N3FJP ACLog for POTA Activators

[@GScottDavis]

Great video Matt, thanks for putting that together! I will add it to the FAQ page POTA question. By the way, to fine tune the control location, Right Click on the control and use the arrow keys that appear. You can see the exact position in the display, so you know they are aligned. Thanks again! 73, Scott N3FJP

[@HamRT]

Quality! I'm watching this way after this was recorded, and AC Log now has the POTA template included by default, but I still learned a ton getting ready for my first activation - thank you.

[@BikerDave1]

How do you access the POTA template? I can't find it anywhere.

[@soup0916]

This was a great video. Your voice clarity allows me to better hear what you are saying allowing me to comprehend better. I am fairly new to POTA and just recently registered. Logging has been a real issue with me and this program really helps me out.

[@jsamolyk]

Made my first two POTA activations yesterday...so fun! For logging in the field, I just madly scrawled entries in a notebook knowing that I would rewatch this video afterwards, and it definitely helped get the two ADIF files ready for submission, so a big thanks are due for making this video, thank you! Between the two parks I ended up logging 73 QSOs...pretty cool that that was my QSO count on my first day playing POTA activator! 73, John W1JKS

[@lefevre1099]

GREAT video, I was just about to send Scott an email and ask about a POTA specific log. Followed the step by steps and now I am good to go. Thanks for the help for a NEW POTA activator 74 de W4CHF

[@ronjones4069]

That was probably the BEST explanation I have ever seen. Thank you.

[@DougThomas-KC5VKG]

Great job on the video!! I'm just starting with POTA and found this extremely helpful. I know this was created and posted over a year ago, but a recent update to the software now allows you to save entry field set-ups as templates. So now you can create a POTA based entry field set like this, and save it for for use later in case you want/need to change the arrangements later.

[@johnravn4129]

Loud and clear explanation about how to do if you are an activater

[@prettygoodradio]

Thank you, Thank you! So helpful to get started. AC Log, for all it's power and simplicity to use when set-up, is a bit obtuse to get set up right. This answered almost every question. PLEASE update this as new versions come along, as this is the single most useful resource that I've found.

[@johnsnyder7021]

Great video. You're a really good teacher. Clear linear thinking and delivery. Thank you.

[@JimLangilleVE1JBL]

Had my first activation today and your video helped very much to log the event and send it to POTA. THANKS

[@AndyWragg]

Hi Matt - G1AW here, G region Admin for POTA and UK co-ordinator. This video is just what I was looking for - You've done a bang up job here. I've been using other logging programs and found them to be rather cumbersome for POTA. I've used ACLog under trial and its pretty bombproof, so much so I've just registered for a license key so I can use it on a permanent basis. 'll certainly be recommending it for everyone to use going forwards. Thanks again and hope to work you at some point in the near future. 73 Andy/G1AW

[@kevingaukel9954]

It may be 3 years late, but I like this. I completely agree with you about setting up a separated database. From day 1, I figured out that I could generate a POTA activation log, a Contest Log, and even a "Master POTA" log that is separated into my Master Log. That way I can keep them separated if I submit to LoTW for each different state/grid square/ country, etc.

[@BikingHikingRadio]

Outstanding job Matt. I just did my first POTA activation yesterday (K-1418) and had a blast, however did paper logging for CW/SSB. Had to come back home and enter them. I used ACLog (bought the license in the early 2000s) and updated it and followed your video. My next activation I'll bring the laptop and log with the fields you recommended. This will be MUCH easier now! I lived in Cranberry Twp. from 1999 - 2009, so we were once neighbors. May have crossed paths at hamfests or other events. There are some excellent parks out there to activate POTA (Goddard State Park would be on my list for sure - near a good winery) and of course Morraine. Thanks for this very helpful video and hope to catch you on a POTA. 73 de KN3A

[@MattHeere]

Thanks Scott! Yep I'm going to finish up a Kilo award at Moraine this summer :). I have a setup that I can take on the motorcycle, so I will likely be hitting a bunch of new ones (for me anyway) this season.

