I used a laptop on Field Day, and had the same type of
problem. Then I noticed down in the system tray that the
Wireless unit was trying to connect to something. It turns
out that a neighbor near the FD site had an unsecured
network, and my laptop was busily checking it out! Disabling
the wireless radio by right-clicking that icon in the system
tray completely solved the problem.
Dave Hachadorian, K6LL
Yuma, AZ
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary AL9A" <al9a@mtaonline.net>
To: "Writelog" <writelog@contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2009 9:18 PM
Subject: [WriteLog] CW stuttering & Windows
> 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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