We used CT version 9.11 in the CQ WW SSB. Two computers, one with an IC-761
station, one with an FT-990 station.
The network worked without a flaw; both logs had the same counts.
The IC-761 works much better with the band map than does the FT-990. I presume
this is because the IC-761 sends frequency change messages when the dial is
moved and CT must poll the Yaesu. I know we can change the polling interval,
but we didn't.
I had problems with the band map and the packetcluster callout window. In
particular with callsigns from countries with multiple zones (VK, W, VE).
Stations that we had already worked on a band somehow got put up into the
packet cluster callout window when a new spot came in or maybe even when we
made a bandmap entry with that callsign. This severely affected the utility of
the packetcluster callout window as a "hit list" for a multiplier hunter. I
think somehow that the program isn't checking our "stations worked" list
correctly before putting a callsign into the packet callout window.
Stations that we had already worked appeared in white in the band map window.
Mostly the ones we'd worked appeared in black, but not always. Stations we
had not worked but were not new multipliers seemed to come up in blue reliably.
In the past I've had problems with CT and the 761 where CT would report "ICOM
radio timeout" messages (or "ICOM not responding"). That problem was greatly
reduced with this version of CT when compared to earlier versions.
I really like the bandmap feature, particularly in a contest with these
conditions. We tended to enter lots of the calls ourselves with CTRL-ENTER.
But sometimes that action caused the entry to go in in white (indicating
"unworked mult"), and I think it even caused packetcluster callout window
updates (falsely indicating that the call was an unworked mult).
The bandmap feature is a real winner.
Dick Dievendorff, AA6MC
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