2.8.14

Cloudlog 2.8.14 Changelog

Plugins and Extensions

• Added a Plugin Manager: I have built a brand-new plugin framework and management UI. You can now upload, install, enable, disable, or delete ZIP-packaged plugins. It includes built-in manifest validation and CSRF protection.
• Auto-Disable on Failure: If a plugin hits a runtime error, throws an exception, or misses a hook method, Cloudlog will automatically disable it safely and log the reason to keep your installation stable.
• Plugin Security Scanner: To keep your server secure, the installer now scans plugin code for forbidden system and execution functions. It will block the install or disable the plugin if anything dodgy is found, showing a warning banner to admins.
• Plugin Awards Support: Added support for third-party awards provided by plugins. You can toggle their visibility in your user settings, and the main header will only display the ones you have enabled.

CW and WinKey Improvements

• CW Speaker Sidetone: Added a client-side audio sidetone feature using the browser's AudioContext. It includes a responsive UI layout on the QSO view with a form-switch to enable it, a frequency slider, and a volume range control (saved to your browser's local storage).
• WinKey WebSocket Relay Support: Introduced optional support for an external WinKey WebSocket relay. You can configure this directly in your account settings (URL, token, and room), and it will sync across your devices. The interface automatically handles connection states and switches smoothly between local connections and the relay.
• Macro Layout Revamp: Swapped out the old stacked inputs for a much cleaner, responsive grid for F1–F5 macros, complete with placeholder examples.
• Keyboard Tweaks: You can now press the Enter key in the CW free-text input field to send messages instantly. I also fixed the input clearing logic to ensure focus stays on the text box so you can keep typing without clicking back into it.

UI and Mobile Responsiveness

• Responsive Dashboard: Refactored the dashboard code to make it look much better on phones. It now detects mobile devices to reduce recent QSO rows, collapses cards for a more compact view, adds mobile-specific quick links, and optimizes HTMX polling.
• Responsive Logbook Header and Tables: Re-arranged the logbook header layout so it stacks nicely on small screens. Less critical columns in the logbook table now hide automatically on narrow viewports to maximize space.
• Improved QSO View on Mobile: Added horizontal scrolling for tab bars on small screens, made form fields stack cleanly, and added a collapsible "More QSO Fields" button to hide optional fields out of the way. The QSO map is now hidden on mobile devices.

CAT, Radio, and Satellite Tracking

• Resilient CAT Polling: Replaced the old fixed 3-second interval polling with a smarter system using exponential backoff. It tracks consecutive failures, schedules polls intelligently, only polls the selected radio, and displays a UI warning banner if the radio drops offline.
• Radio Cache Prevention: Added headers to stop browsers from caching radio JSON data, ensuring you are always seeing fresh CAT data on the UI.
• Satellite Field Locking: Introduced a lock mechanism to prevent CAT polling from accidentally overwriting your manually entered satellite data (#sat_name, #sat_mode, and propagation) when tracking satellites. It also now prefers the selected radio's CAT data over saved satellite defaults when a radio is actively in use.

Awards and Contesting

• DXCC Year Filter: Added a new year dropdown filter to the DXCC awards page, allowing you to narrow down your worked DXCC results by specific years.
• GMDX Summer Challenge: Updated the challenge logic and dates for the 2026 window (11 May – 5 July 2026). It also normalises gridsquares and groups modes into CW, Voice, and Digital so combined counts are consistent and case-insensitive.

Logbook, Imports, and Data Handling

• VUCC Multi-Grid Support: Cloudlog now prefers COL_VUCC_GRIDS over COL_GRIDSQUARE when populating fields and plotting coordinates, allowing proper mapping for multi-grid line and corner operations.
• Faster Bulk Imports: Added an option to skip clearing the dashboard cache after every single record during a bulk import. It now clears the cache just once at the very end of the loop, which massively speeds up large uploads.
• Clublog Upload Feedback: Improved the Clublog upload process to track whether any QSOs were actually sent. If nothing is pending, it will log the info and let you know on-screen rather than silently finishing.
• Advanced Search State: The Advanced Logbook view now persists your UI state (like collapsed sections, visible columns, and selections) using local storage, alongside a new status display showing result and selection counts.
• Bug Fixes: * Fixed an issue where the wrong variable was checked before clearing the dashboard cache during exports.
  • Added safety checks to prevent PHP notices if certain database columns (like winkey_websocket or varying permission column names in older databases) are missing or null.
  • Fixed duplicate Escape key handling that caused accidental double-resets on the QSO page, and ensured satellite fields restore properly on Escape.
  • Ensured the selected radio state and QSO start_date are correctly reapplied and resynced as post-save defaults after logging a contact.

