Time for me to chime in on this subject after reading
all the posts.
Chalk me up as a happy user of Writelog. I, in no
means, want to downplay the capabilities of N1MM
logger (many have mentioned it as a great program and
I have no reason to disbelieve this). I've never used
it so I can't comment on that. I did use CT and WF1B
prior to purchasing Writelog. IMHO, it is far superior
to either of those as I'm sure most would agree. My
experience comes from RTTY contesting mainly but I
have used Writelog for CW Sweepstakes, ARRL 10M and
ARRL 160M (CW only).
Somethings I can attest about Writelog are as follows:
1. Used it since 1998 and have seen many improvements
and additions.
2. With one computer I am controlling two different
radios, and two different TNC's simultaneously.
3. Have used it networked in a M2 set-up and it worked
flawlessly.
4. Don't ever recall it crashing in Windows 95 or 98
(don't use it with XP because of OS issues with
hardware support of an ISA device that I still use
(HAL PCI-4000 modem). I have been told that is
possible with some type of driver that I've not
bothered to install because WL works fine in Windows
98.
5. It creates .tq8 files for user of LOTW.
6. Use it into a Telnet packet cluster with no
problems.
7. Any problems I have had have been resolved through
use of this reflector or by reading the Help file.
8. Supports all the major contests in all modes and
many not so popular ones as well.
9. Creates Cabrillo files for all the sponsors that
required it.
10. For WAEDC it supports QTC traffic nicely.
11. Runs fine on an old Pentium II (300 MHz) with 320
MB of RAM.
12. The callsign highlighting in RTTY is invaluable.
13. If you want to RTTY contest you'll appreciate the
number of TNC's supported including soundcards.
The items above our things that I deem important to
me, they may not be important to you. I can't think
of anything I really deem important that Writelog
doesn't support well. Is Writelog plug-n-play(?),
depends on the complexity of your set-up. In my case
no, but that's the beauty of it, it can adapt to a
large variety of station configurations with a little
work.
For any RTTY contest that I participate in seriously,
I can usually finishing in the top 10 in the USA (from
the blackhole of Kansas). Is this all because of
Writelog(?), of course not. I've spent thousands of
dollars on radios, antennas, an amplifier and a tower.
Writelog costs have been a miniscule part of my
station budget.
If and when I software becomes available that vastly
improves features that are critcal to me, I'll switch.
For now I'll stick with Writelog.
73 de Bob (KI6DY/0)
--- steve@stevebb.com wrote:
> Personally, I cannot think of any other contest
> logging program that
> supports as many contests that Writelog covers -
> most cover the big contests
> or from the "USA end" of a contest but if you are
> not in USA and play about
> with the minor contests in addition, then Writelog
> (imho) is just perfect !
>
> I've regularly been at the DX end running ZC4 and
> have hammered Writelog in
> many different contests, regularly exceed 4,000 Q's
> and it has never
> complained, never crashed and helped me to take a
> few #1 spots and several
> Asian records. One contest I ran had a bug in the
> scoring - I think from
> memory it was the Golden Jubilee contest (ie a one
> off) and someone wrote a
> contest module to support it and made it available
> in plenty of time. Plug
> in modules for the Russian, Scandinavian and German
> contests are FREELY
> available and I disagree totally that Writelog is
> unsupported - sorry guys
> but I'm a happy camper here !!
>
> I have used a variety of logging programs over the
> years and the learning
> curve for Writelog is relatively easy. There is the
> Writelog site itself and
> support sites all over the place - some mentioned in
> this thread and lots of
> others about. In my 6 years of using Writelog I have
> seen it grow and grow
> and the help files/examples are what I use to train
> my local club station
> operators prior to a contest. Any support I have
> asked for has been at the
> other end of an email almost immediately - either
> from the developers or
> from this reflector. Sometimes it is easier to slag
> something off than it is
> to give praise - you have to realise that this
> program is probably not the
> full time job for these guys and they have work and
> a family life balance
> too. I would hate to see the impetus go because of
> something trivial, I'm
> sure we all know of programs that have fizzled out
> because it perhaps
> doesn't cater for there expectations just yet and
> the programers getting
> annoyed at the bad press.
>
> I used it for the first time in a M2 setup for CQWW
> SSB and without using
> the manual configured the network and also the
> packet cluster without any
> problem. As too I used the bandmap trolling through
> the previously worked
> callsigns - ok I'm a gadget freak but it worked
> flawlessly for us.
>
> Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and this
> is my 2p worth - but I am
> very happy with Writelog and the level of support !
>
> Now let us all calm down before CQWW CW or we will
> all be getting busted
> callsigns and blaming Writelog for it ;-)
>
> Steve
> G4KIV / ZC4BS
>
> ps I have nothing to do with Writelog other than
> being a happy user !
>
>
>
>
> Homepage: http://www.stevebb.com
> Photo portfolio:
> http://www.usefilm.com/member/steveb
> Shutterpoint: http://STEVEBB.shutterpoint.com
> Email: steve@stevebb.com
>
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>
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>
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