> Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2001 15:26:28 -0700
> From: "Mike Heideman" <mikeh@airflash.com>
> Subject: Re: [TRLog] Field Day problem
>
> ...
>
> The other major problem we had during FD was in logging digital contacts. A
> couple of our ops really wanted to try out PSK-31, set up a separate,
> non-logging computer, and worked about 85 stations. The problem was that
> TR-Log crashed on about one in every five contacts while entering callsigns
> when the mode was set to DIGITAL. Our logs got out of sync by 20 or 30
> contacts the first time this happened because the network was down while the
> machine first had to boot up in Windows and then be restarted in MS-DOS mode.
> Subsequent crashes were not as bad because someone remembered that hitting F8
> at startup lets you avoid going into Windows first.
>
> After 6 or 7 crashes we finally logged the rest of the digital contacts on
> paper to avoid disrupting the network. Maybe this crashing while logging
> digital contacts has something to do with the new RTTY capabilities in
> TR-Log.
Mike, we had this same problem at W9REG. I spent a good 14 hours debugging
this as we had a digital-only station this year that was left high and dry
with no computer logging capability. We also reverted to paper as we
worked the problem. Every combination of machine and power source and
cable routing (thought it might be RF, since it seemed so weird) had zero
effect on the failure. Within 30 minutes or so of logging PSK31 contacts,
whatever machine we were using would be locked up. Ctl-Alt-Del didn't
even work. This was very frustrating to say the least. I had even tested
things by using our setup in the CW WPX, and everything looked fine. But,
of course I didn't try logging any digital contacts. We were running
6.58. There was still a copy of 6.47 on one of our machines, so I
finally reverted to that and it fixed the problem. I haven't done any
testing to see at what rev digital logging stopped working. All other
machines worked fine, because they were not logging digital contacts.
We ran a three computer multi net until the digital logger failed and
we pulled it off the ring for the duration of FD.
73,
_steve__
_____________________________________________________________________
Steven M. Van Frank | steve@vanfrank.com | +1.765.448.6262
W9TN | w9tn@arrl.net | +1.765.771.2005 fax
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/trlog
Submissions: trlog@contesting.com
Administrative requests: trlog-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-trlog@contesting.com
Feature Wishlist: http://web.jzap.com/n6tr/trwish.html
|