2.8.13

Cloudlog 2.8.13 Release Notes

This update brings significant improvements to SimpleFLE, specifically for Satellite operators and those chasing the VUCC award. We have also overhauled several statistics pages (Continents, Timeplot, EME, and Timeline) to make them faster and more responsive.

📡 SimpleFLE Enhancements (Satellite and VUCC)

SimpleFLE has received a major logic update to make fast logging even easier:

• Multiple Grids (VUCC): You can now enter multiple comma-separated grids (e.g. IO91,IO92) in SimpleFLE. Cloudlog will now correctly detect and save these for VUCC credit.
• Satellite Improvements: Added support for the X-Band and improved how the logger handles band changes. When you switch from Satellite mode to a regular HF or VHF band, Cloudlog now automatically clears the satellite state to prevent logging errors.
• Better Time Handling: The log entry time detection is now more robust, ensuring your QSOs are recorded accurately.
• New Documentation: A brand new wiki page is available to explain these features in detail: SimpleFLE Guide

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🖥️ DXChrono Desktop Released

Coinciding with this release, DXChrono Desktop is now available.

• It offers tight integration with Cloudlog, providing a dedicated operational dashboard for your shack.
• Includes a Special Event Station mode that can display real-time banners of your latest QSOs.
• Get it here: https://desktop.dxchrono.com (£15)

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📈 Modernised Statistics

We have updated several pages to be faster and more responsive. When you apply filters (like changing a band or mode), the data now updates instantly without the whole page reloading.

• Continents and Timeplots: Refreshed interface with smoother filtering.
• EME Initials: A cleaner UI for Earth-Moon-Earth operators to track initials by band and mode.
• Activators: Improved the Activators list with better filtering for LEO and GEO satellites and clearer grid square counts.

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⏳ Timeline Improvements

• Active DXCC Badges: The timeline now displays a green "Active" badge for entities that are still valid, making it easier to distinguish from deleted DXCC entities.
• Chronological Sorting: Timeline entries are now sorted by the earliest contact you had with that entity.
• New Detail Modals: Clicking on a timeline entry now opens a modern pop-up window showing your QSO details.

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🛠️ Bug Fixes and Minor Changes

• Station Diary: You can now search public diary entries by callsign. This is useful for finding notes from other stations.
• Email Settings: Fixed a bug where saving email configuration options would sometimes fail silently.
• QSL View: Fixed a minor layout glitch on the QSL tab.
• Grid Tracking: Improved the way grids are merged and counted in the Activators view for those chasing VUCC.

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2.8.12

📡 Cloudlog 2.8.12 – What’s New

This release brings a smoother logging experience, faster performance, and more control over your interface.

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✍️ Improved QSO Entry

Logging QSOs is now faster, easier, and more consistent — especially during busy operating.

⚡ Faster & Smoother Logging

• Save QSOs instantly without page reloads
• See your recent QSOs update automatically after saving
• Overall faster performance when viewing and filtering logbooks

🧠 Remembers Your Workflow

• Your band, mode, satellite, and propagation settings are kept after each QSO
• No need to keep reselecting the same options
• Signal reports (RST) reset correctly based on mode

🔍 Smarter Callsign Lookup

• Faster callsign and country lookups
• Previous QSOs are shown without interrupting your workflow
• Clearer results when no previous contacts exist

📡 Better Radio Integration (CAT)

• More reliable syncing with your radio
• Prevents outdated radio data from overwriting your current settings

🧹 Cleaner Form Behaviour

• Fields like satellite, SOTA/POTA, and others are cleared when not needed
• Reduces the chance of incorrect or leftover data
• More predictable behaviour when resetting the form

