[UK-CONTEST] Sequence of a typical Contest exchange

[Paul O'Kane]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Ferrington, M0XDF" <M0XDF at Alphadene.co.uk>

> Would people please comment, I'm in 'discussion' with software  
> developers (cocoa version of MacLoggerDX is in beta) and we seem to  
> have a differene of opinion as to the order of an exchange.

The best way to do the job properly is to use developers
who are also experienced contesters.  Otherwise, they may
not readily accept advice given - they will have their own
preferred methods of data entry, and will not be aware of
the many nuances which might affect the number of fields,
their sequence, and what shortcuts are appropriate - or
not.

General-purpose loggers and contest loggers have little
in common - there are too many conflicting requirements.  
Experience in one may not be relevant for the other.

> Then I reply with
> Sent RST -> Sent S/N -> Sent text  --> Log it

There is usually no need to tab between fields you "send",
as they are all pre-filled by the software.  You skip them.
You do have to allow for the fact the user will often enter
received fields in a different sequence - and sometimes the
callsign will be the last to be completed.

It seems to me, and I have no axe to grind here - especially
in relation to Mac loggers, that you may not be ready for
this project if you are not completely confident, in your
own mind, with the answers to basic contest-logging issues
such as the order of the exchange. 

Will your developers still have enthusiasm for the project
after the first 3 or 4 years, never mind the first 13 or 14?  :-)

73,
Paul EI5DI