ECTLogger

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ECTLogger User Guide

Welcome to ECTLogger! This guide will help you get started with using the application.

Getting Started

Creating an Account

  1. Visit app.ectlogger.us
  2. Enter your email address
  3. Click “Send Magic Link”
  4. Check your email and click the link to sign in

That’s it! No password to remember by default.

If email delivery is ever down and you can’t retrieve a magic link, you can set a password as a fallback from your Profile > Security tab, then sign in with your callsign or email and that password from the “Sign in with a password instead” link on the login page. Administrator accounts additionally require two-factor authentication (a code from an authenticator app) — see the Security Tab section below.

Setting Up Your Profile

After signing in, complete your profile by clicking your name in the top-right corner and selecting Profile. The profile page has six tabs: Profile, Settings, Security, Notifications, Activity, and Coverage.

Settings Tab

Basic Information

Additional Callsigns

Add other callsigns you use (tactical callsigns, club calls, etc.). Type a callsign and press Enter or click Add. These appear as chips you can remove by clicking the X.

Previous Callsigns

If you update your primary Amateur Radio Call Sign, the old callsign is automatically saved here. Your full check-in history and statistics carry over — useful when upgrading your license class, requesting a vanity callsign, or changing regions. This list is read-only and managed by the system.

Display Preferences

Email Notifications

Control which emails you receive for nets you’re subscribed to:

Security Tab

Password

Magic link is all you need day to day. Setting a password here is optional, and exists as a fallback for the rare case where email delivery is down and you can’t retrieve a magic link at all. If you set one, sign in from the login page’s “Sign in with a password instead” link using your callsign or email plus that password. Passwords must meet an industry-standard complexity policy: at least 12 characters, with a mix of uppercase, lowercase, a number, and a symbol.

Two-Factor Authentication

Adds a 6-digit code from an authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Authy, etc.) on top of your password or magic link. Optional for regular accounts, required for administrators.

To enroll: click Set Up Two-Factor Authentication, scan the QR code with your authenticator app, then enter the code it shows to confirm. You’ll be given 8 one-time backup codes — save them somewhere safe. Each one works once, in place of an app code, if you ever lose your device.

If you enable two-factor authentication and later lose your device, use a backup code to sign in, then replace your authenticator from the Security tab (this requires your account password). If you’re out of backup codes too, an administrator can reset your two-factor enrollment from the Admin panel so you can set it up again. Administrators can’t reset their own two-factor authentication this way — that has to come from another administrator.

Activity Tab

View your participation statistics:

Net and Schedule Cards

Nets on the Dashboard and schedules on the Scheduler page are shown as cards. Every button at the bottom of a card has a text label next to its icon, so you can tell what each one does without hovering over it, and the buttons are sized for comfortable tapping on a phone.

Two groups of buttons

If you help run a net, a card’s buttons come in two groups:

If you’re not staff on a net, you simply see the second group on its own.

How they’re arranged depends on how wide the card is. On a wide card — say a single net stretching the full width of the page — both groups share one row, with the management buttons on the left and the everyday buttons pushed over to the right, so the space is actually used. When the card is too narrow to fit them side by side, the groups stack into two rows, management on top, both lined up on the left. Cards in a busy multi-column grid will usually stack, while a lone full-width card on the same page shares a single row.

Within the management group, buttons run from least to most consequential, with the action you want most sitting at the safe end. On a net card that means Edit, Cancel, Start — so Start is easy to hit and is not sitting next to Cancel. On a schedule card, Create leads, followed by Edit and Delete.

What each button does

On a net card (Dashboard):

Button What it does Who sees it
View Open the net Everyone
Staff Show the net’s NCS, loggers, and relays Everyone
Stats Open net statistics Everyone (active/lobby and closed nets)
Info Open the club or organization’s website Everyone, when an Info URL is set
Email Message subscribers before the net Net staff, on draft/scheduled nets from a schedule
Edit Change the net’s settings Net staff, on draft/scheduled nets
Cancel Mark this net instance Cancelled (reversible, kept on record in Archived Nets) Net staff, on draft/scheduled nets
Start Open the net for check-ins Net staff, on draft/scheduled nets
Delete Remove the net and its data Net staff, on active, lobby, and closed nets
Export Download the check-in log as CSV Net staff, on closed nets
Report Open the printable PDF net report Net staff, on closed nets
Archive Hide the net from the dashboard, keeping its record Net staff, on closed nets

On a schedule card (Scheduler):

Button What it does Who sees it
Create Open a net now from this schedule Whoever is on duty or manages the schedule
Edit Change the schedule’s settings Schedule staff
Delete Remove the schedule Owner or admin only
Info Open the club or organization’s website Everyone, when an Info URL is set
Stats Open statistics across every net this schedule has run Everyone
Staff Show the schedule’s staff and NCS rotation Everyone
Subscribe / Unsubscribe Turn email notifications for this net on or off Signed-in users

Long descriptions

When a net or schedule has a long description, the card shows the first three lines followed by a Show more link. Click it to reveal the rest, and Show less to collapse it again. Cards without a long description don’t show the link at all.