🧩 Improved Interface Behaviour

• Previous contacts panel only appears when relevant
• No more empty or flickering panels
• Better tab handling after saving a QSO

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🔌 New API Features

For those using external tools or integrations:

• Check if a callsign, country, or gridsquare has been worked or confirmed
• Access your public logbooks and those shared with you

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📝 Improved Release Notes Display

• Release notes now support rich formatting (headings, lists, links, images, and more)
• Cleaner and easier to read

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⚙️ User Settings & Interface

• New options to show or hide:
  • SSTV Images menu
  • QSL Cards menu
• Redesigned settings page:
  • Easier to navigate
  • Cleaner layout with grouped options

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🛠️ Fixes & Improvements

• Improved security when displaying messages
• More reliable background updates
• Better handling of edge cases when logging QSOs
• General performance and stability improvements

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📦 Version

• Updated to Cloudlog 2.8.12
• Version information dialog will appear after updating

2.8.11

This release focuses on real-time operating features, improved DX handling, and a smoother logging experience.

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✨ New Features

🟢 On-Air Widgets & Status Badges

You can now display your live operating status on external websites — with support for custom callsigns.

📡 Embeddable On-Air Widget

Show your current activity in a simple, auto-updating widget:

• Displays ON AIR / QRT status
• Shows frequency, mode, or satellite info
• Auto-refreshes to stay up to date
• Designed for iframe embedding

Basic usage:

/widgets/on_air/YOURCALL

With custom display callsign (e.g. special event station):

/widgets/on_air/YOURCALL/GB2XXX

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🏷️ SVG On-Air Badge

A lightweight badge version of your status — ideal where iframes aren’t supported:

• Clean SVG image (works on GitHub, forums, etc.)
• Colour-coded status (ON AIR, SAT, QRT)
• Automatically updates

Basic usage:

/widgets/on_air_image/YOURCALL

With custom display callsign:

/widgets/on_air_image/YOURCALL/GB2XXX

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💡 Use Cases

• Add to your personal website
• Embed in your QRZ page
• Show status on GitHub or forums
• Operate special event callsigns while logging under your main account

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🔒 Notes

• Your account callsign is still used for lookup
• Display callsign is optional and safely sanitised
• Fully backwards compatible with existing widget URLs

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📊 Improvements

📡 Smarter DX Highlighting

• Uses gridsquares and VUCC grids when distance isn’t stored
• Automatically calculates distance when needed
• Ensures valid DX contacts aren’t missed

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🌍 Better Grid Handling

• Falls back to VUCC grids when gridsquare is missing
• Improves mapping and award tracking

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📻 Enhanced DX Cluster Experience

• New status badge with icons and tooltips
• Improved connection state handling
• New filters:
  • Filter by mode
  • Highlight new DXCCs
• “Track Band” option to follow your radio

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⚡ Faster QSO Entry

• Distance, bearing, and locator calculations now run in the browser
• Reduces server requests and improves responsiveness

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🎯 QSO & DX Cluster Integration

• Clicking a spot can now automatically tune your radio (QSY)
• Works directly from the QSO interface

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🧠 Improved Mode Detection

• Updated FT8/FT4 frequencies across multiple bands
• More accurate automatic mode detection

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🧰 User Interface Enhancements

📋 QSO Form Customisation

• Show/hide fields and tabs per user
• Tailor the interface to your workflow

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📡 DX Cluster in QSO Screen

• New DX Cluster tab inside the QSO page
• Click spots to auto-fill QSO fields
• Real-time updates via WebSocket

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🏆 Contesting Improvements

• New contest stats panel:
  • QSO count
  • Rate
  • Per-band breakdown
• Duplicate detection while typing
• Improved layout and usability

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🔄 General UI Improvements

• Pagination preserved during table refresh
• Reduced unnecessary redraws
• Better handling of optional/hidden fields
• Improved JavaScript stability

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🛠️ Technical Changes

🗄️ Database Update

• Notes table upgraded to utf8mb4
• Supports emoji and full Unicode characters

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🔒 Code Quality & Stability

• Cleaner input handling (reduced reliance on $_GET)
• Centralised DXCC checks
• Improved RBN detection accuracy

