I will say something "nice" about ACLog/N3FJP. For a casual operator, its probably the best log package out there for all its capabilities. It will take a while to outgrow and a while to find all its "compromises". But it does a lot with a rather flat learning curve. Its the most powerful casual operator log around!
I have been a user since version 2, which I paid a whopping $20 for. Every update to date has been free. You load it, and you instinctively know what to do... It looks like a cross between a paper log and an Excel spreadsheet. Scott has done a great job of documenting functions within the program itself. Add to this the simplicity of use, and you dont even need a help file or a manual to do any of the everyday logging chores that a casual operator might want to do. The ACLog LoTW integration is paperclip simple and hockey puck reliable. One button does it all! An earlier thread spoke about LOGic 8/9. Most of my local friends have this $125 software along with their IC7800'ds and PW-1's. Setting aside that Logic is written in FoxPro, a DBMS that has been obsolete for almost 10 years now, a casual operator can do 95% of what Logic can do on ACLog for $100 less, much in the same way that I can hear and work anything my 7800/PW1 owning friends can hear and work on my K3/P3/ALS600 rig for $9,000 less than their huge Icom rigs can, given equivalent aluminum, and I can "take it with me" in a 9.5lb portable package that I can lift to and from my desk alone. My club also purchased Logic for, frankly, no other reason than because "it is the best" as advised by the above 7800 owners. It has trouble dealing with multiple users on multiple computers (a probable limitation in the FoxPro tuple locking code, in my professional opinion, Dennis has had to make several workaround to it with some success, but its still not working well). This has been so much of a pain that we have dispensed with trying to run it on all 5 logging computers and run N1MM on 4 of them, exporting ADIF logs to Logic for upload to LoTW. And even that could be covered by ACLog, however, Logic is "paid for" and the QSL manager likes it, and I dont need another job to do at the club, so I let sleeping dogs lie :) Does ACLog have limitations? For more "advanced" users, certainly. It did have issues with rig control of K3, mostly when clicking on a spot; it didnt deal with mode settings correctly. I hear that has been fixed with V3.2, but I still have 3.0 installed. Even with V3.0, how hard is it to reach up and hit the MODE button every once in a while when ACLog fails to correctly deal with the mode switch from a spot? Do I still use ACLog? No, I outgrew it when I moved to an SO2R capable station configuration. I use Logger32 now because, even with its own variable limitations, I like the look of it (it resembles N1MM, which I use for contesting) and the bandmap and the included world maps and its ability to deal with two rigs (one at a time; ACLog is not SO2R capable in ANY situaton). But admittedly, it is a complex software package that has a learning curve. I dont use a lot of its capability, but what I do use I now feel comfortable with. It also has integrated RTTY, something ACLog does not have (you can add the K7RE plug in, but its a bit clunky). DXLabs, which I have also installed, is complex as well, but works wonderfully in SO2R and does just about anything... But I dont like the looks of it and I dont like how much screen realestate it wants to look "right" for me. It, too, has a steep learning curve, and I would rather spend my time operating than configuring software... I do enough of that at work. For a casual operator, its hard to beat ACLog. It grows on you with its elegant simplicity (much like a K1 does!) and is really simple to deal with. I've yet to find a better LoTW implementation than the drop dead simple one Scott created for ACLog... So much so that I currently export my Logger32 LoTW submissions to ACLog and confirm them using that program instead of bothering with Logger32's LoTW setup. Im not doing that forever though, and as I climb up the Logger32 learning curve, Im sure I will stop. But in retrospect, I do miss the simplicity and efficiency of ACLog. Again, for Casual Operators, the feature set and useability of this package is very hard to beat at any price. I know that Elecraft owners can relate to that paradigm. Lu Romero - W4LT K3/P3/MFJ998/AL600 - The "AL K-Line" ------------------------------------- Message: 8 Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2012 13:52:58 -0500 From: Terry Schieler <terry.schie...@wirelessusa.com> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] N3FJP rig control settings? To: 'David Gilbert' <xda...@cis-broadband.com> Cc: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Message-ID: <6dd19ce6-7067-4088-9bf2-9000755f8...@wirelessusa.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Well, a point to you, Dave. I am not against moving on from ACLog, it's just that I'd become so accustomed to it that I had preferred to "tough it out" until *someone* figured it out. But, from the responses I've seen here, my hope is dashed. So, I will continue my search for a replacement program. I have a half dozen or so loaded onto my shack computer and I'm ready to move on. Thanks to all. 73, Terry, W0FM -----Original Message----- From: David Gilbert [xda...@cis-broadband.com] Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2012 11:54 PM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] N3FJP rig control settings? Most of those other programs actually work, though. Programs like Logger32 (free and well supported) are modular and easily tailored to be as simple as you want them to be. And did I mention that they actually work like they're supposed to? I was a registered user of ACLog for a while but got fed up with it's faults and shortcomings, got tired of N3FJP's excuses for the problems that other programs didn't have, and abandoned it long ago. I realize you don't intend to do that, but in my opinion it's a self inflicted wound. 73, Dave AB7E On 6/2/2012 6:19 PM, Terry Schieler wrote: > > Other than recommending other logging programs can anyone offer an ACLog command solution. I'm not a contester and have tried all the popular logging/rig control offerings that many of you use. Most programs offer WAY too many features for my needs. Many thanks. > > 73, > > Terry, W0FM ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
