Fw: [WriteLog] Writelog: My experience

Tue Nov 2 16:30:24 EST 2004

Sorry, Gary, misunderstood the nature of your post.
I do have Windows XP Home on my desktop hp 522a 1.7gHz machine, am 
considering moving WL on to that. It is a bit rf noisy compared to the 
laptop, however.
73
Barry

end
Barry Kirkwood PhD ZL1DD
Signal Hill Homestay
66 Cory Road
Palm Beach
Waiheke Island 1240
NEW ZEALAND
ph/fax 64-9-372-5161
www.waiheke.co.nz/signal.htm
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Garry Shapiro" <garry at ni6t.com>
To: "Barry Kirkwood" <bjk at ihug.co.nz>
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 9:05 PM
Subject: RE: [WriteLog] Writelog: My experience

> Barry:
>
> Transmit the details of your computer setup to the Reflector--not to
> me--accompanying your problem description. I can only help with problems
> that I have encountered and defeated.
>
> Win95 is a bit long in the tooth at this point--even the diehard
> pennypinchers are on Win98. For myself, having migrated to Windows after a
> decade as a Mac user (due to two factgors--my job and ham radio) my 
> opinion
> is that everything pre Win2K is somewhat buggy. In contrast, WinXP seems
> bulletproof. Its only downside, from a cash standpoint, is that it can 
> only
> be loaded on one computer. I suspect the first thing that you would be
> advised to do is to start from scratch with a clean hard disk and Win XP 
> (or
> at least Win2K, as both are NT-based, and much more robust than prior
> Windows OS's).
>
> Unless you start clean, you will never really know how to solve the 
> problem.
> It's a PITA, but--like your annual housecleaning--it's a damned good idea.
>
> Garry
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Barry Kirkwood [mailto:bjk at ihug.co.nz]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 12:43 PM
> To: Garry Shapiro
> Cc: John and Mary Powell
> Subject: Re: [WriteLog] Writelog: My experience
>
>
> Hello Garry,
> Thanks for the reply.
>
> I have taken the liberty of ccing this to ZL1BHQ who is not doing much
> better than me with Writelog.
>
> One problem is that as far as we know there is no cw contester in our
> immediate region using Writelog so we have no Elmer to coach us,
> unfortunately.
>
> So far as the cognitive ergonomics go, when I first got Writelog I printed
> out what I thought were relevant sections from the K9JY site. These were 
> put
> into a ring binder, and tips from the writelog reflector were added over 
> the
> years. I ended out with a crazy document with highlights, post it tags 
> etc.
> Difficult to use.
>
> Rather stupidly I did not return to the site until very recently. I find 
> it
> much better organised and following the "Writelog Lite" section was at 
> least
> able to get the F keys operating for the Oceania Contest and was very 
> happy
> until the programme refused to enter more than three digit q numbers. I 
> then
> made an error ( I assume) in closing the programme (or possibly in
> initialising the F functions) and to this day have not been able to make
> them work when I reopen the file for that contest.
>
> My system:
>
> Yaesu FT1000D, Yaesu FIF 232C interface, Toshiba Satellite 300CDS 
> computer.
> Intel Pentium (r)  running Win 98(second edition), 16mByte RAM, Generic 
> IDE
> Disc type 01, C Drive 775 mByte, 237 mByte free.
> This machine is dedicated to the radio, has no peripherals save an IBM
> Mouse. I plug in printer into USB as required.
>
> ZL1AIX who runs 300 computers at his plant says Win 2000 is more stable 
> that
> Win95 and am considering upgrade.
>
> If I am to persevere with Writelog I would like to get the programme on CD
> from the source as I want to remove any possibility that the programme has
> been corrupted in transmission. I am, however, reasonably persuaded that 
> my
> problems are operator error, my grizzle is that I experience the system as
> very unforgiving of operator error.
>
> I suppose everybody experiences frustration learning to operate a new
> programme. In my case I did do practice runs before the contest and
> everything seemed OK. Having things go wrong during the contest is a bit
> like having a process control device go down. I found trying to resolve my
> problems while time was going by a miserable experience, am having to ask
> myself why I bother. May give up on contesting and just go DXing and cw
> ragchewing.
>
> I would be happy enough to play at contests  keying and logging by hand, 
> but
> the rhythm of the interchanges has changed with  widespread automation and
> it does not feel the same. Up until the Oceania test last month I used WL 
> as
> a log and sent the interchanges by hand or memory keyer, which worked for 
> me
> but is not good value for $100US to a retired guy.
>
> 73 es tnx agn
>
> Barry
>
>
>
>
>
> end
> Barry Kirkwood PhD ZL1DD
> Signal Hill Homestay
> 66 Cory Road
> Palm Beach
> Waiheke Island 1240
> NEW ZEALAND
> ph/fax 64-9-372-5161
> www.waiheke.co.nz/signal.htm
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Garry Shapiro" <garry at ni6t.com>
> To: "Barry Kirkwood" <bjk at ihug.co.nz>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 7:19 PM