[@BikingHikingRadio]

@@MattHeere that will be awesome! I had a motorcycle that I rode all over the WPA area on day trips up to Erie on Rt. 19, over to Ohio and over to Route 6 and back down to Cranberry Twp. Or simply riding u to North Country Brewery! Can you tell I miss it out there? Hope to hear you on some of your activations! 73 de KN3A

[@ve3zdr]

Matt, this was awesome. I am planning my first activation tomorrow and this took one of my biggest head scratchers and turned it into a no-brainer... Keep up the great work!!!

[@spaceshantynow1851]

Thank you Matt! This video helped me set up my AC Log for POTA and gave me more confidence tinkering with AC Log in general!

[@potababe]

Thanks for this video. I'm new to N3FJP & hope to eventually transition from paper logging to using the software at my activations. This info really helped.

[@TimothyKingRealtor]

Thank you for this very helpful video. Just what I needed as I activated first-time POTA yesterday and came home with several questions (such as How to Report my logbook). Look forward to other helpful POTA videos with N3FJP software informative instructions.

[@ki4kon1967]

Thank you Matt my name is cj and I'm new to pota thank you so much for the information this video I will be sure to set up my AC log in your configuration I cannot wait to get started I live in Tampa Bay area in Florida and looking forward at a couple of weeks to do my first activation after I am logged in and registered thank you all so much again

[@w4mkh]

Thanks Matt. I have HAMRS installed but I am moving to ACLog for my main shack use and this video will allow me to use the same software for both POTA activating as well as hunting and normal DX. After breakfast I will be following your steps to set up ACLog

[@miker1473]

Thanks, Matt, for this video! I'm an active activator, in the warmer months, and, just downloaded AClog to use this season for POTA. I'm not very computer savvy, hate them, actually...but, gotta live with 'em, these days. You SURE made it much easier for me to get it set up. 73, OM...and THANK YOU, again. SUB'ed.

[@dannyboydkj7bpn]

Thanks for the review. I just went and changed mine

[@Ghostbit]

Man, this was super useful. Clear and easy to understand.

[@bmwrider1]

Thanks for this info. It is what I have been looking for. I will do my first POTA activation after WFD.

[@BobSolimeno]

Another excellent video, Matt! Thank you!

[@KevinW8BRY]

Thanks for this video Matt. Learned a lot about logging for pota. Will be sharing this as people have questions relating to logging.

[@gregmihran8616]

Great video Matt! I just asked this question in the Facebook POTA group and several members sent me to ur video. Thanks for doing this! 73 KJ6ER, Silicon Valley

[@kg4hlz]

Excellent Video! I just finished my first activation and your video is helping. 73s

[@thomaslufkin99]

Great Video I set up ACLog as described, went out to activate and forgot to fully charge the computer the night before. Paper logs again but much easier to enter when I got home. W4DAX

[@dkk4751]

Great video, very easy to follow. Congratulations. I have customized N3FJP for POTA and will try to do an activation soon. But I have a question..... how do I log a park to park contact ? If I enter it on the SIG_INFO field , will it be identified as Park to Park contact ? Thank you

[@MattHeere]

Yep. That's what the SIG_INFO field is for - the park number of the other operator. Your park number should be in MY_SIG_INFO for every QSO.

[@dkk4751]

Thank you. 73’s

[@ChannelofRichPierik]

Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.

[@cschmittie3284]

Matt: excellent job! The video comes across as friendly, informative and easy to follow. Hoping to do some POTA this summer and this was a great help for logging methods. Keep up the good work. Hope to see you on the air sometime. 73 de Craig W0AP

[@dennisjoiner3717]

Awesome guide Matt! I know the video is a bit old now but great info! Thanks, I'm setup know.

[@rodneybaker4132]

Grand presentation, Matt. Exactly what I needed. 73s. Rod WK4LR

[@mark351]

Good visual example. I've been tweaking up DXLabSuite for POTA field use and while you can't adjust the fields shown the fundamental configuration is the same.

