I’m adding a new transceiver to my shack and I want to track contacts based on the transceiver used to make each contact. I’ll probably be switching back and forth between radios.? I successfully repurposed one of the “Other” fields to be my new “Radio” field.? I was also able to adjust its position and tab order in the contact entry form.

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Question:? How can I get my “Radio” field to show up as one of the columns in the contact listing (the “Recent Contacts” table)?? ?If there’s a limit on the number of fields (columns) that can be shown, I can remove the “S” and “R” fields since the color coding gives me that info.? But how can I select the fields which appear in this list’s columns?

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Thanks much!

Larry, WA2VKG

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On Sun, Feb 16, 2025 at 12:55 PM, Larry- WA2VKG wrote:

Question:? How can I get my “Radio” field to show up as one of the columns in the contact listing (the “Recent Contacts” table)?? ?If there’s a limit on the number of fields (columns) that can be shown, I can remove the “S” and “R” fields since the color coding gives me that info.? But how can I select the fields which appear in this list’s columns?

Hi Larry,

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Think of the Recent Contacts list as a spreadsheet if that helps.

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After the last line/row of data, there is a horizontal scroll bar.? Click and drag that to see columns 'to the right.'? Then click and drag the column named 'Radio' and drag it 'to the left' to place it where you wish.

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73, Mitch

Mitch- Thanks? for your help.? I can now see the bottom scroll bar and I can now re-order the columns.? However, the scroll bar control fills most of the screen's width because most of the table can be displayed without scrolling.? I’m scrolled all the way over to the right side of the table and columns are still missing.

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I think my problem isn’t one of scrolling, but that many of my columns have a near zero width.

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When I edit a contact and click the “More” button, 64 fields are shown.? I would think that all 64 of these should be visible in the contact listing table (although you might have to use the scroll bar to see them), but I only see about 25 columns (even when scrolling through the entire width of the table).? One of the missing ones is my new “Radio” field.

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I discovered that if I carefully click between column headings, in just the right spot,? sometimes a small box appears in the space between the two visible columns, ?and the cursor changes to the “vertical lines” which allow you to resize the column.? As I drag the edge of that box, the previously hidden column is made wider and a new column heading is revealed

For example, here’s one of those “small boxes” that’s between the “S Conf By” and “Sat Name” columns (the box is barely visible, but I've marked it with a red arrow):

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If I hover the mouse inside of this box, the “vertical lines” cursor appears and I can make this box wider to reveal the “QTH Grp” column.

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I believe I’ve reached a point where I can no longer find these “boxes” and I’m not able to uncover any more columns.

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Questions....

Is there a global setting somewhere which allows you to set the width of all of the fields to some given value? Once they’re visible I can resize as needed.?

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I also noticed that there is a file in my ACLog backup folder called “MainListColumnWidth2.xml” (there’s a second file called “MainListColumnWidth3.xml”).? I opened them using notepad and both appear to define column widths for 65 items (each line follows a format like “<43>72</43>” ).? I assume the <> tags identify the field number and the value in between is the column width?? I don’t know why there are two files.? Many (39, actually) of these widths(?) have a value of 0.? I know I’m venturing into the dark areas under the hood of AC Log and I’m hesitant to mess with these files, but I’m tempted to change the 0 values to something higher.? Maybe that would cause the “missing” columns to show up?

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Sorry for the long post… Any ideas on how I can make my “missing fields” appear in the contact table?

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Thanks again,

Larry (WA2VKG)?

Kevin-? That worked!? I can now see all of those "missing" columns (including my "Radio" column).? I've repositioned them to be in the order I want.? ?It all looks great.? ?Thanks so much!!!

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I guess I've always been unsure about the terms "Main List" and "Main Form".? ?The "List" is on the top and lists all of the contacts.? the "Form" is on the bottom and allows you to enter info for a new contact... right?

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While I'm at it- here's another question....

In most of my contacts, the "Radio" field is still blank (this has only been filled in for the contacts made since the field was created).??

Is there any way to edit multiple contacts to fill in the missing "Radio" entry? ?All of my FT8 contacts (which is most of the contacts in my log) were made with my FT-817).? I can do a "search" and list only the FT8 contacts, but would it be possible to edit all of these FT8 contacts at once to change the "Radio" field from blank to "817"?? ?Or, is the only option to go through them one at a time, click edit, and then paste the "817" into the "Radio" field for each FT8 contact?

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Thanks again for all the help!

Larry (WA2VKG)

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On Wed, Feb 19, 2025 at 12:42 PM, Larry- WA2VKG wrote:

Is there any way to edit multiple contacts to fill in the missing "Radio" entry?

Larry,

Check out the Bulk Edit feature.? Click menu bar Edit and then Bulk Edit.? You can only bulk edit sequential records.? You have to select a beginning and ending REC#.? You'll see when you get there.? You can leave the 'From:' field blank and enter your radio in the 'To:'.? If cautious, do a Save before you do the bulk edit.? I also added a Radio field and it works great.

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73, Mitch

Mitch-? The Bulk Edit did the trick! I'm flattered that I inspired you to add your own "Radio" field? LOL

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The only minor wrinkle I encountered is that the fields in the Bulk Edit box don't list my "Radio" field; it shows up as "Other 3".? I had to go into the "'Other' Field Titles and Fill Behavior" page to remember which "Other" field I used for "Radio".? "Radio" shows up everywhere else though.

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I haven't updated all of the fields yet. I started with 10 and then did bigger batch of 1200.? It didn't take too long.? I've been using AC Log for 2 years now, and I have over 4800 contacts in it.? Almost all of them are with my FT-817 on FT8, so it's not hard to ID the contacts that should have "735" (IC-735) in the "Radio" field (these are the CW or SSB contacts).

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This is an awesome program.? Before getting AC Log I "kicked the tires" on several other logging programs, but N3FJP AC Log just seemed to "fit" for me.? The other programs seemed to have too many hoops to jump through to get it to work with WSJT-x, LOTW, and QRZ.? AC Log "just worked"- I didn't have to fiddle around with drivers or settings.

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Thanks once again,

Larry (WA2VKG)

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I add the Other number at the beginning of the new Title. In your case: 3 Radio. That way you know that Radio is an Other name and that the Other number is 3. So just add the numbers 1-8 before the new names have used ? It works for me.