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+---- Thread: RAC Ontario Sections Bulletin for 28 December, 2024 (/showthread.php?tid=1358)
RAC Ontario Sections Bulletin for 28 December, 2024 - Richard VE3OZW - 2024-12-28
This is V_3___, Official Bulletin Station for Radio Amateurs of Canada
with this week's bulletin.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS
1. RAC Contest prefill files now available on Writelog Website
I took an interest in creating prefill files for use in the RAC Canada
Day and Canada Winter contests and was having difficulty finding
anyone who hosted these files. I had seen mention of two prior
individuals who did host files but those sites were no longer active.
I reached out to Wayne at Writelog and asked if he would host prefill
files if I created some and he agreed. I thought this would be one of
the best longer term solutions to the issue of hosting prefill files for
the longer term for the Writelog contesting community.
While developing a process to create the required ADIF files used by
Writelog I expanded it to include conversion of some of the files from
N1NM call history files (CHF). I reached out to and received permission
from Claude Duberger, VE2FK to use his files with attribution back to
him and the folks at N1NM.
Thanks to his work and the other supporting those efforts I was able
to create 11 additional prefill files as a starting point.
If you would like to have a prefill file created for contests supported by
Writelog, I will do my best to accommodate such requests depending
on the availability of data.
I hope the contesting community and Writelog users will find these
files of value in their contesting efforts. As always with data of this
sort,
use the prefill information as an aid. Be sure to verify the data and
ultimately log what the station sends. Never assume the prefill data
is 100% correct.
If anyone is interested in assisting in this process, I would be happy
to share the resources I created in Excel.
-- Bart Ritchie - VE5CPU
ONTARIO SECTION NEWS
ITEMS OF INTEREST
2. ARRL Systems Service Disruption Update
In October, we reported that the ARRL DXCC System had
been returned to service. Since then, over 3,000 DXCC
applications have been logged into the DXCC System for
processing. It is important to understand that the queue
of submitted applications is very large, and has included
nearly 6 months of applications for processing. ARRL Awards
staff and additional staff and volunteers have been working
extended hours and weekends to process applications.
On December 13, the Online DXCC Application was returned
to service.
We have resumed mailing orders for paper DXCC Certificates
and endorsement stickers. Over 350 certificates were mailed
on December 26.
The easiest way to determine if your DXCC application has been
processed is to review your LoTW account. From the Award
Account Menu, select Account Status. The “Awarded” column
will reflect those QSOs that have been awarded to you after your
application(s) has been fully processed.
Stand by for further updates.
-- ARRL news
3. ARRL Kids Day - January 4, 2025
ARRL Kids Day runs January 4, 2025 from 1800 UTC - 2359 UTC.
Operate as much or as little as you like.
The event is designed to give on-the-air experience to young people,
to foster interest in getting a license of their own, and give older hams
a chance to share their stations and love for amateur radio with their
children.
There will be a second ARRL Kids Day on June 21, 2025.
More information, including frequencies, suggested exchanges, and
how to download a certificate, can be found on the Kids Day web page
at https://www.arrl.org/Kids-Day
-- ARRL News
4. WINTERHEAT Contest Runs Through January
In its 6th year, WINTERHEAT is a month long simplex contest
active January 1 through January 31. The event encourages
hams to get on the air and accumulate as many VHF/UHF
simplex contacts as possible. The 2024 event saw 785 hams
make over 214,000 contacts.
Contacts are to be made via FM voice, including digital voice
modes such as DMR, Fusion, and D-STAR.
Visit http://hamactive.com to register.
-- ham radio daily news
This concludes this week's bulletin. Does anyone require repeats or
clarifications?
Hearing none, This is V_3___ returning the frequency to net control.
Bulletin sent from Official Bulletin Manager VA3PC