[CQ-Contest] Doctor DX clone (if you never used it, you just don't "get it")

[rjairam at gmail.com]

I never experienced it in its heyday but I do have a cartridge on a
physical C64.

Night and day compared to the pileup sims.

73
Ria, N2RJ

On Tue, Sep 29, 2020 at 9:23 PM Richard F DiDonna NN3W
<richnn3w at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> So, the post I did earlier kind of summarizes what differentiate it from
> VE3NEAs program.
>
> KR2Q or N6GQ or anyone can fill in gaps.  This program is 30 years old.
>
> First, as I and KR2Q mentioned, this was basically a CW trainer that
> emulates the CQWW contest.
>
> The program came from AEA and it worked with the Commodore 64 via a ROM
> cartridge that plugged into the back of the C64.  As I noted what was very
> novel was that you send CW not with function keys as you would with CT or
> N1MM or Wintest, but with your own paddle and keyer which you plugged into
> the back of the ROM cartridge through a RCA jack that was provided
> internally in the cartridge.
>
> The program itself - again - emulated the CQWW CW contest.  You entered
> your call, your latitude and longitude, as well as the local time (which
> controlled atmospheric conditions), and the contest started.
>
> You picked a band that you wanted to start on (160 - 10) meters and then it
> was up to you to contest.  You could S&P the band or you could try
> running.  IIRC, the stations down low were speed demons (e.g., N6MJ and
> CT1ILT), and the stations up high were guys who were novices or were lousy
> with code (e.g., KL2A).
>
> Your ability to running was affected by your power output and where you
> were in the band.  Selecting between 200 watts, 20 watts, and 2 watts would
> affect how big your pile up could be.  It also affected scoring.  Similar
> to Field Day, you were rewarded with a multiplier factor for making low
> power or QRP contacts.
>
> Additionally, your location on the globe as well as the time of day
> affected propagation.  So if you were in W3, you couldn't set up shop on
> 160 meters with 200 watts at noon local time and expect to work ZLs and
> Z3s.  The propagation was appropriate for fall contesting: get on 20 meters
> in the morning and work EU; get on 40 meters at dawn and maybe there are
> some JAs there.  I do not remember what assumptions were made with respect
> to solar flux so I do not remember how 10 and 15 meters acted.  I assume
> both bands were "open" since having two or three virtual bands would be
> boring.
>
> I do NOT believe there were variable filter settings (1 KHz, 500 Hz, 250
> Hz, etc.).  In addition, IIRC the callsign database was kind of random so
> you would get oddball calls.  This program came out in the early stages of
> CT and NA so check partial and callsign databases were very young.
>
> Scoring followed the standard CQWW format .... QSO points (along with the
> power weighting factor) x multipliers (zones + countries) gave you your
> score.
>
> A new version of Doctor DX would have the aforementioned features but with
> the added wish list features of 1) variable receive bandwidth, 2) ability
> to do SO2R or 2BSIQ, 3) interface with SCP databases, 4) adjustable SFI
> which allows you to simulate operating when the SFI is 71 or when the SFI
> is 171.
>
> As Doug KR2Q mentioned, it was way ahead of its time.  The other programs
> are basically pileup programs.  Not downing them, but they are different.
>
> 73 Rich NN3W
>
> 73 Rich NN3W
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 29, 2020 at 7:27 PM David Gilbert <ab7echo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > I don't understand why somebody couldn't come up with essentially the
> > same thing for a current operating system.  I never owned a C-64, but as
> > primitive as it was by today's standards replication of Doctor DX would
> > seem possible if there were enough people interested in it.  I suspect
> > that the issue is that there isn't.
> >
> > Does anyone have a comprehensive description of what it was capable of
> > and how it worked?
> >
> > 73,
> > Dave  AB7E
> >
> >
> >
> > On 9/29/2020 12:08 PM, Douglas Zwiebel wrote:
> > > Dr Dx was like sitting down at a real radio and actually tuning the bands
> > > during a contest and working guys.  Other have explained this here, but
> > > seems that the "alternatives" being offered are not just miles, but light
> > > years off the mark.
> > >
> > > If you never sat in front of Dr. DX, you will never appreciate what
> > > everyone else is talking about.
> > >
> > > It was way ahead of it's time (at least compared to what is out there
> > now).
> > >
> > > de Doug KR2Q
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