"qsltool" is a tool developed by Wizardry and Steamworks that can be used to manage QSOs made over Ham Radio. One example is to use "qsltool" in order to generate ASCII QSL cards from ADI files. patterns.

As implemented, so far:

• reading .ADI / .ADIF files and generating QSL files,
• configurable ASCII template cards

First ensure that node.js and npm are installed and then execute:

npm install -g qsltool --registry https://npm.grimore.org

that will install qsltool such that it can be called from the command line.

The sources can also be checked out via Subversion by using the URL:

• https://svn.grimore.org/qsltool

For instance, via the command:

svn co https://svn.grimore.org/qsltool

After that, the requirements must be pulled, such that the following command:

npm install

must be ran inside the qsltool folder checked out from the SVN repository.

The tool can be invoked on the command line and will output the available options:

$ qsltool
Usage: qsltool [options] [command]
 
 
    ^   _._. -
    |  (  QSL ).
    +./.  Tool )
    |   (_..../
  .---.
  .---.  A tool to manage QSO contacts with HAM Radios
  .---.  and to generate matching QSL cards.
    |
    |
  /////
 
 
Options:
  -V, --version                         output the version number
  -h, --help                            display help for command
 
Commands:
  generate [options] <source> <target>  display a factory specification
                                        graphically
  list-qsl-templates                    list built-in QSL templates
  help [command]                        display help for command

The typical usage is to generate QSL cards from .ADI / .ADIF files. Here is an example that will point the tool at the WSJT-X program folder and will generate QSL cards from the found files:

./qsltool.js generate "PATH_TO_WSJT-X" "OUTPUT_FOLDER" -s CALL_SIGN

where:

• PATH_TO_WSJT-X is the folder path to the Wsjt-x folder where the .ADI / .ADIF files are stored (something along the lines of C:\Users\xxxx\AppData\Local\WSJT-X),
• OUTPUT_FOLDER is an existing directory where the QSL cards should be placed,
• CALL_SIGN is the station call sign that is generating the QSL cards for a contact (ie: your call sign)

"qsltool" generates QSL cards by using a substitution template and then replacing the QSO details into an ASCII template. The default template provided is the following:

 /------------------------------------------------------------------------\
 |o                                                                      o|
 |                .---.   .--- ...           ....   ....        /         |
 |               /  _  | |---/ | |          / .. \ / .. \      |/         |
 |               | | | | |--\  | |   .---.  \\  // \\  //      |/         |
 |    -(--).     | "-/ |  \--\ | \    ---    //\\   //\\   Ooo |          |
 |   /  (-) \    / .   | --- | |  -..       //..\\ //..\\     o| , .      |
 |   \--   -/     /---/  \---/  \---/       \..../ \..../     -- (o)      |
 |                          \                   /             || ^|^      |
 |       /(..)\              +:[ XXXXXXXXXXX ]:+              ..  |/      |
 |      \ (-) /  c(..)o                               "   \  /..\/.       |
 |       \   /    ----    =====)------------------     -----......        |
 |                \  /                           .      /    \../         |
 |   ...                                         o            --          |
 |   \|/                        | .................. ..................   |
 |    |                         |.                  .                  .  |
 |    |    ."-._.-""--.-"-../   |. Confirm QSO      = AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA .  |
 |    |-._/                /    |\                  .                  .  |
 |    |  '      .-""-.     \    | .-----------------+-----------------/   |
 |    |  \  ** . _  _ . **  )   |.                  .                  .  |
 |  .---. )  \\|(_)(_)|//   \   |. Date & Time      = DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD .  |
 |  .---. \    (_ /\ _)      )  |\                  .                  .  |
 |  .---.  )  //|wwww|\\    /   | .-----------------+-----------------/   |
 |    |    . ** '-..-' **   )   |.                  .                  .  |
 |    |   .'                \   |. f / Mode / Band  = FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF .  |
 |    |.../"-.__.-""-.__.-"-.)  |\                  .                  .  |
 |    |                         | .-----------------+-----------------/   |
 |    |                         |.                  .                  .  |
 |    |                         |. Signal TX/RX     = SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS .  |
 |    |          )    )          \                  .                  .  |
 |  /////          |\__/,|  (`\    ................/+................./   |
 |o              _.|o o  |_  ) )                                         o|
 \---------------,,----,,-------------------------------------------------/

where the repeated letters will be substituted by the contact details. Here is the description of the fields:

• XXXXXXXXXXX is the station call sign of the station emitting the QSL card,
• AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA is the call sign of the contact,
• DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD is the time and date that the contact has been made,
• FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF is the mode and the band describing how the contact has been made,
• SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS is the send and receive signal report for the contact (in db)

All the repeated letter fields will be populated from the QSO's default details but any other characters will be ignored.

It is possible to create your own ASCII art template and use it with "qsltool", for example, assuming that your ASCII art template is at C:\QSL.txt, then "qsltool" can be invoked as:

./qsltool.js generate "C:\Users\xxxx\AppData\Local\WSJT-X" "OUTPUT_FOLDER" -s CALL_SIGN --qsl-template "C:\QSL.txt"

and "qsltool" will read the .ADI / .ADIF files in C:\Users\xxxx\AppData\Local\WSJT-X and then create QSL cards by substituting the letters in the ASCII template to be found at C:\QSL.txt

"qsltool" is made as a companion tool for the WSJT-X companion that is able to generate QSL cards on the fly as the contact is made and then to also automatically upload the generated QSL cards to cloud storage. "qsltool" works great to supplement the WSJT-X companion for contacts made while the WSJT-X companion was not running.