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🐞 Fixes

• Fixed RBN spot detection edge cases
• Resolved QSO form UI inconsistencies
• Prevented unnecessary table redraws
• Various minor stability and performance fixes

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💡 Summary

This release brings:

• Real-time visibility with on-air widgets and badges
• Better DX accuracy using smarter calculations
• Improved performance with client-side processing
• More control over the user interface

2.8.10

This Cloudlog release has more fixes than we can list however, you can read the full list at 2.8.9...2.8.10

Whats New

• Dashboard now as terminator day/Night overlay its on by default, but you can turn it off in the user account
• Dashboard DXpedition card has now been rewritten with an improved interface
• POTA now supports multiple references, both when logging QSOs and in station locations
• ADIF Exports now include multiple POTA references and also MY_NAME, which is based on the user account's name logged against the QSO.
• The US Counties Awards system has been upgraded

Call History

You can now import Call History files used by N1MM+ and similar applications and use them in Cloudlog. See the wiki page for details at https://github.com/magicbug/Cloudlog/wiki/Call-History-Guide

QSO Entry

• Previous Contacts & DXCC Summary are now grouped in a tabbed card
• Call History Support

Contesting

• Improved tabbing between the logging fields.
• Bearing & Distance functions added to the interface
• Call History Support

Cabrillo Export

Cabrillo export has now been fully rewritten and, based on tests, now produces compliant output.

2.8.9 - Changelog

✨ New Features

Public Station Diary

• Share diary entries publicly.
• Entries can include images, captions, and formatted text.
• Optional RSS feed so followers can subscribe to updates.
• Public entry view with shareable links.
• Public QSO Map
• Display QSOs from diary entries on a map for visitors.
• Visitors can react to station diary entries.

Find out more about notes at https://github.com/magicbug/Cloudlog/wiki/Notes

🛰 Satellite Improvements

• The Amsat Status page recently had some changes to its variables and naming so the automatic status submission from Cloudlog needed a rework, if you havent turned this on its under Account Settings.

🔧 Maintenance

• Updated JavaScript dependencies (qs, lodash).
• Added FT2 as a submode of MFSK
• General code cleanup and internal improvements.

🐛 Fixes

• Corrected the eQSL received flag field handling.
• Fixed various diary display issues and HTML rendering problems.

2.8.8 Performance & Features Update

🚀 Cloudlog v2.8.8 Release Notes

This release introduces the new Station Diary, significant backend optimizations for large logbooks, and a modernized LoTW certificate management flow.

✨ New Features & UI

📖 New: Station Diary

Keep track of your station's history without leaving the logbook. The Station Diary is now integrated directly into the logbook page, allowing you to quickly record notes about gear changes, propagation conditions, or general station observations.

• Quick-Add Flow: Log notes instantly as they happen.
• Printable View: Easily export your diary for physical record-keeping.

🔑 Modernised LoTW Certificate Uploads

The LoTW certificate management has been upgraded with HTMX.

• Modal-Based Uploads: You can now upload and manage certificates via a sleek modal popup.
• Dynamic Refresh: The certificate table now updates instantly upon upload without requiring a full page reload.

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⚡ Performance & "Under the Hood"

🏎️ Dashboard Acceleration

• Stat Caching: Added file-based caching for dashboard statistics (QSO, Country, VUCC, and QSL cards). This significantly reduces database load and speeds up initial page loads.
• Smart Invalidation: The cache automatically clears and updates whenever you create, edit, or delete a QSO, ensuring your stats remain accurate.

📦 Batch Processing & Database Optimization

• Large Log Support: eQSL and HRDLog uploads now use batch processing to minimize database writes and prevent memory exhaustion during mass exports.
• Optimised LoTW Imports: ADIF imports for LoTW now process confirmations and gridsquares in efficient chunks, providing more stable status reporting.
• Database Indexing: New indexes for Modes, Gridsquare prefixes, and LoTW/eQSL matching have been added to make searching and filtering significantly faster.

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🛠️ Technical Changes

• Migration 2.8.8: Includes database schema updates to support the new indexing and caching layers.
• Safety First: Added enhanced warnings for unsaved changes to prevent accidental data loss during logging.
• Query Refinement: Simplified internal SQL joins and optimised SELECT queries for a leaner, faster codebase.

