| Copy your logbook and ADIF files to a backup folder in one go, keep Windows sounds off your rig’s USB sound card, and keep an eye on your 10-minute ID. | | You know the drill. Twelve years of QSOs in one logger database, on a shack PC that makes a funny noise when it boots. No backup since… well, you’d rather not say. Or you’re calling CQ on FT8, Windows decides to play its little “device connected” chime, and it goes right out over the air through the rig’s USB CODEC. Sound familiar? ❓ Let me be straight with you up front: nothing on this page does rig control, CAT, logging or digital modes. It doesn’t talk to N1MM, Log4OM, WSJT-X or LoTW. Those programs already do their jobs well. These are small Windows tools for the PC they all run on. So below are the tools I’d hand any ham, most helpful first. They all run on your Windows PC. Click Learn more on any one for the full rundown. 73! Now on with the show… 😃 | | Your Logbook and Your Audio Chain 🗄️ | Two things that bite every digital-mode operator sooner or later: a lost log and Windows audio doing something dumb. | | Tool | What it does for you | Quick File Backup
Learn more → | Pick your logger’s folders and the file types that matter (.adi, the logger database, your CHIRP radio images, WSJT-X settings) and copy them all to a backup drive or folder in one pass. You can even set it to run the backup as soon as you open it. | Volume Level Adjuster
Learn more → | See every program making sound right now and set each one’s volume, plus a one-click switch of the Windows default audio device. Keep Windows system sounds on your speakers instead of your rig’s USB CODEC, and flip your headset in and out with a hotkey. |
| | Tip: Put Quick File Backup in your routine: open it after every contest weekend and every POTA activation. Your logger may have its own backup, but a second copy on a different drive is cheap insurance. 😊 |
| | At the Operating Position 🎙️ | Small screen, lots of windows, and a call sign to give every 10 minutes. | | Tool | What it does for you | Always on Top
Learn more → | Pin WSJT-X’s band activity window, the DX cluster or your logger’s entry window so it stays on top while you work other programs. One hotkey on, one hotkey off. | Simple Stopwatch
Learn more → | Start it when you start transmitting on a long ragchew or net and glance at it: when it’s creeping up on 10 minutes, time to ID. It’s a nudge, not an alarm, and the ID is still on you. | Second Keyboard Hotkeys
Learn more → | Plug in a cheap USB numpad and give it its own hotkeys, separate from your main keyboard. Map its keys to your logger’s existing F-key macros (CQ, exchange, TU) so the main keyboard stays free for typing calls during a contest. | Clipboard History
Learn more → | Copy a call from the cluster, a grid square from QRZ, a frequency from an email. Everything you copy gets saved, along with which window it came from, so you can paste it into the logger without going back for it. |
| | Nets and Club Work 📋 | | Tool | What it does for you | Transcriber
Learn more → | Recorded the club meeting or the weekly net as an MP3 or WAV? Transcriber turns it into text plus a summary, using AI engines like OpenAI, AssemblyAI or Claude. Clean recordings work best; noisy HF audio with QSB may come out rough. | Prompt Assistant
Learn more →
Lighter version → | Keep your net preamble, the club meeting reminder email and your standard QSL reply as snippets. Drop any of them into any window with a hotkey, a short abbreviation or a right-click menu. |
| One thing I’ve learned: the stuff that hurts the most is usually the stuff we meant to set up “someday.” Pick ONE thing on this list, probably the log backup, and do it this week. Then pick the next one. Less time fighting the shack PC means more time on the air. That’s the real FREEDOM. How about you? What’s the one thing about your shack PC that drives you nuts? Drop me a note and tell me. I read every one. 73! | | See All Our Tools | | the-Automator.com • Windows automation tools that give you your time back |
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