Calling all operators to participate in the August MDC Section Digital EmComm Challenge. There are opportunities to participate on VHF, UHF, and HF. You can be outside of the MDC section to participate. All licensed operators are welcome!

** This announcement may be forwarded to anyone interested in getting on the ARRL Maryland-DC (MDC) Section Winlink message distribution list and participation in MDC Digital emergency communications (EMCOMM) training activities. Interested parties should send a Winlink message request to MDCWINLINK-1 and they will be added to the distribution list. The information that you will need to participate in monthly Check-ins and Challenges will be sent out via Winlink messages. Challenge Announcements will be sent approximately 2 weeks before the Challenge. **

See VarAC Last week results page for check-in results

The Amateur Radio Collective of Western Carolina (ARCWC) published an article Announcing a VarAC Wednesday Net. Check out this excellent article as well as other features on the webpage.

The VarAC Wednesday team is proud to introduce the VarAC Pioneer Award—a mark of dedication, perseverance, and passion for digital comms excellence

There were 90 check-ins

Calling all VarAC operators … Tomorrow is VarAC Wednesday!

We are pleased to announce the offical launch of VarACWednesday.net

VarAC Wednesday results for Wednesday July 9, 2025

TOMORROW is VarAC Wednesday! Standard check-in this week.

VarAC 12.0 was released on July 5th, 2025. Version 12.0 is a major release with many new features which include: bi-directional email delivery, email alerts, shorter QSY invites, verbose GPS, and many more features. See the VarAC version 12.0 release notes for the full description:

A colleague reported a bug is version 1.0 of the 13ColoniesAdif application. The TM13COL, France, special event station was left out of the initial release. The application has been updated and version 1.0.1 has been published. Read more about the application here: 13ColoniesAdif

The annual 13 Colonies special event is almost finished for 2025. I wrote an application that can parse an ADIF file from N3FJP and output another ADIF that only contains QSOs with 13 Colonies Special event stations. Read more about the applicaiton here: 13ColoniesAdif

VarAC Wednesday results for Wednesday July 2, 2025

TOMORROW is VarAC Wednesday!

📡THANK YOU for making VarAC Wednesday incredible! 🎉

VarAC Wednesday results for Wednesday June 25, 2025

TOMORROW is VarAC Wednesday! No giveaways this week. Sorry!

VarAC Wednesday results for Wednesday June 18, 2025

TOMORROW is VarAC Wednesday! No giveaways this week. Sorry!

VarAC Wednesday results for Wednesday June 11, 2025

TOMORROW is VarAC Wednesday! No giveaways this week. Sorry!

There were 59 check-ins this week: 4Z1AC, 4Z5PE, AA5GW, AI3KS, F4LYP, F5CBP, G1AW, G7DPE, K3JSJ, K5KIP, K5YAC, K6HN, K6NLX, K7OLI, K8SRR, K8TJM, KB0US, KB3ZKD, KB8MRC, KC0TAF, KC3QLX, KC9AOE, KE2SD, KE4ZV, KE8PLM, KF6LLC, KI5VYM, KK6QMS, KO4BLA, KQ4PLL, LA5XIA, LA6NCA, N1RDN, N3MEL, N4TYS, N5XHI, N5YYF, N8ENJ, N9HEL, N9MUF, ND1J, SP1DOZ, SV1UY, VE7XH, W1IZZ, W5TTA, WC2F, WD4U, WH7D, WJ9H, XE1BRX, ZS1DUT, ZS1GPP, ZS2OK, ZS3TG, ZS4WW, ZS6KBS, ZS6LVL, ZS6WDL

There are 54 unique callsigns from the VarAC Wednesday Check-In.Unique Callsigns from VarAC Wednesday Check-In 4Z1AC, AA5GW, AI3KS, DG3NAB, DU2UXH, F4LYP, F5CBP, G4LBJ, G7DPE, K3JSJ, K5WZD, K7OLI, K8SRR, K8TJM, K9AHO, KB0US, KB3ZKD, KC0TAF, KC3QLX, KC9AOE, KE4TP, KE4ZV, KF4YHC, KF8BKU, KG4ZIE, KI5VYM, KK6QMS, KO4BLA, KQ4PLL, LA5XIA, N3XL, N5XHI, N5YYF, N9MUF, SM3LDP, SP1DOZ, SV1UY, W0RDR, W5TTA, W5URZ, WD0ETG, WD4U, WH7D, WJ9H, WX2DX, ZS1DUT, ZS1GPP, ZS2OK, ZS3PL, ZS3TG, ZS4CGR, ZS4WW, ZS6KBS, ZS6LVL/QRP

Results

There were 51 Check-ins:

TOMORROW is VarAC Wednesday! Two lucky check-ins will receive VarAC caps with their call on the back. Previous winners are not eligible.

RESULTS:

Since tomorrow is the first Wednesday of the month, a weather report is requested but not required. The emphasis is on brevity and communicating the information rather than applying a strict format. Please use the standard check-in format (the first line) if you don’t use the weather format.

A friend, Rob (KC3WUT), asked me to help him setup his new Connect System CS7000 M17 PLUS radio over the Christmas/New Year Holiday. The CPS for this radio provides a capability to import digital contacts, channels, and zones. I wrote a program that allows operators to convert exported CSV files from the Anytone CPS software into Excel spreadsheets. You can import those spreadsheets into CS7000 M17 PLUS CPS and program the radio’s DMR mode. You can use this program to quickly get up and running.

Saturday January 4th marked the start of my fourth season with The Irrational Engineers community-based robotics team. Thankful for the mentors, students, and parents associated with the team. Looking forward to the season.