Cloudlog works either along side the Ham Radio Deluxe logbook MySQL table or as a standalone system giving it lots of flexibility, when using it but the core features of being able to add QSOs, explore your logbook and have visitors interact with it are all there. You can find out more on Cloudlog’s dedicated website at http://www.cloudlog.co.uk  where you can download the source code or find out more about the project.

So the next step was obvious, I needed to create a web front-end to the database so after a few late nights coding things started to take shape and after a month’s development I’m happy to show everyone, although I have been putting the odd screenshot on Twitter.

Dashboard

When you first the Web Logbook you first see the “Dashboard” which gives you an overview of what you’ve worked that day by displaying the last 9 QSOs, and any QSOs you’ve made that day on a Google Map plus just for reference you can also quickly see a breakdown of QSO information too.

View Log

View log allows you to do exactly that view all your QSOs, just like you would in a desktop application only difference is if you click on a Callsign you’ve worked it pops up an information box displaying more information and a map. Its also possible to edit a QSO from this area and soon delete (Once I write that bit of code!)

QSO Popup Window

Search

Search provides a way of quickly looking up a QSO just start typing the callsign into the field and never JS goes off and starts matching it, currently can be a little slow depending on server speeds.

Add QSO

QSO Entry Area

The Add QSO section is really the brains of the application, here you enter your QSO at the moment the times are set to work with UTC only but thats pretty standard in the Ham Radio world, fields provided are the most important ones required you can either log as band or frequency this is controlled within the configuration files.

The system find previously logged QRA and name and populate the fields and then figure out bearings, distance and DXCC info which is displayed below the QSO box, its also got a Partial Callsign Check system, options to save satellite information (I need that important ) and soon going to add IOTA, QSLing information.

Notes

Notes

Notes was more of an add-on which I wanted so I could store beacon frequencies, ATU settings and the like, but really if its text you can store it in a note.

Statistics

Statistics

Statistics is something I’ve only just started to develop using the Google Charts API to show a breakdown of logbook QSOs, these are currently by Mode and band. I’ve also quickly written some to show QSOs on satellites, as I personally wanted to see what sat I used most (AO-51) this will develop further in the coming months no doubt.

Geek Stuff

Now I’m not providing this as a hosted application if you want to run it you’ll need to have some knowledge of remote access MySQL, creating tables and editing bits of PHP if thats OK then you’ll enjoy messing about with it.

The Web Logger was developed using the PHP MVC Framework CodeIgniter, plenty of jQuery javascript to make some of the pretty lookup functions work. It also heavly uses Google APIs like Maps and Charts to display data visually, so after you download the codebase from Github you’ll need to configure it by going to /applications/config/config.php and editing some of the variables and also database.php to make sure the MySQL connection info is correct.

Once this is all done it should work out of the box, remember this is open source project and you use it at your own risk. at some point I will have an guide on the github project on how to set it up.

Code can be found at https://github.com/magicbug/HRD-Web-Frontend

Hopefully I can get this done in the next couple of weeks, in the mean time if you’d like to be added either send me a message on Twitter or leave a message in the comments!

The wait continues!

The features for the site is open for comments either post them in the comments below or use the feedback tab on the site. I’ll be posting some more news in the feature about progress being made.

Its been 2 years since I touched the code base of PickMyRig, the original system was heavy based on a script I had written in Prolog back while I was in University then ported to PHP and the user interface was very quickly put together to get a working concept then left it alone.

So this last 3 weeks I spent some considerable time giving it a major overhaul, first up was the interface which was somewhat lacking making sure that the search features are always visible regardless of the page the visitor was currently on also the new design makes it look far more professional.

I also improved the search results display and each item now also has a product page giving a much more through overview at what the radio can do all the images displayed are from Flickr using their very comprehensive API there’s still some tweaking to be done on this but its a much better solution then uploading a photo of the radio onto our system.

The main logic behind the site is still very much the same just with a few minor tweaks, the major parts which have been added is the users ability to submit radios which are missing (after all there’s 1000s so can’t please everyone) and for us running the site everything is editable within just a few clicks of a button.

What I’m wanting to do next is link to amateur radio shop websites to help the user long in their purchase, this is still in being planned but if any radio shops are reading this drop me a email/comment.

I hope that all the changes will make it a much more enjoyable experience and allow new and current radio amateurs to find a radio suitable for them.

Go check it out http://www.pickmyrig.com

With issues of privacy which completely baffles me as the Radio Society of Great Britain make the data available via a paperback yearbook and PW Publishing make a CD and supply it for a couple of pounds. and nearly every other country makes this data available look at USA (FCC) and Australia.

Then last week I got an email from Ofcom saying that they’ve decided to suspended further distribution of the callbook data, whilst they explore options with the Information Commissioner’s Office. This oddly enough came the same week the RSGB confronted Ofcom over license database publication due to breach of the Data Protection Act, if this is the case are the RSGB not also at fault? or is there some licence which makes them “OK”. Either way I think personally that it comes down to the fact that if its made available it would effect there profits with the yearbook and callseeker cd.

So the wait continues the actual programming side of http://www.callbook.org.uk is finished, its just missing data I am tempted to import the US FCC data and at least get the callbook live and allow others to add there details but that really wasn’t what I had planned to do.

Its rather frustrating that Ofcom supplied a method to apply for the data under strict licence then revoke it within a month. I’ll keep everyone posted to how things plan out I definitely will not be giving up and will get the site online as soon as I can without breaking any laws myself

Either way I will not give up, and have registered http://www.callbook.org.uk in anticipation of getting the data hopefully within the next couple of weeks.

If your interested in knowing when the site is like just use the form on the site and I’ll drop you a note once its live.

What TweetWX does is searches twitter for the weather terms “Wind, Barometer, Temperature, Rain, Humidity” then shows the tweets in a timeline  this refreshes every 40 seconds with any new weather tweets available.

Each time it reads a tweet it also checks to see if we’ve stored it in our database if not it collects its profile data and stores it so its available as a list on the site for users to find all the current stations available!

The whole site took 1 day to code using the PHP framework CodeIgniter, You can check it out by visiting http://www.magicbug.co.uk/tweetwx

Tweets get sent out every Wednesday at 13:30 UTC I decided on this day because it was mid week, when people are starting to think about the upcoming week if anyone disagrees leave a comment.

Each contest for the coming weekend gets its own tweet with the contest name and the url to find the rules. So if your a twitter user follow @DXAnywhere plus you’ll get a wealth of other useful radio data in your twitter stream!