> Subject: RE: [WriteLog] Writelog: My experience
>
>
>> Barry:
>>
>> Wayne likes to have details of the computer setup you are using, without
>> which he cannot fathom oyour problem. Operating system,
>> motherboard/CPU/speed, hard disk, memory, peripherals, etc. I think you
>> will
>> agree that your other, considerable life skills do not enter into the
>> equation. :-)
>>
>> Garry, NI6T
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: writelog-bounces at contesting.com
>> [mailto:writelog-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Barry Kirkwood
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 4:06 AM
>> To: writelog at contesting.com
>> Subject: [WriteLog] Writelog: My experience
>>
>>
>> There is no question that Writelog is an excellent programme.
>>
>> I bought writelog after observing G3PJT use it at my place and beat out
>> the
>> only ZL super station in the Commonwealth Contest some years back.
>> Johnathon
>> W1CU also used it in CQWW cw last year in my shack with no problems.
>> I bought Writelog fair and square over three years back($70),  paid
>> another
>> $30 for an upgrade, and have also bought the Yaesu interface for my rig 
>> in
>> case my homebrew job was the problem.
>>
>> I have now tried to run Writelog in many contests and have never got the
>> programme to run properly. In my last effort (Oceania CW 2004) I finally
>> had
>> the basics running for the only sort of operation I am interested in
>> (single
>> op CW) with the bare minimum of functions and was delighted in its
>> functionality. Then I found that it refused to enter four digit QSO
>> numbers.
>> Tried to do a fix, gave up and saved the log while I took a break, opened
>> it
>> and found that the F keys were not functioning and to this day no matter
>> what I try the F keys cannot be revived for this log. Presumably I failed
>> to
>> do an earlier save settings operation and it now remembers a null and 
>> will
>> not change.
>>
>> I might mention that John ZL1BHQ has also had Writelog for over a year,
>> also
>> only wants it only for single op hf cw contesting and has yet to get the
>> system running properly.
>>
>> At this moment I have to look at the option of dumping Writelog for CT as
>> I
>> just cannot go on trying to work Writelog which has turned out to offer
>> more
>> frustration than it is worth. I did way better hand logging.
>>
>> I make no secret of the fact that I am no computer whiz, but I can use 
>> all
>> the other standard stuff on my computer with no undue difficulty and want
>> to
>> address the question: Why is it that I cannot run Writelog?
>>
>> Let me qualify myself : I am 68 years of age, was not socialised into
>> computers and for the latter part of my professional life I was able to
>> use
>> coolies to solve computing glitches. You could say that I have an analog
>> mind, love knobs dials and switches and dislike menus (except in
>> restaurants). The other side of the equation is that I have a PhD in in
>> Experimental Psychology and a reasonable range of applied technical 
>> skills
>> (RNZAF Wings, competent in celestial navigation, Certificated Yachtmaster
>> (Offshore), able to build houses, boats, cars, and so on,  with success).
>> I
>> am also a founder member of the NZ Ergonomics Society, sometime member of
>> the NZ Institution of Professional Engineers and have over 100
>> publications
>> in refereed journals.
>>
>> So this is the guts of my evaluation: Writelog is an excellent piece of
>> work
>> as a programme, but the job is less than half done in that what
>> documentation there is is scattered over a number of sites and has been
>> put
>> together by talented amateurs. But the fact remains that what I have paid
>> for does not hack it. Instruction manuals, help programmes etc are a
>> critical part of even relatively primitive devices and Writelog is
>> pathetic
>> in this respect. About 0.5 out of 10 in my opinion.
>>
>> While many users may enjoy the puzzle solving, from my point of view, the
>> very modest range of functions that
>> I need to understand are buried under the noise of a huge mass of
>> operations
>> (wave files, digital modes etc) that I have no interest in or need for.
>> There are no diagnostic systems, so problems must be solved by trial or
>> error or tapping the Writelog reflector.
>>
>> Goodness knows I have tried, and have spent by my estimation over 20 
>> hours
>> trying to get the thing to run for every hour I have had it on the air.
>> Only
>> once have I had it as anything more than an automated log. Maybe the
>> problem
>> is me, but the question remains, how come I can run all the other 
>> software
>> around here but not Writelog?
>>
>> 73
>>
>> Barry ZL1DD
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> end
>> Barry Kirkwood PhD ZL1DD
>> Signal Hill Homestay
>> 66 Cory Road
>> Palm Beach
>> Waiheke Island 1240
>> NEW ZEALAND
>> ph/fax 64-9-372-5161
>> www.waiheke.co.nz/signal.htm
>> _______________________________________________
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>> WriteLog at contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/writelog
>> WriteLog on the web:  http://www.writelog.com/
>>
>>
>
>
> 