CQRLog Enhanced

An enhanced fork of CQRLOG for Linux hams — POTA built in, hands-free online-log uploads and confirmation downloads, clearer DX-cluster colors, modern-MariaDB fixes, and a bridge for its companion Ten-Tec SDR console.

CQRLOG is by Petr, OK2CQR, with alpha development continued by Saku, OH1KH (CqrlogAlpha). This fork is built on Alpha 141 and stands on their work — thank you both. All original license terms apply (GPL; see COPYING).

Fair warning, in my own words: I am not a programmer — I'm a ham (N8EM) who built the features I wanted for my own station, with the help of Anthropic's Claude. It's daily-driven here and working well, but this is alpha-based software: back up everything before you try it, especially your database.

Easy database setup (fixes the "can't connect to MySQL" wall)

The #1 reason CQRLOG won't start on a fresh Linux install is the local database: modern MariaDB renamed its server from mysqld to mariadbd and most distros dropped the old name, so CQRLOG can't find the daemon and throws "Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket." On Debian/Ubuntu, AppArmor also blocks the database folder.

This fork already searches for mariadbd directly, and there's a one-line setup script that fixes the rest for you — installs MariaDB, makes the server findable, adds the AppArmor exception, and repairs a corrupted database folder:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/n8mus/cqrlog/master/cqrlog-db-setup.sh)

Run it once (with CQRLOG closed), then start CQRLOG and answer YES to "save data to a local machine." Safe to re-run; it won't touch a healthy database. See cqrlog-db-setup.sh for exactly what it does.

What "Enhanced" adds over stock CQRLOG

POTA — Parks on the Air, built in

• POTA on the New QSO window: log the park you activated and the park the other station was in (both stored in the log).
• Live POTA spot feed inside the DX Cluster window.
• POTA spots colored by park-worked status — not by DXCC country — so an all-new park stands out at a glance.
• N-fer support: a multi-park activation credits every park.
• ADIF done the way the POTA world actually works: exports SIG/SIG_INFO tags (what pota.app parses), imports POTA_REF/MY_POTA_REF as a fallback.

Online logs, hands-free

• QRZ.com logbook: real-time upload of every saved QSO, auto-delete when you delete, LOGID tracked so deletes are reliable.
• LoTW: every logged QSO is signed and uploaded automatically in the background (batched). The manual sign/upload button no longer freezes the GUI.
• eQSL: the same automatic-upload treatment.
• Confirmations come back by themselves: a daily background pull downloads your LoTW and eQSL confirmations and marks the QSOs.
• Uploads run in parallel — one worker per service, so one slow service never holds up the rest.

DX Cluster

• Color-coding overhaul: clearer, more consistent worked-before status colors on cluster spots.

Quality of life

• Works with modern MariaDB out of the box (finds mariadbd, not just mysqld).
• Clear all fields button (Ctrl+F2) on New QSO.
• The update check is fork-aware — no more nagging about upstream versions.

SDR-console bridge

Companion to my Ten-Tec SDR console for the Ten-Tec Orion / Omni VII: an always-on UDP bridge lets the console log a QSO into CQRLOG with one click, click a spot on the panadapter to fill New QSO (with park-grid-accurate rotor azimuth), and adds SP/LP rotor buttons to New QSO. Completely inert if you don't run the console.

Database changes for the QRZ feature (existing databases only)

A fresh database gets everything automatically on first run, and the POTA and other Enhanced columns are added automatically by the normal database upgrade. The two QRZ columns are the exception — if you bring an existing CQRLOG database, run these once while CQRLOG is running:

mysql -u cqrlog -S ~/.config/cqrlog/database/sock cqrlog001 -e "ALTER TABLE cqrlog_main ADD COLUMN qrz_logid varchar(20) DEFAULT '';"
mysql -u cqrlog -S ~/.config/cqrlog/database/sock cqrlog001 -e "ALTER TABLE log_changes ADD COLUMN qrz_logid varchar(20) NULL;"
mysql -u cqrlog -S ~/.config/cqrlog/database/sock cqrlog001 -e "INSERT INTO upload_status (logname, id_log_changes) VALUES ('qrz.com', 1);"

Then recreate the delete trigger:

mysql -u cqrlog -S ~/.config/cqrlog/database/sock cqrlog001 -e "DROP TRIGGER IF EXISTS cqrlog_main_bd;"
mysql -u cqrlog -S ~/.config/cqrlog/database/sock cqrlog001 -e "CREATE TRIGGER cqrlog_main_bd BEFORE DELETE ON cqrlog_main FOR EACH ROW insert into log_changes(id_cqrlog_main,cmd,old_qsodate,old_time_on,old_callsign,old_mode,old_band,old_freq,qrz_logid) values (OLD.id_cqrlog_main,'DELETE',OLD.qsodate,OLD.time_on,OLD.callsign,OLD.mode,OLD.band,OLD.freq,OLD.qrz_logid);"

Configuration (QRZ upload)

1. Open CQRLOG -> File -> Preferences -> Online Log
2. Scroll to the QRZ.com Logbook section
3. Enter your callsign and QRZ API key
4. Check Enable QRZ.com logbook upload
5. Check Upload QSO data immediately for real-time upload
6. Check Close upload window after successful upload
7. Click OK

Your QRZ API key is found at qrz.com -> Logbook -> Settings -> API Key. LoTW and eQSL use the standard CQRLOG preferences; the automatic upload and daily confirmation download switch on with them.

Building from source

git clone https://github.com/n8mus/cqrlog.git
cd cqrlog/src
lazbuild cqrlog.lpi
sudo cp cqrlog /usr/bin/cqrlog

The lnet TCP/UDP library is bundled in-tree, so the build works out of the box (no extra Lazarus packages to hunt down).

Requirements

• Linux (developed and daily-driven on Arch; earlier versions also installed clean on Linux Mint 22.1)
• Free Pascal Compiler 3.2.2+ and Lazarus with lazbuild
• MariaDB/MySQL (standard CQRLOG requirement)
• A QRZ.com account with logbook enabled — only for the QRZ upload feature

Base project

• CQRLOG by Petr, OK2CQR
• CqrlogAlpha — alpha line by Saku, OH1KH; this fork is based on Alpha 141 (Build 1, 2026-03-17)

All original license terms apply. See COPYING for details.

73 de N8EM