[WriteLog] Multi-op spotting questions

[Mike Heideman]

I've recently been part of several multi-op efforts using WriteLog including 
this past weekend's CQWW SSB.  We use both the Bandmap and Packet Spots 
windows, sending and receiving spots via a Telnet connection to a packet 
cluster node.  All spots from the packet cluster appear both in the Bandmap 
and the Packet Spots window, but any spots made from our dedicated spotting 
station in the shack only show up in the Bandmap and never appear in the 
Packet Spots window.

Is there a way of getting these spots to show up in the Packet Spots window 
for the transmitting stations?  If not, then I'd propose a configuration 
parameter that will migrate any call added to the Bandmap into the Packet 
Spots window.  The problem with the Bandmap is that these spots are often 
outside of the narrow window it shows (yes, we could expand it but that 
causes other problems).  I finally started posting spots to the cluster 
before we'd actually worked stations, forcing them into the Packet Spots 
windows on the other stations.  This is OK for garden-variety DX, but I 
don't want to cause a pile-up on a rare station that we'd have to break 
through later.

During CQWW SSB we were using a 233 MHz Pentium with an FT847 as our 
spotting station.  When I tried spotting stations to the cluster I 
discovered that the last one to three letters of the call were frequently 
cut off and I had to manually type them into the spot before sending it.  
Occasionally I wouldn't see that this had happened and would hit Enter and 
post a busted spot.

The procedure I use to send a spot is to type, for example, "ON4UN" followed 
by Ctrl-T, followed by Enter to send the spot.  I don't hit Space or Tab 
after the callsign once I recognize that the call is a dupe.  The entire 
call is in the Call window, but what appears in the spot verification window 
is something like "DX 28424.5 ON4U".  I don't remember this happening when 
we used an FT1000MP with the same computer for spotting.  Has anyone else 
seen this or know how to avoid the problem?  I'd rather not hit Space or Tab 
since it shouldn't be necessary, but maybe that's related.

I also noticed that if I started to type a callsign immediately after moving 
the VFO dial then the first character or two would often be missing in the 
call window.  I'd see them displayed briefly, but they'd disappear, then the 
remainder of the call would show up.  I'm a relatively fast typist (60-70 
WPM) and rarely make typing mistakes so I am not used to checking that all 
the characters I type actually show up where I expect them to be.  I 
accidentally posted a spot for 3HIP, which should have been LU3HIP, because 
of this character-dropping.

What seemed to be happening is that the computer was catching up to the 
frequency information it was getting from the FT847 and somehow decided that 
the first few characters I entered were from a different frequency and 
should be cleared out first.  Is there a configuration parameter that will 
prevent this for what appears to be a slow interface?

My final packet spot question...  Is there a way of removing Bandmap entries 
and Packet Spots window entries from all computers on the network?  Because 
of the dropped characters on our spotting station we ended up with a lot of 
busted spots.  It is a big waste of time for the transmitting station 
operators to click on one of these, tune around to see if the station is 
there, and then have to remove the spots themselves.  This is also true of 
busted spots that come from the packet cluster which the spotting operator 
can identify as bogus.

I tried to find the answers to these questions in the manual, K9JY site, 
reflector archive, and Google, but couldn't locate them.

73,
-Mike, N7MH