By using a common composition book with bound pages, you can add information in the order that makes sense to you. The format of your log can be your own personal preference. The hardcopy paper logbook is the traditional keeper of the contacts. If logging manually during a contest, it is impractical to record the start and end times for each station so these log areas can be used for contest-exchange information. A month after the contact, when you can’t remember if you sent a card to that rare DXpedition that won’t happen again for 10 years, those notes alone will be worth the cost of the logbook or program. It is also useful to note in the log when you send a QSL and if you receive it. For an interesting contact, you can include notes about your conversation or a QSLing route (many DX and DXpedition stations cannot be QSLed directly but must be QSLed through a QSL bureau or manager). You might also want to note comments about the contact’s rig, antenna and quality of their CW, if pertinent. Non-essential information that is worth recording is your signal report and that of the contact. It is unwise to mix UTC and local times and dates together in the log use one or the other. Of course, you are free to use local time as long as you indicate this clearly in the log. They keep UTC date and time straight automatically. This is an advantage of the computerized logging programs. Using UTC eliminates confusion over time zones or daylight saving time, but you must remember to change the date at 0000Z, which could be anywhere from 4 PM to 7 PM local standard time for a North American station. When you enter the date and time, Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) or Zulu as it is commonly called, is highly recommended. For your operation record the date, frequency, mode and power output for the contact station record their call sign, the time the contact started and ended, their signal report, name and location (QTH). There are two essentials types of information that every log needs: Information about your operation and information about the station you contact.

Ham radio logging programs