[@steveingorge]

Great Vid!!! I have been thinking about trying some WWFF activations but would rather use my N3FJP software vs the Fast Log Entry. I don't see why this set up would not work for WWFF too. Thanks for the info!

[@maochiang]

Great Video! I'm looking forward to my first activation. This was a big help!

[@BillSproul]

Great video Matt. I do the ILLW thing, lighthouse activations. Much in common with POTA, an activation is an activation. Your video really helped me out and your tips will make my logging a breeze this summer. 73. VA1BIL

[@scottdematteo]

Great video. Helped me out a lot. Thank you so much for your efforts on this.

[@w3cwt]

Please excuse my ignorance, is the pota log completely separate from my main log? Is that what you were saying at the beginning about pota being a separate purchase from the main program. Sorry for being slow. Great video thanks so much for that. 73 W3CWT

[@MattHeere]

From a purchase standpoint it is the same program. This is all done with Amateur Contact log, which is a single program you can get from Scott - N3FJP. The one program can have multiple databases, which can be used as multiple, different logs. My suggestion is to start a new database (log) if you go out an activate, and then import those contacts into your main log later.

[@w3cwt]

@@MattHeere thanks for the feed back. I already have the program which is awesome. I'm still lost but my friend is an activator ill get with him, Thanks i don't want to take up your time with something so obvious i cant get into my brain. Great videos i will be watching all of them and thanks for explaining in detail great job.

[@davidcappello]

Great overview! Thanks for sharing!

[@ErnestGWilsonII]

Thank you for a great video and thank you for taking time to share this with all of us! Can you please tell us how other people get credit for the exact location and state and grid square that you were activating from? For example you might be activating from a park in another state, how will log book of the world and QRZ give the folks that called into your park credit for the exact location where you were activating from, they might be collecting grid squares or states or other things that are valuable to them based on your location. If your log only has your home address when you upload it they will only get credit for contacting you at your address based on your call sign registration instead of the location where you were at the park. The park you are in has a specific grid square and County and State and folks should get credit in LoTW and QRZ based on the actual park location that you are in when they call you in that park. How do you handle that?

[@MattHeere]

After importing my ADI file back into my main instance of ACLog, I upload to LoTW form there. The trick is that you have to create a new location for each park activated in LoTW before uploading. That way the grid and county are correct in LoTW. It's a pain, but it's the only way. QRZ I sync from LoTW so it ends up correct with no additional work.

[@spencerhochstetler]

Subscribed, thank you... How do you log a P2P hunter who is at more than one park?

[@robertgibbs2372]

Awesome video. Thanks for posting

[@yv6eda]

Thank you Matt! Great info here!

[@vancehenry8714]

Very good...Thanks for taking the time to do this!

[@skipsurre4225]

Matt thank you for all the help

[@mark002228]

Excellent. And perfect timing as I’ll be going out this weekend for my first activation. Thanks so much. One question: Have I now lost the “original”contact log?

[@MattHeere]

Thanks. As for the original config, it is overwritten in this process. There are directions over on the N3FJP site for how to move the setup to a new PC. These are the same steps you'd take to back up the settings before changing it.

[@mark002228]

@@MattHeere I figured that is what happened. Not much of any kind of tech here. I followed you instructions and it worked flawlessly Thanks again.

[@pathung17]

Thanks for this great video - watching it, I was wondering if a chaser needs to do any of this... as I understand it, POTA does not require that chasers send in any log? I'm under the impression that only activators need to submit their log after the activation. Thanks for clarification. BTW, Matt, I watched your Webinar on the Winterfest 2021 Virtual Hamfest - wonderful presentation, and prompted me to begin exploring POTA - in fact, logged my very first POTA QSO with an activator yesterday :-) Thanks for introducing me to another fun activity to hopelessly sink my time into with my ham radio.

[@MattHeere]

Congrats Patrick! Welcome to the fun, and your understanding is correct. No requirements that hunters log or submit anything. It's all on the activators.

