Hi All,

Chris, Kimberly and I are very excited to let you know that...

Amateur Contact Log 7.0 is Now Available!

We think that you will really enjoy the upgrades that we are bringing you in Amateur Contact Log 7.0! They include:

- Easy, direct, integration with WSJT-X

- Support for the 13 Colonies annual event

- States lookup for DX Spotting (and WSJT-X)

- Support for the free Hamdb Callbook Lookup service (which includes USA, Canada and a few other countries)

- Grid is now returned with the free Callook lookup service (grid is already provided in most other callbook lookup options)

- Right clicking on the main form's Spot Last button provides the opportunity to add a comment

The first three items are the most fun and need just a bit of set up, so details for those follow:

Easy, Direct, Integration with WSJT-X!

You can still use an intermediary program like JTAlert or Grid Tracker to connect WSJT-X to Amateur Contact Log if you like, but now you have the ability to connect WXJT-X directly to Amateur Contact Log! To do so:

- From Amateur Contact Log's menu options, click Setting > Application Program Interface and then select the option to Listen for WSJT-X. Clicking configure allows you to select a different port and customize the colors that appear in WSJT-X, but that typically isn't necessary to get you started. The other API options in AC Log aren't relevant for directly connecting to WSJT-X.

- On WSJT-X's reporting tab, make sure that you enable the option to Accept UDP requests to see the colors. My settings look like this:

As calls are decoded, your log is checked for the call and entity status. The colors that you see are determined as follows, in this priority:

Red - Duplicate call on Band and Mode (will be very handy in the contest software)

Green - Unconfirmed Country

Blue - Unconfirmed State

Purple - Unconfirmed Grid

No color - the call has not been worked, but the country, state and grid are all confirmed.

Here is an example:

Only one program can connect directly to your rig, so you can either let Amateur Contact Log or WSJT-X perform rig interface. If you want WSJT-X to perform rig control, from AC Log's menu options click Settings > Rig Interface and select None from the rig list (be sure to click the Save Settings button below the rig list first to save your working settings). Then configure rig interface in WSJT accordingly.

Alternatively, you can set AC Log to perform rig interface and set WSJT-X's rig selection to None. Please note that if you go this route, it is best to set AC Log to return Mode by Frequency and enable All Mapped Digital Modes. Otherwise, AC Log will display SSB for mode until you log a contact, but the mode will be saved as the proper digital mode either way.

Also, AC Log will set most rigs to transmit as WSJT-X transmits, so WSJT remains fully functional with AC Log performing rig control.

We've heard from our beta testers that JTDX works well too, though we understand the JTDX developers have not yet enabled the colors we send to appear, so you won't see the neat coloring if you choose the JTDX app.

If you wish to have AC Log and other programs such as JTAlert or GridTracker to all connect directly to WSJT-X, so you can benefit from AC Log's coloring feature, as well as the great information these other apps display, you can configure the apps for multicasting as detailed here.

Our beta testers are really excited about this new functionality and have been asking if we will have time to add the direct connection to WSJT-X to our Field Day log. Yes, we have been working on Field Day simultaneously and hope to have an announcement on that in the next week or so (and Lord willing, we definitely plan to accommodate the next VHF and World Wide Digi DX contests this year, too)!

Support for the 13 Colonies Annual Event!

The 13 Colonies annual event, which runs from July1 though July 8, continues to gain popularity and we have been receiving lots of requests to support it. Since the objective is simply to work as many of the 13 colony stations as possible, we've built the display right into Amateur Contact Log. To see your 13 Colonies progress, click View > 13 Colonies:

Spotted, unworked 13 colony stations will turn green and you can click on them to tune your rig to the spot frequency (with rig interface and DX Spotting enabled). Note that only calls worked within the dates specified will color the form.

States Lookup for DX Spotting (and WSJT-X)!

We really wanted to make it easy to know if a decoded call in WSJT-X was from a needed state, so we developed a database for that application (the blue color coding display in WSJT-X). Once we had that up and running, we realized the lookup we coded is useful for any mode, not just digital. If you would like to enable lookups for states on DX Spotting (and display the associated confirmation status in the DX Spots list), click Settings > DX Spotting > Lookup USA States. Stateside spots will have the state appended to USA and their confirmation status will be displayed!

As Always, Upgrades are Free!

As always, upgrades are free to registered users. If you are currently running AC Log 6.9, it should detect the new upgrade and offer to retrieve it on start. If you have any problem with the automatic upgrade (or you are running a version prior to 6.8), you can install AC Log 7.0 from here (you should not have to uninstall your previous version):

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.