How to Log Your Contacts On Ham Radio

You did the hard work to get licensed, but now what? You should start logging contacts! Learn how to start logging contacts TODAY with our new free guide!
Get your ham radio license fast and easy with our all-in-one online class (Technician, General, and Amateur EXTRA!): hamradioprep.com/
Log your contacts and join the community with the World Radio League: app.worldradio...
#hamradio #hamradioprep #worldradioleague

[@GiantSequoiaNation]

I needed this direction. Honestly thank you for this one! Waving at you from NW Georgia east of ATL. KD2MOT -Matt 73

[@johnosborne2224]

Fantastic! Useful video. I like your presentations very much. I'm an old man, but new HAM. Keep up the good work Jim!!

[@HamRadioPrep]

Thank you very much! 73!

[@HamRadioPrep]

Instructor Jim says: Thanks for the shoutout!

[@pmcallah]

Thanks Jim and Ham Radio Prep! I love your videos! They are always extremely helpful and interesting! 🙂

[@HamRadioPrep]

Glad you like them!

[@michaell7877]

Im looking for an iPhone app and researching all this Ham world. Also all this terminology hope to put something together for that and watch videos on just the basic Tx and learning how to talk.

[@randyhuffine8430]

Very helpful video, thanks for the help.

[@HamRadioPrep]

Glad it helped!

[@JCC.M.]

Uhm... I have a question here... at time hack 5:24 you were explaining the difference between local and UTC. You stated that you were 4 hours behind UTC. 15:17 + 4:00 would equal 19:15 UTC not 17:15 UTC. Or am I wrong?

[@HamRadioPrep]

Hi, you are right, the correct UTC is 19. Thanks for letting us know. :)

[@ivanlinuxandunix]

And I use it for all the above and for complying with regulations.

[@jumper123910]

Thanks, a great video. Where do you get the software for the map behind you? I’m in Australia and have my entry level license, I blitzed the exam and prac until the very end when in the transmission component I blew it, I uttered the hanging word “Out”, I didn’t know I was supposed to say 73, it wasn’t in any of the study material. The result was I have a restriction on my license that I’m not permitted to transmit. I have a call sign, is there a way for a RX Ham to participate? To give an idea of how entry level this license is, we have 3 license levels (Foundation, Standard and Advanced) up until a number of years ago your Technician equated to our Advanced (none of the syllabuses have changed much since). A foundation license has a few amateur bands and a only few frequencies in those bands with a max power of 10W and frequently less depending on the emission mode.

[@HamRadioPrep]

That map is generated by a Raspberry Pi using the open source GPredict software.

[@barry430]

there is something wrong with this video, 1st he said utc is 4 hrs ahead and the time does not match, 2nd he was on 28.6 MHz I hope the other station is a general, 3rd he used a different call then his own.

[@HamRadioPrep]

Thanks for responding. We'll check the time. The other station was a General! We use the AA1RC call sign, which is a club call, in our lessons. We will cover using 2 calls in a future video.

[@johnosborne2224]

Video produced in Daylight Savings Time in Eastern Time Zone.

[@Bill_Mize]

Thanks for pointing this out! I thought I was losing my mind! If it's 3:15 Eastern local and UTC is 4 hours ahead that should be 7:15P/19:15 UTC, I'm thinking.

[@markr.1984]

I've been a ham for over 30 years and never log any contacts. Never have. I'm not into it to impress others with my contact list or number of states or countries talked to. I just don't care. Some things about the ham culture make me puke up a little into my mouth. I'm not into all of the culture, or even the lingo. I generally don't use terms like "73" even, for example. If you talked to someone in the street would you say "73" to them at the end of your contact with them? Not required to use lingo, FFC don't care. Contesting to me is crazy and I don't participate, plus I don't like nets, most are boring to crocodile tears. Call me different. Not all hams are the same and have to fit a preconceived mold of hat's expected. I'm very independent and don't feel I have to fit in, and not just when it comes to ham but other aspects of life.

[@BravoKiloZulu]

I've never understood their type. They waste everyones time hogging band that is uneeded. I only use radios when I'm slotting floppies at work, usually. The only other purpose is convoys, four wheel driving, camping, and in emergency situations. I've been using what yanks would call the HAM band for about 35 years. Never got a license outside of the license you're forced to get as a pilot that kind of is just stapled to your learners permit when you're a wee sprog. Ironically I've been menaced by radio geezers for not being licensed. Meanwhile for 18 months now China has been jamming 3 CB bands and an Islamic fundamentalist station has been broadcasting for 22 months on another - so clearly the government don't police it because I've found two of the four offenders myself out of boredom after the first few months. I suspect it's more hobbies that attract people on the spectrum. I've noticed drone guys are almost as bad. They rat each other out every chance they can get. It's fun winding them up though tbh. Especially if you fly headless p2p missions (i.e. your drones operate and film things for you with on board commands and you never keep line of sight, never even fly them, and thus break every rule but are untrackable / untouchable) or if you use low power and have your own local repeaters so if some angry ham fox hunts you the best they'll get is a couple of baofengs up a tree. It's weird because I'm a stickler for obeying the laws, when the laws are sensible. When it is something that is so dead as a hobby as ham, or so under used as a drone user, these laws solely exist to surprise tax you with fines or licenses. I opt out of those laws and prefer to remain a pirate.

[@mavrick561]

Well, to each their own. There are folks who enjoy the lingo, and enjoy the culture, and enjoy keeping a record of what they've done. There's nothing wrong with that. Get what you want out of the hobby and leave everyone else alone. If certain aspects aren't for you, great, it doesn't bother me. If I want to log my contacts, or contest, or whatever, it's because it's what I want to get out of the hobby. That might change over time, but let's not talk down to those who do it differently than you. That may not have been the intention of your post, but that's how I took it.

[@ncphotos]

Great video! de W2CSI

[@HamRadioPrep]

Thanks! 73's