Ham2K PoLo A Rock'n Logging For Portable Opps

I found a new Logging tool for SOTA & POTA, and it ROCKS!

I started using a phone to log contacts for SOTA not long after I started because I can’t read my own writing.  I used a very rudimentary app for the first two years but when I started doing multiple summits per day, I needed something different.  Outd was an excellent replacement and had some new features that were awesome,  I’ve been a bit (a lot) resistant to change when support started to wane and some features quit working and it was removed from the App Store.  I tried switching to another popular logging app a while back but it that alternative just wasn’t up to the SOTA task and not approved for my kit.  Que the new solution, Ham2K PoLo (PoLo).  I was sold after using it on the very first summit.  

<<(click on images for larger>>

I downloaded Ham2K PoLo the night before a SOTA expedition in Oregon and did one very simple test, then headed out the next morning.  I thought I could figure out how to use it on the go... and I was right.  I only had one question when first using it (how to spot) and then I was off… placing spots, activating, chasing and logging like a boss.

I’m pretty stoked about PoLo and here’s some of the reasons why.

• Easy to use and learn.  Yes I read the manual after a couple of activations and it was way worth it!
  
  
• It supports Android and iOS mobile devices.
  
  
• Works awesome on the iPhone and iPad (my platform of choice).
  
  
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  The documentation and support is awesome.  The web based documentation is easy to use and they have forums and a discord server when you have a question, but I haven’t needed either so far.

• When entering a call-sign, it does a real-time lookup against QRZ.com and fills in things like name and state.  If you are off-line, it has the ability to suck in an ADF file to use for off-line lookups to do the same thing (I haven’t done that yet).
  
  
• You can enter in commands where the callsign goes!  For example, enter “spotme”, and it will spot you on SOTA or POTA or both.
  
  
• Support for SOTA, POTA, WWFF, all at the same time!  (not tested)
  This is super cool because many times SOTA summits are located within a POTA park and I could upload to both but I forget.  I call this “SPOTA”.
  
  
• Built-in support to download the data for Country, all POTA parks, and SOTA Summits, which supports lookups.
  
  
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• When setting up for an “operation”, (their nomenclature for an activation or other session) you can have it automatically set the SOTA Summit, POTA park, and your current grid based on your current location!  No more fat-fingering the wrong summit, something I’ve done several times.  As you probably know, apps that choose your park for POTA based on location are hit & miss since some parks massive, making the lat/long look far away.


• If the marker for the park or summit isn’t near by, you can look them up by name.  Outstanding!
  
  
• Need to change the frequency and mode while you are operating?  Easy, just enter the frequency (eg: 7060) into the call sign field and it sets the current frequency to 7.060 and the mode to CW.  LOVE THIS!!!
  
  
• Like other applications, it will show spots both SOTA and POTA or just one of them. It also allows you to filter on how old the spot is and MORE!  
  
  
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  Click on a spot to start logging a chase/hunt and it fills in the call, freq, mode and summit / Park for you.
  
  
• When you enter a chaser that is a summit-to-summit, if it sees the call on Sotawatch, it fills in the summit reference in for you.  LOVE THIS. 
  
  
• Ability to expand the screen to enter a lot more detail if you want, along with notes.
  
  
• There are lots of ways to customize logging, like the ability to show a quick link to extended fields and not letting your phone sleep when logging, or adding an extra row of numbers, eliminating the need for a special keyboard.
  
  
• When entering frequencies and SOTA summit IDs for S2S, you don’t need to use any punctuation.  For example, it will expand W7AAE006 to W7A/AE-006.
  
  
• When logging P2P, it will fill in the prefix of the park using the callers country.
  
  
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• It can show an instant map of your QSOs (wow!)
  
  
• Support for more than one operator!  This is very cool for people that want to share a single logging device.  Enter “op/” followed by the operator callsign in the call field, press send, and you just changed the active operator.

• Log multiple callsigns at once.  Just enter all the calls separated with a comma and press save/send.  It creates a log entry for each of them.  This is an awesome feature when chasing a summit with multiple operators on it!!!

But wait, there is one more feature that goes way beyond what I’ve seen in a portable logging application, especially one for your phone.  Customized export templates that you can change.

The ADIF export will let you set how much detail is in your SOTA or other other scheme you want to export to and a separate way to do a “full export” of that operation.  But more importantly, you can modify what is exported and how it looks to a point. They let you modify templates for file name, title, ADIF QSO Notes, ADIF QSO Comments, and ADIF QSL Message.

If you’ve read my article about how I do my logging, you know that I’m a bit of a freak.  What I’m ashamed to tell you is that I have settled on a particular way that that data is shoved into my master log for SOTA.  I’ve been tweaking the file so that the word “SOTA” and and the summit ID are put into the comments field when importing into my master log, N3JFP’s AC Log.  This is perfect for pushing to QRZ when I upload from there.  Yes, it’s a bit anal, but handy when doing a lookup online in my log and trying to figure out where I was when I worked a station.  PoLo uses the correct ADIF field names for SOTA and POTA uploads but I want the summit name in the comments field.

I no longer have to tweake my logs to add my grid and some other stuff, PoLo gets me really close.  Here’s what I do -

I replace the default “ADIF comments” export field with the following code:

{{#join op.refs separator=", " final=" & "}}{{or longLabel label key}}{{/join}} - {{qso.notes}}

That puts the the name of the activity with the activity ID and name.  Example, “SOTA W7A/AP-007 Noble Mountain”. If you do multiple activations within an operatiion (SOTA, POTA,WWFF...), it puts all of them in there.  You can change the label to not include the name if you want.  I also added on the “ - {{qso.notes}}” which appends any notes that I take about the QSO to the comments field.  I don’t do that often but I’ve always wanted that note persisted to my main log.  Now, if I could just get it to add my custom ADIF field I’d really stoked.  But no worries, I made a Python script to do it for me so problem solved.

The ability to tweak the export is powerful and the mark of solid design skills.  Want to use the app in “developer mode”?  Just put a special callsign in, press the save/send and it turns on power user mode.

There are lots of other features, like call stacking, which is a brilliant feature that I’ve never encountered (probably because I’m not a contester).  Check out all of the cool features in the easy to navigate documentation.

Don’t let all of the cool features scare you off, you can be up and running in just minutes with no fuss uploads and a simple entry screen while on the mountain.

As a special bonus, it’s Open Source, improving quality, the integration of new innovative ideas and longer term support.

If you use PoLo, or give it a try, let me know what you think in the comments.