The configuration program
When you start the program it will ask for the contest year. The
year is used as the name of the sub-directory containing your
configuration information, log files, and summary sheets.
- An SWL may use the programs by entering 'SWL' as the first
three characters in the call field.
- The station type (Fixed/Mobile/Rover) is automatically set
based on the call sign entered. Mobile stations should use /M
at the end of their call and rover stations should use /R.
- CW keying mode can be set to normal or inverse. The setting for
this will depend on the interface circuitry you use between your
computer and your radio. If the radio is keyed up when you start
the logging program, even when you aren't sending CW, change the
keying mode.
- TONE is the frequency of the tone that will be heard when the
logging program is sending morse code. If you can hear a sidetone
from your radio, you can prevent the program from sounding the
morse code as it is being sent by setting the tone to 0.
- The program normally makes various audible beeps or noises when
it detects input errors, duplicate entries, or new multipliers.
If you find these noises annoying or prefer the program to be
silent, you can turn off the noises by setting this option to
disabled. This is independant of tones used during CW message
playback.
- The labels displayed for each function key used to send a CW
message and the messages themselves can be changed from this
program. The labels and messages are stored in the configuration
file.
- For additional information on editing the CW messages, see the
'Edit mode keys' section below.
The logging program
When you start this program it will ask for the contest year. After
the contest year you might be asked for the multiplier code for
the location in which you are operating. This multiplier code is
the one you will be issuing as part of the exchange with other
stations. The program will not ask you if you are in or out of
Ontario as it is able to determine that from your call sign.
You will not be asked for a multiplier code if the program is able
to determine it from your call sign. Once you have entered your
multiplier, you will not be asked for it again unless you are a
mobile or rover station.

The main screen of this program is composed of eight different sections.
Going clockwise from the top left are the band and mode totals, score
summary, multiplier summary, multipliers needed and worked, contact rates,
CW messages, and logging screen. In the middle is a display of the date
and time which is updated once per minute. If the date and time does not
match the UTC date and time, see the notes in the section
Setting the clock.
Mode Totals
- Your current band and mode of operation are indicated by the
position of the line with the orange bar.
- Displays number of contacts made on each band (including
duplicates).
- All valid bands from 160m (1.8MHz) through .23m (1296MHz) are
listed except for .33m (902MHz) and the WARC bands.
- The program supports the modes CW, PH (SSB), and FM. You can
only switch to FM mode if the current band is a VHF or UHF band.
10m FM is possible but is not valid for the OQP.
- Pressing the ALT key plus the M key (aka. Alt-M) changes mode.
- The Page Up key (PgUp) moves the orange bar up to a higher meter
band (lower frequency). If the orange bar is already at the first
(top) band in the list it will wrap to the last (bottom) band.
- The Page Down key (PgDn) moves the orange bar up to a lower meter
band (higher frequency). If the orange bar is already at the last
(bottom) band in the list it will wrap to the first (top) band.
- When you change either the band or mode of operation, the contents
of the Mults Summary and Multipliers boxes are updated (see below).
Score Summary
- QSO's is total number of QSO's stored in the log file
including any duplicates you may have forced it to accept.
- Pts is the total points earned for the contacts that have
been entered.
- Total points Provides a rough running calculation of your
score. The program attempts to keep an accurate track of your
score even when an entry is deleted.
Mults Summary
- DXCC mults provides two bits of information. On the left-side
of the '/' character is the number of DXCC multipliers you have
worked for the currently selected band. On the right-hand side of
the '/' is the total number of DXCC multipliers you have worked.
- Total mults is a count of all multipliers worked regardless
of band or mode and includes the number of DXCC entities worked.
Multipliers
This box shows all of the valid multipliers (except for the DXCC
ones) which you can work in the contest. If you are not in Ontario,
or you are an SWL, only Ontario mulipliers will be listed. If you
are in Ontario, the box will also list Canadian provinces, and US
states.
