Ron, K5DJ wrote:
> We also addeded an automated "local announce" feature to add spots to the
> Packet Spot window. The automation is based on any time you add a station
> to the bandmap, that station gets "announced" to the Packet Spot window and,
> if stations are networked, is repeated to the stations on the local network.
Thank you for adding this feature. It will save a lot of yelling across the
room
during multi-op efforts at W6YX. We have had a hard time communicating to
our run operators when a new mult is found if the local spot is outside of the
visible bandmap. It would also be great if the Packet Spot window could have
color coded spots (mult vs. non-mult) on a black background similar to the
bandmap, but the addition of the local-generated spots is a big help.
One of the biggest remaining problems with the Bandmap and Packet Spots
windows is that there is no way to identify a call as a new mult if you haven't
already worked the station in the contest. In contests like CQWW this is not
a problem since the mult status is determined from the callsign, but in last
weekend's NAQP contest we missed one mult I know of, and probably others
I don't, because of this problem. Our 160-meter operator was jumping from
mult to mult in the bandmap and didn't realize that one of the non-mult
calls was really a mult, but since we hadn't already worked him he didn't
show up as a mult.
I realize that ADIF pre-fill files are controversial, but what I would like to
suggest is that if a pre-fill file is in use then WriteLog should offer a
configurable option that enables the pre-filled data to be used for identifying
mults in the Bandmap and Packet Spots windows. Once a station is worked
then pre-fill information should be replaced by whatever was copied in that
QSO for future spotting of that station (and for future pre-fill use).
For operators who do not use pre-fills, operator memory or copying of the
exchange while spotting may enable a station to be identified as a mult.
Another possible configuration option that would help in this situation would
be to enable the spotter to fill in the mult-related part of the exchange and
then have a way of tagging the callsign with this information so that the
callsign can appear as a mult immediately and also appear as a mult when
spotted later, even if not worked. I know that single-ops often use VFO
memories for this, but that doesn't work in the multi-op scenario or when
a single-op is using a 2-computer configuration for SO2R.
Also, for general interest, I wanted to point out that the W6YX website
includes a photo of Wayne, W5XD, from 1982. He is helping to assemble
the 6-element KLM 20-meter antenna that is still in use at the new
station location. The first link is the photo, the second has the caption
identifying who is who.
http://www-w6yx.stanford.edu/history/antennawork.jpg
http://www-w6yx.stanford.edu/history/index.html
73,
-Mike, N7MH
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