[SD-User] V10.01 Released

[Paul O'Kane]

V10.01  23 March 2003

What happened to V10.00?  I skipped it!

Commonwealth Contest.
    SDC updated to log Serial and HQ (if received)
    in a single field.

    Log on Enter forced ON at all times. This makes 
    logging easier as QSOs are logged without the
    need to log anything in the HQ field.

    SDCHECK updated to give RSGB Cabrillo logs for
    this and all other RSGB contests other than the
    Club Calls contest (not supported by SD).

    In SDCHECK's PRINT option for BERU, the Serial
    Sent was omitted.  Fixed.

Type 11 - General.
    Enter in an empty "exchange" field did not take
    you to the RST field.  Fixed.

    SDCHECK's PRINT option did not show Serial Sent
    if there was no number in the exchange field.
    Fixed.

SPDX Contest - Type 4.
    In contests with area codes, when an area code
    is entered in the callsign field, SD displays
    a band/mode analysis for the area.  This was
    inconvenient in SPDX as all callsigns begin
    with S and there is a corresponding area code
    (Swietokryzskie). The analysis is suppressed
    under these circumstances.  Similarly, in ARRL
    DX, no analysis is displayed for callsigns
    beginning with WA, the area code for Washington
    state.

SDHELP.FR - Help File in French.
    This is a French version of SDHELP.TXT (thanks
    F5OIH).  To use it, rename it as SDHELP.TXT.
    It is displayed following the HELP command. 

European Open - the EURO.
    Next year, 2004, will be very significant for
    the European Union as 10 new countries will
    become full members - making a total of 25.

    I believe this represents an opportunity for a
    new high-rate contest in which European Union
    stations could work everyone (including one
    another), and others could work European Union
    stations only.

    At present, there are three contests with a 
    European flavour.

    1.  In WAE, Europeans work DX only - there are
        no inter-European QSOs.

    2.  The UBA contest is closer to what I'm aiming
        for in the European Open, except that it's
        largely for the benefit of Belgian stations
        (extra points and multipliers for QSOs with
        ON).

    3.  The EU HF Championship is for European
        entrants only - and DX QSOs do not count.

    My proposal is for a single 24-hour all-band
    event, with SSB, CW and mixed-mode sections.

    Instead of multipliers based on districts or
    regions, each European Union country would 
    qualify for a maximum of 10 bonuses based on
    Call Area (the final digit in the callsign
    prefix) as used in SAC - the Scandinavian
    Activity Contest.

    The European Union is a political, and not a
    geographic, entity.  Some EU member states,
    or parts of them, are physically located in
    continents other then Europe.

    All dependencies (if separate DXCC countries) of
    a European Union member country would count as
    the member country for bonus purposes. The main
    criterion is that they are part of the customs
    territory of the EU.  For example, GD, GJ and GU
    will count as the UK, but ZB will count as a
    separate (non-EU) country. EA6 and EA8 will count
    as Spain, but EA9 will count separately.  FG, FM,
    FR and FY count as France, even though they're
    remote, because they are part of the customs
    territory of the EU. On the other hand, other
    French DXCC territories will count separately.

    The proposed rule may be summarised as follows.
    If a DXCC country is part of, or is a dependency
    of, a European Union member state, and is also a
    part of the customs territory of the European
    Union, then it is considered to be an integral
    part of the member state for bonus/multiplier
    purposes. Otherwise, it retains its DXCC status.

    This release of SD includes two files, EURO.CTY
    and EURODX.CTY, to let you see how the contest
    might work.  I intend to make a version of SD
    available, free of charge, to support it. Other
    contest loggers could easily support the
    European Open by using similar files.

    The UBA HF Committee is considering hosting the
    EURO - perhaps as an updated UBA contest or as
    a separate event.  I'd like to hear from other
    European Union IARU member societies who might
    be also interested.

    In the meantime, SD supports the EURO now. Here
    is the setup information.

    Select SD Type 9 - General, Country Multipliers.
    .CTY File         : EURO   (for European Union
           entrants)
                        EURODX (for other entrants)
    Multipliers Count : B (by band)
    Points per QSO    : 10 (or whatever you choose)
    Pts/Bonus         : 50 (0 if you prefer multipliers)
    Mode              : CW or SSB (your initial mode)
    Mixed-Mode        : Y or N
    If mixed -
      Mults count on
          both modes  : Y (whether bonus or mults)
      Work same station
       on both modes  : Y 

    That's all there is to it.  Please try it and
    let me know what you think.

_______________________________________________________

The programs may be downloaded from http://www.ei5di.com

Please let me know what you'd like to see in the next
update, and keep a copy of whatever version you're using
now - as insurance!

73, 
Paul EI5DI