I've been trying to get all the 6Y1A stuff wrapped up, and found a list of
stuff that we felt needed improvements. On the positive side, the group did
note a number of things we really liked.
CONS
- Memory management problems in WPX contest with large files. Caused
multiple (chronic) crashing and slowed down everything during contest. The
resolution Dave came up with (post contest) was a slimmed down Country.Dat
file which enabled me to finally write the logs. It appears that logs with
under 2000 QSOs can be problematic based on K0OU's input. Unless a fix
comes out, I would caution users who anticipate making more than ~1500 QSOs
in the WPX.
- Sometimes the last letter of the callsign is not sent on CW. Occurrence
seems random, but it might be related to the process time (delay) of
the Check Partial Call. Not sure. I think I noticed that the last letter
was dropped
and there were no calls in the Partial Call window, but on second look, a
call
finally appeared. Does not appear to be related to the size of the log, as
this occurred from the very beginning.
- Space bar toggle to Exchange field is not intuitive. Very often I will
want to toggle to the exchange field so I can look at the Check Call field,
or determine country if a strange prefix. Many times I will do this, and
the find out I busted the callsign. When you toggle the space bar again, it
takes you back to the callsign line correctly, but the next space bar toggle
brings you to the RST field. Maybe I'm too used to CT, but I do not find
this intuitive. What is the history behind this?
-When connected to the 1000MP with radio control, typing in 14001.5, (the
period doesn't display), the radio goes to 14001.5. When typing in 7001.5,
the
radio doesn't change frequency. For any frequency below 10.000.0, you have
to type in a leading zero, i.e. 070015 goes to 7001.5 OK.
-Different editing modes in different places on the log line is somewhat
confusing, i.e., "Insert" mode when in the call sign field, "Overstrike"
mode when in
the serial number field. I believe it should be consistent.
-Only 4 spaces in the WPX serial number field (but may not be an issue since
there are other limitations in NA to very large logs)
-Colors in announce window can't be changed.
-Doesn't have different colors for MULT in the band map window. It is not
effective for the MULT station (or even the RUN station) to have the band
map open when hunting for MULTS if they are not displayed in a different
color (like the announce window).
-Can't show the band (only) rate, NA always shows the all-bands rate.
-Can't point and shoot in the band map window when in the centered frequency
display mode.
- Ctrl-G (used to Go to a specific QSO) is not intuitive when you have QSO
numbers by band selected as in M/M for WPX. Ctrl-G goes to the line in the
(cumulative) log, not the QSO number on the band you want to change.
PROS:
-Alt-V to switch between two cw speeds.
-Good serial port handling.
-NAU is a pretty good utility.
-QSL handling is nice.
-Has sprint exchange.
- Ability to choose Callsign Database in software rather than have all
databases called "master.dta"
Many thanks for the continuing support of this software. de 6Y1A
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