John Moyle Field Day

A gentle reminder that the John Moyle Field Day is only 2 weekends away on the 14th - 15th March and this date is fast approaching.

The time for planning where you are going to go to set up your field station is getting a lot shorter.

Just to make it a little interesting, the range of weather extremes being experienced throughout Australia at the moment provide you with so many uncertainties as to what the weather is going to do. This makes another great variable in the planning process.

Also with the fire damage so widespread in the southern states many of the great contest locations are no longer accessible, particularly as there is a slight risk of fire warning weather still possible even as late mid March.

Perhaps the opportunity by Club Stations could set up in a local park, or some other contest less ideal location, but nonetheless public area so that the general public can see that there are people who can put a fully equipped station into operation anywhere?

Just a thought, as isn't this what we have these contests for anyway?

Rule changes

There are a few changes to the rules this year. You are well advised to consult the latest rules at www.wia.org.au/members/contests/johnmoyle/

Continuing with the review of the rule changes.

Logging

Mike Subocz VK3AVV has released a revised version of his popular contest logging program VKCL. This revision incorporates all of the scoring and rule changes as announced in AR for Jan/Feb 2009. It is strongly recommended that you down download the latest version 2.16 as it also incorporate a few nice refinements.
The download can be found at the address
http:\\web.aanet.com.au/mnds

In addition there is a copy of a typical Excel file that can be used to convert a paper log into an electronic format. This can be downloaded from wia.org.au/members/contest/
johnmoyle/. This file is only an example and can be freely downloaded and modified your own or your club's application.

Submitting your Log

Next there is the somewhat controversial topic of submitting your log.

We would prefer that you submit your log electronically, though paper logs are fully acceptable, though not preferred as there is a lot of work involved in checking them, confirming their scoring, and then integrating them with
other logs.

Then there is the question of confirming that your log has actually been received. With snail mail there is no sensible way of sending a receipt.

When I receive an e-mail with a log attached I send a receipt to the sender to notify that I have got their log.

However, this relies on a manual process and is no guarantee that I have actually got the e-mail. In the past a number of logs have been lost, despite all of the systems and care taken.

However, there is something you can do to assist. When you are sending the e-mail select from the options that you wish to receive a Read Receipt.
This is a selection in your e-mail program and as soon as the e-mail is opened my e-mail program sends to you a receipt. This provides you with a receipt against the unlikely loss of your log at this end and proof of submission in good time.

We strongly suggest that you make this choice when you send your log.

Finally there is the change in the closing date for submission of your logs.

In the past the closing date was at the end of April. However this does not leave enough time to review the logs, analyse them and prepare the results and report on the contest in time for publication in June AR. Hence the results were often published in July.

This year the closing dates for logs will the 17th April. So don't get caught out on this one. Late submission of logs is not allowed.

Do not forget that the written form of all of the rules are on the WIA website and there is also a downloadable written version also available on the WIA website.

So keep on getting your efforts planned and ready for the big event.

Wireless Institute of Australia website