[WriteLog] Operational Characteristics of WL on CW

[Jim Smith]

What follows is from memory.  There may be mistakes in the particulars 
with which one could find fault.  Please view this as a cry for help, 
not a point by point criticism of WL.

.... For S&P it's not any different than ...... other programs.

I use WL only for RTTY contesting.  I expect from a contesting program 
that, whether running or S&P, when I hit Enter after the exchanges are 
complete, the Q will be logged.  I have yet to figure out how to get WL 
to do this.  Many, many people I worked didn't get into my various 
contest logs because, at the end of the Q, out of habit I hit Enter to 
move on to the next Q without doing that extra keystroke that WL seems 
to require.  I had assumed that I just haven't spent enough time with WL 
documentation, such as it is, to figure out how to make the Enter key 
log the Q when either running or S&P.  From reading this thread, it 
would seem that WL can't do this.

So, here's what I expect from a contesting program, such as WL, using CW 
or RTTY.

Running
  Someone answers my CQ
  I, by whatever means, get his call into the call field (I forget the 
WL terminology for this) and hit a key, preferably Enter.
  WL sends his call and my exchange
  I, by whatever means, get the caller's exchange into the exchange 
field and hit a key, preferably Enter.
  WL sends the QSL message AND LOGS THE Q.

S&P
  I, by whatever means, get a call into the call field and hit a key, 
preferably Enter
  WL sends my call.
  When the called station answers I, by whatever means, get his exchange 
into the exchange field and hit a key, preferably Enter.
  WL sends my exchange AND LOGS THE Q.

So, to complete and log a Q requires the 
keystrokes/mouse-swipes-and-clicks to enter the call and the exchange 
plus two Enters.

Those of you who have learned how to use TRLog and since abandoned it in 
favour of WL will recognize that this is exactly how TRLog works. 
 Obviously, not all Qs go this smoothly so we program other function 
keys to deal with the anomalies but, at the end, TRLog users hit Enter 
and THE Q IS LOGGED.

So the statement that ..... it's not any different than what you would 
have done with other programs .... is incorrect.  Not trying to put 
anyone down here - not everyone has used every contesting program.

However, it seems that WL requires a "superfluous" keystroke to log a Q 
in either S&P or running, depending on how you set it up.  It also seems 
to require the pressing of a number of different function keys to 
complete a Q.   Please tell me that I am wrong and tell me how to set up 
WL to do what I have described above.  

I have tried WL in many contests.  It is not painless, particularly for 
those of you, and there are many, who I worked but YOU AREN'T IN MY LOG 
because I forgot that extra key stroke.

While I don't think of myself as an accomplished contester, I do know 
that keeping the routine stuff simple improves the rate.  My last hour 
of the recent CQWW CW with TRLog, 100W and a 35 year old tri-bander on 
the roof was 99 Qs at my poky 26 wpm.  Get the call - Hit Enter - Get 
the exchange - Hit Enter - Do it again for the next call.  Every one of 
those Qs got into the log.  With all the extra/different keystrokes that 
seem to be required by WL I couldn't have achieved this personal 
best-ever hour and many stations worked wouldn't have got in the log. 
 I'm assuming here that WL works the same for CW as it does for RTTY. 
 Never used it for anything but RTTY.

So, please save WL for me for RTTY contesting.  Tell me that it only 
takes two keystrokes beyond those needed for getting the call and 
exchange into their proper places to log a Q, no matter whether running 
or S&P.  Please tell me what those keystrokes are and show me how to set 
WL up to accomplish this.  

73 de Jim Smith    VE7FO