At N3RS, we did a M/2 in ARRL CW, and found the "6 band changes per
hour" rule to be much better than a 10 minute rule. Within limits,
it has the same kind of flavor as the CQ M/S category.
Anyway, since the 10 minute rule is toast, it would be useful to have
CT incorporate a new algorithm for counting the band changes. We got
tripped up at least once where, for example, the last QSO on 80 was
at 0555, and the first QSO on 40 was on 0600. Since we had to count
the band changes manually, we would page up and find the beginning of
the hour, and count down from there. In the example, we made the
mistake of not counting the 80-to-40 band change.
Instead of the "count down timers," currently employed within the CT
display, how about a counter (reset on the hour) that either
accumulates or decrements each time a band change is made? This way
it would be much easier to stay out of "band change pinch" and allow
you to really plan. At N3RS, we didn't come even close to using the
allowed band changes, except for about 6 or 7 hours where we used the
allotted six. This is a shame, as it hurt our score to not take
advantage of a quick change to another band to work a mult.
Also of use would be a replacement for the CHK_TEN utility.
It should be noted that we stumbled across the fact that the latest
versions of CT are "network incompatible" with earlier versions in
that the times are not compatible. We didn't notice it during our
pre-contest checks, but had to revert from 9.35 to 9.27 on two of our
computers after about an hour into the contest. Then we had to go
around and Alt-F all the QSOs made by the 9.35 stations since they
were off by several hours.
73 - Dave N3RD
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