Configurating My Station in Ham Radio Deluxe Logbook
If you have not already set up the necessary information within my station you will need to do that now. This will prove to be critical later so best do it now.
- 1. From within Logbook select from the Tools menu, Tools > Configure > My Station.
- 2. Information in the My Station screen is used by Ham Radio Deluxe Logbook and DM-780.
Note: If you have already set up the DM-780 portion of the suite, this screen should be populated with the required information and you can just close it out and continue with the set up.
Conceptual Hierarchy of Station, Location, and Operator
The the setup of your My Station information, it's worth understanding the conceptual hierarchy of the relationship between Station, Location, and Operator.
- Ham radio licensees are licensed by government authorities. The license provide the licensee with a callsign. Then the begin to establish a "station" at that location.
- Station is associated with a primary callsign as assigned to the "station licensee" (FCC Part 97.103b). Someone owns the station (even if it is a club). The owner's callsign generally is the station's callsign. Let's refer to this as the "logging station's callsign." In Ham Radio Deluxe, this is the callsign that obtains the software license. The callsign is shown in tabs in the My Station form shown below. To use FCC Part 97 terminology, this is the callsign associated with the "station control operator" (the "second party", when the operator is other than the station licensee).
- Stations have Locations. Clubs have a location. Ham have their home location. There are cases where the station's callsign can have many locations. (This is not meant for stations that are portable or mobile this will be addressed in a moment). In Ham Radio Deluxe, Locations are created by adding them under a given Station callsign.
- Stations at locations are operated by operators. In Ham Radio Deluxe, the Operator Callsign goes into the field shown below. Quite often, the Operators is the same as the station owner. But in the case of clubs, or cases where the station owner is allowing other operators, the operator's callsign (and name) should go into these fields. If the operator is a frequent operator, a Location can be created that contains that operator's information. TO use FCC Part 97 terminology, this is the callsign associated with the "control operator" (the "first party"); FCC Part 97.3.13 - "An amateur operator designated by the licensee of a station to be responsible for the transmissions from that station to assure compliance with the FCC Rules."
- Hierarchy - licensees have stations; stations have locations; operators act as the "control operator" of these stations at these locations.
My Station Set Up
Ham Radio Deluxe allows you to set up multiple QTH locations. This allows you to have a Home location as well as other locations such as a vacation home or favorite portable locations.
Station Callsign is the callsign associated with the station licensee. As defined by the ADIF standards, "the logging station's callsign (the callsign used over the air)". Normally, it is the same as the Operator's callsign. But in cases of portable, mobile, or operating in other countries, that may not be the case. The Station Callsign is embedded into your software activation key. The field is populated by your software activation key. You cannot change it. Click here for information about how to obtain assistance with adding Station Callsigns to your key.
*Operator Callsign is the person who is in the act of transmitting. As defined by the ADIF standards, "the logging operator's callsign." In most cases, it is the same as the Station Callsign. But when a station has guest operators, club members, and so on... it may have a different callsign. This is the callsign required in order to establish a connection to the DX cluster. It cannot have slashes, as the cluster will not accept them.
*Name is defined by the ADIF standards as "the logging operator's name."
Street, *City (QTH), County, State/Province, and Zip/Postal Code are all part of the logging station's location information.
eMail is the email address associated with the Station Callsign.
SIG (Special Interest Group) is defined by the ADIF standards as "special interest activity or event."
SIG Info is defined by the ADIF standard as "special interest activity or event information."
*Locator is defined by the ADIF standard as "the logging station's 2-character, 6-character, or 8-character Maidenhead Grid Square." If you have your exact latitude and longitude entered, you can click the "up" arrow to populate the grid into the locator field. Setting the locator (grid) here configures this value into all other applications in the Ham Radio Deluxe suite.
Latitude & Longitude is defined by the ADIF standards as "the logging station's latitude/longitude." If you have entered your grid in the locator field, you can click the "down" arrow to populate the approximate polar coordinates.
CQ Zone is defined by the ADIF standards as "the logging station's CQ Zone." Definitions of CQ Zones can be found by clicking here.
ITU Zone is defined by the ADIF standard as "the logging station's ITU Zone." Definitions of ITU Zones can be found by clicking here.
IOTA (Islands on the Air) is defined by the ADIF standard as "the logging station's IOTA designator."
Country is defined by the ADIF standard as "the logging station's DXCC entity name."
Web Page is a field where you can specify a website that you would like to reference.
License is the license class of either the logging station or the logging operator.
Club is a field where you can specify the name of an associated club station.
Equipment is defined by the ADIF standard (Rig) as a "description of the logging station's equipment."
Antennas is defined by the ADIF standard as "the logging station's antenna."
Power is defined by the ADIF standard as "the logging station's power in watts."
Comment is a field where you can describe information that you can use to describe the location and station.
* Fields that are required in for making a DX cluster connection in Logbook
When complete, you can click the "X" in the upper right to close the form.