[TRLog] Re: Practice of sending "?" and S&P techniques

[Tony and Celia Becker]

Hi All!

At 12:15 AM 11/8/97 -0500, "Tim Totten, N4GN" <n4gn@iglou.com> wrote:
>If I'm in S&P mode and tune across something like ". . . 4UYU SS", I
>simply enter "4UYU" in the call window.  TR Log . . . uh, make that RAT
>Log, instantly does a partial call check, and if I don't see a red call
>with a matching partial at the bottom of my screen, I hit <Enter> to dump
>my call in. 

I have come to prefer N6TR's program for both search and pounce and CQing.  Add to Tim's comment the slick way the band map puts the dupes callsign and exchange into the call window as you tune across them with the SHIFT keys, and the way even a busted call shows up as a red call sign in the "partial calls" window, and it us usually immediately apparent whether he is a dupe or not.  At this point it is easier to just hit the SHIFT key again to keep on tuning the band than it is to stretch that little pinky 'way up to the function key to send a "?" anyway.  
 
>The really annoying case is when I end a CQ and hear one very weak station
>calling me, along with a very loud "?" from someone else, blocking the
>weaker stn.  Then I'm usually forced to send something like "DE N4GN QRZ?"
>(I don't want to CQ in the face of the weak guy, causing him to give up.)

Operating the Sprints with my home station's low dipoles and low power has forced me to become much more efficient at S&P as well given me a moral justification for the time it takes to dig out those weak QRP callers when I CQ.  Assuming I can copy a partial call from both stations, I send "XYZ QRX, ABC 5903" (or let the DVP do it) to work the loud station a quickly as possible and focus on copying the info without fills, then use the TAIL END KEY to immediately work the other station.

My attitude on working zero point QSO has also been affected by the slick way N6TR's program works.  I now just try to work the loud ones as fast as possible.  It keeps the frequency active and helps insure that station will be there to give me a QSO in the domestic contests too.  If he is weak and I will need fills, I have to think about it and make a choice.

Teamwork between the vendor and users has produced superior results across many different combinations of radios, entry classes and system configurations for this application.  As I scan their reflector traffic I detect an increase in the rate of development for both NA and even CT.   Isn't competition fun?

73

AE0M, Tony Becker - becker@sprintmail.com - Silicon Valley, USA

--
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/trlogfaq.html
Submissions:              trlog@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  trlog-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems:                 owner-trlog@contesting.com
Feature Wishlist:	  http://web.jzap.com/n6tr/trwish.html