[@jimmyw9171]

Thanks for the info. I knew there had to be a program where I could log POTA activations without using a pencil and paper. 73 N5JEW

[@wildbill1]

nice video! looks like something you should do before heading out to the park

[@K2PMD]

Thanks Matt. Just set it up on my Surface. No more paper logging for me. You da man. Thanks again. de K2PMD

[@ridiculous9730]

Awesome video, was about to give up on pota.

[@steveh1130]

Thanks. This was well done and helpful

[@williamrubenstein4671]

Thanks so much as this is what I need to learn. How do I transfer the log that I made in the field to my main computer AClog, email?

[@MattHeere]

You can take the same ADI file that you send to POTA and import it into your main copy of ACLog. Any way you can get the ADI file to that computer is OK. I use cloud storage like OneDrive, but e-mail works too.

[@mark002228]

Thank you so much! I am going to start activating and was lost about how to make a compatible file for POTA. Very helpful!!! K0PIG

[@chuckzechman7390]

Matt- Do you post when you're planning a POTA? I'm new to ham and working with my local club in Eastern PA to schedule a POTA in Spring at a local state park. My oldest daughter and family live in Grove City, so I could piggy back a POTA with a visit to her family/grand kids. Please let me know if that's a possibility. 73 KC3QCU.

[@MattHeere]

Hi Chuck! Most of my activations are pretty spur of the moment BUT I'd be happy to set something up planned a little better if it helps you out. I'm good on QRZ if you want to drop me an e-mail, or I monitor the W3AAA repeater which is accesable via Echolink. 73's!

[@JnJTrueOutdoorAdventures]

Thanks Matt for such a thorough description of how to setup ACLOG to do POTA activations or even just using as a hunter. I have all of Scott's logging programs, have had them since he started them. I have almost 4,000 contacts on my master log. I was wondering if you could actually create a special log, now I know. 73 Juddie WD8WV

[@dougdukes1039]

Outstanding, thank you. Is it just as easy to send the log to LOTW?

[@MattHeere]

There's a menu titled "eLogs". This handles both uploads to LoTW as well as downloads to get confirmations into ACLog. You do need to have TQSL up and running with a valid certificate and station definition 1st though.

[@dougdukes1039]

@@MattHeere Got that done............. thanks

[@JimHoward]

Absolutely outstanding!!!!!!!!

[@K4VTE1818]

thanks, BIG help. great video

[@bradcfi2]

Hi Matt, I set up N3FJP like in your video but have one field out of place that I would like to move. I can't seem to move it as I was able to earlier in the video. Any idea's? Brad-N6GR

[@HammerToneAmps]

Thanks for this .. I really needed the instruction.

[@edwymer6928]

Great show Matt I enjoyed it. I plan to do pots this year so this will help. 73’ Kc3ghc.

[@billcrow5403]

I started with the new program. Its saved under logdata to keep the original as is. I then created a new log of the POTA place where I am going. Got it all setup the way I wanted it. Saved it. Went back to the original log and now it's setup as the POTA one. So I went to settings....edit fields displayed.......reset to original and click it. Now I lost my POTA settings in the POTA file. I set the POTA file exactly as yours. Whats going on???

[@marcinmichigan2772]

@Matt Heere I look at my POTA adif files and see both OTHER and SIG_INFO entries (duplicate info) is there a way to eliminate via ACLOG the "other" entries from the ADIF file?

[@MattHeere]

Nope. They'll always be there so that ACLog knows where to put the data if you import that ADI file into another copy of ACLog that hasn't been customized. They're harmless though. The POTA import process takes what it needs and ignores the rest. No need to worry about paring the file down.

[@paullinnell]

Not for IOS?? Wish you had mentioned that in the beginning. Thanks

[@raygolf1]

If I'm doing a park to park contact. Where or how do I handle a park that qualifies for two park numbers? Thanks.

[@MattHeere]

It's multiple QSO entries. If the other opnis at a 3-fer you'd put them in the log 3 times, each with a different park number

[@edhudgens4967]

How do you handle multiple parks for a group activation? Example - we have a site where three parks overlap so we can give three parks to every contact. Do you just set up for one park and then edit the saved files to reflect the other parks so you now have three files to submit?