On the net page itself, the description sits next to the net name and works a little differently: clicking it (or the More button beside it) opens the full text in a small panel that floats over the page, so the toolbar and check-in list stay put instead of being pushed down. Click away to close it.

Joining a Net

Finding Active Nets

  1. From the Dashboard, you’ll see active nets
  2. Click on a net to view details
  3. If the net is open for check-ins, you’ll see the check-in form

The Net Toolbar

Every net page has a toolbar spanning the full width of the page, just below the net name. Buttons show a text label whenever there’s room for one, so you rarely have to hover to work out what something does. As the window gets narrower, labels drop off one at a time and the least-used buttons move into a More menu at the end of the strip — but the main action for whatever the net is doing right now (Start net, Check in, Go live, or Close net) always keeps its label and never disappears into the menu.

The toolbar is split into two groups by a thin divider:

Some buttons stay tinted to show your current state at a glance — Check in is green while you’re not yet checked in, Role: NCS stays highlighted while you’re acting as Net Control, and Return glows orange while you’re marked away. Hovering a tinted button deepens its own color rather than turning it gray, so it never looks like it switched off.

Buttons you’re not permitted to use aren’t shown. Net info, Bulk add, and the option to add a historical topic are limited to NCS, loggers, and net managers. Everyone can still browse the list of prior topics.

To the right of the net name you’ll find status chips — the net’s status, countdown or duration, station counts, who’s online, and the net’s frequencies. On a phone these wrap onto extra lines instead of pushing the page sideways.

Checking In

  1. Open an active net
  2. Click Check in in the net toolbar — it’s tinted green so it stands out
  3. Fill in the check-in form that opens:
    • Your callsign (auto-filled if logged in)
    • Your name (auto-filled from profile or contacts directory)
    • Your location (auto-filled if location awareness is enabled, or from contacts directory)
    • Any additional fields the NCS has configured
  4. Submit the form to complete your check-in

Status Updates

After checking in, you can update your status:

Running a Net (NCS)

Creating a Net

The Create Net form has five tabs to configure your net:

Tab 1: Basic Info

Community Net Features (optional):

Tab 2: Net Staff

Pre-assign staff roles before the net starts:

Search for users by callsign or name and assign roles.

Tab 3: Communication Plan

Add the frequencies and modes for your net:

Nets can have multiple frequencies for split operations or cross-band coordination.

Tab 4: Net Script

Enter a formatted script for NCS operators to follow. Supports Markdown formatting:

Tab 5: Check-In Fields

Configure which fields appear on the check-in form:

Standard fields include: Name, Location, Status, Remarks, etc. If Topic or Poll are enabled on Tab 1, those fields automatically appear here.

After configuring all tabs, click Create Net to save as a draft, or start immediately.

Recurring Schedules

For nets that run regularly (weekly club nets, SKYWARN practice nets, etc.), create a schedule:

  1. Click Create Schedule from the dashboard or Scheduler page
  2. Configure the net details (same as creating a one-time net)
  3. Set the Recurrence Pattern:
    • Day of the week (e.g., every Tuesday)
    • Start time
    • Timezone
  4. (Optional) Set up NCS Rotation — assign multiple operators to take turns running the net
  5. The system automatically creates draft nets according to your schedule

NCS Rotation features:

Backup NCS access. An active co-manager or rotation member is automatically granted acting-NCS access the moment they check themselves into any net from that schedule, even on a week that isn’t theirs — so they can pick up net control if the scheduled NCS is unavailable or has to step away, without waiting on the owner or an admin to assign a role. When checking in, they’ll see a Check in as NCS / Check in as Participant choice (both in the check-in prompt and the check-in form) to decide up front, and the toolbar’s Acting as NCS / Acting as Standard control lets them change their mind at any time afterward. Only applies to a co-manager or rotation member checking themselves in — a station logged in by NCS or Logger (e.g. checked in by voice) is always recorded as a standard participant; they can promote themselves afterward if needed.

