, and 73, OM de N0MQL SK