[@MattHeere]

Bingo. 3 identical log files, except the MY_SIG_INFO will be different for each. Easier to do a search and replace in the ADI file than try to edit all the QSOs in ACLog

[@edhudgens4967]

@@MattHeere Thanks. That's what I thought but wanted to be sure.

[@N2NWK]

This is N2NWK here, I do POTA, having completed your 2 or 3 separate logs, go to edit then to bulk edit then for My_sig_Info if you set it up as Matt set it up in the video, my_sig_info should be other 2, having clicked on bulk edit, a pop up box should come up, put your park reference in there then click the button at the bottom of that box. For the second park put the park reference in the first box and the next Park reference in the box below and hit the button.

[@Tgjesko]

Thank you so very much for this video!! It was very helpful 🙂 73s N4WAE

[@rayh592]

Thank you for this video!

[@kennethbell4681]

I add 'SIG' and enter POTA there for POTA and if I use ACLog for other 'activiations', I can seperate them by that field.

[@MattHeere]

True. Those two fields (SIG and MY_SIG) are part of the spec. The POTA system assumes them so I didn't put them in the DB. Your use case is a good example of why one might though.

[@frankjesko8165]

Excellent, succinct, and to the point. TNX, de Frank, NM9X

[@dougdukes1039]

This is done as a activator. What if I keep my log as a hunter for LOTW. Is it easier to just enter it directly into LOTW? Or do I just send this in? The trick is, the station you are hunting may NOT be in their home QTH state.... so how is that handled? Thanks

[@MattHeere]

I upload directly to LoTW from AClog. If you're into chasing awards from ARRL then you'll need to deal with more fields than I covered, and will likely have to specifically ask the activator about things like county or grid square.

[@robertrampolla2782]

You can do either Hunters are not required to upload anything to POTA just activators. Both get credit off the activators upload.

[@WestFloridaLocks]

Also I have hrs software. Can this be done for pot?

[@kencarnley7101]

As of now I have not been using any electronic log program. Does it make sense to purchase the basic AClog program only if I only plan to use electronic logging for POTA?

[@MattHeere]

Hi Ken. ACLog is pretty much all I use, because I'm not a contester at all, and it is the only one you'd need for POTA. Having said that, I thought that I might use the Field Day or Winter Field day programs at some point, and Scott (N3FJP) is a heck of a good guy, so I went ahead and got the bundle.

[@kencarnley7101]

@@MattHeere , thank you for the reply. I may upgrade to the bundle before registration deadline comes up.

[@BlessedLaymanNC]

The newest version of ACLog does not require closing it and opening it again. :)

[@dd6fm]

thanks !! too sad that i cant set alias for others

[@dback4430]

What Computer do you use when you are Pota activating ?

[@MattHeere]

MS Surface I picked up cheap on Craigslist

[@h2osmokey]

How do you log park to park data?

[@MattHeere]

You need to check out the "Logging for Activators" video on the Parks on the Air channel, but short version is you put their park number in SIG_INFO

[@denniskimrey4129]

Great info. Thanks

[@oneloveclif]

how did you get counties and gridsquares in your log?

[@MattHeere]

They're from QRZ, which means they're not right for most of the POTA contacts. I personally don't care, but you could put those boxes on the form and fill them in if you so desire.

[@WestFloridaLocks]

Can this be done on a Mac

[@MattHeere]

Sorry Robert. ACLog is Windows only.

[@w2msa]

Thanks Matt, for the very informative video. 73 Noel W2MSA

[@mikeh4524]

Thank you!!!!

[@davidtheriault7652]

Thank you de KO4KHB

[@ozzstars_cars]

I'm first and lost. Haha

[@Matt-zf7vz]

Nice video Matt. Thanks for the contact. de K9BBQ

[@KD2GIY]

I log from qrz.com for free no paid sub to adif master then to my pota area rep. easy as pie

[@prospect4gold]

very helpful. Thanks