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Long time I used logger32 logbook program. I was not fully satisfied and then I found Dxkeeper which is part of DXLAB suite. It is ideal for my needs. I use various programs for my ham activity and all ADIF data accumulate just to Dxkeeper. It has good interface to LoTW, Clublog or UI for filling QSL cards.

My logbook contains only 10.000 QSO but I spent already many hours by inserting data from incoming QSL cards and editing details about QSOs. There is no doubt these data are very valuable for me. So, how should I back up them?

Very popular is use external usb hard drive and copy data on it. I do own external hard drive, but it is annoying connect it all the time after some minor changes in logbook. I back up old logger32 to SD card, but it is same situation for me.

That is why online backup is very comfortable for me. Some guys on Dxlab forum recommended to me online drives like Dropbox, iDrive, Carbonite, Mozy or LiveSkydrive. It looks nice on first look, but you usually need install drivers access this virtual disk from your computer. You must agree provider’s term of use and most of plans are paid. Otherwise, FTP is common service which I naturally got with my web hosting.

I prefer for backup purpose this old fashion FTP. I composed simple batch file which compress logbook file, DXK’s cfg files and exported register keys with your DXkeeper settings (you can expand it as you wish) and then upload it to FTP. I tested it on WinXP and you need only obtain 7za.exe (command line version) and this utility is not necessary install! All other programs are Windows built in. Only limitation is that time stamp for backup zip file will be generated wrong on non Czech Windows as we use different date formatting..

I love it, one click and logbook is stored (backup) another place. My logbook file with 10000 Qso and other cfg files is compressed into 1MB file, so upload is quite smooth even via our lousy 2Mb/512kB..

For proper function of batch file, please setup these lines with variables:

• zip ⇒ Path to 7za.exe
• zippwd ⇒ Password for your archive file
• ftphost, ftpuser, ftppwd ⇒ Variables necessary for ftp upload
• dxkdir ⇒ Path to dxkeeper directory
• dxkmdb ⇒ Relative path to you loogbook file

@ECHO OFF
rem ****************************** Setup ******************************

set zip=d:\install\7z\7za.exe
set zippwd=zip_pwd

set ftphost=ftp.example.tld
set ftpuser=user
set ftppwd=user_pwd

set dxkdir=d:\program files\DXKeeper\
set dxkmdb=Databases\your_call.mdb

rem **************************** Setup End ****************************

set ziplist=backuplist.txt
set dxkreg="HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VB and VBA Program Settings\DXKeeper"
set regbackup=dxkeeper.reg
set backup=(Scripts\*.txt Configurations\*.txt %regbackup% %dxkmdb% )

cd  /D "%dxkdir%"
del %ziplist%
for %%i in %backup% do echo %%i>> %ziplist%

SET DATETIME=%date%%time%
SET YYYY=%DATETIME:~9,4%
SET MT=%DATETIME:~6,2%
SET DD=%DATETIME:~3,2%
SET HH=%DATETIME:~13,2%
SET MM=%DATETIME:~16,2%
SET SS=%DATETIME:~19,2%
IF %HH% LSS 10 SET HH=0%HH:~1,1%

set backupfile=dxk_logbook_%yyyy%-%mt%-%dd%_%hh%%mm%.zip

reg export %dxkreg% "%dxkdir%%regbackup%"
%zip% a -p%zippwd% -tzip %backupfile% @%ziplist%

echo user %ftpuser%> ftpcmd.dat
echo %ftppwd%>> ftpcmd.dat
echo bin>> ftpcmd.dat
echo put %backupfile%>> ftpcmd.dat
echo quit>> ftpcmd.dat
ftp -n -s:ftpcmd.dat %ftphost%

del ftpcmd.dat
del %ziplist%
del %regbackup%

pause