Schedules act as templates

A schedule is also the template that nets are opened from. When the system (or you) opens a net from a schedule, the net is seeded with the schedule’s name, description, info URL, stream URL, script, announcements, frequencies, check-in field configuration, ICS-309/Topic/Poll settings, self check-in and self-report coverage settings, and staff list.

After a net is opened, edits you make to the net stay on that net only by default. The schedule isn’t touched unless you explicitly push your changes back to it. This keeps in-the-moment edits (a one-off frequency change, a session-specific announcement) from rewriting the schedule’s defaults.

To promote net edits back to the schedule:

Who can use these actions: the same people who can edit the schedule — its owner, an admin, an active staff member, or an active NCS rotation member. If you don’t have permission, the app surfaces a clear error.

Merging Schedules

If you have multiple schedules that should be combined into one (e.g., separate schedules that were created for the same net series):

  1. On the Scheduler page, click the Merge floating button (merging-arrows icon) in the bottom-right corner
  2. Checkboxes appear on each schedule card — select 2 or more schedules to merge
  3. Click Merge Selected in the bottom bar
  4. In the dialog, choose which schedule becomes the master (the one that survives)
  5. Review the merge summary and any conflicting settings highlighted in yellow
  6. Click Merge to confirm

What gets moved to the master schedule:

Who can merge:

This action is permanent and cannot be undone. Source schedules are deleted after the merge.

Linking an Existing Net to a Schedule

If an ad-hoc net was created outside a schedule (or was attached to the wrong schedule), you can re-attach it from the Schedule Statistics page so its check-ins count toward the schedule’s history and leaderboards:

  1. On the Scheduler page, click Stats on the schedule’s card.
  2. Click Link Existing Net in the page header.
  3. Pick a net from the list and confirm. To detach a net from a schedule entirely, choose (none).

Who can link/detach:

Net Script

Create a standardized script for NCS operators to follow:

  1. In the Create Net or Create Schedule form, go to the Net Script tab
  2. Enter your script using the formatting toolbar (headings, bold, lists, etc.)
  3. Click Preview to check how the formatting will look before saving, then Write to keep editing
  4. During the net, click the 📜 Script button to open the script viewer

The same Write/Preview toggle is available while editing Notes and Announcements, both in these forms and from their toolbar buttons during an active net.

The script viewer is a floating window that can be:

Example uses:

Net Notes vs. Announcements

These sound similar but are separate features:

Net Timers

The net header displays helpful timing information:

Correcting Net Start and End Times

If a net was opened late, closed late, or you forgot to close it until the next morning, net staff can correct the recorded times so the official log and statistics are accurate. These are the actual times the net ran — separate from the Scheduled Start Time that drives the countdown timer.

Find them under Actual Net Times, in the Basic Info tab, directly below Scheduled Start Time:

Adjust Actual Start Time and/or Actual End Time, then click Save Times. This saves immediately and on its own — you don’t need to save the rest of the form. The corrected duration flows through to the net log, statistics, and PDF report.

The fields only appear once a net has actually been started, and only to staff who can manage the net.

Starting a Net

Click the green Start button on the net’s card on the Dashboard, or Start net in the toolbar on the net page.

Lobby Mode — If you start a net before its scheduled start time, the net enters “Lobby” mode:

This is useful for opening check-ins early while operators are gathering, before the net officially starts on the air.

Opening the lobby automatically — A schedule can open its lobby on its own, so nobody has to be at a screen for early check-ins to begin. The control lives on the Schedule tab of the schedule editor, right after the schedule type, and what it offers depends on that type:

Details worth knowing:

Canceling or Deleting a Net

Draft and scheduled nets use Cancel, a soft, reversible action; active, lobby, and closed nets use Delete, which is permanent. Both appear only to net owners, NCS, and admins.

Canceling a draft/scheduled net — for a night where the net simply isn’t happening (an in-person meeting instead, a work conflict, no volunteers that week):

  1. Find the net on the Dashboard and click the red Cancel button in the card’s management row.
  2. Optionally note why (e.g. “in-person meeting instead”) — this is shown to anyone who later looks up the cancelled net.
  3. Click Cancel Net. The net is marked Cancelled, drops off the active dashboard, and moves into Archived Nets so it stays on record and findable instead of just disappearing. The recurring schedule will not recreate a net for that date, and no reminder emails go out for it.
  4. Changed your mind? Open Archived Nets and click Restore on the cancelled net to bring it back to Draft or Scheduled.

