hamrlog, a logbook for SOTA without a mouse

A ThinkPad X201 running hamrlog in the console, with no desktop environment, next to an Icom IC-705 and its hand microphone. — hamrlog on a ThinkPad X201 in console mode, next to the IC-705. On screen, the demo logbook.

Keyboard only

hamrlog is the logbook I wrote for my station. It runs in the terminal and is driven entirely from the keyboard: no windows, no menus to open, nothing that needs a mouse.

I built it that way with the mountains in mind. On a SOTA activation, a mouse is one more thing to carry, it gets lost among the rocks and there is nowhere to rest it. With hamrlog, the ThinkPad in the photo booted to the console, with no desktop environment, and the IC-705 are all I need. The only thing on the screen is the log.

What it does for you

A QSO is a callsign and Enter. Date, UTC time, band, frequency, mode and the default report fill themselves in. What does not change from one contact to the next is never typed again.
Profiles. A profile holds the station setup, frequency, mode and power. Prepare one for the summit at home and switch to it up there with Ctrl+digit.
Commands for what changes. /frec, /banda and /modo (frequency, band, mode) change what the next QSO inherits without leaving the input line.
Duplicate warning. If the callsign is already in the log, hamrlog says so before saving.
Address book. If the station is already in it, name and QTH fill themselves in.
Inventory. Every QSO records the setup it was made with: radio, antenna and power supply. A catalogue of what Spanish shops sell comes preloaded.
URE repeaters. The Spanish repeater list comes preloaded; search it, tune with Enter, and the QSO stores both frequencies.
ADIF. It exports and imports ADIF, so back home the contacts go wherever they need to.
Runs on what you have. Linux, in a console or a terminal, and Windows, in PowerShell or Windows Terminal. The executables do not need Python, so an old laptop will do.

Screenshots

Every screen has the same shape: the list on top, the detail in the middle and the input line at the bottom. F1 to F9 move between them. The screenshots show the Spanish interface; it is also available in English.

The log: QSOs grouped by day, with date, callsign, name, frequency, mode, setup, country and QTH; the detail of what the next QSO will inherit, and the input line. — **Log** (`F1`). What the next QSO will inherit, in view before you press Enter.

The record of an FT8 QSO with S56RKV: contact data, address book, QSO, my station and the setup with its radio, antenna and power supply. — **QSO record** (`V`). Everything that was saved, the setup included.

Profiles: five profiles with their key, frequency, mode, setup, operator, repeater, power and digital data. — **Profiles** (`F4`). The active one, marked with ▶.

Repeaters from the URE list: number, callsign, output, input, tone, mode, channel, locator and holder. — **Repeaters** (`F5`). The URE list, preloaded.

Everything shown, the photo included, is the application's demo: made-up callsigns, names and QSOs. There are more screenshots and videos of every screen on the hamrlog page (in Spanish).

Try it

hamrlog --demo --lang=en opens a sample logbook. Log, edit and delete whatever you like: nothing is saved on exit.

There is an installer and a standalone executable for Windows, an executable for Linux, a package for Arch Linux, and installation with pip or pipx. It is free software under the MIT licence.

Downloads Code on GitHub Videos and screenshots