I'm a new serious user of NA, and will be using NA 10.50 in the upcoming
CQWW CW. Thanks to Dave for the changes in 10.50 compared with 10.49,
where I had the barberpole effect on packet, plus the ALT F4 key did not
bring the radio back to the run frequency, but instead it put the radio
back to the frequency of the latest spot to come in. That was no good for
a CQ runner! On 10.49, I noticed also that the "QSL key" some times would
repeat itself and I would have to hit "escape" to stop it. That was
intermittent, and I never could find out what was triggering the problem.
But NA 10.50 seems solid and I'll be a SO2R guy and give it a good workout
this weekend. I like the "ALT D" and ";" to call 'em feature for the
second S & P radio, and the cache memory feature for partial calls when
running a pile up. Being able to use the "Down Arrow" to put the call into
the call fiels, and to be able to send the call with a question mark with
the "Control Insert" is a neat feature. Also, most of the people I talk
with still are not aware that you can use the "Confirm ID" capability in
the "Keyer" programmability to do what CT calls the "CORRECT" feature, and
resend any call automatically if you change it in the call field after
first sending it. This is very handy during CW runs, and I would never do
a contest without using this feature.
BTW, I built up the circuitry for the control box (the part for CW keying,
paddle input, and the two radio switching of the radios) and it works well.
I did have one glitch due to my stupidity, but the NA manual shows the
common connections in the DPDT relay to be wired to the side contact set,
not to the middle contact set, and I wired my box that way, in error,
because my 12 V relays from Radio Shack have the common connector set in
the middle, as one would expect. When I fixed that, the relay and box
worked perfectly. I think the wiring diagram of the DPDT relays in the NA
manual are confusing, and it would be simpler to show the common connector
set coming out to the pins that are "in the middle" of the sets of
connectors. At least for bird brains like me! :-)
73, Jim George, N3BB
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