[NA-User] NA issues in the ARRL DX CW Contest

[k8mp at aol.com]

It's getting hard to find old confusers with ports for NA.A few years ago, Micro Center had some Win 10 laptops with a DB-9 com port and I scarfed one up. I'm able to do keying and rig control through it. I have N1MM+ on it and I use it for team events. (FD, WFD, etc)
At home, it's NA only and I'll never switch. I have a small bone yard of desk top parts, including 3 or 4 old hard drives which I clone my active NA hard drive to periodically. 

Joe, K8MP 
 
  On Mon, Feb 26, 2024 at 12:54 PM, Greg Surma<k8gl at sbcglobal.net> wrote:   OK...perhaps NA was not at fault.
Remember that screen in NA that tells you how many QSO's that your computer has room for?  My main computer has room for 16000+ so it has never been an issue.  Last fall I decided to add a second computer and keyboard and monitor to do an "effortless" SO2R.  By effortless I mean not having to share the single computer between two rigs.  I love the way this has performed.
As you might know, the conditions on ARRL DX CW weekend were incredible.  My two 2 element quads (one at 64' and the other at 72') coupled to two K3S's and two amps were doing yeoman duty in filling my log with contacts.
Alas, during my last hour of the contest, my second computer came up with the "screen of death" announcement that my computer only had memory for  3275 QSO's. The screen froze.  I quickly loaded a new NA log and it froze after only two contacts.  I then realized that I had to rely on main computer only.  The reason turned out to be that my second computer was only an 8086 and the XMS limited NA to only 3275 QSO's.  Or at least that is how I interpret what that Googler thing told me.
That was the bad news, and that ended my 15 meter small JA run.  The good news is that it forced me back on 20 meters where I picked up 5 additional multipliers (VK  OA  YV  V26   YB) in the last 25 minutes of the contest. A silver cloud!
After the contest I picked thru my computer bone pile.  Most had USB-only interface.  One had both serial and parallel ports but had other guts pulled out that precluded it from working.  I'll hit a swap or Craigslist to see what I can find.
NA is still an incredible program and I continue to tip my had to K8CC (SK) and K5GO for developing it.  Also kudos to AD1C for still supplying us with COUNTRY.DAT lists. 
Greg    K8GL
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