2.8.7 Release Notes

📢 Cloudlog Update: WWFF & SOTA Enhancements

This update introduces a significant overhaul to the WWFF (World Wide Flora and Fauna) and SOTA (Summits on the Air) award tracking systems, alongside several user interface refinements and performance optimisations.

✨ New Features & Improvements

Complete WWFF Award Redesign

• New Management UI: A brand-new interface for tracking WWFF awards, making it much simpler to monitor your progress across various references.
• Advanced Statistics: Added detailed statistics for WWFF, allowing you to analyse your performance by reference and date.
• Interactive Mapping: You can now visualise your WWFF contacts on a map directly within the award page.

Enhanced SOTA Integration

• Improved SOTA Table: The SOTA award view has been updated for better readability and clearer data presentation.
• Refined Search & Filtering: Finding specific summit contacts within your log is now faster and more intuitive.

🛠️ Technical Changes & Bug Fixes

• Database Optimisation: Improved the background queries used to fetch award data, resulting in faster page loads for users with extensive logbooks.
• UI Consistency: Standardised button styles and table layouts across all award pages for a more cohesive experience.
• Award Logic Fixes: Resolved an issue where certain WWFF references were not being correctly counted towards total award progress.

2.8.6 Release Notes

This update brings a major refresh to our award tracking dashboards, a powerful new way to manage your notes, and several refinements to data handling and UI.

🏆 Advanced Award Tracking (POTA & SOTA)

• Both the POTA and SOTA dashboards have been overhauled to provide a more visual and searchable experience.
• New Mapping Interface: View your worked/activated SOTA summits and POTA parks on an interactive map.
• Advanced Filtering: You can now filter your awards by date, band, and mode, making it easier to track progress toward specific endorsements.
• SOTA Refactor: Optimized the backend logic for SOTA CSV downloads and parsing. The UI has been cleaned up by removing redundant RST columns, focusing on the data that matters for the award.

📝 Enhanced Notes Management

If you haven't enabled Notes, you can find the enable toggle in your account settings

The internal Notes system has transitioned from a simple text list to a full-featured management tool:

• Categories: Organise your operating notes with custom categories.
• Date Filtering: A new date-based search allows you to find notes from specific activations or time periods.
• Editable Timestamps: Notes now support a created_at field, which can be manually edited or backdated when creating or updating a note.

🛠️ Maintenance & Integration

• Data File Maintenance: Added a dedicated UI in the Maintenance section to manually trigger updates for system data files (like park lists or summit databases). These update automatically, but this enables you to force an update
• SimpleFLE Improvements: Added a "Comment" field to SimpleFLE, allowing you to include notes for individual QSOs during fast logging.
• API Stability: Introduced a reusable User-Agent helper for QRZ API requests to improve connection reliability and comply with API best practices.
• SQL Fix: Resolved a database query issue where station_id comparisons were not correctly utilising 'IN' clauses, improving stability for multi-station users.

⚙️ Technical Changes

• Updated package-lock.json for improved dependency security.

2.8.5 Release Notes

Happy New Year! This release brings some updates to the Awards interfaces.

✨ Major Award & Statistics Updates

• DXCC Awards: Improved layout with easier access to filters and new continent-based statistics.
• WAS (Worked All States): New statistics summary with added filters and a CSV export option for your records.
• IOTA Awards: Completely redesigned interface featuring a new search tool to find islands faster.
• CQ Awards: Enhanced the CQ awards page with updated table features and more powerful filtering.

📡 Operating Tools

• Personal Propagation Advisor: A brand-new feature to help you visualise the best bands to work based on past QSOs.
• Distances UI: Redesigned the distance tracking interface for better clarity.
• Satellite Mapping: Fixed issue where sat names weren't being remapped when uploading to Clublog in real-time

🛠️ Stability & Fixes

• PHP 8 Support: Fixed "null grid square" errors to ensure Cloudlog remains fully compatible with the latest web servers.
• Logbook Accuracy: Fixed an issue where DXCC IDs weren't assigned correctly in the logbook model.
• Data Security: Strengthened write permissions to ensure only authorised users can modify QSO records.