[CQ-Contest] Oh's and Zeros and an apology to Ranko...

[James Cain]

Steve:

The same sort of thing happened to me, with a K3, coincidentally I think. 
Sure is disconcerting, to say the least. KH6NZ came back to my call on 20 
and when I hit my SEND EXCHANGE key my K3 and little MFJ auto tuner both 
went berserk. After frantic looking around that seemed to take forever I 
realized that the K3 said the frequency was 21.110, or something like that. 
I have no idea how that happened and no idea how I managed to get the K3 
right back to the original frequency on 20. I have a feeling that somehow 
the K3 switched VFOs (or whatever they are called these days) and tried to 
transmit on VFO B, which must have been on 21.110.

I use NA software and it'll change the radio's frequency if you type a 
frequency in the call sign box and hit ENTER, but I'm "sure" I didn't do 
that. Although, by noon Sunday of a contest, I'm not sure of a lot, to be 
honest. I'll have to check, but I think in NA you have to type an entire 
frequency (e.g. 21110) in to make this work. I could be wrong.

Last summer I switched to NA software (from CT) and a few weeks ago after 20 
years of using contest software I finally -- for the first time -- hooked a 
radio to a computer for something other than just sending CW. So I expect 
that some sort of operator error was to blame here. While I like that the 
radio and computer now track bands, I mostly made this change so my log 
would show exact frequencies. I get a kick out of looking back at frequency 
changes in the process of making more than 500 Qs all in S&P mode. I don't 
see how anybody who looks at my log now could suspect me of being 
"assisted."

BTW, when I got the radio back on 20 Meters I sent my exchange again and 
KH6NZ came right back and acknowledged it! Wow, thanks whomever you are, for 
that.

This could not have happened with my old Collins S-Line. And, I don't think 
I'm ready for SO2R. Time marches on ...

Jim Cain
At The K1TN Superstation
Atlantic City


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Last weekend I was using a K3 and TR version 6.79 software. One thing about 
this setup is that you can go to a frequency by entering it in the "call" 
window in the software. During a run on 20 meters I was called by 4O3A. I 
inadvertantly typed "4-ZERO-3A" into the call window and hit enter.

The whole world suddenly became very quiet.

It took me a moment to realize that the rig was now sitting on 14403.1 
instead of 14061.3 ! By the time I figured it out Ranko was long gone. If I 
could type I'd be a lot better at this. Sorry my friend, I'll be extra 
careful next time we meet.

73 Steve K0SR