WinWarbler Logging

WinWarbler Online Help Contents

WinWarbler can log QSOs as ADIF records in a text file, referred to as the Minilog; you can select the file to be used for this purpose. WinWarbler can also log QSOs in real time to DXKeeper, a full-functioned logging program that records and manages QSOs, tracks progress towards DXing objectives, prints QSL cards and QSL labels, and synchronizes with both eQSL.cc and the ARRL's Logbook of the World (LotW).

At the top of its Main window, WinWarbler's QSO Info panel provides textboxes and selectors in which to collect the information to be logged.  After capturing a callsign with DXKeeper running, this panel also displays the number of logged QSOs with that callsign, and the details of the most recent QSO with that callsign. You can expand or contract the height of the QSO Info panel to display more information by clicking the button in the panel's upper right corner. When all information is visible in the QSO panel, the surface of this button changes to ; clicking the button in this state reduces the height of the QSO Info panel to its minimum, and changes the button surface back to .

The transceiver's Receive and Transmit frequencies are displayed in the Xcvr Freq panel's RX textbox and TX selector, respectively; these frequencies are combined with audio offsets to compute the actual receive and transmit frequencies displayed in each mode's Receive and Transmit panels, and logged with QSOs. If Commander is running, these frequencies are updated automatically; if not, you must set them manually.

Some information can be directly captured from decoded data by double-clicking on received words in a PSK receive pane or RTTY receive pane. Double-clicking a received callsign, for example, will place that callsign in the QSO Info panel's Call textbox, and initialize many items:

• if clear QSO Info on callsign capture is enabled, all QSO Info panel textboxes except the callsign textbox will be cleared

• the TX Pwr textbox is set from the default value specified in the Configuration window's PSK tab, RTTY tab, CW tab, or Phone tab

• the QSL Msg textbox is set from its default value specified in the Log panel panel on the Configuration window's Log tab

• if Contest Mode is enabled

  • the Contest text box is set to the contest named in the Configuration window's Contesting panel

  • the rst S and rst R textboxes are set to 59 or 599 as a function of the current mode

• if Contest Mode is disabled

  • the Contest, TX#, and RX# text boxes are disabled if the Don't log contest, TX#, or RX# if contest mode is disabled option is enabled

  • if the logged button is clicked, values for Contest, TX#, and RX# will not be recorded with the QSO

• if initialize RST items to 59/599 is enabled, the rst S and rst R textboxes are set to 59 or 599 as a function of the current mode

• if DXKeeper is running and Automatic Lookup is enabled, then

  • DXKeeper will display all previous QSOs with the callsign, perform a callbook lookup (if installed and enabled), and perform a DXCC database lookup

  • information logged in previous QSOs, found in the selected callbook, or found in the DXCC database is used to set the  DXCC selector, to set the Grid, Via, QTH, IOTA, CQ, ITU, State, County, and Province textboxes, and to record the Country Code and Continent

  • the Call textbox's caption will indicate the number of previous QSOs with this callsign

  • details of the most recent QSO with this station are displayed in the expanded QSO info panel

• if DXKeeper is not running but DXView is running, then DXView will perform a DXCC database lookup to set the DXCC selector, to set  the IOTA, CQ, ITU, and State textboxes if they can be unambiguously determined from the callsign, and to record the Country Code and Continent

• if DXView is running

  • DXView's Info and World Map windows will display the callsign's location

  • the Az and Path will be updated from DXView's most recent antenna heading

• if DXView is not running Path will be set to the default Path

• if Pathfinder is running, it is directed to perform a QSL route search for the callsign

Manually keying a callsign into the Call textbox and then striking the Enter or Tab keys will also perform the above actions. 

Clicking the ? button to the right of the Call textbox's caption will direct DXKeeper (if running) to do the following with the station whose callsign is shown in the Call textbox:

• produce a filtered display showing previous QSOs 

• perform a callbook lookup

• record DXCC, Grid, Via, QTH, IOTA, CQ, ITU, State, County, Province, Continent and Country Code information obtained from previous QSOs, found in the selected callbook, or found in the DXCC database 

• update the Call textbox's caption to indicate the number of previous QSOs -- unless WinWarbler's Contest Mode is enabled and the current QSO duplicates the callsign, band, and mode of a previous QSO, in which case the Call textbox's caption will indicate  Dup!

