[WriteLog] digirite issues during the WW

Ken K6MR k6mr at outlook.com
Sun Sep 1 22:19:31 EDT 2019


Certainly good to know the problem with working stations wasn’t just me.  I was beginning to wonder.  I gave up Saturday evening out of frustration.  I’m running the Meinberg NTP suite and I looked at it just to be sure and all seemed well.  My other thought was that perhaps people had their bandwidth cranked down and could only hear those on their freq.  I tried moving/not moving but no difference.  And I know AA3B knows how to do things so him not hearing me was the end of the night.



I found using the keyboard was much more effective for me.  My script leaves the mouse in the CQs heard window and two F keys are used for left or right click.  Arrow up/down to move in the list, left/right to move between windows.



The left/right click is good but I was not sure it was working since it doesn’t move the TX indicator on the band map.  The RX moves and I guess I figured the TX should also.  The radio VFOs were changing on big moves so I guess it was working.



As an experiment it was ok.  I’m still deciding on future events.



Ken K6MR



________________________________
From: Ed Muns <ed at w0yk.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 1, 2019 6:35:02 PM
To: 'Ken K6MR' <k6mr at outlook.com>; 'Jeff Stai' <wk6i.jeff at gmail.com>; 'Writelog Reflector' <writelog at contesting.com>
Subject: RE: [WriteLog] digirite issues during the WW

Ken, I had the same problem (strong, clear signals weren't decoding me) and
it was apparent from the start.  It got worse as the contest proceeded,
until early this morning I was not able to work anybody.  If it were the
occasional station, that's one thing, but when it is 95% of stations, all of
which are stronger than -5 SNR at my QTH, AND everyone else is working them,
AND when everyone has finished working them I still can't be decoded,
something is definitely wrong on my side.

I haven't figured out what it is, but my current hypothesis is messed up
clock sync.  DigiRite showed DTs ranging from 0 to 0.9 with most above 0.5
and FT4 is even more sensitive to DT than FT8.  I haven't noticed this
problem in the past, and one of the PCs I used yesterday is one I've used
with WSJT-X in the past.

I prefer keyboarding to mousing as well, and do so for the most part with
RttyRite.  But, DigiRite is more complex, so I've started out with mice.
Fortunately, I've trained both hands to mouse, or trackball, over the past
20 years, so its doable SO2R.

Well, this FTn stuff is definitely different, that's for sure.  Yes, it's
challenging and changing our prior idea of "radio".  Just like cell phones,
tablets, PCs, social media, etc. in everyday life.

Ed W0YK

-----Original Message-----
From: WriteLog <writelog-bounces at contesting.com> On Behalf Of Ken K6MR
Sent: 01 September, 2019 13:41
To: Jeff Stai <wk6i.jeff at gmail.com>; Writelog Reflector
<writelog at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [WriteLog] digirite issues during the WW

I don't normally use WriteLog, but Wayne's implementation is definitely
better than the others out there.



I have never been able to use a mouse for anything in a contest, so I wrote
a AutoHotKey script to use F keys to control the various check boxes and
clicks.  Generally pleased with the operation of DigiRite, though still a
few rough edges.



Now if I could figure out why so many stations would never respond to me I'd
be a bit happier.  When I could not work AA3B on 80m I figured something was
not working.  I'm not sure I'm enamored enough with WSJT whatever to try and
fix it.  It just does not seem like real radio.  Maybe I'm just too old.



Ken K6MR



________________________________
From: WriteLog <writelog-bounces at contesting.com> on behalf of Jeff Stai
<wk6i.jeff at gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 1, 2019 1:23:55 PM
To: Writelog Reflector <writelog at contesting.com>; Wayne
<support at writelog.com>
Subject: [WriteLog] digirite issues during the WW

Observations and suggestions. Overall a heck of a nice piece of code and I
very much preferred it over using WSJT-x.

1. Check boxes unchecking. At various times - when re-sending - the check
boxes for the QSOs in progress, Calculated next, and/or the Automatically
Transmit Next would simply uncheck. One example would be answering a CQ,
then not seeing a CQ for a couple cycles, then seeing the CQ but whoops the
box is not checked so I don't get my answer sent in the next cycle.

Another case was I was calling CQ and saw a multiplier pop up in the CQ
window. I quickly clicked on the call and Automatically Transmit Next was
unchecked and I missed responding. And more than once I saw the call get
unchecked in QSOs in progress after just one or two resends.

In none of these cases and others was I anywhere close to the 5 minute
inactivity timeout. Maybe 2 or 3 minutes at the most.

2. Scrolling in the CQ windows needs to be more "RTTYrite-like" and not
jumping around while populating. Trying to click on a moving target
resulted in some erroneous calls and lost Qs. Ditto the Messages to me
window (I operated with Auto respond unchecked.) I gather some sort of
prioritization is going on? But I prefer to choose who to contact next.

3. Calculated next - often was blank but the right next message was chosen
and sent anyway.

4. Sometimes I would see the expected message in the conversation window
but a repeat was sent as if the message hadn't been recognized.

5. "Starting a QSO by answering a CQ message is the only way that DigiRite
puts its QSO's transmit frequency on the other station's RX frequency."
Someone needs to explain why this is desirable.

Over in the WSJT groups I see that it is considered poor practice to
transmit on the RX frequency - which I can see because someone could
already be using the other cycle. Usually I have gone to the trouble of
finding a clear place and I'd like to stay there. And if I am CQing and I
see a multiplier appear I want to be able to snag it and keep in my clear
spot.

I'd prefer to see a "Hold TX" like on WSJT-x so I keep my place no matter
what, or maybe let's just not do this?

6. I was amazed at seeing so many strong signals in the Transceive window
but seeing so few decodes as a result. Not sure what to make of that...

7. I'll echo the request I saw elsewhere for being able to do the longer
sequence with signal report when the other op expects it. I found I was
able to click and choose the alt message if I was quick but I had to be
right there after seeing the decode in the conversation window.  I see this
as analogous to a RTTY op getting conversational on you in a contest. It's
just polite practice, even if you'd rather not... :)

8. I wish I had taken a screen shot of this, but last night I was noticing
some weirdness in the number of points per QSO. Stuff like an N5 being 5
points while a CE is 3 points. Also my score was like 4000 something. I
made a mental note the check on it later.

This morning after I made my Cabrillo I went to do my 3830 post. That's
when I noticed my score was now 2000 something and my points now appeared
correct. I don't know when this change happened and I'm reasonably certain
I wasn't on drugs.

Thanks! jeff wk6i

--
Jeff Stai ~ WK6I ~ wk6i.jeff at gmail.com
RTTY op at W7RN
Twisted Oak Winery ~ http://www.twistedoak.com/
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