Everything ShackAssistant does

Station Setup, three tabs

Open File → Station setup and fill in:

• Basic Info - callsign, operator, locator and QSO location. The fields in red are required.
• Address / Zone Info - your name, address, country, CQ and ITU zone. Macros and QSL labels use these, for example {MYNAME}, {MYCITY} and {MYCQZ}, so you never have to type them again.
• Upload - your QRZ logbook key, LoTW station location and Club Log app password for this logbook.

Click Save to store and close, or Cancel to change nothing. If something is missing, the window stays open and puts the cursor in that box.

Opening and making logbooks

• New logbook asks whether you want an ordinary log or a contest log.
• A .mbk logbook from MiniBook opens as it is.
• Your last logbook opens again at the next start. If it is gone, the program starts empty and says so on the status bar.
• ADIF (the standard log file format every logging program reads) can be imported and exported. QSOs you already have are recognised.

Automatic backups

• A backup is made every time you open a logbook, and once a day while you log. A server logbook is backed up as a .sak file you can open without the server.
• Backups are kept for 7 days, at most 5 per logbook - you can change both. The newest backup of each logbook is always kept.
• File → Open Backup Folder takes you there. You can choose another folder.

To update, just run the newer setup over the old one. Your logbooks, settings, macros and templates stay where they are.

Two ways to connect

Go to Settings → Rig Control. Radio control uses Hamlib, which comes with the program.

• Serial (USB/COM port): pick your radio from the Rig model list and choose the port. The list shows the port names from Windows ("COM1 - Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge"), so you can recognise your cable. Data bits, stop bits, handshake, DTR and RTS are there if your radio needs them.
• Network: pick Hamlib NET rigctl and fill in the host and port of a rigctld on your network.
• Icom over the network: tick Network (Icom LAN) and ShackAssistant logs into the radio itself - CAT, audio and scope over one connection, no RS-BA1. See below.
• Poll interval: how often the radio is read, 100 ms by default.

Presets: more than one radio

A preset saves a whole connection under a name. Pick one from the list next to Connect on the main window to switch radios. Tick Auto Connect to connect at every start. You cannot change presets while the radio is connected.

PTT per transmitter

The voice keyer, Key Master's CW and Key Master's RTTY each have their own PTT: over CAT, or RTS/DTR on a serial port, set where that transmitter is set up. Test keys your transmitter. CW and RTTY have a Delay before sending starts (120 ms by default) and a Tail, how long PTT stays on afterwards (300 ms).

PTT and CAT can use the same serial port - for example RTS for PTT and DTR for CW keying.

Transverter: work 13 cm, log 13 cm

A transverter turns your 2 m radio into a 13 cm (or 23 cm, or 3 cm) station. The radio knows nothing about that - it still says 144.100. ShackAssistant puts one offset between the two, and that offset is a translation layer, not a display trick: above it everything speaks the real frequency, below it the radio speaks its IF.

Set it in Settings → Rig Control, in the Rig Connection frame: the mode, the IF band and the offset. It is saved with the preset, so a 13 cm setup and a plain HF setup are two entries in the same list.

• The band is locked while it is on. Nothing but the output window reaches the radio, and a refusal says which gate closed: "is another band" is a band change, "is not in a band at all" is a typing mistake. Turn the knob on the radio itself and the program says so instead of quietly showing the IF.
• A marker beside the frequency reads TRV +2156.000, and the title bar says it too. It hangs on the tick box and never on the number, so it cannot claim a layer that is switched off. The Hamlib log notes both frequencies on every translated move.
• WSJT-X works on 13 cm because what the rigctld server advertises follows the output window. It asks once, when it connects, and refuses anything outside what it was told.

One offset, so a separate receive path - an LNB on the downlink - is a different thing and is not this. Simplex is the assumption.

Mode:       Transverter   # Off / Transverter / QO-100
IF band:    2m            # the band the radio works in
Offset:     +2156.000     # MHz, added to what the radio shows

# radio 144.100  +  2156.000  =  antenna 2300.100

QO-100: pick the IF, the rest follows

The QO-100 narrowband transponder is a fixed 500 kHz wide and its downlink is a fixed distance from its uplink, so there is nothing to type twice. Choose QO-100 and give the IF start frequency; the offset is worked out from it.

