Paper Logging

As an amateur radio operator, logging and QSLing are topics that keep me busy all the time. While I recently stopped confirming my radio contacts (QSLing), it’s still very important to me to log my QSOs. I’ve tried many different options for this and most recently used Wavelog, with which I was generally satisfied. However, I’m currently trying (not just in amateur radio) to simplify things and return to the original ways. That’s why I’ve decided to switch to paper logging, even though the drawbacks are obvious: no automatic generation of statistics, no search options, and no quick way to tell if I’ve had a QSO with a station before. However, I like having the maximum freedom to enter whatever I want into the logbook, however I want. It also feels somehow more personal to log the QSOs by hand.

After testing this out for a while with an existing paper logbook, it turned out that while I like this approach, existing logbooks don’t suit my needs. I make contacts both on shortwave and via satellites. For the latter, I need fields such as the locator or the name of the satellite. That’s why I first designed my own logbook template in OpenOffice Calc, exported it as a PDF, and then had it bound into a ring binder by a professional printing service.

The following image shows the finished logbook with 100 pages, a transparent plastic cover page, and a black plastic page as the last page for less than 10 Euro:

My logbook design is based on the template by WD8DAS, which can be found here: https://www.wd8das.net/HamLogs/HamLogs.html

If anyone would like to use my template, they can download it from my server as an ODS file (logbook_a5.ods) or as a PDF file (logbook_a5.pdf)

Now all that's left is to see how long paper logging will keep me happy...