Happy 150 to “The Old Man” - The Hiram Percy Maxim Birthday Celebration (August 31 thru September 8)

In addition to the W3HPM Special Event operation, the celebration is open to all radio amateurs of the world:

As announced in September 2019 QST - page 86

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of the League's first president and cofounder, Hiram Percy Maxim (HPM), W1AW. HPM was born on September 2, 1869.

As we have done with earlier birthday milestones, ARRL is again holding an operating event to celebrate HPM’s legacy.

Objective: This operating event is open to all amateurs, and the goal is straightforward: Find stations operating in the event, many adding “/150” to their call signs, and contact as many as possible during the 9-day celebration on each of the event bands (using any/all of the 3 event modes on each band).

Time Period: The 9-day event begins 0000 UTC August 31 and runs until 2359 UTC September 8, 2019.

Eligibility: All amateur stations may participate.

Who is eligible to use their “callsign/150”? W1AW and ALL ARRL members are eligible and will append /150 to their call sign during this event (this includes DX Stations who are ARRL members, who may operate as callsign/150 if permitted by the regulations of their country of license).

I'll be W9JEF/150 for the duration.

http://www.arrl.org/hpm150-birthday-celebration

 

I'll be signing “W9JEF/150” for the HPM Celebration, but any contact who sends s.a.s.e. can request one of my W9JEF/65 QSL' cards (with the picture of my early station).

https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?th...-year-anniversary-of-license-callsign.668306/

 

I'm set to operate as W4POT/150 during the HPM event and will be logging and confirming as such via LoTW. It wasn't too difficult to get the certificate needed to do so. Still looking at how to setup N1MM+ to handle the exchange.

 

This post on the league's website answered my logging question. http://www.arrl.org/news/operating-the-hpm-150-event-with-n1mm-logger

 

I'll be interested to hear if you get the cw macros working correctly. I got all but the most important one... the F1 CQ key. It doesn't seem to like the /150 appended to the callsign, and sends nothing. All the other macros work (Run and S&P). I tried creating a new db and log with MYCALL set to N4XU/150, as well as using an existing db with MYCALL set to N4XU (and appending the /150 within the macro). Neither way works. In fact, it doesn't like /ANYTHING! I tried my PR timeshare call, N4XU/KP3 and it wouldn't CQ either. It's fine without the portable designator. I'm using N3FJP's software instead (also free).

 

UPDATE: I got the F1 CQ macro to work (sorta). If you enter your callsign once (and only once) it works! I tried entering it a second time as MYCALL (encoded as "N4XU/150"), as *, and by hard-coding as both "N4XU/150" and "N4XU~/150" ("~" = half-space). It consistently only works with the callsign included in the macro once. I also had the thought that this may have been related to F1, so I tried it on another F-key and it failed the same way.

I'm still going to use N3FJP's software. It doesn't require the user to enter "M" for worked members. That seems like a really dumb kluge for the normally excellent N1MM software. Especially considering the logic is already built-in for the CQ-WW contest (to determine between 2-point and 3-point dx countries).

 

I went and bought the MFJ Slimline™ Delux Keyer with Memory, especially for the occasion. To automatically sign W9JEF/150. Turns out, its memory won't accept a slash mark, owing to (/) being used as an embedded memory command. MJF Technical support suggested that I use “dah-di-di-di-dah-dit” in its place, so that will be what I'll do.

(Since it's not outside the realm of possibility that a mobile or portable station would want to send their complete call, why wasn't the extra dit used for the memory command?)

​

 

Anyone using N1MM to log this and having trouble? Mine keeps giving me an error indicating lack of valid section. I have an ARRL section entered in the "Section/Prov/DX" field and "M" in the "ifARRL" field as specified in the read me file and it is still giving me the invalid section error. I have downloaded unzipped and installed the HPM150 zip file into the User Defined Contests folder.

 

Did you see this in the read me file?

WinterFD.sec (if you have not already got it) should be located in ....Users\yourusername\(My )Documents\N1MM Logger+\SupportFiles

I downloaded the user defined contest filed for Winterfield day, and then grabbed that file from the package and laced it in the location specified. (where it wasn't before) I haven't tried using it yet.

 

Yes I saw that and it did not change anything about the operation of the logger.

 

From ARRL Letter of August 29, 2019 (hope this helps):

N1MM Logger+ users planning to operate the Hiram Percy Maxim 150th birthday celebration event must first download the file HPM150.zip.Then, extract the files into C:Users<your user name>(My) DocumentsN1MM Logger+UserDefinedContests. "HPM 150" will show up as a contest choice when you open a new log file. The event is August 31 - September 8. Operating FT4 or FT8 during HPM 150 is not quite as simple. According to WSJT-X developer Joe Taylor, K1JT, the two digital modes are "not a good fit" for the HPM 150 event. "There's no built-in support for two stations using non-standard call signs to work each other with standard auto-sequencing," Taylor said. "Messages intended for Field Day support the exchange of ARRL/RAC sections, but do not include signal reports." He said it's possible to piece together the necessary contact information using free-text messages and manual sequencing, "but most FT4/FT8 users would not find this convenient," he added. -- Thanks to Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, and Joe Taylor, K1JT

 

I had seen this post before I installed it, downloaded the "zip" file and extracted the files. Moved the one file to the "support" folder which did not make any difference. It still reports "invalid section". I've since installed other logging software that is working fine. Thanks for the post just the same!! 73 Scott AG7KO