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[CQ-Contest] Packet Spots in CQWW

Subject: [CQ-Contest] Packet Spots in CQWW
From: barry@mxg.com (Barry Merrill)
Date: Tue Oct 29 13:10:37 2002
I have occasional RF interference into my computer,
 especially 10 meters, high power, high SWR caused by
 a big jump in frequency without retuning the Matchbox.

I would have selected the station from a packet spot
with the logging software, and the radio did move to
that frequency, and I called the station, and when
would go to enter that QSO with the logging software:


-Sometimes the computer was frozen, no cursor blink nor
 cursor control, and the three-fingered-salute ALT-CTL-DEL 
 was not recognized, requiring a hardware reset.

-But sometimes, I would log the contact, and then, as I
 tuned away, looking for new stations, the logging software
 would have stopped seeing the radio's actual frequency,
 and instead, it kept that original frequency, even when
 I went to announce a new station.

 I learned to always compare what frequency the logging software
 thinks my radio is on, with the actual frequency of the radio.

 Sometimes I could clear this error and reestablish communications 
 by opening and closing the Radio Setup Ports option, sometimes
 I have to exit and restart the logging program, and rarely I have
 had to restart the hardware to get the logging software to see 
 the radio again.

None of this, in my opinion is the "fault" of the logging software;
it's just what can happen when RF Interference changes the bits in
a computer's memory.

But because I know it happens, it could easily account for accidental
postings of multiple stations with a stuck frequency.

Barry, W5GN

P.S. But only my typing is to blame for my erroneous posting
of a YV5 as a VY5.





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