Ham Radio Portable Operating Insights—Ham2K Portable Logger (PoLo) Part 2

In an earlier article, I introduced Ham2K PoLo, the portable logging program developed by Sebastian, KI2D, and his team. Since then I’ve spent considerably more time using it. After conferring with friends (thanks to Kevin, W8NI), I have lots more features to share with you this time. These features make PoLo much more than simply another way to log a POTA activation.

Ham2K PoLo can be found at polo.ham2k.com. (Image/Ham2K)

If you participate in Parks On The Air® (POTA), World Wide Flora & Fauna (WWFF), or one of the various state park contests, PoLo definitely deserves a closer look. By the way, the operating activities I just mentioned are only the tip of the iceberg. PoLo does so much more! One of the things that initially caught my attention was PoLo’s support for POTA.

Here are a few features I didn’t know that I needed.Some of them that I’ve discovered probably won’t matter to everyone. Others, however, can be surprisingly useful.

Record Weather & Solar Conditions

I’ve gotten into the habit of recording the weather when I arrive at a park. PoLo makes this easy. Enter WEATHER in the call sign field and PoLo will display the current weather conditions and record them in the log.

Ham2k log screenshot from lake park, weather — The current weather at your location can be found easily by typing WEATHER into the “Their Call” box. (Image/WG8X)

Similarly, entering SOLAR displays the current solar conditions and adds that information to the log.

Ham2k log screenshot from lake park, solar — The current atmospheric conditions can be found easily by typing SOLAR into the “Their Call” box. (Image/WG8X)

These aren’t features that are going to make or break an activation, but I like having that information in my log. Months later, it can be interesting to look back and see what the conditions were like during an activation.

SEED Command

If you’re experimenting with PoLo, you probably don’t want to mess around with one of your existing logs. No problem. Simply enter SEED followed by the number of contacts you want in the “Their Call” field.

For example, entering SEED 20 will create 20 randomly generated contacts in your log. This is particularly useful if you’re learning the program, demonstrating it to someone else, or simply want to experiment with the various features without risking one of your real logs.

Change Mode or Frequency

If you’ve used N1MM, you’ll recognize this next one. To change the mode or frequency in PoLo, just type it into the “Their Call” field. I find this easier than using the dedicated field.

That’s what I like about PoLo: It gives you a couple of ways to change the more frequently used settings.

Spotting

Though PoLo will definitely work offline, you’ll want to connect to the internet for this next one. PoLo allows you to spot yourself from the keyboard by typing SPOT followed by whatever you’d like to show up in the comment field with your spot (e.g., “poor condx here” or “QRT”). It will send the spot to all the programs you have configured.

I use it to spot to both POTA and WWFF.

Call Stacking

Call stacking is something I’ve not used a lot, but from talking to friends and reading online, it sounds like a great feature for both the SSB and CW operator. It lets you enter multiple call signs from a pileup and work them one by one. You enter them all, placing a double slash between each call. Each time you press Enter, the last call sign entered is logged and removed from the call-stacking list.

CW operators tend to work stations one at a time, so they may not get quite as much benefit from this feature. But if you’re an SSB operator who occasionally finds yourself with a dozen stations calling at once, you’ll appreciate it.

Ham2k ham radio log screenshot — Call stacking allows you to enter multiple call signs heard in a pileup and work them one by one. (Image/WG8X)

Multi-Operator & Multi-Park Operations

PoLo also has some clever features for more complicated activations. For example, you can use a comma to identify multiple operators or parks, allowing PoLo to create the appropriate entries in the log.

You’ll love this feature the next time you manually enter an X-fer (an X-fer is an activation that takes in multiple POTA locations). It’s also handy for those multiple-operator “Pass-the-Mic” activations.

Ham2k QSO Contact Log Screenshot — When logging an activation with multiple operators, just enter them all separated by a comma. PoLo will take care of the rest! (Image/WG8X)

If you’re doing a multi-park rove, there’s a BREAK command that helps separate the individual activations. I’ve never used this, so I did some reading about the BREAK command, and frankly, I’m impressed. I plan to use PoLo for the 2026 Ohio State Parks On The Air (OSPOTA) Contest on September 12. I’ll be operating as a rover this year, and I’m looking forward to trying out the BREAK command.

VE9CF did a good…