• display details of the most recent QSO with this station in the expanded QSO info panel

Double-clicking a textbox's caption will direct DXKeeper (if running) to filter its log page display to show only QSOs that match the textbox's value, and underline that caption for 1 second. For example, double-click the word QTH in the QSO Info panel when the QTH textbox contains Miami will direct DXKeeper to filter its log page display to show only QSOs whose QTH is Miami. 

If DXKeeper isn't running, clicking the ? button to the right of the Call textbox's caption will direct DXView (if running) to display the location of the station whose callsign is shown in the Call textbox, and will direct Pathfinder (if running) to perform a QSL route search for that callsign.

To indicate that a QSO has started, click the QSO info panel's Begin button; the start time will appear in the panel caption. If set QSO start when RST received is enabled, entering a received signal report in the rst R textbox will automatically start the QSO, whether this is done manually, by double-clicking on a received signal report, or because Contest Mode or initialize RST items to 59/599 are enabled. Executing a macro containing the <RSTsent> or <TX_serial_number> command will also start a QSO.

To indicate that a QSO has ended, click the QSL info panel's End button; the end time will appear in the panel caption.

Double-clicking or striking the Enter key in the Grid textbox directs DXView to display the specified gridsquare's location.  Depressing the CTRL key while double-clicking the Grid textbox directs DXView to display the specified gridsquare's location and rotate the antenna to the short-path heading; depressing the ALT key while double-clicking the Grid textbox directs DXView to display the specified gridsquare's location and rotate the antenna to the long-path heading.

Clicking the Log button also ends the QSO, and checks the information contained in QSO info panel's textboxes and selectors. Errors or omissions are flagged by flashing the offending item's caption  in red font; the flag invalid callsigns and require DXCC options are considered when identifying errors and omissions. If no errors or omissions are found, the information to be logged is recorded in the minilog and sent to DXKeeper, if running. If Contest Mode is disabled and the don't log contest, TX#, or RX# if contest mode setting is disabled, values for Contest, TX#, and RX# are not recorded with the QSO. Depressing the CTRL key while clicking the Log button directs DXKeeper to immediately upload the information to eQSL.cc ; alternatively, checking the upload to eQSL.cc when logging box directs DXKeeper to upload each QSO as it is logged. To prepare for the next QSO, WinWarbler then clears all QSO info items except Freq and, if Contest Mode is enabled, TX#. You can clear the QSO info items without logging a QSO by clicking the X button in the QSO info panel's upper right corner.

Callsigns not containing at least one letter and one number are considered invalid unless flag invalid callsigns is disabled.

When operating PSK31 or PSK63, WinWarbler provides three receive panes, each capable of decoding an independent PSK signal. WinWarbler therefore independently records QSO information for each receive pane. The QSO info panel shows the information associated with the currently active receive pane, and the active receive pane is identified by number in the QSO info panel's caption. Making another receive pane active causes the QSO info panel to display information for the QSO being decoded in the newly-activated receive pane. This allows you to accumulate information captured from multiple signals, separately retaining each signal's information until a QSO is completed and logged.

When operating RTTY with both soundcard RTTY and an external modem both enabled, WinWarbler provides two receive panes, each capable of decoding an independent RTTY signal. By tuning both receive panes to the same signal, you can employ diversity decoding to more reliably capture information under difficult conditions. WinWarbler can thus be configured in two ways:

1. Independently record QSO information from the soundcard RTTY and external modem receive panes. In this case, the QSO info panel shows the information associated with the currently active receive pane and the active receive pane is identified by number in the QSO info panel's caption. Making the other receive pane active causes the QSO info panel to display information for the QSO being decoded in the newly-activated receive pane. This allows you to accumulate information captured from two different RTTY signals, separately retaining each signal's information until a QSO is completed and logged.

2. Merge QSO information from the soundcard RTTY and external modem receive panes, in which case the QSO info panel shows information captured from either receive pane. With both panes tuned to the same RTTY signal, this enables you capture information from whichever pane provides the best copy on a word-by-word basis.

The choice between these two configurations is governed by the RTTY Transmit panel's QSO Selector, which only appears when operating RTTY with both soundcard RTTY and an external modem both enabled. When the QSO Selector is set to S or X, QSO information captured from the two receive panes is merged; otherwise, QSO information is maintained independently for each receive pane.

To allow operation without removing one's hands from the keyboard, WinWarbler provides keyboard shortcuts for navigating among QSL info items and the Transmit Pane, and for invoking functions like starting or logging a QSO.

Macros can be invoked from QSO info text boxes and selectors by striking the appropriate Function key. Macro substitution commands are available for many QSO info items.

