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DX4WIN Station Logging Software
DX4WIN Station Logging Software
I have been using DX4WIN Station Logging Software since the year 2000. I started using it with Version 4 and I have stayed with it because it is very stable. I was in the software business for almost 45 years and this has been one of the most stable software packages I have used. There are not a lot of updates to this software and that is one reason that it is so stable. A lot of people are coming out with intermediate releases for their software almost daily, and this can lead to failures in their software. There have been very few bugs in their software, as they have been vetted very well before their release.
This is not a contest logging software package, as it is intended to be your station logging software. It does a very good job of reporting and keeping up with all of awards that you want to track. The Packet window connects easily to DXClusters via the internet or via packet radio. The spots show up in both the Packet Window and the DX Spots Window. The software automatically highlights the contacts that you need for the various band/mode awards. The default highlighting is:
It is very easy to import and export contacts with DX4WIN. I mainly use the ADIF imports from my contesting software and ADIF exports to Logbook of the World (LOTW). But it has many options for importing and exporting data, such as, DXBase, DX Desktop, DXLOG, Easy Log, Fast Log, GEMRadio, GENE xls conversion, Hamlog, Hyperlog, Kachina, KD3ZM, a logbook format, Log EQF, Logic for Windows, LogMaster, Logplus, LogView, LogVRR, LogWindows, N6TR, NA, OH1AA, ProLog, SD ARRL, SD CQWW, SD IOTA, N6RJ Second Op, SwissLog, Text, TopLog, Total Ham Plus, TurboLog, UPF IOTA, VA QSO Party, WB2DND, WF1B, WJ2O, WriteLog, WRTC, and XMLog. The other nice thing is that you can create your own custom import/export options with their built-in tool. Of course it has direct export for LOTW functions. I have created several of my own custom import/export functions to interact with my web page and other items. I have also imported Cabrillo formated files into DX4WIN. I am a contester and I either use WriteLog or N1MM and it easily imports the logs into DX4WIN. As long as you can get the data in some form of logical format, you can build an import/export rule to handle the data, especially if you can get it into an ADIF format.
DX4WIN does an excellent job with producing QSL labels/cards. It comes with several pre-configured label formats and again, they have a built-in tool for creating your own custom QSL labels or even printing directly on your QSL cards. Since I keep up with the DXCC Challenge Award, I do a lot of QSLing and it handles it very well. It automatically keeps up with which contacts you need to QSL for the various awards. I receive a lot of card requests from contesting and it is easy to use.
There are a lot of 3rd party add-ons for DX4WIN, also. Jim Reisert, AD1C, has one of the best pages out there with a lot of tools and automated update functions. Jim does an outstanding job with this. He not only has country files for DX4WIN, but other logging programs, also. You can get to his website by going to:
Jim has Country Files, DX Cluster information, DX4WIN Support Site, and Software Tools for Hams. Some of the Software Tools he has are ADIF County Conversion, ADIF to CQ DX Marathon, Analyze Contest Passing, Cabrillo to CT, Contest Club Score, CT to ADIF, and LOTW to CSV. I really commend Jim for all the work he does in support of these software packages and databases. Jim also has utilities to Compare DX4WIN to LOTW DXCC Credits, Create VUCC Map from Award Listing, Convert ADIF to DX4WIN DXQ, Convert .DXN to .CSV, DX4WIN Data Updater, and DXBase to ADIF. There are also others that have good DX4WIN add-ons like 9K2HN, ON4AOI, SP7DQR, and W8TTS.
Of course DX4WIN does CW, RTTY, Packet, PSK31, etc. It has windows for Country, Sunrise/Sunset, IOTA, Log Book, Same Call, State, County, Zone, Grid, WPX, CQ DX Field, Master Calls, and World Map. It has a Report Generator that creates reports for all of the awards and again, has a built-in tool to create your own custom reports. DX4WIN does a very good job of rig control, rotator control, etc. Like I said before, it handles LOTW. It also handles eQSL, but be warned, eQSL is not valid for submitting to the ARRL for any awards because despite eQSL's best efforts to accomodate ARRL's needs for security and accuracy, the ARRL not going to accept your eQSLs for DXCC. It is the ARRL's belief that electronic QSLs cannot be made secure enough to meet their requirements unless each one is encapsulated in a digitally signed package. So if you chase any of the ARRL awards, an eQSL is useless. CQ has announced that they will accept eQSL, but I do not know about it when the ARRL is handling CQ Awards in LOTW.
Needless to say, DX4WIN is a full-featured, robust, station logging package that is very stable. It only runs on Windows Operating Systems unless you can get it to run in Wine on one of the Linux variants. Linux is my preferred operating system, but I still maintain a Windows environment so that I can run all of my ham radio software packages cleanly. You can go to their web site at:
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