[WriteLog] CW stuttering & Windows

[Dave Hachadorian]

I used a laptop on Field Day, and had the same type of 
problem. Then I noticed down in the system tray that the 
Wireless unit was trying to connect to something. It turns 
out that a neighbor near the FD site had an unsecured 
network, and my laptop was busily checking it out! Disabling 
the wireless radio by right-clicking that icon in the system 
tray completely solved the problem.

Dave Hachadorian, K6LL
Yuma, AZ



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary AL9A" <al9a at mtaonline.net>
To: "Writelog" <writelog at contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2009 9:18 PM
Subject: [WriteLog] CW stuttering & Windows


> While working the NAQP CW contest yesterday I noticed 
> several occurrences of
> stuttering in my cw signal.  I've experienced this before, 
> as have others,
> and the problem stems from Windows applications running in 
> the background
> making some call at exactly the wrong time.  However, it 
> seemed to me that
> these events happened much more frequently than I ever 
> noticed before and
> was puzzled as to the reason. It wasn't until after the 
> contest that I
> figured out the cause - good ole pilot error again!
>
> I usually try to shut down as many things as I can without 
> seriously
> disrupting Windows before a contest.  I turn off sounds, 
> turn off Windows
> automatic updates, turn off McAfee automatic updates, etc. 
> Yesterday in the
> rush to get on the air I forgot to turn off the Windows 
> Sidebar gadgets that
> usually run on my desktop.  When I started up WL the Band 
> Map opened
> directly on top of the open gadgets and hid them from 
> view.  I suspect that
> many of my cw glitches were caused by one of the gadgets 
> making a call to
> the internet to update some info at just the time I was 
> sending.  I didn't
> realize this until the contest was over and I closed WL 
> and noticed the
> gadget applications still up and running.  Guess I'd 
> better make a check
> list for future reference!
>
> 73,
> Gary AL9A
>
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