Phil, N6ZZ, suggests "... if the only change to the callsign window is
to remove the question mark, the program should proceed as if the
callsign was entered into the window correctly the first time around."
There seem to be as many different styles and requirements as there are
contesters. A basic division is whether the situation is rate limited
(limited by the ability of the band/station/op to maintain high rate
with a pileup que where the arrival rate is comparable to the service
rate) or is limited by the availability of new stations to work. The
second situation is typical of later hours of SS, where you just don't
want to mess up a mult or Q you won't get again.
Suggestions reflect the individual viewpoint and experience of the
authors. In my own case, I have found that the biggest stress on
operator and software have been in my experiences at P40V, EA9UK and
HC8A, where the pileups are continuous for almost the whole contest
period and rate is king (the mults seem to take care of themselves,
especially when the other bands are handled by a mult rig and/or the op
can get folks to QSY to needed bands).
In situations where you are trying to get the maximum continuous rate
from a pileup the most important features of contest software are (a) it
should not introduce any unwanted extra steps or delays so you can
maintain your rhythm, (b) it should not be difficult to disentangle when
you (inevitably) do something wrong after 24 hours of operating and (c)
it should make it very easy to imitate what you do with hand logging
where the best ops note as many calls or partials as you can from a
blast of the pileup and then work 'em all before letting the pile go
again. Phil's suggestion is compatible with (a). At the moment, TR is
still difficult for me to get untangled if I make a mistake while trying
to maintain rate, so (b) could use some of our collective thoughts for
Tree.
There was once a TRLog feature that supported (c), but it seems to have
disappeared. I'd like a scratchpad feature, and I don't myself like the
idea that you would do anything to transfer calls or partials from it to
the call field; typing them in allows one to add any additional
alphanumerics you may recognize as you do it (or as you scan the SCP).
I would like calls or partials to disappear from the scratchpad when you
log the related callsign, using an SCP-like function.
I'm talking about rates over, say, 300 for SSB or 150 for CW (see the
record listings in K1DG's almanac), so admittedly it's not a requirement
for every situation, but as an example most operators of DX contest
stations have at one time or another expressed the concern about whether
a particular computer logging software permits the same ultimate rates.
I think it could, but it would be great to recapture some of the
features of hand logging without compromising the huge number of
favorable features that have come on line.
BTW, there seem to be many DX ops who aren't sensitive to the issue of
arrival rate (rather than the current service rate) of their que, so
they don't think they need to give their call instead of the use of
"QRZ?" that carries no information. The same amount of time can be
invested in something that carries information for the new arrivals,
i.e., the call of the station, especially if it's comparably short. I
like the feature of TRLog that allows sending your call every second or
third Q, but don't like that changing it takes you out of your rythm.
Dave W6NL
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