• Own country QSOs now score 1 point, irrespective of band.

SDV - All VHF Contests:

• Radial Ring Scoring option removed. The options are points per QSO (user specified), or 1 point per km (the default).

SDIOTA - IOTA Contest:

• For multi-op mixed-mode logs, a way of reserving QSOs for the multiplier station is needed. This can now be done by entering a callsign beginning with Q, followed by band in metres or MHz, and mode C or S corresponding to CW and SSB.

  For example: Q28S reserves a 10 metre SSB QSO.

  Next step will be to generate a copy multiplier file, available over a Windows network, for the benefit of the multiplier station.

SDU - REF Contest:

• At times, QSOs with French stations wanted a serial rather than a Departement, and could only be corrected by restarting SDU. Fixed.

All programs:

• Data entry routines updated to give consistent response to Enter (Return), to TAB and to Shift-TAB.

SP Contest:

• New POLAND.MLT file supplied corresponding to the 16 Polish regions (single letter IDs) - for use in SD or SDX, Type 4 or 10.

Country Multiplier Files (.CTY):

• Updated from CTY.DAT supplied by AD1C.

• The parallel cable required in V9.27 was different to that used by other contest loggers. 9.28 supports a standard cable - see SD-READ.ME for full details.

• SD now supports keying via LPT1 or LPT2 in addition to serial ports. My thanks to Joe Ryan, EI7GY who supplied the method and the code.

• With rig control enabled, HF programs would crash if a very large number was entered in the callsign field.

  Now, any number greater than 29700 is ignored.

SDV - Auto Prefix Check:

• Broken code fixed.

SDCHECK - Area Multiplier Summary:

• Area multipliers were not sorted before printing. Fixed.

CQ WW - SD and SDX:

• Sometimes defaulted to DXCC multiplier file rather than the CQWW multiplier file - which resulted in incorrect country multipliers listed. Fixed.

ARRL 10m Contest:

• W/VE stations don’t send a serial, but SD sometimes expected one - triggered by editing a DX QSO. Fixed.

• With mixed-mode selected and radio control enabled, these programs select use 15m for CW, when tuned below 28300, and 10m for SSB whem tuned above 28300.

• The programs no longer ask for CW Port, Radio Port, Radio Type, Band, Fixed or Variable RST, or Real-Time Logging at startup.

  If you’ve running SD, or any of the other programs for the first time, the standard default parameters apply. Otherwise, they’re taken from SDCONFIG.TXT (HF) or SDVCONFG.TXT (VHF).

  The starting band is assumed to be 20m (HF) or 144 MHz (VHF). If you’re linked to a radio, the band will change automatically if necessary. If not, you’ll have to change it yourself.

  Real-Time logging is assumed. Use the OFF(LINE) or REAL commands to switch to post-contest logging.

STATUS Command:

• Use this to view your current parameters, including preset keyer memories.

PORTS Command:

• Use this to change your keyer or radio port, or to select a different radio.

IOTA Contest:

• I got the scoring for 1999 wrong in V9.23. The published rules (RadCom - October 1998) are unclear. Here’s my unofficial interpretation, still to be confirmed by the RSGB.

  QSOs with stations not on an island, OR not on an IOTA island, score 3 points. This means QSOs with no IOTA Reference score 3 points.

  QSOs with IOTA islands, where you receive an IOTA Reference, score 15 points. EXCEPTION. If you’re in the same DXCC country AND you’re on an IOTA island with the same IOTA reference (whether or not it’s the same physical island) as the other station, the score is 3 points.

UBA Contest - SDU:

• French Overseas Possessions were wrongly identified as France and scored accordingly. Fixed by updating UBA.MLT.

• New scoring for 1999 implemented - 15 points for islands with IOTA reference, and 3 points for all others. SDI no longer needs a country reference file, giving increased QSO capacity of 3,000+ on any PC. SDIOTA’s QSO capacity remains at 11,000 on a 486DX or better.

JIDX Contest:

• JIDX.MLT file added for DX entrants using Type 10. For JA entrants, Type 2 (CQ WW) now includes JIDX option with correct scoring.

WPX Contest:

• Own country QSOs score 1 point from 1999. Fixed.

SDCHECK:

• ADIF (Amateur Data Interchange Format) option broken in in 9.22. Fixed.

• All VHF contests, unlike many HF contests, include Serial Sent as part of the exchange. Serial Sent is now displayed after RST Sent.

  You can go directly to any QSO in the log, typically for editing, by entering its QSO number in the callsign field. Entering a higher number than the current serial crashed SDV. Fixed.

.LST Reference Files:

• SDV - When you choose the Disk option for LOADing .LST reference files, maximum capacity is now 10,000 records (requires 1 Mb of temporary disk storage).

  SDX and SDIOTA load .LST files (up to 6,000 records) into higher memory. There is no penalty in terms of maximum QSOs which remains at 11,000.

  Your .LST file name is recorded in SDCONFIG.TXT, the startup parameter file, and is automatically loaded whenever you start SDX or SDIOTA.

SDU - UBA & REF Contests:

• SDU is now fully working and unrestricted for both sides of the UBA contest.

Audit Trail:

• The AUDIT/NOAUDIT commands start/stop a printed audit trail of QSOs and Edits.

  You now have the option to print to disk, and your choice is recorded in SDCONFIG.TXT. With AUDIT enabled for printing to disk, QSOs and Edits are written to CONTEST.AUD where CONTEST is the name given to the contest.

All contests with .CTY files:

• Callsigns beginning with the first prefix in the .CTY file used were not recognised. This was significant when using files with single country entries, for example ON.CTY or CANADA.CTY. Fixed.

• Broken code in 9.20 meant that Serial Received was not recorded. Fixed. This applied only to SD. SDX and other programs were not affected.

• The initial keyer speed used to be unpredictable when running in Windows.

  Now, you can set the speed accurately within the range 5 to 99 wpm (no decimal values) and it will not vary whether you run in DOS or Windows. The speed, in wpm, is held in the configuration file (SDCONFIG.TXT for HF, SDVCONFG.TXT for VHF) together with a separate multiplication factor appropriate to the processor in use.

  The first time you run V9.20, or later, with keying enabled (keyer COM port non-zero), the multiplication factor is calculated and stored.

  If, for any reason, the indicated speed does not match the actual speed, you can reset it at any time with the CALIBRATE command.

  A reminder that you can change the keyer speed with Up Arrow or Down Arrow in keyboard mode, or with ( or ) while in logging mode.