[WriteLog] 10.45m "observances"

[Ian White, G3SEK]

Jim Reisert AD1C wrote:
>Hi Wayne and gang,
>
>In 5 years, I have never used any contest software but Writelog for 
>RTTY contests.  I'm still learning things.  But I noted these 
>"anomalies" this past weekend which might need to be looked at:
>
I never used it before, but noticed some too... perhaps this module 
needs some attention before next year.

>1.  Why isn't "number required" the default for the WPX exchange?
>    (I changed the default).  I noted that when I used ENTER to log a QSO,
>    Writelog would not accept the QSO if there was no serial number entered.
>    HOWEVER, using the mouse to "Enter in log" did NOT perform the check,
>    it allowed me to log serial number-less QSOs.
>
>2.  The "Time on" in the Rate window is wrong.  It starts counting from when
>    Writelog is started.  This used to show "Time on" for the whole contest,
>    regardless of how many times you re-started Writelog.  So I have no idea
>    how many hours I operated this one.
>
>3.  Several times, I tried to save the config info.  I got a dialogue 
>box saying
>    something like "Save config could not be completed.  "wpx2004rt - 
>Writelog"
>    program is not responding."  However it seemed to save the info OK.  Using
>    WinXP Pro with all the patches.
>
>4.  %D didn't work correctly in the F3 buffer.  I had mine programmed as:
>
>      %R%D 599-%3 %3 %D%R%E
>
>    I expected it to print:
>
>      <DX> 599-### ### <DX>
>
>    But instead it usually sent:
>
>      <DX> 599-### ### AD1C
>
>5.  Auto (timed) CQ didn't work with MMTTY 1.65.  I could never get it 
>to repeat.

Worked for me, but bear in mind that the repeat time for RTTY messages 
is measured from start to start - if the repeat time is less than the 
time it takes to send the message, it never will repeat.

However, if there was a reply, I never could get the hang of pressing 
Alt-T quickly enough to prevent an auto-repeat. It would be neat if the 
auto-repeat could be canceled automatically if an incoming callsign is 
highlighted.

>
>6.  In the lower-left hand corner, "kHz" should be abbreviated "KHz"

Small "k" is correct here (conventionally, "K" means multiples of 1024).

>and there should
>    be a space between "KHz" and the mode.  Mine read like:
>
>      14080 kHzFSK
>
>    It would have looked nicer if it said:
>
>      14080 KHz FSK
>
>7.  It annoys me that when you type in a call, in the logging box it 
>says "New Mult" but when
>    you enter the serial number, the "New Mult" indication goes away.
>
There are potentially more serious problems on that line in the QSO 
Entry box, e.g:

- dupes sometimes being flagged up as new stations; or the flag changing 
to "dupe" only when tabbing out of the callsign field; or not changing 
at all... embarrassing...

- the indicated country being wildly incorrect in the QSO Entry box 
(though always corrected in the log window)

- previously worked callsigns appearing spontaneously in the entry 
field, sometimes overwriting the callsign being worked. This callsign 
wasn't always the last one worked, but when it happened, the same call 
was also in the SCP box (and I'll swear I never clicked it).

Unfortunately I can't be much more specific about details of the above, 
on account of being in contest mode rather than software testing mode at 
the time.


>8.  When I was CQing, INSERT would pick up the highlighted-call from 
>the screen, but when
>    I was in S&P mode, it did not.  For example, I dump in my call, I 
>get a report back, I hit
>    INSERT then it sends the F3 message above without his callsign.
>
There were some instances where "DE callsign" failed to highlight. On 
the other hand, callsigns sometimes highlighted correctly without a "DE" 
in sight.

With 10.45M and MMTTY 1.65C running in 128MB on a P900, there definitely 
seemed to be a problem with garbage accumulation over timescales of 
several hours. Although neither program completely crashed, there were 
times when they came close - the main symptom was missing more and more 
control keystrokes. A re-start always cured the problem, and then it was 
good again for several hours. For BARTG, I'll try 256MB and see if that 
gives the system a bit more slack.


-- 
73 from Ian G3SEK