Club Log's Expedition Mode includes the facility to enable band/mode slot leaderboards. It also enables the propagation charts and other features which are attractive to DXers. However, leaderboards are complex and resource-intensive to host, and generally only suitable for larger expeditions. To prevent over-use of the facility, the following criteria are applied:

  • A rare DXCC or very rare IOTA
  • Over 5,000 QSOs are likely to be made
  • Multi-operator team
  • Multi-band, multi-mode, working all call areas
  • A single callsign shared by the entire team, rather than individual calls - Club Log will not provide expedition charts to numerous callsigns operated from the same expedition location at the same time
  • Duration between 1 day and 60 days (not intended to be used by resident hams or contest stations)
  • Must be requested before the activation occurs (not during, and never after the activation has finished).
    Please do not ask for expedition mode after you return home as this conflicts with the purpose of the expedition services in Club Log and all such requests will be declined.


Please email Michael G7VJR in advance of your trip if you would like to use expedition mode (simply email support@clublog.org). If your callsign will require an exception, please could you also include the dates of your activity to help us maintain an accurate mapping for your callsign.


Exceptions and "special callsigns"


If your activity is not eligible (particularly as it is lengthy, e.g. a semi-resident or recurring contest station) you may still be eligible to be listed as a 'special callsign' in order to use the charts features. A separate list is maintained, to avoid labelling such activities as 'expeditions' while still supporting them with the charts feature. However, the criteria above still apply in a broad way and in particular, the rarity of the DXCC is an essential prerequisite.


Single operators visiting notably rare locations may use the expedition tools, but only if the leaderboard option remains switched off both during and after the expedition. This is in response to valid criticisms that pile up behaviour is adversely affected by expeditions with too few operators using the leaderboards.


Even if your expedition does not meet the criteria to use expedition mode, you can still use Club Log's built-in log search and OQRS features just as everyone can. 


Why do these restrictions exist?


The main reason is that leaderboards tend to be dominated by the big guns if the expedition team is small and/or the activation is short. This is bad news for the little pistols and increases complaints over the use of leaderboards. Another reason is that the expedition tools require substantially more resources to supply than other features in Club Log, and there is not enough computing power available to provide them to all Club Log users.


IOTA Notes


In general, such operations are not concerned with filling lots of band/mode slots, but rather they aim to give out as many uniques or 'all time new ones' as possible. Consequently such expeditions are not suited to the expedition tools in Club Log, unless they also happen to be activating a rare DXCC. As a general rule, therefore, IOTA operations should not request the expedition mode unless the DXCC is also rare (top 150).