IF start:   432.000       # whatever your transverter wants

# uplink    2400.000 .. 2400.500   (500 kHz, fixed)
# downlink 10489.500 ..10490.000   (uplink + 8089.500, exact)

• The downlink is shown on its own row under the entry boxes, and the frequency box is labelled TX (MHz): so there is no doubt which of the two you are typing.
• Connecting parks the radio in the IF window if it was somewhere else - otherwise the box would show an IF number, because the layer rightly does not translate outside the transponder.
• A QSO through the transponder is stamped with the receive frequency and band (3cm), and Satellite and Propagation fill themselves in. Only what the program put there is cleared again, so your own entry is never overwritten.

An IC-7610, IC-7300MK2, IC-7760, IC-9700 or IC-705 has its own network server. ShackAssistant talks to it directly: one connection carries CAT, the radio's audio both ways and its spectrum scope. Nothing else to install.

• Audio quality per direction, like RS-BA1: sample rate, codec and buffer for receive and transmit, with Recommended: LAN and Internet buttons. Saved with the preset, so an IC-705 at home and portable can each have their own.
• Your own speakers and microphone for remote operating, with a volume slider and Mute, and <PTT> on a message key.
• WSJT-X works through one virtual cable and the rigctld server; its PTT opens the microphone.
• The radio's scope at the bottom of the main window: span, the wheel tunes by the step you choose, a click tunes, RF gain, squelch, ATT and preamp one click away.
• Undock it and it becomes a front panel: modes, bands, filters, VFO and memories, antenna, tuner and power, repeater tones, an S-meter and Po/ALC over the waterfall, and a big PTT button.
• Help → Radio scope demo shows it all without a radio.

See Icom over the network for the details.

Type a callsign and the main window shows the country and flag, continent, CQ and ITU zone, the distance in km and miles, and the short and long path heading. The worked-before list below shows every earlier QSO with that station.

• QSO Date & Time is in UTC. Untick Track Time to type them yourself, for example for QSOs from a paper log.
• Track next to the frequency: the radio fills it in. Untick it to type the frequency yourself.
• Log the QSO with Ctrl+G, clear the entry with Ctrl+W. The QSO is saved at once - there is no Save button.
• Delete the last QSO with Ctrl+Delete. It shows the QSO and asks first.

Filling in the rest

• QRZ lookup - click the magnifier or press Ctrl+L. Name and locator are filled in only if they are empty. Switch QRZ lookup on in Settings first.
• Call history - an N1MM call history file, or your own log, fills in what a station sent before.

Message keys, right under the entry

Twelve keys, F1–F12. Right-click a key to switch to another set, for example one per contest.

A key can play a recording, press a button on the radio (such as a voice memory), clear the entry or log the QSO. Esc stops it.

# F-key, caption, comma, what it does.  <> do something, {} fill something in.
F1 CQ,CQ.wav
F2 His Call,<PLAY CALL.wav>
F3 Exch,<PLAY EXCH.wav>
F4 My Call,<PLAY MYCALL.wav>
F6 TU,<PLAY TU.wav><LOG>
F7 Mem 1,<CATHEX FE FE 98 E0 28 00 01 FD>   # IC-7610 voice memory 1
F8 Mem 1,<CATASC PB01;>                    # the same on a Yaesu
F9 Split,<SPLIT +1000>
F12 Wipe,<WIPE>

If the radio refuses a CAT command, you are told.

Finding a QSO

• Search in log searches the fields you tick under Select Search Fields.
• Display Filter hides modes, bands, QSL states or contest QSOs you do not want to see - and Contest is Yes/No, so you can isolate them as well as hide them. It only changes what you see, not the log.
• Reset View clears the search and the filter.
• Customize Layout sets which columns you see and in what order. Auto Column Width makes every column wide enough for its contents.

Editing one, or many

• Edit QSO shows every field of one QSO.
• Bulk Edit changes one field on all selected QSOs. Setting QSL or LoTW to Yes fills in today's date for you.
• Changes are saved at once.

Statistics

• Summary: total QSOs, DXCC countries, QSLs and LoTW, and how many countries are confirmed. Counts per band and per mode.
• The DXCC table: per country and band, worked (WKD) or confirmed (CFM). Tick your bands and click Update Table.

What the colours mean

The colours are also named at the bottom of the window.

