[ct-user] Networking CTWIN

[robp at jfcspb.org]

WOW Thanks for the fast and complete response!!! SO far it looks straight
forward and from reading some other posts AFTER I sent mine it seems that I
do not want to do an wireless network except maybe for the Public Info
workstation because of loss of broadcast packets due to rf dropouts.

The only question I have left is you mentioned a multi.cfg file, Please
explain or point me to the info on setting it up, I don't mind reading about
it but There is so much this program can do that WOW where do you start. 

Thanks again, I can't tell you how much I appreciate the detailed response!!

Rob KS4EC
-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Parish K1EP [mailto:k1ep at arrl.net]
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 1:08 PM
To: robp at jfcspb.org; ct-user at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [ct-user] Networking CTWIN


At 6/9/2004 12:57 PM, robp at jfcspb.org wrote:
>I am a network Engineer and fully understand networking and have been a ham
>since I was 8 but this is my first time using CT and I have been chosen to
>set up the network for Field Day. 
>
>I guess the question is on a basic level what do I have to do / change in
CT
>to make the workstations talk together, 

CTWin has networking built in.  You would start CT with something like:

\Program Files\K1EA Software\CtWin\ctwin.exe  -enet  FD

where FD is your FD.bin file.  I usually set things up in a batch file to
make it easier.

>Do I have to point them to a common drive,?

Each computer runs its own copy of CT and keeps its own .bin file.

>Do all computers use their own dat file?

The .dat files are the multipliers, e.g. FD.dat and since each computer has
its own copy of CT, it will have all of its own .dat, .cty, .cfg, etc.
files.

For networking, don't forget to edit or create the multi.cfg file on each
computer.

>Do the workstations talk so that if I am using several stations that may at
>different time work the same bands, will it tell me of dups worked from the
>other stations?

As long as the computers were networked when they worked the stations, each
computer will have a copy of the entire log.  Logs get out of sync when the
network is not up.  You can take all the computers off line and merge the
.bin files with the MERGE.EXE command, but usually people don't do that
until after the contest.

>Can I set up a workstation that will display realtime stats for contacts?

There is the summary window, multiplier window, and the rate window that
will show most of those things.