Deleting an active, lobby, or closed net — this is permanent, unlike cancelling:

  1. Find the net on the Dashboard and click the red Delete button in the card’s management row.
  2. The confirmation dialog spells out exactly what will be lost (check-ins, chat, reports). Choose:
    • Cancel (blue) — back out
    • Close & Archive (yellow, only on active/lobby nets) — close the net normally (the full log is emailed to you) and immediately archive it, so the record is preserved but the net leaves the active list. Best choice for finished test/training runs you want to keep.
    • Archive Instead (yellow, only on closed nets) — hide the net from the active list while keeping every record
    • Delete Permanently (red) — destroy the net and all its data; this cannot be undone

Either way, only the chosen net instance is affected — the recurring schedule continues for future dates. For training and practice runs, deletion is the right choice; for real net activations, archive (or cancel, if the net never happened) is almost always safer because it preserves the record.

Email Subscribers — Before cancelling a draft/scheduled net, you can notify subscribers by clicking the Email button on the net’s card and sending a custom message.

Managing Check-ins

As NCS, you can:

Speed Entry (Bulk Check-In)

For fast-moving nets, use the ⏩ Speed Entry button to check in multiple stations at once:

  1. Click the ⏩ button next to the check-in form
  2. Enter multiple check-ins separated by semicolons
  3. Format: CALLSIGN, Name, Location, Notes; CALLSIGN2, Name2, Location2
  4. Press Ctrl+Enter or click the Add button to process all at once

Status shortcuts — Append a colon and shortcut to set status:

Examples:

KC1ABC, John, Portland ME; N1XYZ, Jane, Boston MA:jl; W1DEF, Bob, Bangor ME:m

This checks in KC1ABC (normal), N1XYZ (listening status), and W1DEF (mobile status) in one operation.

Note: The field order matches your net’s enabled fields (shown in the format hint). If “Power Source” is enabled, the format becomes: CALLSIGN, Name, Location, Power, Notes.

Inline Editing

NCS and Loggers can edit check-in details directly in the table:

  1. Click anywhere on a check-in row to enter edit mode
  2. The row highlights and fields become editable text boxes
  3. Click on the specific field you want to edit — it will auto-focus
  4. Press Tab to move between fields within the same row
  5. Press Enter to save changes, or Escape to cancel
  6. Click outside the row to save and exit edit mode

This eliminates the need for a separate edit dialog for quick corrections.

Detachable Windows

For multi-monitor setups or larger screens, you can pop out the Check-In list, Chat, or Activity Log into a movable panel inside the page — click the picture-in-picture icon in that panel’s header (on the check-in list, it’s stacked above the “open in new window” icon in the same corner, to keep the table’s action column from getting any wider).

Detached windows can be:

Your detach preferences are saved and restored when you return to the net.

Running a Net Across Multiple Monitors

Check-Ins, Chat, and Activity Log can each open in a real, separate browser window instead of a panel inside the page — click the “open in new window” icon in that panel’s header (docked or floating). This is built for multi-monitor NCS stations: dedicate a full screen to the check-in table, another to chat, another to the activity feed. Each window signs in automatically, keeps its own live connection to the net, and remembers its size and position the next time you open it. Closing a window brings that panel back into the main net view automatically.

If you’ve already floated a panel into the in-page movable window and decide you’d rather have it in its own real window, there’s no need to dock it back first — the floating panel’s title bar has its own “open in new window” icon that sends it straight there in one click.

Wide-Screen Layout

On an ultrawide monitor (roughly 1536px or wider), Script, Announcements, and the Check-In Map can dock directly into the page next to Chat and Activity Log instead of floating on top of everything else — Script/Announcements sit in a column to the left of the check-in table, and the Map sits below Activity Log on the right. Open any of them from the toolbar as usual; on a screen this wide they land in the layout by default. Each keeps the same minimize, undock-to-floating, and open-in-new-window controls as the docked Chat and Activity Log panels.

Once two or more panels or columns are docked side by side, drag the thin divider between them to resize — between two panels stacked in the same column, or between the left/center/right columns themselves. Sizes are remembered the next time you open the net.

Multi-NCS Operations

For nets with multiple frequencies, you can have multiple NCS operators:

  1. Assign NCS Role — Promote other users to NCS via the status dropdown
  2. Claim a Frequency — Click a frequency chip to claim it as your monitored frequency
  3. Color Coding — Each NCS is assigned a unique color:
    • 👑 Crown — Primary NCS (net owner)
    • 🤴 Prince Crown — Secondary NCS operators
    • Frequency chips and check-in rows are colored to match the monitoring NCS
  4. Check-ins — When you check in a station, they’re automatically assigned to your claimed frequency

Stepping Away as NCS

If you’re the only active NCS and click Step Away, you’ll see a confirmation warning that no one else is currently running the net. If you continue, or if you’re disconnected/check out with no co-NCS covering, the net shows a blue border and a banner telling everyone the net has been paused until Net Control returns, and the on-air duration timer pauses. Both clear automatically the moment an NCS is present again — either you returning, a co-NCS stepping up, or someone claiming NCS. Time spent with no NCS present doesn’t count toward the net’s recorded duration in statistics or reports.

