WSJT-X, JTDX, UDP Hub, NTP time and HamClock

The LogBook works together with digital mode programs (FT8, FT4…): QSOs logged in WSJT-X or JTDX go into the log by themselves. This page also covers clock synchronization, without which FT8 does not work, and the SP4THK HamClock clock.

Settings

In the LogBook

Configuration → WSJTX page:

• Run UDP client to get data from WSJT-X/JTDX,
• IP address and UDP port - the same as in WSJT-X / JTDX (usually 127.0.0.1 and 2237; with GridTracker often 2238). Changing the port may require restarting the program.
• Automatically accept and save WSJT-X/JTDX data - a QSO logged in WSJT-X is saved in the log right away. Without this option the data goes into the entry fields and you save it yourself (Enter / Save to LogBook).
• Work in the background without interaction - see below.

In WSJT-X

File → Settings → Reporting: in the UDP Server part enter the same address and port as in the LogBook. In JTDX also enable sending logged QSOs in ADIF format.

How it works

• Selecting a station (double-click a station in WSJT-X) - its callsign, locator, frequency and mode appear in the LogBook, and the program queries QRZ. If you take the frequency from the radio (Rig window), the radio's frequency stays. If you meanwhile put another callsign in the LogBook (spot, typed), WSJT-X does not overwrite it by itself - double-clicking the same station in WSJT-X again brings it back. On a double-click on the same line WSJT-X may send nothing if nothing changed - then double-click a newer line of that station or use the WSJT-X option Double-click on call sets Tx enable.
• Logging the QSO in WSJT-X - with automatic acceptance the QSO is saved at once, with the dB reports, locator, name and comment from WSJT-X. Missing data is filled in from QRZ - if the station was already queried in this session.
• Duplicates - when WSJT-X sends the same QSO a second time (same callsign, band, mode, time within a minute), the program does not duplicate it.
• Reception status - the UDP Port … Read label at the bottom of the LogBook window shows that data is arriving. Right-click this label: UDP configuration, UDP Hub, SP4THK HamClock.

Background mode

Work in the background without interaction - selecting a station in WSJT-X does not change the LogBook window and does not query QRZ, and a logged QSO is saved at once (without QRZ data, unless the station is in the query cache of this session). Useful when FT8 runs on one radio while you log phone QSOs by hand from another one.

UDP Hub

WSJT-X sends UDP data to one receiver. When you want it in the LogBook, GridTracker, HamClock… at the same time - use the UDP Hub supplied with the program. It receives the data from WSJT-X and passes it to all programs, without a chain like "WSJT-X → GridTracker → HamClock → LogBook", where one failing program cuts off the next ones.

On the WSJTX page: Run UDP Hub when the program starts or Run UDP Hub now. The hub settings are described in a separate help: UDP Hub.

NTP time

FT8 and FT4 need a clock accurate to a second. Menu → Synchronize time with NTP server (or the button on the Schedule page) starts the SET_NTP_TIME program, which sets the Windows clock from a time server. Changing the clock requires administrator rights - Windows asks for them. See NTP Time. Under Linux (Wine) this function is not available - Linux manages the clock.

SP4THK HamClock

SP4THK HamClock is a separate program with a clock, a map, propagation and spots that works together with Rig and Log: it sees your log (new QSOs at once), the radio from the Rig window, the satellite from the SAT panel and the UDP Hub settings. Configuration, HamClock page:

• SP4THK HamClock (program) - checked: cooperation on (immediately, without OK);
• HamClock.exe location: - when the field is empty or the file is missing, the program looks for it: the path saved by SP4THK HamClock when it starts, the SP4THK HamClock installation, a running SP4THK HamClock (not the HAMCLOCK folder next to Rig and Log - that is an old module from older installers). The file found goes into the field (Found automatically below it). The ... button - choose the file yourself. On Linux (Wine) you can also point to the native SP4THK HamClock (e.g. /home/.../HamClock);
• Download SP4THK HamClock - opens rigandlog.com in the browser; nothing is downloaded by itself - SP4THK HamClock is not in the Rig and Log installer;
• Start SP4THK HamClock when the LogBook starts - whatever the connection.

