| Topic | Ham2K Power Logger (Next Edition) – the next generation of Ham Radio QSO Logging |
| Subtopic | Logging |
| Equipment Required | Computer + Internet |
| Costs | Nothing or a small cost for backup system/replication |
| Document last reviewed and updated (reviewed each year) | 31st October 2026 – Release of Article |
Foreword
As mentioned on other articles on this website, the choice of a Logging applications invokes a lot of emotional responses, and has done for years. If you like your logging application that you currently use then that is great. You do you, and I will do me.
For some of you, your choice was made by reviewing a few that were around at the time (like most of us), found one that looked nice and had the main features that you liked, functioned with a few online services (e.g. LOTW and QRZ or ClubLog), and started logging. Some may have looked at the commercial options and what they provided and some purchased a commercial logging system such as Ham Radio Deluxe or EasyLog and there are many others.
Now I have actively looked on and off for the last 5-6 years for a decent logging tool, but I will be honest and say that they are a tired old bunch. Most written for one operating system, limited in their windowing positions, still looking like they were designed in Windows XP days, many caught up in the one process design and then adapted for contest logging, with many being “adapted” for their particular use. You then have the others that include digital modes in their application, which is a good idea on the surface until the digital modes change or add more modes. Especially of late there has been a surge of new modes which includes the FT2 and JTTY, as well as changes in capabilities of existing modes, this means that you are waiting for the Logging software developer to integrate these changes into their logging software. Thinking about time and resources, I would rather that they were not spread thin trying to maintain a logging system and also a digital suite.
However the purpose of this article is not to bag other logging software, but to point out with the now rapid changes in software, it is better to keep your applications separate from your logging tool, and make the “Networking” and “Integration” of all your apps work well. The standards for this integration have been around for years, but many avoid them as they are not well understood because it means learning about networking and UDP broadcasting and port numbers.
Ham2K Power Logger (the next Generation of PoLo)
As mentioned, I have reviewed a lot of the more recent (and past) logging software, and have been closely monitoring the development of this product from Sebastian Delmont KI2D. I had previously looked at his product called Polo, however this was developed primarily for Portable Logging (where PoLo comes from), and at the time I was impressed and thought to myself shame it was not available for the desktop as well.
Naturally my interest was piqued when I heard him being interviewed on a podcast over a year or so, when he said that he will be developing a product for the desktop and likely for all main operating systems. Naturally, I did not get my hopes up, as saying something and actually getting it done are two different things. Then I heard that he started Alpha testing his next generation of logger. Naturally, I downloaded, and he had not just converted his original Polo app to the desktop, but really supercharged it.
In fact the way I gauge logging software, and how useful it is, is by opening the application a without a manual, configure it and start logging. I typically give myself 30 mins (install, configure, use), and if I have not got the general idea within that time, I generally don’t proceed any further, it basically means the software is not intuitive which is an issue when logging contacts, where you need to changing from general logging to a SOTA activation or doing a 2-fer WWFF/POTA activation. If after that 30 minutes I find the software intuitive, then I read the manual if available or at least the forums or discord on the product.
Now, I will state that Ham2k Power Logger is still in beta (at the time of writing), however his alpha releases were on the whole, very stable, stable enough to use for all standard logging functions. This product is a real game changer, and not just because of one particular feature, but a change in mindset. The features include
- Support for Multiple devices – Windows / Linux / Mac / Android / IOS (all with the same look and feel)
- Your full logs can synced to the LoFi Cloud (Free version and Subscription) and yes that means that all of your devices, will have the same database on them.
- Able to take your tablet (or phone) out to the field for a SOTA (with no internet), and as soon as you are back in range, your table or phone will sync back to the cloud, and naturally back to all your devices databases.
- Adjustable window panels to suit the device you are using and the way you want to use the software.
- Extensible in the way of extensions to implement functionality that may or may not be the priority of the developer
- Open Source
- Is not a first cut, but a product built on the foundations of his earlier product called Polo, with many of the functionality and features now in
Now before you roll your eyes or recoil in horror in relation to the subscription word. I hate subscriptions as well, especially as I get on later in life, however I also recognise that as Amateurs, we need to recognise that not everything can be obtained at no cost. I look at what value is it to me, can I get away with what I get for free, has the author/seller kept the costs low instead of going for the jugular. I also look at what he is asking and then think of the same amount I would waste on buying the N+1 low cost Handie talkie for the year.
Sebastian, believes in his product that much, that he is now working on Ham2k as his full time work, and you can see it by the rate of development of this product, it is phenomenal with releases coming out every few days, and not just bug fixes, but new features. I will mention what are shortfalls for me a little later in this article, but Sebastian has already confirmed these items that I am looking for are coming. This is good enough for me to sit back and wait until it’s added.