Assigning Roles

Delegate responsibilities:

Real-time Chat

Each net has a built-in chat for coordination between participants:

Chat is useful for:

Filtering by Frequency

Station-to-Station Coverage Logging

An ARES/EmComm feature for recording who can hear whom during a net, useful for coverage-assessment exercises (a common ARES/SKYWARN SET drill). Off by default — enable Station-to-Station Coverage Logging in the net’s Basic Info tab to turn it on.

Once enabled:

  1. Each check-in row gets an ear icon action. Every station sees it on its own row and can log its own reception; NCS, Logger, and Relay see it on every row and can record on behalf of any station. Click it to open “Who can this station hear?” Net managers can turn off self-reporting (Allow stations to self-report, in the net’s Basic Info tab) to restrict recording to staff only.
  2. On a net with one frequency (or none), check every other station the reporting station can hear on the currently selected frequency, and optionally set their operating position (Home, Field Deployed, or your own text). On a net with more than one frequency, the dialog instead shows one column per frequency so you can check off who was heard on each in a single pass, instead of switching a dropdown and re-checking the list per frequency. Save — the dialog reconciles the checked set for each frequency, so unchecking a station removes that report.
  3. A Coverage button appears in the net toolbar, opening a Station Coverage panel alongside Chat, Activity Log, and the Check-In Map. It lists every reported connection, sortable by column, with one-way and two-way paths distinguished, a timestamp for when each was reported, and a filter to narrow the list to one callsign. Each connection is labeled with its amateur band (2m, 40m, etc.) when it can be determined — from the frequency selected when the report was recorded, or automatically from the net’s own frequency when it only has one. A download button next to the search and map icons exports the current list to a CSV file. If a report was logged without picking a specific frequency (or the wrong one), NCS, Logger, and Relay can correct it directly from the Frequency column’s dropdown; a station can correct its own past reports the same way.
  4. Click a callsign in the Coverage panel to highlight just that station’s connections (in the panel and on the map); click the highlighted callsign again, or use the Clear highlight button, to go back to the full list.
  5. A Map button in the Coverage panel’s title bar opens the Check-In Map with its coverage overlay turned on, drawing the confirmed paths directly on the map. The overlay’s own toggle lives in the map’s top-right corner, alongside a frequency selector (shown only when the net has more than one frequency).
  6. The coverage results are included in the net’s PDF report and closure email, and stay available after the net closes.

Your Profile also gets a Coverage tab: a personal map of stations you’ve confirmed hearing from your Home operating position, aggregated across every net you’ve participated in, each pin labeled with when you last heard them. Pins are color-coded by band (HF, VHF, UHF) — a station heard on more than one band blends their colors on that pin, and a legend below the map explains the colors, with the full per-band breakdown (which bands, and when you last heard each) available by tapping or hovering the pin.

Community Net Features

For casual nets and roundtables, ECTLogger offers engagement tools:

Topic of the Week

Ask participants a discussion question:

  1. In the net settings (Topic & Poll button), enter a Topic Question
  2. When checking in, participants see the question and can type their response
  3. Responses appear in the check-in list’s “Topic” column
  4. All responses are included in the emailed net log

To plan a topic ahead of the net itself (so it’s already set when the net starts, not something the NCS has to remember to type in live), open the Topics button on a net under a recurring schedule and add an entry dated for the upcoming occurrence. The net auto-created (or manually created) for that date picks it up automatically. Setting the topic live as NCS also logs it to this same history right away, so past topics stay available for reference under the schedule’s Topics list without waiting for the net to close.

Participant Poll

Run a quick poll with predefined options:

  1. In the net settings (Topic & Poll button), enter a Poll Question
  2. Add up to 5 Poll Options (e.g., “Yes”, “No”, “Maybe”)
  3. Participants select their answer via dropdown when checking in
  4. Poll results are shown in the “Poll” column
  5. The emailed net log includes a bar chart of poll results with percentages

Both Topic and Poll columns are only visible when configured for the net. System messages in chat announce when participants submit answers.

