[Mldxcc] [NCCC] Fw: [WriteLog] Practice. and not only Dual-CQ--novice, S&P contesters can, too

Tue Aug 16 16:12:18 EDT 2016

In my last CSS session you (AD6E) were in the pileup, but you slowed my rate
down by sending an unnecessarily long exchange message.  Please take a look
at your messages.   ;>)

Also, you are only the second NCCC member I've worked out of 1200 QSOs.
W6DR was the other one.

Ed W0YK

  _____  

From: NCCC [mailto:nccc-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Alan Maenchen
Sent: 16 August, 2016 02:12
To: Steve Dyer; Ron Fischler; Donald E. Turner
Cc: MLDXCC Lode; NCCC Reflector
Subject: Re: [NCCC] Fw: [WriteLog] Practice. and not only Dual-CQ--novice,
S&P contesters can, too

OK, finally got it working. Great fun!  This is going to be a good
substitute for sunspots.

There are a couple of gotchas that I ran into. Watch out that CSS really
takes control of your keyer via F keys. I had a couple of false starts where
I was transmitting on the air before realizing that CSS wasn't in control.
Put your K3 in TEST mode just to be safe.

Also, make sure your "call" F key has the same call as in the Setup
otherwise the CQing stations won't answer you. 

If you don't get a call, put a question mark as one of your F keys. That
seems to be the same as calling CQ. Going back to a partial call doesn't
really work as in real life where maybe half the pileup stays quiet and the
guy you want is easier to copy.

Running a pileup is quite realistic although it could be better, and at the
rate Wayne is moving this may catch up sooner or later. One thing that I'd
like some QRN just to make the realism better. 

Another problem is that stations give their call once and then stop. That's
not at all realistic. EU stations should keep calling even if you call
someone else. 

Also you can't do a directed call such as CQ NA. The EU stations still call.
OK, I guess that is realistic. :-)

The faster you work down a pileup the fewer stations remain in the pile. Now
that's a realistic situation I've never seen in a simulator before. Also fun
.. in a masochistic way ..  to have a station start CQing right on top of
your run. Now that's realism!  You can't win a frequency fight with a robot
so don't try.

73, Alan  AD6E

On Mon, Aug 15, 2016 at 8:04 AM, Steve Dyer via NCCC <nccc at contesting.com>
wrote:

I highly recommend the Contest Super Simulator for practicing SO2R. This is
a great tool Wayne is contributing to the community.

Our own W2SC was a key contributor.

Give it a try -- it's FREE!

73,

Steve

W1SRD

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Wayne, W5XD" <w5xd at writelog.com>
To: Writelog Forum <writelog at contesting.com> 
Sent: Monday, August 8, 2016 11:22 AM
Subject: [WriteLog] Practice. and not only Dual-CQ--novice, S&P contesters
can, too

The Dual-CQ capability has gotten some recent discussion on this
reflector. In the process of building that "really fast race car" to
quote N9RV in the May, 2016 NCJ, Tom, W2SC, and I collaborated to build
this simulator:

    http://writelog.com/downloads/
<http://writelog.com/downloads/contest-super-simulator>
contest-super-simulator

Here is the full quote:

> N9RV: "It sounds a lot like a really fast race car. You've got it
> build, and now you need to learn how to drive it."
>
To paraphrase Tom's answer: he practiced. A lot. Tom used a hardware
simulator to start out, but that effort--which succeeded, by the
way--led to the development of this software-only simulator to get the
cost down.

Try learning to use the Dual CQ SO2R thing during a contest weekend, and
the rest of us, to extend the metaphor, will see only a pillar of smoke
from a wiped-out race car.

The Contest Super Simulator (which I hereinafter may abbreviate "CSS")
covers from expertise level zero--complete beginner--all the way to
world class. Yours truly built in the novice capability because, well, I
can't test it any other way.

You can practice on one radio. You can turn the CW down as slow or as
fast as you want. The operators in the simulation will wait around quite
a long time for you to get your act together and try different things,
like adjust your f-key memories. And they won't make any postings on the
internet about whether you are a LID.

CSS is available for free to all contesters. It works with the free,
demo version of WriteLog 12. You don't have to buy my product. This
simulation tool is my donation to the contesting community. This is my
way to remove excuses. I want to see the level of expertise on the air
going up. Better operators make everything about ham radio better.

To summarize, the WriteLog team has recently made three different FREE
products available:
a) The demo version of WriteLog: http://writelog.com/demo
b) The practice simulator:
http://writelog.com/downloads/
<http://writelog.com/downloads/contest-super-simulator>
contest-super-simulator
c) The Dual-CQ run mode:
https://github.com/w5xd/
<https://github.com/w5xd/WriteLogRunMode/blob/master/DownloadInstaller/Write
LogRunModeV.2.3.zip>
WriteLogRunMode/blob/master/DownloadInstaller/WriteLogRunModeV.2.3.zip

We expect that those attracted by the price of the demo will discover
that to really get the best contest results every weekend, they'll
eventually break down and part with $30 US to get the unlimited WriteLog
version.

Wayne, W5XD

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