[UK-CONTEST] Club championships - G3NKC - 1st time N1MM user report!

[G3RIR]

Dave,

Most of your problems with N1MM keyboard control alt etc will be removed as 
soon as you get to grips with ESM (enter sends message) it is great. But you 
will definitely have to RTFM first.

Neil, G3RIR


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Sharred" <dave at g3nkc.fsnet.co.uk>
To: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 7:44 PM
Subject: [UK-CONTEST] Club championships - G3NKC - 1st time N1MM user 
report!


> Since xmas, I have had a nice new laptop at my disposal; that still is not
> fully commissioned for radio use due to lack of time.
>
> On Tuesday night, and following the thread about N1MM  (I nearly bought
> Win-test !); I decided to load N1MM, and try it out.
>
> I never really had time to set it up on Tuesday, or look at the manual; so
> tried to figure things out before the contest - bad move !!
>
> Used my MicroHam USBII interface to my MP; set it up ok, and got it 
> talking
> to the MP and sending CW great ! And, there was no problem with elongated
> characters , when PTT line control is set, that I had previously seen 
> (with
> a different laptop) when interfacing to Writelog !  So Keyboard messages
> looked good !
>
> Deciding to go with the laptop was a harder choice - my bench is not big
> enough to put anywhere sensible, I need an external keyboard, so that the
> Laptop can sit on the raised shelf above the rig!  So , I cleared out a
> shelf to my left, and stuck it there. I operated with the rig in front of
> me, but the keyboard to my left side!  Not the most ergonomic by a long 
> way;
> and apologies to at least GW4BLE and GM3WOJ for being a little slow as a
> result. And the fact I should have used N1MM before the test !!
>
> Got the CQ messages sorted easy enough, to my liking
>
> Having got this far; I then tried to work out how to make N1MM send CW - a
> lot of commends like ALT -W seem carry over from CT; but not ALT-K for
> keyboard CW.  The help menu does not seem friendly to me; eventually I 
> found
> it was Cntrl-K  Doh !  I only sorted this about 2 mins before the test, so
> then tried to "Lay out my towel" !
>
> Worked 1 station immediately , but then I thin it was another 2 or 3 mins
> for the next station - S+P would have been better !!!
>
> But then the rate picked up; and all was well.   I ended up with 126 
> QSO's,
> so am happy with that !  Only felt I had to do SO2V about 1 hour in; and 
> did
> true S+P in last 10 mins.
>
> BTW - at about 18:30 there was yet another contest going on - loads of
> eastern EU were calling CQ MOON. Does this mean that Lee, MTN, had the
> chance to work 3 contests in one night ???!!!
>
> Nice to work 5B/G4ODV; like SJJ, it was ESP after hearing the 5B this time 
> !
> a reasonable signal though, Brian !
>
> Power was 100W of course, and am 80m dipole at 45 feet
>
>
>
>
> N1MM minus points:
> =================
> I wished I could use the + key to log a CW QSO, like CT.   ALT-Enter is
> horrible, especially on a laptop keyboard
>
> Laptop INS keys for sending call and exchange is also horrible on most
> laptops. This will be sorted with an external keyboard
>
> Somehow, I made N1MM start a new contest exchange - the call entry line
> changes colour, and it sent 001 - Uh ??  The right number of escape keys
> seemed to fix it !
>
> I don't know why N1MM keeps on telling me to log a brand new CTY.DAT file,
> which I did do, at the start of the contest.  Seems like it never loaded
> after all ?
>
> I never made the NO WORK DUPE function work; I know there's a button, but
> cant it sort this automatically?
>
>
> N1MM Plus points
> ===============
> Looks very professional; sharp - great ! And its free !
>
> It must have been pretty intuitive, if I could get it working and turn in 
> a
> competitive score with no specific practice.
>
> I don't know whether this is a feature, or a bug, but I liked it - I set 
> CW
> speed at 32 WPM most of the time. I usually slowed the exchange down (with
> the mouse, Chris) , for sending where needed. When I turned it back up, 
> the
> CW speed stayed the same until the "TU G3NKC TEST " message was completed;
> and then increased its speed. This I think might help others to copy the
> call at a slower speed !
>
> Lessons learnt
> ==============
>
> RTFM first !!!
> Get using bandmap - I never did this time, have to investigate it more!
>
>
> BTW - anyone recommend a good (= RF proof)   WiFi Keyboard ???
>
>
> 73
>
> Dave
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> UK-Contest mailing list
> UK-Contest at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
>