Monday 22 June 2015

DXLOG CONTEST LOGGING SOFTWARE

DXLOG CONTEST LOGGING SOFTWARE.

I have used a number of different logging software over the years. I began with CT in the late 90's and moved over to Writelog in 2000. I used this exclusively for home operating till 2006. At this point I took a long break from contesting until returning to radio in 2013. 
When coming back I looked at everything new that was now available and ended up going with Wintest. It seemed stable, lots of operators were happy with it, and  had all the 1R and 2R options I needed. I tried it, liked the feel, and kept with it.
Recently I thought I'd take a look at DXLog. See screenshots for my setup.















I setup with a simple, basic, almost old school CT feel, but with everything needed visible. With a couple of shortcuts setup you can bring up cluster window and needed mult information.
Show mult window;















Show cluster window;















For a RTTY data seup it looks like this. (GRITTY is also supported.)















A nice, clean, no frills layout.

The few problems I had with Wintest, DXLog deals with fine.
Despite what I read about others experiences of Wintest performing solid I always had trouble getting Winkey to work reliably.
Unless I followed a specific sequence when loading up Wintest, Winkey would never initialize.
I would need to do the following, execute Wintest > Open the log > Type SETUP hit enter = Winkey detected. If I did anything to the log, e.g enter a qso, or dupe check etc before starting the setup Winkey would NEVER get detected, or more awkwardly if I had to change any thing mid contest with the comports it would break the cw, the whole process would have to be started again. Not ideal.
With DXLog once it had synced up, it just works, no matter when you re-initialize the comports. As it should. Very good.

Another issue Wintest had was with the DX cluser when connected to a busy node, such as RBN.  The system would become sluggish and unresponsive, CW was erratic with pauses in messages etc. Completely unacceptable, only option was to switch the cluster off.
DXLog in this case runs smooth despite the bombardment of spots coming though.

Things you'll need to get running if your using the recorder.
MP3 codec.
Download libmp3lame.dll and copy it into DXLog.net installation folder.
File libmp3lame.dll can be downloaded from here -
http://www.rarewares.org/mp3-lame-libraries.php

So, on the whole I'm very impressed, I'm converted.
This will be my go-to software for logging for the future.

73
Tim M0BEW.

2 comments:

  1. After more than ten years using N1MM I had to try Win-Test. Severamente things I didn't like. For example not having separate CW speeds for radio 1 and 2. So I've purchased a DXlog.net license and I'm satisfied with it so far.73 de LU5DX

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  2. Nice informative web page. What are your CW settings? I am trying with a Flex-6700 and can get it to control the radio but no CW. I guess you have a separate CW port and CW/PTT for DTR/RTS or do you use Winkeyer Port?

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