[WriteLog] Serial Numbers with networked PCs

[W. Wright, W5XD]

The information on this thread is not quite accurate. WriteLog
does not ignore networked stations when assigning serial numbers.
But it only takes into account Q's that have already been logged
when it makes the assignment--not any that might be in progress.

The "complexity" isn't really so much an issue as the impossibility.
There is no way to make all four of these statements true, no matter
what logging software you use (or even if you log on paper):
1. Multiple QSOs are in progress at a time.
2. Once a QSO is started and assigned a serial number, it can be aborted
without being logged.
3. The sequence of QSOs that make it into the log has no gaps in serial
number
4. The sequence of QSOs that make it into the log has no duplicates.

I won't dispute the claim that some have made that WL could do a "better"
job of assigning serial numbers, although no one has convinced me of one.
But I will dispute the claim that some have made that there is a "correct"
way, as all such claims that I have seen are based on the assumption that
it is possible to make the log look like (3) and (4) without removing
the possibility of (1) and/or (2).

I have always been of the opinion that the simplest rule to prevent
SO2R operation is to require all submitted logs to look like (3) and (4).
It remains possible to operate SO2R under that constraint, but it takes away
a lot of its advantage. If you added in a 2 or 3 QSO penalty for failing to
comply with (3) and (4) I suspect there would be nobody left that could
accomplish SO2R to any advantage at all.

Wayne, W5XD

>
> Way too much complexity for a non-existent problem.  Contests that require
a
> serial number exchange DO NOT require the numbers to be sequential across
> the run and mult stations.  As long as you give a number and the other
> station copies it, its good in the log!  If you want to know how many
total
> contacts have been logged by both the run and mult stations I might
suggest
> the following:  Q's on run + Q's on mult = Total Q's.  Problem solved!
>