Closing the Net

  1. Click Close net in the net toolbar
  2. A complete log is generated and emailed to you
  3. The net can be archived or remain in closed status

Archiving and Unarchiving

Exporting Logs

Importing Check-ins from CSV

Net staff see an Import button in the net toolbar at any stage of a net. This is useful when multiple NCS operators are logging in parallel, when some logs were captured on paper or in another tool, or when a net ran without the app at all.

  1. Open the net.
  2. Click Import.
  3. Optional: click Import Template to download the expected columns and sample rows.
  4. Choose a file by clicking the drop zone or drag and drop a CSV file.
  5. Set time interpretation:
    • UTC checked: untagged timestamps are treated as UTC.
    • UTC unchecked: untagged timestamps use the selected Import Time Zone.
    • Timestamps with explicit markers (Z, UTC, GMT, +/-HH:MM) always use their explicit timezone.
  6. Check the Actual Net Times. These are shown in whichever time zone you selected in the step above, so they change if you toggle UTC. On a net that already ran they are filled in for you and only need attention if they are wrong.
  7. Click Import CSV.

Backfilling a net that ran off-app

Sometimes a scheduled net runs entirely on the air, with the log kept on paper or in another program, and nobody ever starts it in ECT Logger. You can still enter that log afterwards so the operators who took part get credit for it.

  1. Open the scheduled net and click Import.
  2. Enter the Actual Start Time and Actual End Time. These are required here, because a net that never started has no times of its own to fall back on. The start time is prefilled from the scheduled start when there is one; check it against what actually happened.
  3. Leave Close the net at the end time above checked. This records the net as closed using the times you entered.
  4. Choose the CSV file and click Import CSV.

A few things worth knowing:

Accepted Date and Time Formats

The importer accepts simple operator-friendly formats:

Both US and British slash-date ordering are supported. If a slash-date is ambiguous and cannot be resolved safely, the row is rejected with a row-numbered error.

Timeframe Validation

Imported timestamps are validated against the net’s start and end times, as shown in the Actual Net Times box:

Rows outside this window are skipped and reported with clear row numbers and reason text. The same window places rows that give only a time of day, so a window covering more than one day will report those rows as ambiguous and ask for a full date.

Checks and Balances

Net Report (PDF)

Generate a comprehensive multi-page PDF report for closed or archived nets:

  1. Access — Click Report in the net toolbar (for closed/archived nets), or the Report button on the net’s card on the Dashboard
  2. View Report — Review the report page with all sections displayed
  3. Export — Click Export PDF to download the report

Report Sections:

The PDF is ideal for after-action reports, club records, or emergency management documentation.

Sharing a Net With Someone Who Doesn’t Have an Account

A net’s view page and its Report page both work for someone who isn’t signed in — copy the link from your browser’s address bar and send it to a prospective member so they can see how a net runs, or how a check-in log and report turn out, before they create an account.

A callsign and licensee name are public information via the FCC’s license database, so those are always shown. Anything that looks like a phone number or email address typed into a check-in field or chat message is hidden from a viewer who isn’t signed in — sharing a callback number during a net is normal coordination between operators, so it’s only hidden from someone outside the net, not from other logged-in participants.

Statistics

Three statistics views are available, each with PDF export:

Top Operators Ranking — Top operators are ranked by check-in count. When tied, the operator who checked in earliest gets the higher medal (🥇🥈🥉) ranking.

Schedule Statistics

For recurring nets, the Schedule Statistics page (Scheduler → Stats on a schedule card) aggregates participation across every net instance the schedule has produced.

Time-window filter — Toggle between 30 days, 90 days, 1 year, and All time. The default is 1 year so monthly nets and occasional SKYWARN activations always show meaningful counts. The selected window applies to every panel on the page (summary cards, leaderboards, history log, and PDF export).

Summary cards — Total nets in the window, total check-ins, unique operators, and average check-ins per net.

Leaderboards — Tabbed view; each leaderboard is scoped to the selected time window and lists the top 20:

Net History log — Recent net instances under this schedule, including start/end times, duration, check-in count, and the NCS callsign(s) for each instance.

Exporting a Schedule Statistics Report (PDF)

Click Export PDF in the page header to download a printable report. The report respects the active time-window filter and includes:

Use this for after-action reporting, club records, or emergency management documentation that needs to show participation trends across many nets.

Assisted Traffic Handling

ECTLogger helps you fill out and keep a record of formal traffic (ARRL radiograms, ICS-213 messages, and Radio Relay International weather/RI strips) that you originate, relay, or deliver over a real net, by phone, in person, or by mail. ECTLogger never sends or transports the message itself — it is a witness and a record-keeper, not a relay.

