[ct-user] Networking CTWIN

[Ed Parish K1EP]

At 6/9/2004 01:13 PM, robp at jfcspb.org wrote:
>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.

Yes, packets are UDP which means that there is no guarantee of delivery.  Wireless networks will have more collisions due to other part 15 devices and such, and therefore there will be more lost packets.  TCP takes care of that with retransmissions, UDP doesn't care.

>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. 

Here is an example of a MULTI.CFG file.  It sits in the CT directory and is plain text.  It gives logical names for each of the computers.  When you do a setup, CT asks for your station number.  Station 1 will always distribute the network time, so put your most accurate computer on station 1.


*********************************************************************
Each computer in the network must have this file.  Start each line
with a station number. The rest of the line is the station name. 
Lines that don't start with a number between 1 and 16 are ignored. In
the case of duplicate station numbers, the last one read is used. If
a msg is received from a station not in this list it is printed as
Stn XX: where XX is the number. The search path for this file is the
same as for the .CTY file. The directory specified by CTPATH is
checked first, then the current working directory.
*********************************************************************
1        10M
2        20M
3        
4        40M
5        15M
6        160M
7        Mult
8        80M



>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.