If DXKeeper is running, changes to items in WinWarbler's QSO info panel are immediately reflected in DXKeeper's Capture window; this allows you to begin logging a QSO in WinWarbler and complete it in DXKeeper's Capture window, should you desire to do so. However, changes to items in DXKeeper's Capture window are not reflected in WinWarbler's QSO info panel. If Contest Mode is enabled, logging a QSO via DXKeeper's Capture window will increment the Capture window's TX# textbox, but will not increment WinWarbler's TX# textbox; thus when switching from "logging from DXKeeper" to "logging from WinWarbler" in the middle of a contest, you must manually update WinWarbler's TX# textbox at the time you switch.

The Minilog

The Minilog is a text file whose simple name is the operator's callsign (with any forward slashes or back slashes replaced by hyphens) and whose suffix is .adi; the Minilog resides in the folder whose pathname is specified in the Minilog panel's pathname textbox. 

Every time you log a QSO, an ADIF record is appended to the Minilog's contents, whether or not DXKeeper is running. You can load the information contained in a Minilog into any logging application capable of importing standard ADIF. After importing the Minilog's contents into a logging application, you may wish to clear the contents of the Minilog; you can do so by clicking the Clear button on the Config window's Log tab.

If you will be importing the Minilog into the logging program DXbase, select export for DXbase in the Minilog panel on the Log tab of the Configuration window; this ensures that frequencies are represented in a format acceptable to DXbase.

Capturing Information from Decoded Data

To facilitate logging, WinWarbler provides several mechanisms for copying information from decoded data into textboxes in the QSL info panel.

• Right-clicking in a receive display pane in which one or more contiguous characters have been selected produces a window with buttons that let you choose a destination textbox in the QSL Info panel into which those characters are copied.

• Selecting one or more contiguous characters in a receive display pane 

  • while not depressing the ALT key, copies those characters to the Windows Clipboard

  • while depressing the ALT key,

    • if the selected characters are a valid gridsquare, copies those characters to the Grid textbox

    • if the selected characters are a URL, directs the selected browser to navigate to that URL

    • otherwise, copies the selected characters to the QTH textbox

  • while depressing the ALT and CTRL keys with Contest Mode disabled, copies those characters to the Comment textbox

  • while depressing the ALT and CTRL keys with Contest Mode enabled, copies those characters to the RX# textbox

• Double-clicking on a word in a receive pane with neither ALT nor CTRL depressed copies that word to the appropriate QSL info textbox:

  • if the word contains both letters and digits, it is assumed to be the station's callsign and placed in the call textbox; the following actions are taken:

    • the TX Pwr and QSL Msg textboxes are set from their default values in the Configuration window's Log tab's Default Settings panel

    • if Contest Mode is enabled

      1. the Contest text box is set to the contest ID named in the Configuration window's Contest tab

      2. the rst S and rst R textboxes are set to 59 or 599 as a function of the current mode

    • if initialize RST items to 59/599 is enabled, the rst S and rst R textboxes are set to 59 or 599 as a function of the current mode

    • if DXKeeper is running and Automatic Lookup is enabled, then

      1. DXKeeper will display all previous QSOs with the callsign, perform a callbook lookup (if installed and enabled), and perform a DXCC database lookup

      2. information logged in previous QSOs, found in the selected callbook, or found in the DXCC database is used to set the  DXCC selector, to set the Grid, Via, QTH, IOTA, CQ, ITU, State, County, and Province textboxes, and to record the Country Code and Continent

      3. the Call textbox's caption will indicate the number of previous QSOs with this callsign

      4. details of the most recent QSO with this station are displayed in the expanded QSO info panel

    • if DXKeeper is not running but DXView is running, then DXView will perform a DXCC database lookup to set the DXCC selector, to set  the IOTA, CQ, ITU, and State textboxes if they can be unambiguously determined from the callsign, and to record the Country Code and Continent

    • if DXView is running, it will display the location of that callsign

    • if Pathfinder is running, it is directed to perform a QSL route search for the callsign

  • if the word contains only letters, it is assumed to be the operator's name and placed in the name textbox

  • if not in Contest Mode and the word contains two or three digits, it is assumed to be a signal report. If the word is in received text, it is placed in the rst R textbox;  ff the word is in transmitted text, it is placed in the rst S  textbox

  • if in Contest Mode and the word contains only digits, it is assumed to be a serial number and is placed in the RX# textbox

• Double-clicking a word in a receive pane while depressing the ALT key copies that word to the QTH textbox unless the word is a valid 4-character or 6-character Maidenhead gridsquare identifier, in which case it is placed in the Grid textbox and DXView, if running, is directed to display that grid square's location. If the DXCC selector is set to K, KH6, or KH7 and the word is a valid US State abbreviation, then the State selector will be set accordingly; similarly, if the DXCC selector is set to VE and the word is a valid Canadian Province abbreviation, then the Province selector will be set. 

