[WriteLog] Network disconnects cause delayed keyboard response

[Mike Heideman]

When several computers are networked with WriteLog the removal of one or more of the computers from the network often causes delayed responses from the keyboard on one of the other computers on the network.  These delays may be as long as 5 to 10 seconds and initially it appears that the keys are not working, until suddenly a transmission occurs at an inopportune time several seconds later.  By then the operator has hit several keys so multiple messages may be strung together and the ESC-key has a similarly delayed response in killing the transmission.

Initially I thought this had something to do with getting large numbers of packet spots from RBN but it occurred during the Sept. CW Sprint when I was doing SO2R with two computers and no packet connection.  One of the computers popped up the dreaded Switch or Retry dialog box that I've never been able to recover from without killing WriteLog.  Since I was busy on the other radio I'd logged several QSOs before I was able to open Task Manager and kill WriteLog on the other computer.  In the meantime I was beginning to observe keying delays on the WriteLog instance that hadn't been killed.  After reconnecting the network the delays increased on the one computer until finally I had to exit and restart WL on it, which eliminated the delayed response issue.

I operated CQWW SSB using two-computer SO2R, again with no packet.  During the contest my second WriteLog instance was shut down at least 4 times temporarily while another club member arrived to work DX in the contest.  They each started their own WL log on the other computer and each time they left I restarted and networked my log on that computer.  I was not using any recorded messages due to new equipment and cabling with which I was unfamiliar.  I experienced delays on the main computer in logging QSOs and in callsigns being displayed in the entry window after reconnecting the second computer.  Exiting and restarting WL resolved the issue.

This past weekend in SS Phone I'd set up 3 computers for our multi-op effort.  We used two of the computers for much of the contest but the third computer was only active for about 20 minutes as a spotting computer.  After taking a 6-hour overnight break I discovered that one of the two computers had long-delayed keyboard responses, as much as 10 seconds between hitting a function key and transmitting of the recorded message.  I restarted WL on that computer which resolved the problem.  Later we discovered that the third computer had performed an automated Windows Update overnight which had restarted Windows and terminated the WL session on it.  The monitor had gone into screensaver mode so we hadn't noticed.

This network disconnection issue was also the likely cause of keying delays that were experienced at P40L in last year's CQWW CW.  We had 4 networked computers and encountered some networking issues that caused one or more of the computers to be temporarily disconnected from the network.  When we began experiencing the keyboard delays we restarted that WL instance but the network instability caused them to recur.  Thanks to the efforts of Ed/W0YK and Lissandro/P43L, who was called in to help, the network was rewired and our WL configuration was changed to use fixed IPs.  While the network was down for 3.5 hours we had only a single logging computer.  The distraction caused by the rewiring and the loss of the mult station for that time period appear to have cost us a couple hundred Q's and 10 or more mults, comparing to surrounding hours and the previous day.  This may have been the difference between our finishing 2nd and 3rd worldwide in M/S.

If the network disconnects didn't cause keyboard delays then the network rewiring would most likely not have been necessary.  Having to restart WL to resolve the keyboard delays causes other problems.  Each restart adds another packet window because the previous one isn't terminated when exiting from WL.  During the restart in Aruba the first selection in the Recent Contests list was our pre-contest practice which was accidentally selected, adding several hundred QSOs to our networked contest log that needed to be immediately removed since the practice log included many mults on the low bands that we hadn't yet worked in the actual contest.

During SS Phone I had set up the "Last One Wins" lockout on the two main computers.  After restarting because of the delay issue I had to reselect the lockout and discovered that the lockout was only working in one direction - the other computer could interrupt the restarted WL, but keying the restarted WL would cause simultaneous transmission if the other computer was already transmitting.

My recollection in the most recent cases is that the computer with the delayed keying is the one that is chosen in the "Link to Network" dialog from the computer that is ultimately disconnected from the network.  Choosing to "Disconnect from Network" before shutting down WL appears to prevent the delayed keying issue but in several of the cases I described this was not possible.

73,
-Mike, N7MH