Turning traffic handling on for a net

Traffic handling is off until you turn it on. In the net’s (or the schedule’s) settings, under ARES & EmComm Features, switch on Enable Assisted Traffic Handling. That adds a Traffic button — an envelope — to the net’s toolbar for the net manager, NCS, and Logger. Clicking it opens the net’s traffic panel, which you can close, detach, pop out into its own window, or minimize like Chat, the Activity Log, or Station Coverage. Turning it on in a schedule means every net opened from that schedule starts with it on.

Two optional settings go with it:

Filing a Radiogram, ICS-213, or RRI strip

Open Traffic from the navigation bar, choose New, and pick a form type. To log traffic passed on a specific net, use the + button in that net’s Traffic panel instead — that way the message is attached to the net, so it shows in the net’s panel, its strip export, and its ICS-309 log. Filing from the Traffic section on its own is for traffic that isn’t tied to a particular net.

The form types are:

Fields like your callsign, place of origin, and filing time are auto-filled from your profile where possible. Submitting the form logs it as either originated (you wrote it) or received (you copied it from another station), which starts its chain of custody.

On any strip form you get both ways of entering the same report, side by side and always visible: the named fields, and the Full strip box holding the single slash-delimited line that goes on the air. Fill in the fields and the strip builds itself as you type. Or, when a station reads the whole strip back in one breath, paste it into the box — press Fill fields above to see it split across the fields, or just file it and it’s split for you. A blank field mid-strip stays blank rather than pulling the values after it out of line, and you’re told if the pasted strip was short or had more values than the form expects.

Marking traffic as Drill or Demo

Not every piece of traffic is real. When filing a Radiogram, ICS-213, or RRI strip, you can label it Drill or Demo:

Forgot to label something before filing it, or need to relabel it later? Open the item and use the Label button (visible to whoever filed it, and to admins) to set, change, or clear the Drill/Demo label at any time — including on traffic that’s already been logged.

Importing a message you copied off the air

If you already have the plaintext of a radiogram, ICS-213 message, or RRI strip — copied down by hand, relayed from another station, or saved from packet — choose Import instead of New. Paste the text in, or drag a text file onto the box, and the parser fills in what it can recognize, flagging anything low-confidence (like a stated check that doesn’t match the recomputed word count) for you to double-check before saving. Anything the parser doesn’t recognize as one of the built-in types is still saved as a general RRI strip, exactly as pasted, rather than being discarded. Nothing is saved until you review and confirm the parsed fields.

Defining your own RRI strip type

“RI” in RRI’s own strip family stands for Request for Information: someone defines a strip’s fields once, and everyone who answers it fills in the same fields, so the reports line up. If you paste an example that isn’t recognized as one of the built-in types, the Import review screen offers Define fields for a new strip type alongside the option to save it as a general strip. Name each piece of the pasted example (the parser splits it on the same “/” delimiters RRI uses) and mark where a natural section break falls, give the type a short code and a title, and save — this creates a real, reusable strip type that appears in the New tab for everyone from then on, exactly like WXOBS or GYX-CAR SKYWARN. Use it on a net or a drill: file the first report yourself when you define it, then have every other station file their own answer against that same type from the New tab. You can also define a type ahead of time from a net’s or a schedule’s settings (see “Turning traffic handling on for a net” above) — there it just creates the type, without filing a report.

Logging what happens next

Every piece of traffic has a chain of custody: a timeline of who touched it and what they did (originated, received, relayed, delivered, serviced, or cancelled). As you relay or deliver a message, log the handoff so the chain stays accurate — this is what lets a net’s NCS or logger answer “what happened to that message?” after the net closes, and it’s what keeps your inbox honest: a piece of traffic you’re still holding stays visible there until you log that it moved on.

The Log a Handoff dialog has two different “who” fields, since the person entering the log entry isn’t always the person who did the work: Handled by is who actually performed the action you’re logging (originated it, relayed it, delivered it), and starts pre-filled with your own callsign since the common case is logging your own work — overwrite it when you’re instead logging a hop someone else verbally reported to you (say, an NCS logging a relay a station reported over the net). Handed to is a separate field: who the message went to.

Your Traffic Inbox

The Traffic section’s Inbox tab shows everything you’re currently holding, oldest first. Check it after a net closes — pending traffic doesn’t go away just because the net did.

Who can see a piece of traffic

Only the submitter, the current holder, anyone else in its chain of custody, that net’s NCS/logger, and admins can view a given piece of traffic. Ordinary check-ins on the net do not grant access to its traffic. This matters because welfare traffic can carry a private individual’s name, address, and phone number.