• Double-clicking a word in a receive pane while depressing the CTRL key copies that word to the Via textbox. 

• Double-clicking a word in a receive pane while simultaneously depressing the ALT and CTRL keys

  • with Contest Mode is disabled, appends that word to the Comment textbox

  • with Contest Mode is enabled, copies that word to the RX# textbox

Summary of QSL info destinations when double-clicking a decoded word in a receive pane

If, when you click the Log button, one or more QSO info textboxes contain invalid information, their labels will blink in red font until you correct their contents and again click the Log button; callsigns not containing at least one letter and one number are considered invalid unless the flag invalid callsigns box is unchecked. Log entries are appended to a file that WinWarbler creates in its application folder; this file's simple name is your callsign, and its file extension is .ADI -- e.g. AA6YQ.ADI. You can import the log entries in this file into your ADIF-compatible logging program; this can be done while WinWarbler is running. After successfully importing these entries, click WinWarbler's ClrLog button  to delete all log entries from WinWarbler's log file.

Information Logged

The following table lists all information logged with a QSO, macro substitution commands and  ADIF tags for each. The QSL info panel column indicates whether the item is always visible in the QSL info panel, only visible when the QSL info panel is expanded, or never visible:

Notes:

1. striking the Enter or Tab keys after keying in a callsign is equivalent to clicking the ? button - the Lookup operation is invoked

2. if the callsign begins with an exclamation point or ends with an /am or /mm suffix, WinWarbler will not check it for validity and DXKeeper will ignore it from an awards tracking perspective

3. the US State and Country items will only appear if the DXCC selector is set to K, KH6, or KL7

4. letting the mouse cursor hover over the contents of the DXCC selector will display an explanatory popup bearing the full name of the selected DXCC entity

5. WinWarbler logs the actual receive frequency -- the transceiver receive frequency modified by specified offsets in CW, Phone, and FSK RTTY modes, and modified by the audio offsets in PSK and AFSK RTTY modes 

6. the Comment and QSL msg items share space; to toggle between them, click the ~ button to the right of the currently-visible item

7. the Canadian Province item will only appear if the DXCC selector is set to VE

8. the Mode is primarily determined by the Main window's Mode panel; if Phone is selected, the Mode is determined by the Phone Xcvr Mode setting

9. the proper Country Code is automatically set whenever a DXCC entity prefix is selected

10. striking the Enter or Tab keys after keying in a grid square directs DXView, if running, to display the location of that grid square

11. if split frequency operation is enabled, WinWarbler logs the actual transmit frequency -- the transceiver transmit frequency modified by specified offsets in CW Phone and FSK RTTY mode, and modified by the audio offsets in PSK and AFSK RTTY modes; if split frequency operation is not enabled, then the transceiver's current VFO frequency is used in place of the transceiver transmit frequency

12. the receive frequency is taken from the frequency displayed in the Main window's Receive panel for the currently active mode

13. the transmit frequency is taken from the frequency displayed in the Main window's Transmit panel for the currently active mode

Generating DX Spots

If SpotCollector is running and configured to generate outgoing cluster spots, clicking the QSO info panel's Spot button will generate an outgoing spot for the station designated by the call textbox on the current receive frequency. You can specify default spot notes; if no default spot notes are specified, the outgoing spot note will indicate the QSO's mode. If the QSO Info panel's grid box contains a valid grid square, it will be included in the spot notes; if the  Transmit and Receive panel's frequencies are different, the difference will be included in the spot notes as a split. 

Depressing the CTRL key while clicking the Spot button will prompt you to specify the spot notes. If you want SpotCollector to generate a local spot rather than one sent to all clusters, depress the ALT key or the SHIFT key while clicking the Spot button.

If the Spot button is disabled ("grayed out"), then either SpotCollector is not running, or its running but not configured to generate outgoing cluster spots

Keyboard Shortcuts

To allow operation without removing one's hands from the keyboard, WinWarbler provides keyboard shortcuts for navigating among the QSO Info items Xcvr Freq items, and the Transmit Pane, and for initiating actions. Keyboard shortcuts can be used whenever the mouse cursor resides in a QSO Info item or the Transmit pane.