One click to the station

• Click a spot and the radio goes to that frequency and mode, with the callsign in the entry.
• The mode is taken from the spot's comment (a spot saying RTTY tunes to RTTY). If the comment says nothing, the frequency decides.
• Sound-card modes (FT8, PSK31, OLIVIA…) set the radio to DIGITAL.
• Send Spot posts your own spot: callsign, frequency and a comment. A QSO from WSJT-X fills these in for you.

Alerts and the band map

• Alerts: a list of callsigns you are looking for. When one is spotted it turns red, with a sound if you want one.
• Band Map shows the spots on a map of the band that follows your VFO. Tick Open with DX Cluster to open it every time.

Receiving

• Click a signal in the waterfall to read it. Text appears at once.
• The speed follows the station by itself (RX 26 WPM). Click it to send at the same speed.
• Squelch: drag the bar until only real signals print.
• AFC follows a drifting station. The filter runs from 40 to 250 Hz.
• A tooltip names the exact word a click will pick - so you see that 599-14 is two words before you click.
• Double-click a word to make it the callsign. Right-click it for locator, RST or exchange.

Sending

• Type ahead while it sends. Sent text is struck through.
• The sidetone is at the cursor, so on SSB you transmit on the station you hear.
• How it is keyed is the mode; PTT is set per mode. Cut numbers if you want them: 599 goes out as 5NN.
• RX/TX: green while you listen, red while you send. Click it to stop. In the two AFSK modes a TUNE button beside it puts a steady tone on the air so you can set your drive against the set's own ALC meter - it counts down and stops itself after ten seconds.

Three views of the band

• Waterfall - the band, with the cursor and the filter.
• CW Analysis - signal, noise and the squelch line, which you can drag.
• Skimmer - reads the whole band at once, one station per line.

The quick log, and the audio tab

• The line under the quick log shows what will be logged: Logs CW · 40m · 7.0220 MHz. It always logs the mode you are working, whatever the main window says.
• Band and frequency follow the radio, unless you type your own.
• In a contest it grows the boxes that contest asks for, right behind the received exchange, and the comment box steps aside - so a CW or RTTY contest can be worked from this one window. See Contesting.
• On the Audio tab, RX level is your receive level and TX drive how much audio goes to the transmitter.

Received text is saved

Everything you receive is saved per day in Documents\ShackAssistant\received. The File menu opens it, or saves the received audio.

Key Master settings, four tabs

• CW - how you key and on which port, the sound cards, PTT, cut numbers, decoder options.
• RTTY - the port, mark/space swap, the sound cards, PTT, Tune In, your FSK mark tone.
• Waterfall - range, smoothing, sharpness and refresh rate.
• Appearance - text colours and font.

The sound cards and PTT are on the CW and RTTY tabs, one set per mode. Apply keeps the window open.

Making the log

Choose New logbook and pick a contest log. Then fill in:

• Log type - the contest. The list shows every .ctd in Documents\ShackAssistant\CTD.
• Start (UTC) - when the contest starts.
• Your categories (operator, band, power, mode…). These go into your Cabrillo file, the log you send to the organiser.
• Sent exchange: {SERIAL} counts up from 001, or type what you send.
• Click Create… and choose where to save.

While you work

• A dupe is logged but scores no points.
• Serial numbers count up by themselves.
• Call history fills in what a station sent before.
• Score shows your score per band, the Multipliers you still need, and any contest Rules that are not applied.
• Key Master works the contest too: its quick log grows the same boxes, and the right-click menu on the decoded text offers them.
• Your score, live on the scoreboard. Tick one box under Station Setup → Contest Score of your contest logbook and ShackAssistant posts to Contest Online ScoreBoard every few minutes while the contest runs - and never in the way of your logging, because a slow scoreboard costs you nothing.

START-OF-LOG: 3.0
CONTEST: PACC
CALLSIGN: PA5DJ
CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP
CATEGORY-MODE: MIXED
CLAIMED-SCORE: 30600
QSO: 14025 CW 2026-02-14 1522 PA5DJ         59  NH     PA6HQ         59  012
END-OF-LOG:

If a contest rule is not applied, you are told before the file is written.

You are also warned when a section list the contest needs is missing - without it the score comes out too high.

Message keys and starting definitions

The message keys work as described under Logging, with a set per contest. In CW and RTTY you can use Key Master's macros instead.