- Ontario counties are shown in light blue, Canadian provinces
in yellow, and US states in white. Any multiplier that you have
worked is shown in gray.
- The program validates multipliers entered based on the call sign.
The multiplier code must be either a valid Ontario county, Canadian
province or territory, U.S. State, or DXCC entity code.
- Any multiplier not recognized as an Ontario county, Canadian
province or territory, or U.S. state is assumed to be a DXCC entity.
Rates
- 'Last 10' is the QSO rate per hour based on the times of the
last 10 QSO's entered.
- 'Since last' is the elapsed time in hours, minutes, and seconds
since the last QSO was added to the log file.
- 'Band rate' is average number of QSO's per hour for current
band/mode.
- 'On Bd/Md' is the length of time spent on the current band/mode
based on time/date of first contact logged after changing either
band or mode.
- 'Overall' is average number of QSO's per hour worked during
the contest.
- 'On time' is the length of time working the contest based on
the time/date when the program was started.
CW Messages
- The functions keys F1 through F8 inclusive allow you to send one
of eight different pre-programmed messages in morse code (CW). The
content of the eight messages can be changed by using the
configuration program.
- Use Alt-K to access the CW keyboard mode. You can type up to 65
characters to be transmitted. The ESC key will clear the input
line and stop sending a message.
- Use Alt-S to change CW speed. Valid speeds are from 5 to 50 wpm
inclusive.
- The dash/dot timing is set for a ratio of 3 to 1.
- Use the ESC key to abort sending of a message.
- This program sends morse code using both the DTR and RTS pins
on the serial port specified within the configuration program.
Either pin can be used with an external circuit to key the radio.
Logging Window
- The number of the next QSO is shown in yellow.
- The four input fields are the call of the other station, the
RST you are sending (how well you are receiving the other station),
the RST the other station gives you, and a muliplier based on the
location of the other station. NOTE: The RCV field (RST
from the other station) is skipped over when being used by an
SWL.
- The program currently sets all signal reports to 59/599 by
default but you can change this as needed.
- The ESC key will clear all input fields in case you need to
start over.
- Use the TAB key to move to the next input field (to the right)
or Shift-TAB to move to the previous field (to the left).
- The RETURN or ENTER key will move between fields ONLY IF the
contact information is not complete (ie. one of the three input
fields is still empty).
- The F9 key will show a list of up to 16 station calls at a time
that contain the characters entered in the CALL field. This may
help you when you are trying to work a weak station and aren't
sure of its call but you may have worked them before.
- Call signs for mobile/rover stations should be entered with
/m or /r at the end of the call or else the program could be misled
into thinking you are working a new station when it may be a
duplicate.
- After entering a call, the program checks if the contact is
a duplicate except for mobile/rover stations. For contacts with
mobile/rover stations, the duplicate checking is delayed until
after the multiplier has been entered as they may have changed
counties since the last time you worked the station.
- If a duplicate contact is entered, you will hear the letter
D in morse code and the contact number, date, time, mode, and
RST of the previous contact will be display in white below the
input fields along with the word DUPE.
- If the program indicates the contact is a duplicate you can
use the F10 key to force the program to accept the entry. The
points field in the log file will be set to 0 to indicate a
duplicate contact.
- The line starting 160 and ending .23 are the bands the program
handles. If you enter a call of a station you have worked before,
the letters C, P, or F will appear under the band indicators to
let you know on which bands and with which modes were your previous
contacts with this station.
- The last line shows the details of the previous contact entered
in to the log.
NOTE:
The Alt-P key combination turns on/off printing of contacts as
they are accepted and written to disk. The words 'Printing on'
will appear below the date/time display near the center of the
screen when printing is activated.