Exporting

A piece of traffic’s detail view also shows an Exported text field: the exact plaintext that the Text export produces (the slash-delimited strip line, or radiogram/ICS-213 plaintext), right on screen, with a copy icon next to it so you can paste it straight to whoever needs it (a served agency’s form, an email, another net) without exporting and opening a file first.

From a piece of traffic’s detail view, Export gives you the plaintext (for reading over the air or filing) or a printable PDF. For a Radiogram or ICS-213, that PDF is laid out like the real paper form — the ARRL Radiogram pad or the FEMA ICS-213 General Message form, boxes and rules included — ready to file or hand to the addressee, with fields ECTLogger doesn’t collect (like a delivery-confirmation signature) printing blank and ruled, the same as they’d appear on a hand-filled paper copy. For a WXOBS, GYX-CAR SKYWARN, or general RRI strip, the PDF shows the exact strip text alongside a readable field list. On a net with ICS-309 enabled, traffic handled during that net also appears as metadata-only rows (message number, precedence, addressee, handling station) on the net’s ICS-309 Communications Log, including its own form-accurate PDF — the message text itself is never included in that export.

Exporting a whole net’s traffic

A net’s Traffic panel has its own Export button covering every message filed on that net, in two forms:

In the text export, a minus sign in a strip’s numeric field (a below-zero temperature, most often) is written as the letter M, which is RRI’s own notation for its strip fields. Radiogram and ICS-213 text is never touched this way — NTS spells a hyphen out as “DASH” there, and a hyphen in a street address or route number has to survive as typed.

Traffic in your statistics

Your Profile’s Activity tab, a net’s statistics page, and the platform-wide Statistics page each show a Traffic Handled count, broken out by what you did with it (originated, relayed, delivered, etc.). Your Profile’s Activity tab also shows Traffic Pending — everything currently sitting in your inbox, unresolved. Click either tile to drill into the list.

Tips & Tricks

Keyboard Shortcuts

Check-in Form:

Inline Editing:

Dark Mode

Toggle dark mode from the navbar’s sun/moon icon (or the user menu on mobile), or from the “Dark mode” switch at the top of Profile → Settings — easier on the eyes during those late-night nets. Your choice is remembered on this device.

Color Themes

Pick a color theme from Profile → Settings: each named theme is a coordinated light/dark pair, so whichever one you choose works automatically with the dark mode toggle above. Select “Follow system default” to always match whatever the site admin has set as the default theme instead of a fixed personal choice — this is also what you get automatically until you pick something else. If the site admin has configured a custom theme (Admin → Branding), it shows up here too, alongside the curated set.

Mobile Use

ECTLogger is fully responsive and works great on mobile devices. Use your phone or tablet in the field! The interface adapts to smaller screens while keeping all functionality accessible.

A few things behave differently on a phone:

Location Awareness

Enable location awareness in your profile to automatically fill in your Maidenhead grid square when checking in. This is especially useful for:

Your browser will ask for permission before sharing location data.

Searching and Filtering

Search Bar: Type in the search field to filter check-ins by callsign, name, or location.

Frequency Filtering: If a net has multiple frequencies:

This is handy for NCS operating split frequencies — focus on stations monitoring your frequency!

Subscribing to Nets

Subscribe to nets you regularly participate in to receive email notifications when they start, close, or are about to begin. On the Scheduler page, click Subscribe on a schedule’s card; the button becomes Unsubscribe once you’re subscribed, so you can always tell your current state at a glance.

RSS Feeds

Two RSS feeds let you follow ECTLogger from any feed reader, without opening the app:

Administration (Admin Role Only)

Users with the Admin role have access to additional management features via the Admin page.

View as Regular User

Admins can temporarily simulate the regular user experience to reproduce bug reports or guide other operators through the app. Click your avatar in the top-right corner and choose View as Regular User (padlock icon, near the dark/light mode switch). While active, admin-only UI elements are hidden and an amber User View chip appears in the navbar. Click the chip or return to the menu and choose Exit User View to restore full admin access. This is a client-side toggle only — no backend permissions change.

User Management

The Users tab shows all registered users with online presence indicators:

Presence Indicators (colored dots):

Power-User Indicators (icons): Two columns flag engaged users at a glance, without opening their profile:

Both columns are blank for users the badge doesn’t apply to, and both are sortable — click the column header to list all NCS operators, or all subscribers, together.

Default Sort: Users are sorted by online status (online first), then alphabetically by name.

Available Actions:

Column Order: Name, Callsign, Email, Role, NCS, Subscriber, Status, Last Active, Created, Actions

Additional Admin Features

Getting Help

The Help menu in the top navigation bar provides six options:

73 and stay safe! 📻