Turning attention back to Field Day, if you plan on running a radio during Field Day, or if you are planning on helping an operator log QSOs, it will help to familiarize yourself with the logging program we use.  It does require a laptop, but the software will run on just about any version of windows down to XP, along with macOS and Linux.  If you have an older laptop not used for anything, it is probably ideal for this software.  The only requirement is the laptop has an 802.11g as a minimum WiFi controller.

If you do not have a laptop suitable (and think twice about bringing your high-end laptop out to the Field), let me know, I have several repurposed older models which I don't care if they get rained on or something accidentally spilled on them.

The software for Windows can be downloaded here: http://k8bxq.org/tmp/fdlogexe.zip

There is no installer, just unzip it to the desktop, open the folder and run fdlog.exe.  Contact KD8KBU@arrl.net if you need it for Linux/macOS.

If it launches successfully, you should be asked for your call sign, and then an Authentication Key (just use "tst").  After that, the software should open and you should see a grid of bands and modes and a logging area.

There is a text manual in the same folder called fdlogman.txt.  A stripped-down version of the document describing how to log a QSO can be found here: http://k8bxq.org/tmp/fdlogmanual_excerpt.txt

The first time you run it under Windows, you may be asked to allow it through your firewall, please allow it for domain/private/public networks. You may also need to manually allow UDP/7513 and UDP/7514 through your firewall.

The plan at the moment is to have a quick usage workshop right after the club meeting on June 21.  So if you have any problems, or just want to test your install, bring your laptop and we should be able to get through the usage in less than 20 minutes.