A quick re-think.
I had originally planned to cover didital in this post as well, but that would just have made it far too long for my attention span – so this post covers paper systems but not in depth and a separate post will cover the digital systems.
Paper, for most the medium of choice.
Let’s face it, almost no one who is starting out as a spotter is going to be using a completely paper based log. Many people staring out will go straight to a digital solution, but not everyone will go that way. But if we are honest about it, paper is likely to be in the mix somewhere, a notebook, a napkin or something else when you are just stuck.
Paper, where data is always available.
It is a key thing about the old well tried and tested paper systems, there are no dependencies other than the physical paper and light to read it. No matter which variation of a paper based system you are using, it is available all the time and you are in total control of it.
Effectively there are only two paper based systems, firstly the home designed one which might use a ledger or index cards. The second model for a paper based system is the underline model, where preprinted books are used and the data is underlined.
Paper, what’s wrong with it?
There is nothing wrong with an all paper master log, if it is what suits you – then that is OK. My first two master logs were papaer based, firstly the underline model which I used for about eight or nine years. This was followed by a card system which lasted for about another eight or nine years, then in 1985 to computer using an Atari 520ST. Strangely after 40 years on a computer, there is still paper involved.
The bulk problem.
It doesn’t seem to matter which paper system you pick, the sheer bulk of it is problematic. With the underline model there are books to be purchased every year or two, with a ledger system or a card system there are cards and pages to be indexed – all adding to the bulk.
The speed problem.
This is the main area where a paper system falls down, each facet of the operation is slow. It isn’t a big problem in the begining, but it does become more of a problem as time goes on and the numbers of sighting you have logged goes up. At a thousand aircraft in the master log it only takes moments to find out if it is a new sighting or not. But once you get to a hundred thousand, unless you are diciplined and thought about the process at the begining, then a day at a busy airport may well take you hours to check.
The copy problem.
To me this one is pretty important, losing all or part of a log is pretty catastrophic. So with a paper system, how do you keep a copy. In short, there is only one way to do this and that is to take the time and copy it out.
The cost problem.
The costs for a paper based system can mount up, the cost of books for logging and research, The cost of printing things, the cost of index cards and the cost of all the bits and pieces that go along with it can mount up.
The problems are effectively the same whether you write it all out or underline. With underlining you have the additional chore of whenever a new book comes out you have to buy one or two copies. You then have to transfer your sightings, not too much of a problem if you are tranferring just a few. But if you are transferring a lot, it is laborius and prone to mistakes.
Next Post
In the next post, I will look at the basic types of electronic systems available for plane spotting. There are many applications available, so looking at these individually would require a post for each one. So to make this post as useful as possible, I’m going to delve more into what you should look for and how to manage your data.