Re: [IRCA] Old school logging

[d1028gary@xxxxxxxxxxx]

<<< I have found over 35 years of working with âprogram peopleâ at VOA that there is NO amount of text or verbiage that can adequately describe or validate a reception when compared to actually hearing it. There MAY be some notes required to put the recorded audio in context but thatâs just another âcolumnâ in a spreadsheet or table element in a database. 
Besides, with a recording youâve got permanent record and can let others help in IDing something you canât. >>> 

This is the main reason why I feel that live ocean coast DXing is so thrilling. You can make an immediate recording of an exotic DX station, post a link to the MP3 recording within an hour, and have a permanent record of the DX reception for all to evaluate and enjoy. 

The popularity of the new west coast "hot spot" DXing locations like Rockwork 4 and Cape Perpetua was all based on exceptional DX recordings made at the locations. When you hear a DU station at an unprecedented signal strength (or a new DU station that is a west coast first), a recording is the only way to accurately evaluate the reception. Logging descriptions are highly subjective, and what is "strong" to one DXer might be "moderate" to another. With a recording you can always make you own independent, accurate assessment of the signal strength. 

Both my style of my live ocean coast DXing and the type of logs that I keep could be considered in the "stone age," but the DX recordings are what provides long-term excitement for me, and the reason why I keep going back to places like the Oregon coast and Hawaii. The recordings are also the main reason why others feel attracted to these areas, whether the recordings are from me or another DXer (Bill, Tom, Craig, etc.). 

Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA) 


----- Original Message -----

From: "Bill Whitacre" <bw@xxxxxxx> 
To: "Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America" <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Monday, October 9, 2017 6:09:21 AM 
Subject: Re: [IRCA] Old school logging 

This is an interesting discussion. 

Seems to me that logging is another part of the hobby where there is no one ârightâ or âbestâ way to do it. Weâre all doing this because itâs either fun or we donât have anything else to do. Either way you need to find a way to keep track of what you hear thatâs âfunâ and adds to your enjoyment of the hobby or you wonât keep doing it. 

An Excel spreadsheet is a very powerful tool â you can do LOTS of things with a spreadsheet. 

BUT there are some things that you really aught to be using a database for. One is making your logs available on-line. If thatâs not important to you then you can stop reading. 

For me itâs a satisfying part of the hobby - not only are my âlogsâ just sound samples of what Iâve heard but I also get a kick out of figuring out how to coax MySQL, PHP and HTML to show what I want to show in the way I want to show it. 

An example: http://realmonitor.com/am_logs_qh9.php 

Thatâs not for everyone, I understand. 

â 

It is also true that HOW you DX dictates HOW you LOG. I use a Perseus and very often use Mestor to record TOH and other pieces of an hour. So Iâve ALWAYS got some recorded audio to work from. I call it TiVO DXing. 

I have found over 35 years of working with âprogram peopleâ at VOA that there is NO amount of text or verbiage that can adequately describe or validate a reception when compared to actually hearing it. There MAY be some notes required to put the recorded audio in context but thatâs just another âcolumnâ in a spreadsheet or table element in a database. 

Besides, with a recording youâve got permanent record and can let others help in IDing something you canât. 

â 

Seems to me that if there were one place [website] that could handle anyone's loggings and sounds in various formats then that might be a useful option. 

I used to âhostâ our cityâs Little League teams website. Over the nearly 10 years that I did the job I devised ways to show schedules, pictures, results via form input from the coaches and even a testing module for prospective umpires. When I stopped doing it I thought the organization would struggle to replace me. They quickly found a site on-line that did all that I did and more for TONS of sports teams all over the country and became just another one of their customers. 

People donât do things like that for free though â they do it to make $$ â even though what they charge any single customer might not seem like much. 

I have not looked at things like mwlist.org <http://mwlist.org/> as a place for putting my loggings but from what Tim Tromp has described it might be a place to consider. 

There may be others and Iâll bet hams have developed some solutions to this that might be adaptable to DXers use as well. 

Just my 2 cents. 

