Amateur Contact Log

Field Day Logs
Information & Tips
(System Requirements - MS Windows 95, 98, NT, ME, 2000, XP, Vista)

Registration Information:

Club Registration:
If you are registering one of these programs for your club event, please provide the CLUB call sign for password registration as well as a call sign/e-mail address for a contact person so that we can relay important upgrade information.

Previous Registration or Lost Password:
If you have registered the Field Day Contest Log or the Field Day Network Log previously, you DO NOT need to register again for a newer version. Please e-mail us if you have misplaced the password, and we will look up your registration and forward the password to you.

Installation on Multiple PCs under One Registration:
One registration entitles your club to run multiple copies of the program on different PCs under one call sign at one Field Day location. GOTA stations are the exception. You may run a copy of the software under the club registration for the GOTA station even though it has a different call sign. Please keep the password confidential for club use only.

Finding Vista Submission Files:

For those who use Windows Vista they may have a hard time finding their summary and .dat files. After navigating to the program directory (Field Day Log folder) where the submission files you created were saved, you must click on Compatibility Files Tab on the menu bar in order to view these files.

Field Day Contest Log

This Field Day Log is meant to be used as a stand alone version.

If you cannot use the Network version, you can combine files from more than one PC for submission by clicking from the menu options File > Combine or Restore File from Backup.

You can use this Log in conjunction with the Field Day Network Log to operate your GOTA station, but it requires a separate registration.

If your map does not display properly, please try this:

From your Windows Taskbar (XP users) click Start > Control Panel > Display > Settings > Advanced. Under the General Tab in the Display section you will see a choice for DPI Settings. This must be set to Normal Size (96 DPI) in order for the Map to display properly. Click Apply after selecting your choice.

Field Day Network Log

This program is almost identical to the Field Day Contest Log (see above) in appearance and performs all the same functions. The code, however, has been modified extensively so that this program will function on a local area network (LAN).

With the Field Day Network Log, you can have as many PCs updating the same log file simultaneously as your LAN will support.

You do not need a separate license for each PC that the program is installed on. Please keep the password confidential for club use only.

If your club is running a GOTA station, this station CANNOT be part of the network. You must add the totals from the GOTA station to your grand total at the end of the contest on the Summary Sheet.

ATTENTION Windows 95 users: Please run the included dcom95.exe utility BEFORE running setup.exe. See the Help/Read Me file for more details. (Running a dcom utility with later Windows versions should not be necessary).

The Network version requires more RAM and processor speed for optimum performance than the stand alone version. If your group only plans on making 1,000 contacts or so, you can probably get by with 75 MHz Pentiums. If on the other hand you have serious competition in mind, then we would recommend at least 300 MHz machines with 64 MEG of RAM for acceptable results with large databases.

Field Day Network Pointers

This year there will be quite a few new groups using the network version of the Field Day software. The following are responses to questions that I have received frequently, and I'm listing them here as pointers:

- For the messaging features to work properly, the path to the log file from the computer hosting the log should NOT route through the network. The client's path must route through the network and begin with \\ (the \\ tells the software that it is a client and which PC to connect to as the server). For example, the server's path might be: C:\FD\FDLog.mdb and each of the client's paths would be: \\Develop\C\FD\FDLog.mdb (assuming the PC hosting the file was Develop).

- Because some versions of Windows can be particular about accessing files in the c:\program files directory via the network, it is best to create a separate directory outside of program files on the PC hosting the log file such as c:\FD.

- Make sure that all PCs and your router or hub are on a UPS (uninterruptible power supply)!

- A backup of all your data is written to every PC connected to the log file every 15 minutes. Even if the PC hosting the log file has a catastrophic failure, you can recover your log from any other PC on the network by clicking File > Combine or Restore from Backup.

- Don't wait until the Saturday morning of Field Day to install and test out the software on your network! If you haven't already done so, get the PCs together before Field Day, hook them up and make sure that each PC is able to access and update the common data file. Problems solved very easily in a relaxed atmosphere can seem insurmountable when the clock is ticking.

Have fun, and we hope to work you!