dolphinlog 0.2.8

Yet another HAM radio logger using SQLite with ADIF-3 export support.

dolphinlog

This program has been renamed to dolphinlog to avoid naming conflict with another package.

This is a log program for amateur radio (HAM) operators for daily use. There are tons of HAM log programs out there. This is yet another one, aiming to be free, modern but as well ultra simple by using only the command line interface in order to store QSO data in a SQLite database. An export function to ADIF-3 *.adi is also available.

There are no editors, this means that the database file should be viewed using standard viewer programs, of which also many exist. Some examples are standalone programs such as sqlitebrowser or browser plugins such as this one. This leaves the HAM a great deal of freedom to import, export in/to any format and manage the database. The typical usage of such a log program is for running on an ideally small or embedded computer such as RaspberryPi2, as a HAM computer, where possibly also other HAM related software such as fldigi are running, or HAM related hardware attached, such as dongles are also running. The name of this program is inspired by other HAM radio logger software available on the internet that have an animal name in their title.

Installation

dolphinlog is by nature platform independent. The simplest way to install it is to use PyPI:

pip install dolphinlog

Other than that dolphinlog needs just a working Python 3 installation. So whatever OS you have, just put the script somewhere you can call it, e.g. by symbolic linking like this:

ln -s dolphinlog /usr/local/bin/dolphinlog

Usage

Just type:

dolphinlog

In the command line and the program starts. If you like to skip an entry, just press enter. If no command line arguments are given at invocation time, then the program creates a folder in the home directory:

~/.dolphinlog/dolphinlog.sqlite

otherwise a specific database filename can be given by the -db switch. -v switch increases the verbosity. If the switch -adi is provided, then an *.adi file is exported. For this export either the default database file name is used, or a database filename should be given.

DB Fields and ADIF-3 export

dolphinlog supports export to function to the ADIF3 *.adi format. The ADIF 3 standard has a very comprehensive list of fields. In order to find a minimalistic implementation of export function, dolphinlog adapts the minimum ADIF record fields required by the website eQSL, but also includes additional fields. Minimum ADIF-3 fields required by eQSL:

Field	Description
QSO_DATE	date on which the QSO started YYYYMMDD
TIME_ON	QSO time in UTC
CALL	the contacted station's Callsign
MODE	QSO Mode
BAND	QSO Band

ADIF-3 fields fields recommended by eQSL:

Field	Description
FREQ	QSO frequency in Megahertz
PROP_MODE	QSO propagation mode
PROGRAMID	identifies the name of the logger, converter, or utility that created or processed this ADIF file
QSLMEG	QSL card message
RST_SENT	signal report sent to the contacted station

ADIF-3 fields additionally used by dolphinlog:

Field	Description
NAME	the contacted station's operator's name
RST_RCVD	signal report from the contacted station
RX_PWR	the contacted station's transmitter power in watts
TX_PWR	the logging station's power in watts
GRIDSQUARE	the contacted station's 2-character, 4-character, 6-character, or 8-character Maidenhead Grid Square
NOTES	QSO Notes

That’s basically it folks. Enjoy.