Bill Whitacre 
Alexandria, VA 

â 

> On Oct 9, 2017, at 8:32 AM, Russ Edmunds <wb2bjh@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: 
> 
> First, I'll note that I've been mostly inactive the past couple of years, 
> and the only reports I send out are from DX Tests, and even those ( Such as 
> WBOB-600 ) don't always respond even with recordings. 
> 
> I agree with others than sometimes a recording isn't practical, such as on 
> my short drive to work around SR. 
> 
> I migrated all of my logs for AM, FM, & LW to Access databases a few years 
> ago ( previously they'd been in Excel). I use Access because it's a 
> database where I can generate any sort of output file in terms of selection 
> or sort. I don't use a paper backup, rather I regularly update 2 backup 
> copies contained on memory sticks, one of which is stored offsite. 
> 
> 
> Russ Edmunds 
> 15 mi NW Phila 
> Grid FN20id 
> <wb2bjh@xxxxxxxxx> 
> 
> AM: Modified Sony ICF2010's (3) barefoot w/whip 
> FM: Yamaha T-80 & T-85, each w/ Conrad RDS Decoder; 
> Onkyo T-450RDS; Tecsun PL-310 ( 4); Sony XDRS3HD; 
> modified Sony ICF2010's (2) w/APS9B @ 15'; 
> modified Sony ICF2010 w/whip 
> 
> 
> On Sun, Oct 8, 2017 at 9:56 PM, Russ Johnson <radiok3pi@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: 
> 
>> I do. 
>> 
>> I handwrite in a paper log (I use an ARRL ham radio logbook and modify the 
>> columns). Then transfer to excel spreadsheet when convenient. 
>> Periodically back it up to an external hard drive. 
>> 
>> I can't think of any "logging power" one would need beyond what you can do 
>> in a spreadsheet. At least not for me. 
>> 
>> Russ Johnson 
>> Lexington NC 
>> 
>> On Sun, Oct 8, 2017 at 9:50 PM Mike Sanburn <mikesanburn@xxxxxxxxxxx> 
>> wrote: 
>> 
>>> I have often wondered how many DXers use Excel spreadsheet as an AM radio 
>>> log? It is always a good idea to keep things backed up with some old 
>> school 
>>> hard copy, ie paper. How many official logging software brands do we know 
>>> of know? ms 
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPod 
>>> 
>>>> On Oct 8, 2017, at 5:16 PM, Martin Foltz <martinfoltz@xxxxxxx> wrote: 
>>>> 
>>>> Mark, 
>>>> 
>>>> I write details in a Composition book for what I hear daily. 
>>>> My log is a Microsoft Excel file that I have developed over time. It 
>> has 
>>> several tabs. The main log tab has all the usual columns for frequency, 
>>> calls, city, state, format, etc. Another tab is statistics that 
>>> automatically counts how many stations heard in each state and province. 
>>> Other tabs are to track my reception reports and veries. 
>>>> 
>>>> Martin Foltz 
>>>> Mission Viejo CA 
>>>> 
>>>>> Date: Thu, 05 Oct 2017 23:01:56 -0400 
>>>>> From: Mark Pettifor <mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
>>>>> To: IRCA List <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
>>>>> Subject: [IRCA] Old school logging 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Greetings all, 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Just wondering what your favorite log pages are for keeping logs of 
>> BCB 
>>>>> DX. I made a spreadsheet a while back, but in hindsight, it isn't the 
>>>>> best format. For logging right now I've just been writing stuff down 
>> in 
>>>>> a small spiral notebook, and then transferring it later to the 
>>>>> spreadsheet. That seems like double-work to me. (Not that I'm lazy or 
>>>>> anything...) 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Are there some good pages already made out there on the webz somewhere 
>>>>> for downloading that are good? I'm thinking of going old school and 
>>>>> having a handwritten logbook in a 3-ring binder, with tabs for each 
>>>>> frequency. Or something like that. 
>>>>> 
>>>>> How do you keep your logs and how do you organize them? 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Mark "Disorganized" Pettifor 
>>>>> Goshen, IN 
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