Menu → Additional windows → SP4THK HamClock starts the program, or shows its window when it is already connected from this computer. The same in the right-click menu of the UDP status text: Open SP4THK HamClock and Configure SP4THK HamClock.

SP4THK HamClock does not touch Rig and Log files. It gets them over the connection: the current logbook, the settings the clock needs (callsign, locator, radio, satellite, VOACAP forecast settings - no passwords), UDP Hub settings, the satellite list and their orbital elements (TLE); new QSOs at once. It keeps them - when Rig and Log is not running it shows the last state. In SP4THK HamClock the cooperation is switched off on the Rig and Log tab (Cooperation with Rig and Log enabled) - then it takes no data from Rig and Log.

Radio. While Rig and Log runs, SP4THK HamClock takes the radio from Rig and Log - frequency, band, mode, power and transmitting, as they would go into the log (with split also the receive frequency) - and does not connect to the radio itself. When the Rig window is hidden, SP4THK HamClock shows no radio. The radio settings of SP4THK HamClock work only when Rig and Log is not running.

A click on a spot (also a POTA / SOTA / WWFF / LLOTA activation) in SP4THK HamClock works like a double-click on a spot in the LogBook: it tunes the radio (the active channel of the Rig window) and puts the call into the QSO form. It does not work while the radio transmits or when Lock clusters - no internet mode is on - SP4THK HamClock shows the reason. With Work in the background without interaction the click works normally.

Station from the form. The callsign, locator, name and QTH of the station in the QSO form go to SP4THK HamClock with every change - after a click on a spot or activation, a station chosen in WSJT-X and a typed call; clearing the form removes it in SP4THK HamClock. With automatic QRZ queries only after the QRZ answer (locator, name and QTH from QRZ), without QRZ at once (locator from the field or the country centre - like the VOACAP forecast).

SP4THK HamClock sets this station as its DX target: a marker and path on the map, azimuth, distance, a VOACAP forecast to the station, its local time and the status from the log (NEW / BAND / MODE / WKD). The last action wins: a station chosen in SP4THK HamClock or a station change in the Rig and Log form. Clearing the form removes only a target set by Rig and Log.

On the SP4THK HamClock lists (cluster, POTA, SOTA, WWFF, LLOTA) all spots of this station get a light blue background (the tooltip says it is the station in the Rig and Log QSO window) - the callsign exactly as in the form (SP4THK/P and SP4THK are different calls). The highlight disappears when the form is cleared and when Rig and Log is closed.

Connection

Configuration, HamClock page - Connection to SP4THK HamClock: (changes work at once, without OK):

• This computer - only SP4THK HamClock on the same computer connects, without asking. Also the native SP4THK HamClock on Linux with Rig and Log in Wine;
• Computer on the network - other computers in the network connect too (e.g. Raspberry Pi, a Mac with Rig and Log in Parallels). In SP4THK HamClock choose Computer on the network and enter the address of the Rig and Log computer and the port. On the first start Windows may ask for a firewall permission - allow it for private networks;
• Port: - 52250 by default (the same in SP4THK HamClock); a change works when you leave the field.

Below the port you see the state: Waiting for SP4THK HamClock, Connected: computer name (address) or a port error (e.g. used by another program).

When SP4THK HamClock from another computer connects for the first time, Rig and Log asks: SP4THK HamClock on the computer ... wants to connect - Allow, Deny or Later. No codes, nothing to type. An allowed computer connects by itself later. Deny - for 10 minutes that computer is refused without asking; Later - the question comes back in 2 minutes. The list Computers allowed to connect over the network: shows the allowed computers; Remove - it asks again on the next connection.

SP4THK HamClock started by Rig and Log connects by itself (on this computer) and closes together with it; started by hand it keeps running. Closing together with Rig and Log can be switched off in the SP4THK HamClock settings, Rig and Log tab.