Tuesday 23 May 2017

QSO Relay Version 1.3 review

I have been using JTAlertX 2.8.7 with Ham Radio Deluxe and decided to stick with that configuration due to the author of JTAlertX withdrawing support for HRD V6 (the paid for version).
This has been to the disappointment of many radio hams worldwide as the community thought that the two packages integrated well together. For whatever reasons the olive branch to make up was offered to the author from HRD LLC and was ignored.

Anyway new on the scene is a small program written by VK2BYI that enables usage of the later versions of JTAlertX to function again with Ham Radio Deluxe. Hurrah I hear you say.

I installed version 1.3 of the software this morning along with the latest version of JTAlert. QSO Relay comes with quick installation instructions and an in depth manual. It makes use of MicroSoft .Net Framework 4.6 which is pre-installed on Windows 10. Older versions of operating system may require you to install .Net Framework 4.6 if it hasn't been installed by other programs on your system.

JTAlertX needs to be changed to log to a standard ADIF file. The Quick Install pdf file shows you how to configure this.When firing up the QSO Relay software the first time after installation you need to configure it.
The pdf file shows you how to do it and then synchronize your HRD database with QSO Relays own SQLlite database.

Operation

In use the QSO Relay acts as a proxy between JTAlertX and Ham Radio Deluxe logbook.  It runs as a system tray application that listens for contacts being forwarded from WSJT-X/JTALertX via a UDP port. As datagrams are received they are logged locally in a SQLLite database and then relayed using TCP to the Ham Radio Deluxe Logbook (Version 6.x) database.
I found this worked well but there was a popup message saying that the QSO had not been entered into the log. When I looked at the HRD logbook it was there. I was unable to capture the popup box as it was partially obscured by another window. Another QSO brought the same popup box but again disappeared before I had time to look which program was generating it.

If you want to try out the software yourself I can recommend it and it is available from www.vk2byi.com.au/qsorelay

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