Hi All,

I hope that everyone is doing well and getting psyched for our Fall / Winter contest season! Here is a quick reminder for CQ World Wide SSB next weekend and some preparatory thoughts I shared with our club.

Club Score Processor Reminder

Every contest is great fun to share with your ham friends or local club in real time using my free, Club Score Processor, but the bigger the contest, the more participation you'll enjoy and the more excitement you'll have! CQ WW SSB next weekend sure fits that bill!

After Field Day, I had a lot of great comments about how much groups liked using the Club Score Processor this year. It really adds to the fun, camaraderie and competitive juices on contest weekends! I encourage you to have it up and running for your club to enjoy during all the contests, especially the majors!

Once the Club Score Processor is set up, it is on automatic pilot, but it takes just a bit to get your club up and running. Make sure your club members are all set up this weekend, so you are ready to focus on the contest next weekend!

My free Club Score Processor and all the instructions are here.

Enjoy!

Local Club "Who's In" E-mail

And here is a excerpt from an e-mail I sent to our local club, the Northeast Maryland Amateur Radio Contest Society. Please feel free to use any portions you wish, as you get your group ready for next weekend!

Hi Gang,

One of the biggest SSB DX contests of the year, CQ Word Wide SSB, will be upon us in just over a week!!!! There are many great DX contests annually and CQ WW SSB is among the best. It has lots of DX participation and the exchange is quick and easy. If you have ever thought about giving contesting a try, this is the perfect time to start!

Here are a few preparation items that come to mind...

1. New guys - Please PARTICIPATE!!!!!

Guys, if you are new to Amateur Radio or contesting, there are so many good reasons to participate in this contest it would take a book to cover them all. Suffice it to say, gaining experience, potentially working nearly 100 different DX entities (or more) in a single weekend, experiencing how propagation changes by band over the course of each day, assessing your station (even if just a baseline), the fun of making a connection, however briefly, with like-minded hams all over the world and enjoying the experience with us in real time via our virtual clubhouse are just a few of the many reasons.

If you don't have an HF antenna yet, consider an EFHW 80-10. It covers all the bands, neighborhood friendly and works well.

If you don't have time for the EFHW 80-10, get yourself about 40 feet of wire and a couple insulators from Home Depot and put up a simple 20 meter dipole, oriented so that one side is radiating NE towards Europe. That simple, home brew antenna will be a fantastic first step! Dipoles works well, you will get a great feel, learn first hand what this is all about and have a great time! More details on building the dipole are here.

New guys, please, please, participate with us next weekend! We are here to help. Let us know what questions you have? You will have FUN!

2. Make sure you are logged into our Discord Virtual Clubhouse!

Many NEMARC regulars log in daily, but for some of you it has been a while and some have never given our virtual clubhouse a try. Being able to share the contest in real time doubles the fun! We have a great group of guys who are positive, encouraging, humorous, will help with any questions and fill the void in any propagation lulls.

If you haven't logged in for a while, or ever, please make sure you can before next weekend.

There is lots more information (and even a video) on our virtual clubhouse here.

3. Double Check Antennas!

Check all your antennas now, in case some repairs are needed between now and next weekend. Don't forget, we may or may not have 15M, but 40 and 80 become even more valuable near the bottom of the cycle. Make sure you have good antennas oriented for EU on 15, 20, 40 & 80!!! Because of travel restrictions, we may not have as many Caribbean stations, so if you can only favor one direction, choose 45 degrees for Europe!

4. Make sure you have the latest CQ WW Logging Software!

You'll find the latest here.

Once you have it installed, configure it as detailed here.

5. Do a Test Upload ASAP!

(For clubs setting up the Club Score Processor, each member should) Click Settings > Web Upload Status and do a test upload ASAP. Please do not wait for the last minute for this. My time prior to the contest is consumed with software support, so we need to make sure this is working well in advance (by early next week ideally). If you have ANY trouble doing an upload, please let me know!

Also, please click Settings > Web Contest > Other Online sites and enable those as well.

6. Spend Time With Family / Significant Others This Weekend!

To keep the love flowing, spend EXTRA time with your family, loved ones and significant others over this next week. Treat them to dinner and spend some good quality time. Just let them know next weekend you will be nearby, but radio consumed!

7. Work on Shack Ergonomics.

Make sure your chair is VERY comfortable, everything is in easy reach and you don't have to crane your head. A comfortable environment is huge! Most of us have found that two monitors aren't just a luxury. To maximize the fun, they are a necessity! In addition to the logging software, you are going to want to constantly display our real time score totals, as well as our Virtual Clubhouse. It is simply not practical to do all that on one monitor.

8. Plan your meals / snacks.

As you shop for groceries, give thought to meals you can prepare quickly, or as Steve, W3JX does, in advance.

9. Plan your attack!

Think about your sleep schedule, propagation characteristics by band, etc.

10 Get Psyched!

This contest really is a lot of fun. If you've ever wondered what it's like to run a frequency during a contest from Australia, check out this video! There's even a Q with me, N3FJP, about 3 minutes in! I was just running a 10 meter dipole about 20 feet up at the time. My signal wasn't great, but the VK2GGC team got me, and they were running my software too!

Enjoy!

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.