Hi All,

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As many of you know, it came to light following last weekend's CQWW contest that the robot was looking for a LOCATION tag with your ARRL section in the Cabrillo file.? I have upgraded both of these programs to provide that tag.? As always, these upgrades are free to registered users.

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The CQ folks?contacted me in the spring requesting an Email tag, which I included in the April upgrades, but the Location tag was a complete surprise.? In fact, if you visit CQ's current Cabrillo example: ?it does not show a location tag (or e-mail tag for that matter).

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I had previously mentioned that I was planning on modifying all my contesting software to output according to the Cabrillo 3.0 specs.? It sounds easy enough - add a few fields, change the output code and all's good.? Unfortunately, there is more to it than that including form modification / design, saving and retrieving the newly formatted data, recompiling the software, testing, uploading, updating the website, etc.? I'm estimating that I could do two programs per weekend on average, so with nearly 50 programs that?would take?about half a year!? That's a heck of a lot of effort to put into a project that in most cases is already working fine as is.

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Given that the current Cabrillo format is still being accepted and as far as I know will continue to be (in fact, CQ's current example is 2.0), and the huge issue that Cabrillo in general is a moving target as this past weekend confirms,?a complete modification of all programs?simply doesn't make sense.? Instead, my plan is to modify the software on a case by case basis as new tag requirements come to light.

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What that means is occasionally, when unexpected changes like the one the past weekend come along,?we may have to modify our Cabrillo files in Notepad and resubmit them to feed the whim of the robot.? I will of course modify the software on a case by case basis as these changes come to light and get new versions out as soon as possible.

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If you have registered one or more individual programs and would like to upgrade to N3FJP's Software Package ($39) or N3FJP's Software Package and CD ($49) 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 at snkdavis@..., and we'll let you know your balance.
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N3FJP's Software Package now includes over 50 programs for contesting, net management, general logging, upgrading your license and other Amateur Radio related applications. In addition to full use of all these programs, registered package customers are also entitled to receive passwords for any new software that is added to the package and free upgrades to existing programs.

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The above concludes the latest on the software announcements.? If you aren't interested in solar you needn't read any farther.

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Many of you have expressed interest in my solar electric, hot air and hot water projects, so I wanted to pass along the latest collector that my family and I built over the summer:

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This collector is 24' X 8', built about 100 feet from the house and uses PEX instead of copper tubing.? I won't take up anymore bandwidth here, but I have lots of pictures and other details of the entire construction process for this project, as well as my solar electric and solar hot air projects here:

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I've also set up an e-mail group for brainstorming easily implemented solar projects that you are welcome to join:

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Thanks!
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As always, thanks for your kind words, support and spreading the word about our software.? Kimberly and I really appreciate it!
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73, Scott & Kimberly
N3FJP & KAS3SEQ

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

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