Three simple definitions come with the program to copy and adapt. For a real contest, use that contest's N1MM .ctd file.

[Contest]
Name=PACCPA
DisplayName=PACC - Dutch station (CW/SSB)
CabrilloName=PACC
Mode=MIXED
DupeType=3            ; per band AND per mode
PointsPerContact=1
Multiplier1Name=Country

A plain text file. The same file also works in N1MM.

The print queue

• In the log, select QSOs, right-click and choose Add to QSL Print Queue. Or let new QSOs be added automatically under Settings → QSL Handling.
• Sort for QSL bureau puts the queue in the order the bureau wants.
• After printing you can remove the QSOs from the queue and mark them QSL sent.

Roll labels

• One label per station, with its QSOs in a table.
• Header, QSO table and footer are lines you write yourself, with fields in braces such as {CALL} and {DATE}. [b], [i] and [u] make text bold, italic or underlined.
• Layout: font, sizes, margins, rows, borders and rotation.
• Templates can be saved, copied and shared.

Mask & Mark

Boxes, crosses and text that print only in certain cases - for example a cross at "TNX QSL" when their card came in, and at "PSE QSL" when it did not. In all three print windows.

[b]To Radio: {CALL}{QSL_VIA_TAG}[/b]
{MYCALL} confirms the following QSO(s):

{QSL_VIA_TAG} prints via DL5XYZ only when the station has a QSL manager.

Pre-printed cards

• Only the QSO data is printed - your design is already on the card. Give each field a position in millimetres.
• More than one QSO per card if you like.
• Calibration: print the calibration sheet on plain paper, hold it over a blank card, and enter how far it is off.
• One card at a time: the program asks for each card, handy for hand feeding.
• Custom text: lines printed once per card, such as a greeting.

Add the server, once per PC

• Go to Settings → Network Logbook and add a server: address, port, account and password. You can add several (home, club). An arrow marks the one in use.
• Click Test connection to check it. The server's answer is shown, such as a wrong password.
• To switch servers, pick another one and click Apply. The open logbook is closed.

-- every logbook is named sa_..., so one grant covers them all
CREATE USER 'shackassistant'@'192.168.1.%' IDENTIFIED BY 'a-good-password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `sa\_%`.* TO 'shackassistant'@'192.168.1.%';

One cluster connection for the whole shack

A cluster node does not like the same callsign logged in several times. So make one PC the master: it connects to the cluster and passes the spots to the others.

• Tick the Master column in Network Stations and confirm.
• The other PCs can still send spots; they go out through the master.

• QSOs from WSJT-X and others: WSJT-X, JTDX, MSHV, JS8Call and other programs that send logged QSOs over UDP log straight into ShackAssistant. The DX cluster spot fields are filled in too, ready to send.
• Radio status for other programs: frequency, mode and more are sent out every few seconds, the same way N1MM does. Band decoders, antenna switches, amplifier control or dashboards that work with N1MM can follow your radio. Set it up under Settings → UDP Traffic.
• Sharing the radio with other programs - see Rig control.
• QRZ.com: look up callsigns while you type (needs a QRZ subscription), and upload to your QRZ logbook.
• Club Log: upload each QSO automatically, or a selection.
• LoTW: upload through TQSL (which you install yourself). Check LoTW downloads your confirmations and turns the matching QSOs green in the log.
• ADIF import and export for everything else.

<RadioInfo>
    <App>ShackAssistant</App>
    <Freq>1402530</Freq>          <!-- in 10 Hz, as N1MM does -->
    <Mode>CW</Mode>
    <MyCall>PA5DJ</MyCall>
    <OpCall>PA5DJ</OpCall>
    <RadioName>Icom IC-7610</RadioName>
    <MyLocator>JO22LO</MyLocator>
    <Call>DA0HQ</Call>              <!-- last worked, this session -->
    <contestname>PACCPA</contestname>   <!-- only during a contest -->
</RadioInfo>

Keyboard shortcuts

You can change them under Settings → Keyboard, except the F-keys.

Also included

• Country data from BigCTY, updated with one click.
• Sharp on any screen: nothing is cut off at 100, 150 or 200 % Windows scaling.
• A splash screen at start, which you can turn off.
• One installer for the program, Hamlib and the country data. It checks for the .NET 10 desktop runtime.
• Free of charge, written by one radio amateur for his own station - and for anyone else who wants it.