Software reviews
I have RFI, now what– Part I, Locating it
This allows me to verify I am working with the same RFI source. I record the audio from the FT-900, and then I can play it back into Spectrum labs, and see if it matches the RFI I am hearing at home. Once I have a match, I know without a doubt I have the same source. I then look at the map, and it becomes pretty obvious where the RFI is most of the time. I next start running the frequency up as high as possible and still hear the RFI. I then grab a Google Map of a smaller area, around where the signal is strongest, and do the drive around again. I repeat this process moving ever higher in frequency. Continue reading
Review of N3FJP’s AC Log 4.x
One of the best logging program available just got better! Scott Davis, (N3FJP), has announced his completion of the rewrite of the popular logging program called “Amateur Contact Log”, version 4.0 from Visual Basic to the C# language, moving the version number from ACL3.4x to ACL4.x. See my review of ACL3.4 here. Continue reading
Review of Hamlog by Pignology
This review of Hamlog by Pignology was prompted after a three week trip to Arizona, and one heck of a lot of QSO’s all kept on paper. The entry time involved, and the possible loss of the little scraps of paper which I kept the log on convinced me that I needed a better mobile logging program. I looked for a decent logging program for mobile use. It had to be able to run on my phone and my iPad, as well as be able to export the contacts via an ADIF file. I tried a few progrmas, then found “Hamlog” by Pignology LLC. Hamlog, runs on pretty much all platforms, (IOS, Android, and web interface), and generates the needed ADIF file. It is easy to use, and seems to work fine for my mobile uses. The user interface was important to me, it had to be easy to use, and have large type. Hamlog is simple enough to use, my wife will fill it in for me while driving, all I need to do is to tell her what to put in what field. During our trip I used an iPad 1 as the input device. When the battery on the iPad ran down, I used my Android phone… That feature is what sold me on Hamlog, the ability to have a cross platform logging program. Having the same log on iDevices, and on Android devices is wonderful. Continue reading
Review of W8WWV’s S-Meter Lite
S-Meter Lite will graph S-Meter readings in real time, save spreadsheet ready files over very long time frames of your S meter values, assist in generating a pattern for your beam antenna, show RF levels in S units or in dB, and show signal level differences in dB between one signal and another on the same graph. Continue reading
Review of Afreet Software: HamCap
HamCap is a very simple front end for a very complex piece of backend software called VOCAP. What VOCAP does would be a paper in and of itself, so just click here to see an overview of VOCAP, if you don’t want to read the nine sections on VOCAP, just assume it is one of the best pieces of software available for prediction of current propagation conditions. In any case, HamCap uses the VOCAP engine to make propagation predictions, and then presents it to the user in a very simple view. Continue reading
Review of Afreet Software: FAROS
FAROS
Afreet Software has a suite of programs out for the Amateur Radio Operator, which are very useful, and in some cases work together swapping data between themselves, I have a few of them and will review them all over the next few months. I will start with FAROS.
I like to see when the bands are open and have been using a program called HamCap, that program provides a nice little map of the predicted propagation, and it is free! I wanted real time data, not predictions, so I researched the available options for this, and found two programs which looked promising, FAROS, and BeaconSee. After downloading BeaconSee, and FAROS, I set about to see which one was best for my purposes of seeing real-time propagation. Continue reading
Review of N3FJP’s Amateur Contact Log 3.0
Amateur Contact Log version 3, has been in use here at NK7Z for many years. ACLog is a general purpose Amateur (Ham) radio logging program. It is designed to perform just a few functions, and perform them well. The author has selected the needed functions carefully, and the logging program does those functions well. Overall it is a good logging program for general use. If you want a contest logging program, get one of those, if you want general logging, get ACLog.
Many years ago I decided I needed an electronic log, I wrote a few, downloaded and tested many, and selected ACLog. Amateur Contact Log seemed to fit the bill for my needs. I do not want a contest logging program, (I use MixW for that), and the author has correctly decided to not make ACLog a contest log. He has created twenty other logging programs designed for twenty different contests, thus not attempting to make ACLog all things to all people. Continue reading
Review of MixW Multimode Software V3.x
MixW is a multimode digital decoding/logging/contesting software package. MixW was initially released in the year 1998. It has gone through many revisions, and still continues to be useful today. Although the updates have been sparse over the past few years, the software may be coming back to life with updates coming from the authors recently. Continue reading
