What is a Logbook?

Understanding the purpose and history of radio logging

A logbook is your radio diary — a record of every conversation (QSOA contact or conversation between two amateur radio stations. , ham shorthand for “a contact”) you have on the air.

Why Keep a Log?

Hams have kept logs since the earliest days of radio. While the FCC no longer requires it, there are great reasons to keep one:

Track your progress. Watch your contact count grow. Carrier Wave shows an activity grid — like a GitHub contribution chart for radio. Every green square is a day you got on the air.

Confirm contacts. Awards require proof that contacts happened. When both stations log the same QSOA contact or conversation between two amateur radio stations. with matching details, that contact is “confirmed.”

Remember your conversations. Years from now, you’ll enjoy looking back at your first long-distance contact or that memorable chat with a station overseas.

Participate in activities. Park activations (POTAParks on the Air - a program encouraging portable operation from parks and public lands. ), summit activations (SOTA ), contests, and special events all require logging.

Connect with the community. With Carrier Wave, you can add friends, join clubs, take on challenges, and see when friends are on the air. It turns a solo hobby into something social.

From Paper to Digital

Traditionally, hams kept paper logs — notebooks with columns for date, time, callsign, frequency, and notes. Digital logging adds:

  • Automatic lookups — Type a callsign, instantly see the operator’s name and location
  • Cloud backup — Never lose your log
  • Easy search — Find any contact in seconds
  • Electronic confirmations — Confirm contacts worldwide without a stamp
  • Social features — Friends on air, shared stats, local events, and challenges

What Carrier Wave Adds

Carrier Wave syncs your log to seven cloud services automatically and goes beyond basic logging:

  • Activity programs — Built-in support for POTA, SOTA, WWFF (Worldwide Flora & Fauna), and AoA (Airports on the Air)
  • Equipment tracking — Record which radio, antenna, and gear you used
  • Maps — See contacts on a map, plus nearby parks and summits
  • Challenges and brag sheets — Set goals and share accomplishments
  • Widgets and watch app — Check conditions or stats from your home screen or Apple Watch

Don’t worry about understanding all of this now. We’ll walk through everything step by step.

What’s Next?

Now that you understand why we log, let’s look at what information goes into a log entry .