[RTTY] "DE" is dead

[Dave Hachadorian]

Writelog has been cited as a reason to send "DE " before giving
your call sign.  In my opinion, sending DE is neither desirable
or necessary.  If you are a newbie, and send "CQ RU KZ9AAA "
Writelog users can still mouse-click the letter K and KZ9AAA will
go into the call sign window.

Writelog also gives users the option to disable the "scan for DE"
function, and I think it should indeed be disabled.  It can be
disabled in the rttyrite window file menu.

Enabling Writelog's "scan for DE" causes the following
undesirable behavior.  If you are on the receiving end of a
pileup, and the first responder sends DE, the whole pileup will
be highlighted as a valid call sign.  You are liable to see
something like this:
DE K4GK6LWA2EW0K7WMW1?W9R
where the entire string of garbage is highlighted as a call sign.

If the DE feature is disabled, K7WM will pop out, clearly
highlighted, because K7WM is in the supercheck database.

Here is another thing to keep in mind with Writelog decoding -
Writelog will not highlight a call sign unless it is followed by
two or more characters.
For example "CQ RU K7WM " will not highlight K7WM, even with the
single space after K7WM.
"CQ RU DE K7WM " won't highlight either.
"CQ RU K7WM K7WM " will highlight only the first K7WM.
"CQ RU KW7M CQ " will work fine.
"CQ RU K7WM  " will work, because there are TWO spaces after 
K7WM.

The moral of the story is that you should have at least two
characters after your call sign, if you want to make sure that
Writelog users will have your call sign highlighted.  Even if you
are not highlighted though, your call sign is still "clickable."

For Writelog users, it is a good idea to reduce the mmtty squelch
threshold to below ambient noise, so that noise will generate
additional characters after a call sign to assist in
highlighting.

See you all this weekend.  As usual, I will be using Writelog.


Dave Hachadorian, K6LL
Yuma, AZ








































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