[Mldxcc] 2005 Field Day - K6AO; computer vs rig compatibility

Richard (Rick) Karlquist (N6RK) richard at karlquist.com
Sat Jul 2 23:51:42 EDT 2005


Lesson for next year:  always pretest computers with
their respective rigs.  I pretested my FT-1000 and 
homebrew FIF-232 equivalent with my computer, and
it worked perfectly running write log.  On Field Day
it would NOT work with Jack's computer and its
USB serial port adapter.  After Field Day, I retested
my setup, and it still worked perfectly.  So now we now
it did not break.  Jack's computer worked perfectly with
his radio.  Thus we have the classic case of no
individual item being "at fault".  I am suspicious
of the USB serial port, but that may be mere superstition.
I have a dedicated computer in the shack, maybe I should
just bring it next year, since it will just be collecting dust 
otherwise.  Maybe we should have backup computers.  The 
other computer kept crashing.  It would have been nice
to replace it.  Actually, Jack brought a backup computer,
but it never worked at all.  Murphy would have been proud!

BTW, if you have a PCI card slot, you can get a 6 serial port
board from tigerdirect.com for $59.95.  Then you don't have to
take the chance of using a USB dongle.

Rick N6RK


More information about the Mldxcc mailing list