Contact Logging Throughout the Decades – But BEWARE!

For as long as there has been amateur radio, there has been contact logging. In the early days, keeping a written log was not just good practice; it was often a regulatory requirement.

With the rise of the personal computer in the 1980s and 1990s, the hobby saw its first wave of digital logging. Later, the internet and the World Wide Web accelerated the shift, enabling features unimaginable on paper: instant mapping of QSOs, automated frequency and mode capture, and seamless submission to services such as LoTW, QSLMaster.com, Club Log, and countless other contest reporting and award portals.

Of course, not every amateur chooses to run a computer in the shack, and that is fine. Horses for courses, as the saying goes. But for those who do, software logging provides advantages far beyond maintaining a digital record:

• Instant visualisation of your global contacts on maps
• Automated recording of frequency, mode, and time with precision
• Contest support with real-time scoring and error checking
• Integration with online services to confirm QSOs and manage awards
• Cloud backups and synchronisation across multiple devices

A Growing Ecosystem

Some of the most recognised names in logging software have been around for decades. Yet the ecosystem continues to expand at an ever-growing rate, with new applications appearing regularly. Interestingly, many of these are being built not by experienced software engineers, but by hobbyists and enthusiasts making use of inherently insecure AI-assisted coding.

While innovation is always welcome, it also raises concerns. Amateur operators should be cautious about rushing into every new logging platform without doing proper due diligence. A logbook often contains not just QSO records, but also personal data, credentials, and API keys for external services. Poorly written or insecure software created by “vibe coders” with little understanding of security practices and protocols could expose sensitive information to bad actors. It is probably best to assume your data is never secure in any amateur platforms. With that in mind, please consider the following recommendations.

Recommendations for Operators

Before entrusting your data to the latest "flashy" new logging or award system, take a moment to ask who built it, how data is handled, and what safeguards are in place. Beyond that, a few simple practices can go a long way toward protecting yourself:

• Separate your credentials. As Elvis used to sing: "one for the money, one for the show." In practice, that means keeping your critical accounts (banking, primary email) on one set of unique credentials, and using a completely different set for general web activity such as online shopping, social media, or buying tickets.
• Check the track record. Look for established software with an active user base and clear, ongoing support channels.
• Prefer transparency. When possible, choose projects or applications that clearly explain how your data is stored and protected, backed by privacy and data protection policies.
• Take regular backups of your contact logs and associated data.
• Do not use your shack computer for sensitive tasks such as internet banking as you can’t trust all those unsigned insecure applications you installed off random websites, they may contain malware that can’t be detected by anti-virus.