[UK-CONTEST] Keyer or Keyboard? (Longish)

[Clive Whelan]

John, G3LZQ wrote



<..no mention
of using either

(a) Auto CQ Mode

.....>

I used to do so in TR, and of course WL is no different. However I found it
to be dangerous, inasmuch as if you set the repeat interval to say 1.5
seconds ( to avoid your run freq. being stolen), and then somebody calls
late, you have doubled for a short while before hitting <ESC>, and have to
ask for a repeat ( or as I do send say 9ZZ/P and the report, with later
correction/addition), which is inefficient of course.

I did mention auto-complete but perhaps did not articulate it very well ( it
was very late!), and it is absolutely invaluable, even, I would suggest for
the competent typist. I remember one contest when for some reason that
feature broke, and I spent all the  while having to  get the whole call in
the kbd before sending; boy did that improve my typing speed!

Unfortunately ( or fortunately?) I missed National Service by a few years,
and never learned to write left handed. However I find that now, I simply
never write ANYTHING  on paper, and use the Alt N facility in WL to append a
note to the QSO.

One downside of that, combined with short term memory atrophy, is that
callsign retention ( i.e. in the head) is not what it was. Perhaps-in fact-
it never was as good as I remember ( like all the sunny summers!), and
because I invariably jotted the callsign of the caller on paper next to the
paddle, I automatically glanced at that when in doubt; I am no longer sure
about this, but know for sure that my callsign retention is inadequate.
However, I find that saying the call out loud tends to fix it in my brain.
Well that's one advantage we have over the SSB ops who must be
trappistesque, but perhaps they don't have that same lag between brain and
mouth as we have to the kbd?

Finally, I agree 100% with Bob about the incompatibility of SO2R and the
paddle- at least when using the W5XD controller, probably others too. Trying
to fill on the paddle can easily result in sending on the wrong radio, and
you might not even realise that, so surreal is the process anyway. If ever
you doubt your sanity, SO2R will convince you that you're doolally!

73


Clive
GW3NJW