What I personally like about this software
Very quick to log your QSO’s
This one is hard to put into words, and the only real way to understand it, is trying it yourself. If you have a live CAT connection, the QSO’s only need the Callsign, Readability and Strength entered and that is it, your QSO is logged. Even if you do not have a CAT connection when running portable, the information is quick to add. No need to find the dot when entering frequency, or fumble for the key because you missed it, the software deals with it. Even the time, just click the now button, and the time is logged. I realise that many loggers have these features, but I found logging QSO’s in this app was stress free. You are already dealing with the stress of a Pile-Up, last thing you want is logging system popping up a dialog, slowing you down.
The design and operation is intuitive.
No need to carry a manual or access a help file. You will generally get used to this software within 30 minutes. Many of the configuration options have clear information next to the toggle switch, and the configuration headings make sense. Put it this way, due to the speed of development, Sebastian has not created a manual for it just yet, but the number of people who are using it as their current logging solution, gives you an idea of how easy it is to get going. Along with the current support options, which includes Ham2k Forums, Ham2k Discord, Ham2k Youtube, Ham2k Instagram to name a few. Ham2K discord is extremely active, and you can see the enthusiasm form the experienced Ham2K champions (many having been and are Polo users), in answering questions for any more difficult items to understand. It is hard to put it in a way that is easy to convey, but the simplest way to say it, is that the product makes sense!
Works on all major platforms and devices
It is written for all popular operating systems, and this includes Windows / Linux / Mac / Android / IOS. So you want to log on a tablet or phone, when you are out doing portable operations, it will do it. Working on Windows, Mac, or Linux desktops whilst in the shack it will do it. You no longer have to have a main logger, and have another you use on the phone and have to merge those logs with your main logger. You come back from the field, and your logs are accessible on your main shack desktop, ready for you to review, correct and check before submitting them.
What is even better is that you are not learning two different systems, the look and feel is the same across each device you use. Naturally each device you have has different realestate (space), so whilst you may want many windows open on your main shack PC, you may only want the QSO logger on your phone, and maybe SOTA spots, and the ability to spot yourself. What’s even better is that the screen layout remains tied to that device, so your screen layout may be different on a laptop, to the one on your phone, and the one on your tablet. No excuses now if your tablet has died, just whip out your phone (with the app pre-installed on it) and keep going.
CAT Control
With many rigs now having the ability for CAT Control, you don’t need a CAT Gateway. It is built into the application, and this includes direct serial devices, as well as Flrig and Rigctld over network connections.
Extensible
At the heart of the product is the extensibility with the ability to add extensions, either with official ones from Ham2K or from users creating their own and making them available. These include Activities, Contests or Dashboard panels, with most being available on GitHub. Activities can can include but not limited to :
Activities
- POTA : Parks in the air – activate and chase parks worldwide; spots on pota.app
- SOTA: Summits on the air – Activate and Chase summits worldwide; spots on SOTAWatch
- WWFF: World Wide Flora and Fauna – Activate and chase flora and fauna areas; spots on wwff.co
- At the time of writing there was another 18 Activity extensions which include, MOTA – Mills on the air, BOTA – Bunkers on the air. ZLOTA – ZL on the air, SIOTA – Silos on the Air, and so on
Awards
- DXCC – ARRL’s DXCC
- WAS – ARRL’s WAS – Worked all States
Contests
- IARU HF World Championship
- Generic Simple Contest
- CQ World Wide DX Contest
- ARRL International DX Contest
- RSGB VHF Contests
- And at the time of writing – 80 other Contest Extensions. Can’t see your favourite contest listed, then write your own or take an existing extension, apply the contest rules and you have created an extension. This is where the power is in this application, and if you know a little about TypeScript or JavaScript, you would find it easy, or worst case, get your favourite AI engine to help you with it.
- The best part of these extensions is that they include the log export format required as part of the extension specification. If it is Cabrillo required, you will see that you can export the Cabrillo log file as well as the Full ADIF file, ready to upload to that contest website or email address.
Call sign lookups
- Call History – uses the most recent past QSO with a station, from your log as a lookup source
- Call Sign Notes – Annotates calls from shared Notes files
- Ham2k Lookup service – Free callsign lookups from Ham2K’s Service – currently covering US, Canada, Germany and Norway
- QRZ.com Call Sign Lookups – looks up callsign details with a QRZ.com account
- Spot History – Brings park, summit and other activity references from recent spots into the QSO you are logging
Spot Sources
- PnP : ParksnPearks Spots – VK and ZL spotting Service – brings in WWFF and SiOTA spots and posts yours to them
Cloud Sync
This is one of the best features of Ham2K and appears to be very robust even through the applications alpha release (as I mentioned, it stands on the shoulders of it’s earlier incarnation called Polo)
In effect, your unadulterated log file database from within your Ham2K is synchronised to the Ham2k cloud. This means that it is a Replication of your exact data based , not based on the postprocessing done by some of the online services such as QTH changes that occur on some.
