Hi All,

Kimberly and I hope that you had a very Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and that you are enjoying a wonderful holiday season! We have exciting announcements detailing multiple new N3FJP Software features to kick off 2020 and the new decade ahead!

New Versions of All the Contest Software are Now Available!

Upgrades to all the contest software include:

- Filtering of DX spotted digital mode frequencies can be blocked or enabled independently from CW / SSB. Click More Filtering on the DX Spotting set up form to configure.

- Added Tab Sends Message (TSM) option for voice F keys (already existed for CW). Press Ctrl + Shift + G to enable.

- Use Shift (or Ctrl + Shift) + Up / Down, Left / Right arrows to tune your rig's frequency with rig interface enabled (explanation below).

- State QSO Party Programs - State / Province / Country (SPC) field will also accept the county.

- Added Yaesu - Newer 2 option on the rig interface form's rig list to support Yaesu 991, Yaesu 101 D and Yaesu 101 MP.

- User added DX Spotting telnet sites are saved and available for selection in the drop down list on the DX Spotting set up form.

- Added optional filtering for Advanced and Technician frequency privileges (in addition to the already existing General filtering).

- Any unworked call in the Super Check Partial (SCP) list that exactly matches what you've typed in the Call field is highlighted in green (with Super Check Partial enabled).

- Corrected form display anomalies on 4K monitors.

- Passive Mode Option for FTP Web Upload (Settings > Web Upload Status Settings).

By the way, most of these features are already available in Amateur Contact Log 6.6 as well, which I released in November, 2019.

As always, upgrades are free to registered users! Just uninstall your previous version from Windows Control Panel, install the latest from the program's download link and you will be all set!

More Details on Keyboard Fine Tuning:

I am particularly excited about our new keyboard fine tuning feature! I've really been enjoying using the various contest software options to quickly jump to the next spotted station, including Ctrl + Shift + Z, jump to the next DX Spot on entry, clicking on a DX spot, etc., but occasionally, the spotted frequency is slightly off. Up until now, this has required a reach for the VFO, which costs precious contest seconds and necessitates repetitive physical readjustment, as well as having to lift our hands from the keyboard. I wanted the ability to tune in the station faster, without having to reach for the rig, so I've coded the software to do just that! Here are the keyboard commands (with rig interface enabled):

SSB:
Ctrl + Left / Right (large jump): +-500 Hz
Ctrl + Shift + Left / Right (medium jump): +-150 Hz
Ctrl + Up / Down (small jump): +-50 Hz
Ctrl + Shift + Up / Down (tiny jump): +-10 Hz

CW / DIG:
Ctrl + Left / Right (large jump): +-250 Hz
Ctrl + Shift + Left / Right (medium jump): +-80 Hz
Ctrl + Up / Down (small jump): +-20 Hz
Ctrl + Shift + Up / Down (tiny jump): +-5 Hz

That may seem complicated, but don't focus on the actual values. When you try it and actually tune in stations on the air with your keyboard, it will quickly become intuitive. I tested this feature extensively during 2019 CQ WW and November Sweepstakes. In most cases, I found simply holding Ctrl and using the Up / Down arrow keys was sufficient to quickly tune in a station that was slightly off from his spotted frequency.

More Details on State QSO Party SPC Functionality:

Running a frequency on CW, when you are copying letter by letter and you don't know if a state or county is coming, until now, we've had to guess whether to start in the State / Province / Country (SPC) field or county field and then adjust as the value becomes clear. With the latest versions of the State QSO Party software, when a county value (either full county name or abbreviation) is typed in the SPC field, the software will automatically move the county over to the county field when we press enter.

More Details on Green Highlighted Super Check Partial Values:

The Super Check Partial (SCP) list of active contesters is a great aid in helping to determine if you've copied the call correctly. In most cases, as you type a few characters of the call, the list quickly becomes short enough to easily scan and find the call, but occasionally, very short calls are a bit harder to find with a rapid glance. During CQ WW, short calls like D4C prompted me to find a way to accent exact matches to the Call field in the SCP list, which are now highlighted green.

ARRL RTTY Prep!

One of the biggest digital contests of the year, ARRL RTTY Roundup is this weekend! I've had the latest version of ARRL RTTY Roundup contest log, version 3.7, on the web site since early December. If you are running an earlier version, please go ahead and upgrade.

