QSL cards
The LogBook sends QSL cards by e-mail - as an image with the contact details, from your own mailbox. It also has a card editor, a manager of sent and received cards and printing of stickers for paper QSLs.
First sending step by step
- Mailbox (SMTP). Configuration → Email QSL page → tick Use e-mails to send QSL and click Configure SMTP server to send e-mails - details below.
- The card. The QSL Editor button - choose a ready card template and type in your data, or design your own (QSL Editor).
- The e-mail text. Configure e-mail templates - the ready templates can stay as they are.
- Sending. Menu → Send QSL via e-mail (Ctrl+M). Set the tabs 1-3 and click Go.
A card is sent only for QSOs that have an e-mail address (usually from QRZ) and are not yet marked as sent.
Mail account (SMTP)
The program sends messages through your own mail account - just like an e-mail program. In the E-mail account (SMTP) window:
- E-mail provider - choose your provider (Gmail, Outlook / Hotmail, Yahoo, iCloud, WP.pl, Onet.pl, Interia.pl, O2.pl, home.pl, OVH, nazwa.pl, cyberFolks…) - the server and port fill in by themselves.
- Username - usually the full e-mail address. Password - the mailbox password or an app password.
- Your e-mail and Display name - what the recipient sees. The address usually has to be the same as the account.
- Send test... - sends a test message to an address you enter.
Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo and iCloud do not accept your normal password - an app password is needed (it requires two-step verification on the account). The How to create an app password? link in the SMTP window explains how to make one. Polish mailboxes (WP, Onet, Interia, O2) usually need access for e-mail programs (SMTP/IMAP) turned on in the mailbox settings on the website. Use port 587 - port 465 is not supported.
The author of the program has no access to your mailbox and cannot set it up for you - if in trouble, check your mail provider's website.
The "Send QSL by e-mail" window
| Tab | What to set |
|---|---|
| 1. Basic | E-mail template, QSL card template (or Instead of a single QSL template, select QSL cards from the list one by one - several card designs in turn, randomly or in order), the subject (from the e-mail template; Own subject - one subject for this sending instead of the template's), the sender, the JPEG image quality and your data for the message: Name, QTH, RIG, Antenna, Add. info. |
| 2. Settings | Frequency format on the card (Hz, kHz, MHz, GHz, with or without the unit), saving the card data in the QSO, removing duplicates, removing prefixes and suffixes, Ignore the sent flag (send again). |
| 3. Send QSL | The QSO range (e.g. only selected, the last 48 hours, the full list of unsent), getting missing e-mail addresses from QRZ and checking in QRZ whether the station accepts QSL by e-mail (paid QRZ account), Save QSLs to folder, Do not send e-mails - only save QSLs, preview, Use QSL manager, Close when finished without errors. |
The right side of the window shows a preview of the message and the card, and the sending log. Sent QSOs get the Email QSL sent flag (✓ in the Email QSL column).
A risk-free test: the DEBUG: send all e-mails to myself option sends everything to your own address and does not mark the QSOs as sent. This way you can check what the card looks like for the recipient.
Your data for the message (name, QTH, equipment, antenna) is entered in the configuration on the Email QSL page - each line is one variant to choose in the sending window (e.g. different antennas at home and in the field).
E-mail templates
E-mail templates opens the list of message templates. A template is a Subject and a
Message (plain text or HTML) with macros, e.g. the other callsign, date and band, which the program fills in when sending.
Macros are named chips, as in the card editor: {Contacted callsign}, {QSO date} - a double click (or Enter) in Available macros (grouped)
inserts a chip at the cursor in the Subject or the Message field (the one that last had the cursor); Backspace / Delete removes the whole chip.
A pasted macro code, e.g. [#theirCallSign], turns into a chip by itself. Each template has its own subject - e.g. an English template,
an English subject. The default subject: "QSL card from {My callsign} - QSO {QSO date} {Band} {Mode}". The subject from earlier versions (there was one,
in the sending window) is moved to every template, and your callsign typed in it is replaced with {My callsign}.
Default HTML / Default text restores the original message.
An HTML message (the HTML message check box) is written like in WordPad - on a white background, as the recipient
will see it. Above the text: the font list (only fonts every e-mail program and phone has - Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Trebuchet MS,
Georgia, Times New Roman, Courier New; Arial is the font of the whole message), line alignment left / center / right, B bold, I italic, U underline, A- / A+
smaller / bigger text (4 sizes - the biggest is a heading), Color - the color of the selected text (black = normal).
A new line is Enter; an https://… address becomes a link by itself. Pasted text loses formatting from other programs.
The program saves it as simple HTML.