However CloudSync is also a key component in being able to run the application on several devices and having the same data on all devices. Lose a device or harddrrive in a machine, all you do is install the software, add your cloud account data is back on that device. Having lost data before and trying to reconstruct from online logs (and giving up), this is an absolute must have.
Logging Flow and Process
What I do like with Ham2K, is that its design teaches to maintain some organisation of your logging. The fact that you keep each log as a separate log e.g. you have a general shack log for that month, and if you do a POTA or SOTA, you create a log for that SOTA or POTA. So when you are performing your uploads for your POTA or WWFF (usually at the end of each activation), you select that log and export it to uploading. Visually and progmatically , you are keeping them organised and grouped, but they are all in one database.
Now the Elephant in the room – what is it missing?
Well to be honest not a lot. Ham2k today, at the time of writing has all the core functionality to be used as your QSO logging application, and I have had feed back from a few others that have started using it, and quite impressed by it, one of them being a keen SOTA operator.
However for me personally, I am looking for a few more nice to have features (features I have been used to) which include:
Automatic Log uploads (e.g. no manual intervention other than selecting the log (e.g. this months log and having it automatically upload)
Now for some of you, this may be a showstopper, and originally I thought the same. However I have actually enjoyed going back to being in control and understanding the process better. We have all been fortunate to have had our logs automatically uploaded to our favourite online service (usually because we tick it on our old logger because it is nice feature) , without fully understanding what takes place.
With Ham2k in its present state, you need to export the log, and manually upload it. For most, this is not a big deal, and it is only likely to be temporary. Sebastian has said that he will build this functionality into the Ham2k product, so start with manual uploads, and hopefully in the next few months or so, Sebastian will the product capable of automatic uploads. You need to remember, it requires getting this almost perfect, as trying to clean up a mess on these online services is almost impossible, so there is very little room for errors. Similarly, he has to negotiate the minefield of ARRL’s TQSL product.
Outbound UDP Broadcasting to other applications (e.g. Wallboards/Kiosk applications – e.g. Chronalert, OpenHamclock, other logging applications)
Now this is a nice to have, and not imperative. It is only that I have used this before in terms of connectivity to other applications. Whilst Ham2k has a lot of nice tools built in or have extensions for (Solar Weather, General Weather and Temperature etc), I am very much a fan of amalgamated, visible information where within 30 seconds of entering my shack, I have a good idea, whether it is worth turning the rig on, what bands look the the best, are their any POTA’s going on around me, is there a storm coming, are we in the middle of a solar storm, and quite often seeing a webcam of a location near me pointing at the direction of where storms typically roll in, as well as keeping track of satellites and their next overhead pass and elevation.
However again, Sebastian has stated that this is coming over the next few months, so this will be a nice to have when it arrives, but is not a showstopper, just adds that bit of functionality that I will enjoy.
Worst case, I will develop an application that will perform this functionality and actually started writing it, however have paused after Sebastians comments. As Ham2K is open source, he has recently started posting the application on GitHub, so everything I need is there such as database schema etc.
Ability to subscribe to the Cloud Sync Service within the Application
Actually I was surprised this was not in the current application, as I had seen it in the earlier Polo product. Now by default and no cost, your logs are synced to the Cloud as soon as you setup your email address in the sync section, but these logs are only kept for 14 days (basically long enough to sync a recent POTA/SOTA activation between your devices). if you subscribe, it is unlimited (how long your logs are kept in the cloud and at a faster rate of Synchronisation.
I suspect this will be included very shortly, as this is one of Sebastian’s main income earners, and remember Ham2k Power Logger has become his fulltime job now.
So what should you do to cover yourself? Select each log Export your logs to a Full ADIF Export file and drop it onto a separate directory/workstation, or if you have a spare Google cloud account just save them there.
Other Important Notes
One very important note – it is important to remember this software is in BETA, so an update could cause some grief, which is why at the moment I recommend saving your logs as full ADIF Exports. However having said that, the software went through quite a reasonable Alpha cycle where I experienced no issues with it. In fact I have seen other applications Beta cycle be less stable that Ham2K’s alpha cycle.
If you have followed the Ultimate Modern Ham Shack PC Network articles, hopefully you have implemented the daily backup imaging on your primary PC (which was strongly recommended), which means that should an unrecoverable disaster occur, it is as simple as rolling back your system a few days.
So please, you have been warned. If you are not the sort of person that keeps an eye on things, you may want to wait. Sebastian is working very quickly to a General Availabilty release, expected in November 2026. But like always, dates can be pushed back, so just keep an eye on the Ham2K website.
Ready to take it for a spin?
Even if your not ready to commit just yet, you can very easily take it for a spin. It costs nothing to get started, with the only cost should you decide it is the product for you is the yearly Ham2K cloud subscription which is not all that much and remember by doing so, you are supporting the product and ongoing development
Visit https://ham2k.com and have a read and under the Ham2k Power Logger heading you will see the downloads button and download for your operating system.
I don’t think you will be disappointed.
