If you’ve followed my field reports in the past couple of years, you’ll know that I predominantly use Rite In The Rain notepads and mechanical pencils.

When I first started my POTA journey in 2019, I would print out log sheets for each activation just like I did during the National Parks On The Air program in 2016. It was a very inexpensive and organized way to manage all of my written logs.

Over time, though, I made a shift to small pocket-sized notepads (Moleskine, Moji, Mead…) basically any pad that took up less space and could remain in my QRP field kits.

Rite In The Rain

After a couple of moisture mishaps with Moleskine pads (which, by the way, I otherwise love) I decided to completely shift to using Rite In The Rain spiral-bound notepads.

I resisted doing this for a long time because Rite In The Rain pads aren’t cheap; they typically cost about $6-$7 US each, but they are made in the US and are very high quality. They don’t smudge or smear.

My father-in-law is a retired professor of Botany and the bulk of his research time was (literally) in the field–in the mountains of western North Carolina. He’s always been a huge fan of Rite In The Rain and we often purchased these for him as gifts.

I switched to Rite In The Rain and haven’t regretted it. Yes, they’re pricier than all of the previous options I’d used, but they are insanely durable, can survive getting wet, and they hold quite a lot of my 45-60 minute POTA and SOTA activations! One pad will typically last me several months.

There are two sizes of pads I use:

- - 3×5″ Rite In The Rain Top Spiral Notebook
  - 4×6″ Rite In The Rain Top Spiral Notebook

Please note that all of the Amazon.com links on this page are affiliate links that support QRPer.com.

The 3×5″ sixe easily fits in my Pelican 1060 case

I find that both sizes work well. I tend to use the larger 4×6 size most of the time, but I love the 3×5 size because it fits in some of my smallest field kits including the MTR-3B SOTA kit I highlighted last week.

When you use a Rite in the Rain pad, it will hold up in the rain if you are using any pencil, or one of their pens which has a special ink that bonds to the paper permanently.

I use mechanical pencils when I log, although I plan to start using pens more often only because it makes it easier for my YouTube video subscribers to read my logbook as I write (pencil can be more difficult to read from the camera angle, depending on reflection, etc.).

Mechanical Pencils

This is an area where (being fully transparent here) I can geek out a bit (understatement alert).

I’ve always had a place in my heart for mechanical pencils. It dates back to my high school years when I took drafting classes. These were the days when drafting desks, pencils, T-Squares, triangles, and templates were tools of the trade (CAD was just becoming accessible to students).

I found mechanical pencils to be an amazing piece of engineering and, while I couldn’t afford a lot of them, I would spend my hard-earned money to buy them. To me, visiting our local drafting store was like a trip to the toy store.

But I digress…

In the field, performing a POTA or SOTA activation, I don’t look for the same precision I needed in drafting class. Quite the opposite–I’m looking for durability and reliability.

Wooden pencils, to be clear, are both of those things and will serve you well in the field. What I love about mechanical pencils is that their leads are consistent when writing and there’s no need to pause and activation to sharpen them. Just click and keep going.

There are currently three mechanical pencil models I use.

My wife recently gave me a uni Core Keeps Sharp Mechanical Pencil as a gift. She did so after reading a comment from one of my readers (I had no idea she even read QRPer–I’ve got to be careful what I say around here!). 🙂

What makes this particular pencil unique is that it rotates the lead as you use it. This keeps the line looking sharp since the lead doesn’t wear to one side.

So far, I love it. This one has a .5mm lead, which is small–I tend to prefer .7 or .9mm because they’re more durable. Expect to see this in activation videos soon.

Next is the Zebra Mechanical Pencil, Del Guard, 0.7mm. This particular pencil lives in my MTR-3B SOTA field kit. The Del Guard has a double spring mechanism that acts as a shock absorber when you write. If you apply a little too much vertical or angled pressure, it absorbs the energy thus saving your lead from breaking.

I find it works really well, in fact. I tend to have a heavy hand when I write in my log books and I find I have less lead breakage in the field.

Finally, the mechanical pencil I’ve adopted as my primary SOTA and POTA pencil is the amazing GraphGear 0.9mm 1000.

This pencil is the most durable mechanical pencil I’ve ever used.

Bruce (KO4ZRN) introduced this to me when he joined me on a SOTA activation of Craggy Dome a couple years ago. This pencil is incredibly strong. In fact, I’ve even used it in woodworking and carpentry projects to mark cuts on wood.

At this point, I think I probably own about six of these GraphGear pencils and I couldn’t be happier.

Video

I actually made a short (for me) video about my notepads and pencils:

Click here to view on YouTube.

Again, you don’t need anything fancy…

If you’re not into waterproof paper and mechanical pencils, just use what you have to log.

I remember once using the back side of an envelop and a pen I found in my car to log a NPOTA activation–it worked perfectly! I even remember another NPOTA activation using a pen to log and running out of ink, so I used the pen to log in the dirt on the ground. I only copied three or so more contacts then took a photo of the ground. (I can’t recommend this, but point is, practically anything can be used for logging!)

I just find that when I do something on a regular basis, I’m willing to invest in tools I love using. I feel they serve me well in the end.

How do you log?

I’m curious how you log. I know that a large percentage of POTA activations never write a thing on paper logs–they simple log directly to an app on their phone, tablet, or laptop.

I prefer making a paper copy of my logs, then taking a photo of them when the activation is complete. I worry less about my app crashing, phone running out of power, and, frankly, I just find the process of logging more fun on paper. Furthermore, rain can disrupt touch accuracy on capacitive touchscreen devices, making logging difficult in wet conditions.

I’m curious how you log in the field. Please comment!

Thank you

Thank you for reading this post!

Of course, I’d also like to send a special thanks to those of you who have been supporting the site and channel through Patreon, and the Coffee Fund. While not a requirement, as my content will always be free, I really appreciate the support.