See Us at Orlando HamCation®

If you’re attending Orlando HamCation® this weekend (February 13–15), we’d love to see you there. You can find our booth across from Gigaparts. I’ll be presenting a forum session on Friday, February 13th at 11:45 AM in Tent 1, where I’ll be demonstrating many of the new features included in v6.9 — including the latest CQ DX Marathon enhancements and award tracking improvements. If you’re at the event, please stop by, say hello, and get your hands on the exciting new release!

Ham Radio Deluxe® v6.9.0.17616 Released

I’m pleased to announce that we have just released Ham Radio Deluxe® v6.9.0.17616 (11-Feb-2026) — and this is a significant update.

This release includes 76 improvements and fixes, along with powerful new enhancements for operators who participate in CQ DX Marathon and other awards programs.

What’s New in v6.9.0.17616

This release includes:

• New Worked Status Indicators (WSIs) for CQ DX Marathon and related Filters and Alarms
• Updates to DXCC and WAS awards, including additional bands and satellite awards
• LOTW downloaded credits for awards other than DXCC
• Added Canadaward
• Fixes for QRZ lookup when users do not have a QRZ XML subscription
• And dozens of additional stability and performance improvements

In total, there are 76 documented enhancements and fixes in this build.

Important: This Update Is Free

If you have ever purchased Ham Radio Deluxe®, you can install this latest release at no charge.

We do not sell versions.
We do not sell upgrades.
You are never locked to the version that was available at the time of your purchase.

That means whether you purchased HRD last month or years ago, you can move to v6.9.0.17616 today at no cost.

Why We Encourage Everyone to Upgrade

Over 10% of our licensed users are currently running the latest builds. Staying current provides several benefits:

• Many issues reported in older versions have already been resolved
• Support works more efficiently when customers are on the same baseline
• You are positioned to benefit from upcoming releases

Version 6.9 is the most stable branch we’ve delivered in years, and this build represents another strong step forward.

A Brief Word About Support

We also want to clarify something that sometimes causes confusion.

Most tickets submitted through our support portal are configuration issues or user questions — not software bugs. When a genuine bug is confirmed, it is logged in our development tracking system and moved into the engineering workflow. At that point, the support ticket is closed because the matter has transitioned from support to development.

Closed does not mean ignored. It means the issue has been transferred from support to development and it is now in queue for the developers.

If a bug affects multiple users, we open one master bug record and link related reports to it. This prevents duplicate entries and allows developers to focus on fixing the issue rather than sorting redundant reports.

In many cases — especially when a bug affects only one user — we will send a beta build directly to that customer for validation before including the fix in a public release.

This process ensures accuracy, efficiency, and quality control.

Download Today

We strongly encourage all customers to install v6.9.0.17616.

It’s free to all customers.
It’s stable.
And it includes meaningful improvements for active operators.

You can download the latest version here:
https://www.hamradiodeluxe.com

Thank you for your continued support of Ham Radio Deluxe®. We appreciate your feedback, your patience, and your commitment to helping us improve the software.

73,
Mike Carper, WA9PIE
HRD Software, LLC