📻 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.

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 two tabs: Settings and Activity.

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.

Display Preferences

Email Notifications

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

Activity Tab

View your participation statistics:

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

Checking In

  1. Open an active net
  2. Click Check In (the login icon button in the toolbar)
  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:

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, 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 button (⑂) 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. Open the schedule from the Scheduler page and click View Statistics.
  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. During the net, click the 📜 Script button to open the script viewer

The script viewer is a floating window that can be:

Example uses:

Net Timers

The net header displays helpful timing information:

Starting a Net

Click the green ▶ Play button on the Dashboard or NetView page to start a net.

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.

Canceling or Deleting a Net

To cancel or remove a specific net instance:

  1. Find the net on the Dashboard
  2. Click the red 🗑️ Delete icon (visible to net owners, NCS, and admins on every net you can manage — draft, scheduled, active, or closed)
  3. 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

This deletes only the chosen net instance — the recurring schedule continues for future dates. For training and practice runs, deletion is the right choice; for real net activations, archive is almost always safer because it preserves the log.

Email Subscribers — Before canceling a draft/scheduled net, you can notify subscribers by clicking the ✉️ Email icon 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 components into separate floating windows:

Detached windows can be:

Your detach preferences are saved and restored when you return to 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

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

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

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
  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

Net Report (PDF)

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

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

Report Sections (each on its own page):

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

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 → View Statistics 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.

Tips & Tricks

Keyboard Shortcuts

Check-in Form:

Inline Editing:

Dark Mode

ECTLogger automatically follows your system’s light/dark mode preference. If your device is set to dark mode, ECTLogger will display in dark mode — easier on the eyes during those late-night nets!

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.

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. Click the bell icon on any net to toggle subscription.

Administration (Admin Role Only)

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

User Management

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

Presence Indicators (colored dots):

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

Available Actions:

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

Additional Admin Features

Getting Help

73 and stay safe! 📻