Hi?Everyone!

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We would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!? We hope that you all have a wonderful time with your families and friends and hope that Santa stuffs lots of nice ham gear in those stockings hung outside the shack.

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Kim and?I?have?some?announcements and news?we would like to share with you.
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Stew Perry Contest Log 1.0 is now available!

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We have had many requests for this contest. It was beta tested?this past week by our N3FJP Users Group and is now available for download on the web site at ?under the Contest Logs heading Stew Perry.

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Stew Perry Top Band Distance Challenge -- CW, sponsored by the Boring Amateur Radio Club, 1500Z Dec 17-1500Z Dec 18. Categories: SO and MS. Operate 14 hours max. Exchange: grid square only. QSO points: 1 pt + 1 pt for every 500 km distance calculated between grid centers (see Web page for calculation information), QSOs with QRP stations that submit a log count double QSO points. Score: QSO points--Power mult (<5 W ×4, 5-100 W ×2, >100 W ×1). For more information: . Logs due Jan 31 (Cabrillo format only) to tbdc@... or Boring Amateur Radio Club, 15125 SE Bartell Rd, Boring, OR 97009.

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Easy and intuitive to use, checks for duplicates, lists all contacts,?provides many current statistics, calculates points for distance based on grid square, computer generated CW via either your serial or parallel ports (including RTS or DTR com line options ), interfaces with most Elecraft, Icom, Kenwood, Ten-Tec and Yaesu rigs, writes Cabrillo file format for log submission?and exports in ADIF format.?

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You can download the installation file for?the Stew Perry Contest Log?from or by clicking on this link:

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- As always, this program is free to registered users of either?our $39 or $49 software packages. Please e-mail us directly at snkdavis@..., and we will send you an updated password list that includes this new program.

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- You can also register this program individually for $6.

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Package Upgrade Information:
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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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If you've never participated in a 160 Meter contest, you are missing a lot of fun, and I'd like to encourage you to give it a try!? Until the ARRL 160 Meter contest last weekend, I had only made a few contacts on 160.

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I put up an inverted V for 160 a few weeks ago, but I really hadn't had a chance to give it a work out.? I was under the impression that a V would not work very well on 160, and that you really needed something at least partially vertical like an inverted L.? With that in mind, and only running 100 watts here, I figured the contest was a lost cause and pretty much made up my mind not to participate.

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Then Dave, N3HCN, (who is a real good CW op) called about 3 hours before the contest and asked if I felt like lighting up the ether on 160.? I said sure, thinking we would make a few contacts, get frustrated and quit after a few hours.

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The contest started at 5:00 PM local.? By 11:00 PM, 6 hours in, we had 300 contacts!? I had no idea there was so much activity on the band, and that we could do so well with an inverted V and 100 watts.

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We averaged over 50 Qs an hour for 6 consecutive hours!? At times, our 20 minute rate was near 80.? Again, we are small guns here, and I know that rate may not be impressive in the grand scheme, but it was a personal best for us, and we were elated!? We finished the contest with 653 contacts, 66 sections, 5 countries, and we worked every state in the lower 48 except Idaho.

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You don't need a vertical antenna and miles of ground radials to have a blast on 160M.? A simple dipole or inverted V will yield lots of fun!

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10 Meter Contest!

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The ARRL 10 Meter Contest is this weekend.? We will be operating if conditions warrant so we hope to talk with some of you.? ARRL 10 Meter Contest--0000Z Dec 10-2400Z Dec 11. (See Nov QST, p 105, or www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2005/ 10-meters.html.)

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Future Projects

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We appreciate all the comments and suggestions we receive on a daily basis concerning our software.? At the moment we have a VERY full plate of ideas for?upgrades and a list of new program projects.? We are diligently working on this list to continue to further enhance the enjoyment of the amateur radio hobby through software.

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We do not plan to add any new State QSO Party Logs to our list at this time.? This particular avenue of programming has been a much larger project than we anticipated and is difficult to keep up with due to the?constant rule changes, etc.? We thank all of you who try to keep us up to date concerning these changes.? This is the only way we can stay ahead of the game, and we will continue to do our best to support the logs that we have written so far.

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The "AC Log Ready" calldata will be updated on January 1, 2006.?You can download this database?freely from the AC Log page at .? This database is updated every 6 months for your convenience.

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As always, thanks so much for your kind words, suggestions and spreading the word about our software.? We really appreciate it!

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73, Scott & Kimberly,
N3FJP & KA3SEQ