One word of warning regarding printing. Before turning on the
printing of QSOs as they are logged, you MUST have a printer
attached and online. If you don't the program will probably hang
the first time it tries to print a contact as this program does
not yet check the status of the printer. It does not output any
special printer formatting commands so this should work with just
about any printer. Every 60 lines it issues a form feed. If you
use the program with a laser printer you may have to manually
issue a formfeed to eject the last page from the printer when you
are done for the day.
View/Edit screen
The view/edit screen allows the user to browse the QSO information
for all of the contacts in their current log file. It also allows
the user to search or make changes to that QSO information. If
changes are made to the QSO information (by using the AltD, AltE,
or AltR features), the log file will be re-read when the user exits
the view/edit screen. Re-reading the log ensures that the logging
program is using the most up-to-date information for dupe checking
as well as in showing the user their score summary, and which
multipliers have been worked.
Delete/undelete
The AltD key allows the user to "delete" a QSO from the log or to
recover a QSO that was previosly deleted. This features does not
remove any contact information from a log file. Rather, it sets
the points field to 0. Any contacts with a points value of 0 will
be ignored when the log file is read. Pressing AltD on a contact
with a points value of 0 will set the points field to 1. The proper
points value will be determined when the log file is re-read upon
exiting the view/edit screen.
- The AltE key
- The AltG key
- The AltS key
- The AltR key
The post processing program
The first thing you need to do in order to use this program is to
specify the contest year (menu item A). Most users will then skip
directly to generating all summary sheets (menu item C). Menu item F
creates a master summary sheet (for mobile/rover stations only) in
addition to summary sheets for each log file which exists in the
users data directory.
Selecting a log file (menu item B) only affects the operation of
the log export function and most of the print functions.
B) Select the log file(s) to process
(ie. changing the multiplier)
D) Print log sheet(s)
E) Print summary sheet(s)
F) Print master summary sheet
G) Export log(s) to ADIF format
This was added as of the 0.9.15 version.
The log fix program
The log fix program was added as of the 0.9.9 release of the programs. Most
users will never need to use this program. Its main purpose is to attempt to
recover QSO information from a damaged log file. It can also be used to update
log file(s) created by older versions of the OQP logging software or ensure
that manually edited log files conform to the proper format. When updating an
old log file, any multiplier codes which have changed since the file was
created will be changed to the new multiplier code (where possible).
To use this program, you tell the program the name of a log file to be read.
For example, type 'logfix 2007\yrk.log' on the
command line (without the quotes) to fix or update the York county log file
from the 2007 contest year.
A new log file will be created in your CURRENT directory called 'fixed.log'.
This file will contain all the valid data the program was able to read from
the original log file you specified on the command line (ie. after the name
of the program itself as shown above).
The logfix program will state the number of records read from the named log
file and the number of valid records that were written to the fixed.log file.
If the two numbers don't match, there was probably some damage to the original
log file.
Once you have the fixed.log file, you should copy the original file somewhere
safe. Once the original file is safe, you can replace the original log file
in the data directory it with the fixed.log file. Based on the example above,
you could do this with the command 'copy fixed.log 2002\yrk.log'.
Input field edit mode features
The following keys can be used when entering data in any of the programs.
Some of the keys (ie. up and down arrows) may only be valid while editing CW
messages in the configuration program or in the view/edit screen of the main
logging program.
INS |
Toggle between overwrite and insert mode. Default is overwrite. |
Backspace key |
Delete character to left of cursor. |
DELete key |
Delete character under the cursor. |
Ctrl-X |
Clear the input field. |
HOME |
Position cursor to the start (left side) of the input field. |
END |
Position cursor one space to the right of last
character in the input field or to the end (right side)
of the input field if the input field is full. |
Left or Right arrow key |
Move cursor left/right within input field. |
Ctrl with Left/Right arrow key |
Move cursor left/right one word within input field. |
TAB key |
Move to the next input field on the current line. |
Shift-TAB key |
Move to the previous input field on the current line. |
Up/Down arrow key |
Move up/down one line. |