This is something I just had to write about, because it is obvious that some people think I have too much time on my hands, or that I have a very bad case of Asperger's Syndrome or some other kind of obsessive compulsive disorder.
It always amuses me when I find out that some people think I type up my DX logbooks for this blog, word for word. Comments like "That must take you forever to type them up and get them so neat". Ha! Let me dispel this myth. I do not type up ANY loggings. They all magically appear out of thin air, thanks to the highly technical processes of "copy and paste". I don't have to type a thing.
How we keep our logbooks differs from one DXer to another. Some DXers scribble notes on a piece of paper with a pencil. Some type theirs up neatly in a database or spreadsheet. Some don't bother to do either. For me, I like to keep a permanent record of my DX. This is partly because I have lost so many of my loggings over the years either because I lost them one way or another, or through computer failure. Many of my older loggings are long gone. These days, there are some very useful and extremely simple ways in which we can all keep our loggings permanently on record, and we don't even need to type anything!
I use the FM List. It's an online database of radio stations across the world. It doesn't just cover band 2 FM either. There is also the MW List for medium wave and short wave DXers. Each of these databases allow user access once you have created a free account, where you can create a loggings simply by clicking on a station in the database! OK, there's slightly more to it than that, but not a lot more. If you are keen you can add additional information to your logging, such as programme information , RDS data and signal strength, but you don't have to. You simply create you personal logbook/s (I have a different one for each propagation mode) and include your co-ordinates, approximate if you like. You can include a few details about your equipment if you wish. Everything you log is automatically date stamped and time stamped. At the end of the DX day you just click the export button in your log and copy it into your chosen text editor. Done! Type it up manually? I don't think so!
As I am a stickler for neat presentation, I have included some formatting options in TextPad. These are simple macros which do things like convert dates, deletes specific data and generally organises the log in a more aesthetically pleasing manner, so it all (hopefully) lines up into neat columns when I post it into my email client. The whole process takes less than a minute, even if there are hundreds of loggings.
So for those who think I am extremely keen, I hate to disappoint you. I am probably as lazy as the next person.
Good DX!
John
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