If you haven't already, please make sure you have downloaded the latest version of your favorite digital software, the latest version of my ARRL RTTY contest software and that you have everything configured and interfaced properly. Once set up correctly, you will only need log the station in the digital software and it will log automatically in my contest software!

Remember, all my contest software is designed with real time logging in mind and points are calculated on entry. Single fields, such as the SPC field, are used to capture multiple exchange elements, such as the state or serial number in ARRL RTTY. My ARRL RTTY software exports in ADIF fine, but if you attempt to import records logged from another program into my ARRL RTTY software via ADIF, depending on the program, there is a good chance the data will not be assigned properly. Just make sure that you interface your digital program with my ARRL RTTY software during the event, so that the QSOs are actually logged in real time via my software and you will be are all set!

Digital software that interfaces directly with mine includes:

N7YG Digital Engine: https://n7yg.net/software/n7yg-digital-engine

FLDigi: https://sourceforge.net/projects/fldigi/files/fldigi/

JTAlert: http://hamapps.com/

PSK Express: http://n7yg.net/software/psk-express

W4ELP Lookup: https://groups.io/g/W4ELP/

ARRL RTTY Logging Software:

http://www.n3fjp.com/rttyroundup.html

Digital Setup Instructions:

http://www.n3fjp.com/help/digitalsetup.html

School Club Roundup Encouragement!

Does your local school system have an Amateur Radio club? Might creating a new school club or helping to support an existing one be your way to give back to the hobby?

School Club Roundup is a week long event that runs twice a year and is a super outreach to young people. Of course we hope the kids will become licensed hams, but even if they don't, presenting the amazing hobby of Amateur Radio to the kids in a positive way still matters to all of us, a lot! These young people may one day be neighbors of hams, sit on HOA committees or even move on to government public service positions. Licensed or not, the positive view of Amateur Radio that we have the opportunity to instill in them now will matter!

If you would like to set up an Amateur Radio club for your school, there is an e-mail support group here.

More details on the School Club Round event are here.

My free School Club Roundup software is here.

And of course, be sure to work as many schools as you can during the SCR weeks!

Please Submit Your Contest Logs!

Many folks have told me over the years that they love playing in contests, but for a variety of reasons never actually submit their logs to the contest sponsors. Submitting your logs to ARRL and CQ has never been easier and literally takes about two minutes. It's of great benefit to the contest sponsors to get a more accurate assessment of participation. Submitting your log helps me too, as some sponsors track usage of contest logging software. Besides, even if you place at the bottom, it is fun to see where you wind up and it might help you set a goal for next time. You may find out your are doing better than you think!

And in response to the questions we always receive when we neglect to include the following in our e-mail announcements...

Package Upgrade Information...

If you have registered one or more individual programs and would like to upgrade to N3FJP's Software Package or N3FJP's Software Package and CD for full use of all our Amateur Radio software, we would be glad to apply the amount that you have registered so far as a credit towards that purchase. Please send us an e-mail directly and we'll let you know your balance.

N3FJP's Software Package includes more than one hundred programs for contesting, net management, general logging and other Amateur Radio related applications. In addition to full use of all these programs, registered package customers are also entitled to receive free passwords for any new software that is added to the package and free upgrades to existing programs. You'll find all the details on the Register Now page at www.n3fjp.com.

Donations are Gratefully Accepted!

And in response to the often asked question for which Kimberly and I are very grateful...

"I know your upgrades are free, but I also realize how much time and effort coding these enhancements and new programs take and that your pricing policy doesn't fully reflect that. Can I send you something to show my appreciation for your continued efforts?"

Yes, thanks so much, your continued support in any amount is very welcome and deeply appreciated! You can use this page:

http://www.n3fjp.com/donations.html

or send your contribution by mail, payable to Affirmatech Inc., to:

G. Scott Davis
118 Glenwood Road
Bel Air, MD 21014-5533

Thank you so much for your continued support!

Thanks!

As always, thanks for your kind words, support, linking to our web site and spreading the word about our software. Kimberly and I really appreciate it!

73, Scott
N3FJP
http://www.n3fjp.com

Serving the Amateur Radio community with contesting and general logging software since 1997.