Hi All,

Kimberly, Chris and I hope that you are enjoying a very blessed, wonderful, holiday season! We are excited to let you know that...

Upgrades to All Our Logging Programs are Now Available!

Some of these enhancements were already in Amateur Contact Log 6.7, but they are all new to all the contest programs and many are new to AC Log 6.8 as well! AC Log 6.8 additions are denoted with an asterisk (*). Our latest enhancements include:

Automatic Update *
All our logging software will automatically check for new updates. When a new update is found, you will have the option of keeping your current version or updating to the latest. Choosing to update should be as easy as clicking one button! As always, upgrades will continue to be free to registered users. These next upgrades should be the last ones that will require you to manually uninstall and reinstall.

All Logging Software Signed With a Certificate Authority's Digital Certificate *
These releases of all our logging software have all been digitally signed by a Certificate Authority before release, listing the publisher as Affirmatech Inc. You will still likely see the Windows Smart Screen for a while after we publish a new upgrade, but it will hopefully stop more quickly and there should be fewer false positives from Internet protection software programs going forward.

Automatic DX Spots Reconnect *
All our software will detect if connection with the DX Spotting Telnet host is lost. They will first try to reconnect with the same host. If the connection is unsuccessful, they will try the next host in the list. Click Settings > DX Spotting > Auto Reconnect (upper right) to enable.

CW Rig Interface Wild Cards *
As you know, I previously added the ability to send rig interface commands from the CW and phone forms, by prefacing the command with RI:. Folks started enjoying this new feature, but needed a way to adjust CW strings on the fly with wild cards, to send the call you are working, serial number, etc. When you enter your rig interface command, format RI: wildcards as follows: RI: <CALL> <SERIAL> <RST>.

Toggle Between 3 Rigs
Previously, with Single Op, Two Radio in mind, you could quickly toggle between two rigs (after saving their settings on the rig interface form). Now you can cycle between 3 rigs by pressing Ctrl X from the main form!

CW and Phone Settings Now Included with Ctrl X Toggle
The phone and CW settings that you save on the respective set up forms will cycle along with the rig when you press Ctrl X. You'll find these options at the lower left when you click Settings > Transmit CW / PH.

Advanced and Technician License Class Privilege Filtering for DX Spots
Added Technician and Advanced filtering for DX spotting (General already existed).

Keyboard Tuning Shortcuts now Optional
Ability to disable keyboard tuning (requested from blind hams, who use the keyboard shortcuts used for tuning in other ways).

CW Text to Speech
One of our club members is no longer able to send CW manually (or type using a keyboard to send CW), so I added the ability to record text to send CW via speech to text. Press Crl K to record from your PC's mic input on the CW buffer form. This solution has all the limitations associated with text to speech, so it is by no means a perfect solution, but it at least provides an option to continue to engage in CW for those who's manual dexterity otherwise precludes it.

Operator and Station Call ADIF Mapping
The Operator and Station ADIF fields can optionally be mapped to the Call value entered in setup or made blank when exporting in ADIF.

TCP Networking Port Now User Customizable
The Port for TCP Networking (most often used for Field Day and other Mult Multi events), is now user customizable (instead of being locked at 1000). Click Settings > Network to Configure.

Block Band Overlap *
We've wrestled with this since our very first Field Day and it will be a great help for all multi transmitter events, but now that my son Chris, KB3KCN, who lives right next door, has become active on the air, the need to be able to block being on the same band simultaneously has personally taken on a whole new level! On the rig interface form, selecting the Block Band Overlap option will keep you from jumping to the same band as another station with whom you are networked, when you click a DX Spot or enter a frequency manually from the logging software. You can still of course tune your rig manually if you choose.

Note Function Added *
When you are trying to work a station, can't get through, but want to come back, with his call still in the call field, press Ctrl + H. A small form will display noting his call and frequency. You can add additional calls to the list and click on them to return to the frequency (with rig interface enabled). Remove a call from the list by right clicking, or it will be removed when you enter the contact.

Super Check Partial Wild Cards Added
Type a period (.) or question mark (?) when you are unsure of a character in the call, to display all possibilities in the Super Check Partial list (with Super Check Partial enabled).

Winkeyer - Remaining String to be Sent Displayed*
Unlike the processor timed CW, which showed the entire string yet to be sent, the software previously just displayed the character as it was echoed from Winkeyer. Now, the Winkeyer display is similar to processor timed CW and includes the entire remaining buffer to be sent.

Added Shortcut List Summary *
As many of you know, our software has always been designed to be easy and intuitive to use, right out of the box, without overwhelming new users with a myriad of options and settings. As a result, many of the cool, useful, higher level features our software offers are accessed by either investigating all the menu options or keyboard shortcuts. In addition, as our feature set continues to grow, the shortcut list is becoming extensive! To help us all quickly find the many valuable features you'll want to use as you become familiar with N3FJP Software, you can view the shortcut summary from the help menu, or pressing Ctrl O.

As always, upgrades are free to registered users! You'll find the step by step details for upgrading the contest software (which will be even easier for future releases) here.

And Amateur Contact Log here.

Winter Field Day and COVID-19 Rules Change Reminder!

Just a quick reminder that Winter Field Day is fast approaching! Similar to ARRL's 2020 Summer Field Day accommodations for COVID-19 restrictions, the Winter Field Day folks are also enabling individuals to operate under their own call signs from their individual homes and have their points credited to their cumulative club score! This accommodation was tremendously well received last summer during ARRL Field Day and I am sure will be again for Winter Field Day. All the details are in the WFD rules here.

Score Club Processor for Winter Field Day and ALL Contests!

Running our free Club Score processor is entirely optional, but adds so much more fun to every contest, including Winter Field Day! I was thrilled to see many new clubs and groups give it a try for the first time with Summer Field Day and then continue to use it with the contests that followed. Watching your club's score grow in real time, as well as seeing how each of you are doing individually, along with the banter in our virtual clubhouse on the Discord app, adds a quantum leap of fun to contesting!

The club score processor is easy to set up, as long as one individual in your club has a basic understanding of putting a web page on the Internet. If one person in your club has ever put a web page up using an FTP program or basic web publishing software, you will be fine. Just don't wait until the last minute. This is definitely something you want to set up well in advance (now).

You'll find the six easy steps for the one person in your group coordinating the Club Score Processor here.

Enjoy Field Day! I'm looking forward to working you!!!

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.