Hi All,

It was super to work so many of you during Field Day! Thank you so much for your QSOs and even more for your very kind words and encouragement!

Lots of groups and clubs used Club Score Processor for the first time during Field Day. As a result of your enthusiastic responses and kind suggestions...

Club Score Processor 1.2 is Now Available!

It was great to receive so many enthusiastic reports of how much groups enjoyed the Club Score Processor during Field Day, and how they plan to continue using it for other contests throughout the year! Based on the reactions of our own group, I knew you all would love it!

Many group coordinators and individuals sent words along the lines of Alan, W4ANT, who wrote in part...

"This was really the first contest I paid attention to the [Club Score Processor's] "live" scoring [club web page total]. I'm not a big gun, nor a hard core contester, but watching the live scores being posted, I found myself desirous of trying to catch the guy who was ahead of me by a couple Q's or points. Agree with Mike it does add a new, fun dimension."

Our club, the Northeast Maryland Amateur Radio Contest Society, has been using the Club Score Processor for nearly 5 years on all major contests. I can definitely echo Alan's comments first hand. We have folks at all levels who participate. Since guys know each other, their typical contest effort and what their stations are like, they naturally identify comparable operators. Then, the good natured competition at all levels ensues.

I can't stress enough that we are simultaneously competitive, in the friendliest of ways, while completely supportive and encouraging. It really does add a huge increase in fun. When your buddy is just ahead, or just behind and catching up, you can't help but stay in the chair longer on contest weekends, making Qs and interacting with each other in our Virtual Clubhouse (text chat room). Since every QSO from every member helps our club grand total, that keeps us energized as well. After contests, guys are looking to improve their stations whenever they can. The constantly updating web page that the Club Score Processor creates is the centerpiece of our club's contest weekends. It is one of the primary reasons our club has flourished the last few years! More on that below.

Along with the encouraging reports for Club Score Processor, there were three main requests, that are now added in version 1.2:

- The ability to add a text message at the top of the web page.

- The ability to add HTML, so that an image such as a club banner may be displayed.

- The ability to include scores from folks running other logging software programs besides N3FJP in the club's real time total.

I should mention that since the web page that Club Score Processor creates gets quite a bit of attention throughout contest weekends, our group much prefers the clean, minimalist approach, without text or banners. In the heat of a contest, the quicker and easier something can be interpreted the better! That said, those features are now available in version 1.2.

I love the idea of including everyone in your club's real time total, regardless of their choice of logging software, so I've added code to check the uploaded file for an alternative XML format that is very easy for other developers to create. Just have folks using other logging software ask their contest software developer to include an upload of their current statistics, as detailed at the bottom of the page here, and Club Score Processor will do the rest:

http://www.n3fjp.com/clubscore.html#developers

Club Score Processor is free to everyone, but only one person in your group needs to run it. Your group's Club Score Processor coordinator can just uninstall the previous version from Windows Control Panel and install version 1.2 from here.

Please make sure the individual coordinating Club Score Processor for your group sees this announcement.

Thanks and enjoy!

A Few Thoughts on Groups and Clubs

While on the subject of groups and clubs, since our club is thriving, I wanted to list a few things that have been working very well for us, in the hopes that there might be an idea to help stimulate your group, too. By the way, if you aren't a member of a club and there isn't one nearby, it is very easy to start one, especially if you keep it as informal as ours. It only takes one or two other local guys to start, and I guarantee it will amp up your fun! Think about it!

Here is what is working for us:

- We don't elect officers or collect dues. The focus of our group is to have fun and share our enjoyment of Amateur Radio with a minimum of structure. You might be wondering how we get guys to do anything. Since no one has to do anything, each person can jump in where they see a need and fill it in the way they want to.

- Membership is simple. Once individuals start hanging with us, they are in.

- Using the Club Score Processor for all major contests has given us a common focus to plan around for contest weekends together. Having these events to virtually share together is a huge, driving force for our group!

- In addition to our e-mail group (which works best when we need to reach everyone at once), we use the free Discord app for our Virtual Clubhouse (chat room). Guys sign in daily for camaraderie, help and good natured banter. It is very active on contest weekends, as well as just chasing DX, alerting to 6M openings, etc. The combination of our Virtual Clubhouse and Club Score Processor have been the two main elements that have reinvigorated our group!

- We've only been using Zoom since the beginning of the year, but it has become integral to our club. Guys who by nature might not be inclined to drive to a club meeting are happy to meet with us on Zoom. With the pandemic, we are using Zoom as a replacement for our monthly breakfast meetings. We are holding separate monthly Elmer's Fireside Chats, where both experienced and new guys meet in an open forum, so that new hams can ask whatever they like. During Field Day, we kept Zoom up, but muted, for the entire contest. It was awesome to see everyone operating simultaneously! That enhanced the club experience of camaraderie and togetherness, even though we were physically apart. We intend to launch Zoom an hour before each contest going forward, to share the fun anticipation of the contest that is about to unfold. We've even been using Zoom to help facilitate some live CW practice, as well as a monthly swap meet, too!

- Of course we have other on air activities, such as a weekly 10 Meter net, monthly 80 Meter net, etc.

As the fall / winter contest season approaches, I hope that one or more of these ideas might be something that you can use to enhance your group, or motivate you to grab another local ham and start one!

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.