What a button changes (the hint next to "HTML message"):
- selected text - the selection;
- cursor in a formatted fragment (e.g. in the bold heading) - the whole fragment, like a tag in HTML;
- cursor in plain text - the font and size (A- / A+) change the whole message (8-16 pt; small text, big text and the heading grow with it), B / I / U / Color - the word at the cursor;
- cursor not placed in the text yet (template just opened) - the font and size of the whole message.
Preview opens a window next to it with the message as the recipient will see it: the subject, the text with the data of the latest QSO in the current LogBook (a macro empty in that QSO shows its name, e.g. {Satellite}) and the QSL card selected in the template. The preview refreshes by itself while you type; a link in the preview opens in the browser.
HTML code (for advanced users) shows the HTML code and lets you edit it - also in an external editor (HTML editor). Going back to the simple editor without changing the code loses nothing; after manual changes the program asks, because elements the simple editor does not know (tables, styles, images) will be simplified. HTML templates from earlier versions open as HTML code; an unchanged old default template is replaced by the new one (in the simple editor) automatically.
In the "Send QSL by e-mail" window the subject field shows (greyed) the subject of the selected template. The Own subject check box lets you type another subject for all cards being sent - also with macros; unticking it brings back the template subject, and your text is remembered. The message preview shows the subject above the text.
QSL Editor
The editor designs the card: the background (an image file or a color) and elements - texts and rectangles. A text can contain macros (the Insert macro button): the other callsign, date, time, frequency, mode, report… - when sending, the program fills in the QSO data.
- File → New, Open QSL project, Save QSL project, Export to PNG. In the new card window Include sample data copies the elements of the current card (or, when it is empty, of the ready RigAndLog card) rescaled to the size of the new card - you only adjust them.
- Edit → Change size and background, Step backward; Preview.
- List of elements: Add, Duplicate, Delete, order (Top / Bottom); for an element: font, color, text outline (Add outline, width and color), for a rectangle Rounding - the corner radius in px, centering.
In the list of elements an icon tells what each one is: T - fixed text, { } - text with a macro, a small colored square - a rectangle ("Rectangle 260×40"). Macros are shown by name on dark chips ("My callsign", "Date and time"), not as codes. The top of the list is the top of the card: Top brings an element to the front, Bottom sends it to the back, the arrows move it one layer; a row can also be dragged with the mouse. A right click on an element on the card selects it and opens the menu Bring to front / Send to back / Delete. The splitter between the list and the card changes the list width - it is remembered.
On the card in the editor the macros already show values - from the latest QSO of the current LogBook and from your data in the "Send QSL by e-mail" window (name, QTH, rig…), so you can see whether a text fits. A macro that is empty in that QSO shows its name in braces, e.g. {Satellite}. Elements with macros have a faint dotted frame, the selected element a dashed one; a selected rectangle can be resized with its handles (symmetrically with centering). Preview shows the card as it will be sent - without frames.
In the Text field a macro is a chip: it cannot be cut in half - Backspace / Delete removes the whole chip. Insert a macro from the Insert macro list (double click or Enter) at the cursor; the list is grouped like the ADIF export fields (QSO, Contacted station, Contacted station programs, My station…) and closes with Esc or a click outside. With the cursor inside a chip the macro goes after the chip. Texts on the card are not translated - the card is international; only the macro names in the editor are. Macros needed only in ADIF (Y/N, date YYYYMMDD) are not offered, but still work in older cards.
Card designs are in the QSL_Templates folder (.qslCard files with a background image). Ready designs: RigAndLog,
POTA, Minimum, a sticker card.
QSL Manager
With the Use QSL manager option the program stores the sent card with the QSO and lets you add a received card. The QSL Manager window (the Show QSLs button in the QSO edit window) has the Sent QSL and Received QSL tabs: the card image, the message, a short description and the date. You add a received card with Load image from file. In Options you can print both cards, save the images or clear the QSL data. Clicking an Email QSL cell in the list shows a quick preview of the cards.
Stickers for paper QSLs
Menu → Additional Windows → QSL stickers... prints QSO data on sheets of self-adhesive labels (to stick on a paper card) or on a label printer roll:
- 1. Range - which QSOs (dates, the last N QSOs, selected or visible in the list).
- 2. Template and sheet - the sticker template (a design from the QSL Editor), the sheet type or your own dimensions (columns, rows, sticker size, margins, gaps) and Start from position - click the first free sticker on a partly used sheet.
- 3. Print - printer, X/Y offset, Print preview, Test print (frames only) on plain paper and Print.
Before printing on labels, make a test print on plain paper and hold it against the label sheet in the light. The X/Y offset corrects small printer deviations.