While working the NAQP CW contest yesterday I noticed several occurrences of
stuttering in my cw signal. I've experienced this before, as have others,
and the problem stems from Windows applications running in the background
making some call at exactly the wrong time. However, it seemed to me that
these events happened much more frequently than I ever noticed before and
was puzzled as to the reason. It wasn't until after the contest that I
figured out the cause - good ole pilot error again!
I usually try to shut down as many things as I can without seriously
disrupting Windows before a contest. I turn off sounds, turn off Windows
automatic updates, turn off McAfee automatic updates, etc. Yesterday in the
rush to get on the air I forgot to turn off the Windows Sidebar gadgets that
usually run on my desktop. When I started up WL the Band Map opened
directly on top of the open gadgets and hid them from view. I suspect that
many of my cw glitches were caused by one of the gadgets making a call to
the internet to update some info at just the time I was sending. I didn't
realize this until the contest was over and I closed WL and noticed the
gadget applications still up and running. Guess I'd better make a check
list for future reference!
73,
Gary AL9A
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