Logging Overview
Your logbook is where all your contacts live. Hamtrax gives you a full-featured digital logbook that works offline, syncs automatically to the cloud, and supports the fields you need for everyday operating, contesting, and portable activations.
How contacts are stored
Hamtrax uses an offline-first architecture. Every contact you log is saved immediately to your device's local database (IndexedDB). When you have an internet connection, contacts sync automatically to cloud storage (Firestore), keeping your log backed up and available across devices.
- No internet required to log. You can log contacts in the field with no cell signal. They will upload when you reconnect.
- Automatic sync. Changes propagate to the cloud in the background -- you do not need to press a sync button.
- Last-write-wins. If the same contact is edited on multiple devices, the most recent write takes precedence.
What fields are tracked
Each contact (QSO) in Hamtrax can store a wide range of fields:
| Category | Fields |
|---|---|
| Core | Callsign, frequency, band, mode, submode, date, time on, time off |
| Signal reports | RST sent, RST received |
| Location | Grid square, QTH, name, state, county, country, continent, latitude/longitude |
| My station | My grid square, my city/state/country, my radio, my antenna, station callsign, operator callsign, TX power |
| Activity references | Park reference (POTA), activation ID, MY_SIG / MY_SIG_INFO, SIG / SIG_INFO |
| Contest | Contest ID, serial sent, serial received |
| Propagation | Propagation mode, satellite name, satellite mode |
| DX | DXCC entity number, CQ zone, ITU zone |
| QSL tracking | QSL sent/received, eQSL sent/received, LoTW sent/received, QRZ logbook ID |
| Organization | Folder, labels, notes |
| Round-trip fidelity | Unknown ADIF fields are preserved in a rawAdifFields map so re-exporting does not lose data from other programs |
You do not need to fill in every field. Callsign and frequency are required -- everything else is optional. Hamtrax auto-populates date, time, and your location when you open the QSO form.
What you can do
- Log contacts manually -- open the QSO form and enter details. See Manual Logging.
- Import contacts -- bring in logs from other software via
ADIF,CSV, orCabrillofiles, or sync directly from QRZ and LoTW. You can also import a past activation from an ADIF file, which creates the activation record, folder, and QSOs in one step. See Importing Contacts. - Export contacts -- generate
ADIForCSVfiles, or push contacts directly to QRZ and HamQTH. See Exporting Contacts. - Organize with folders and labels -- contacts are automatically sorted into monthly folders (casual QSOs) and activation folders (POTA activations). You can also create custom folders, drag-and-drop to rearrange, and pin favorites. See Folders and Labels.
- Edit or delete individual contacts -- in the contact list view, each contact row has edit and delete actions. Tap edit to open the QSO form with that contact's data pre-filled, or tap delete to remove it. Contacts belonging to a POTA activation show a warning before edits (see below). Hunted POTA contacts also display the park's state and name inline on the row for quick context.
- Bulk edit contacts -- select multiple contacts and update fields in batch using the Bulk Editor.
- View contacts on a map -- toggle between list view and map view to see your contacts plotted geographically.
- Download per folder -- export contacts from any individual folder as ADIF or CSV without leaving the logbook.