[WT-support] Software review and advanced SO2R mode

[Simon Pearson, M0CLW]

Hi guys,

Pete N4ZR wrote:
>>I am now writing a review of Win-Test for the US National 
>>Contest Journal (NCJ).  I have the software fully operational 
>>on my SO2R setup, and am able to understand most aspects of 
>>it pretty well, but I would be glad to hear from users as to 
>>what they find the biggest strong points of the software (as 
>>well as any deficiencies that you feel need improvement).

Excellent that you are writing a review on Win-Test for inclusion in 
NCJ. I personally am usually a member at the G6PZ multi-op team and 
we have recently switched from WriteLog to Win-Test.

Philippe, F6IFY, noted a lot of Win-Test's strong points. I'd like 
to comment too:

> + The strong point is the support: Olivier and Larry are very active on this
> list.

Yes, indeed. Larry is a truly great guy, and his support is second 
to none. Many a time have I emailed Larry to ask him a question and 
within the hour I've had a response. Often much sooner. Replies to 
this mailing list are just as fast.

We (@ G6PZ) had a slight 'glitch' in Russian DX and Win-Test but 
Larry telephoned me and had the glitch fixed within 10 minutes. Talk 
about support! :-)

> + Stability. No crash experienced for a long time.

Indeed, stability is fantastic in Win-Test. Not one crash during a 
48 hour contest period. There's probably more chance of Windoze 
crashing than there is Win-Test crashing ;-)

But, seriously, the developers have written Win-Test from the ground 
up with stability as a key factor. That's great news.

> + No need of a monster PC (4GHz with TB of memory)

Yep, a 1GHz Athlon with 256MB of RAM is *plentiful* to run Win-Test. 
So there could still be life for your old Pentium...

Because of Win-Test's very low resource consumption, you can usually 
get away with running other applications in the background... a 
propagation prediction program, for example.

Not once have I heard 'stuttering' from Win-Test's inbuilt CW keyer.

> + Direct access to Hamcap (VE3NEA)

A bonus. Greyline map display, solar indicies displayed on-screen, 
etc. Lots of 'tools to [help you] win'.

> + Support of my multikeyer MK1100 (W5XD)  

And various other SO2R devices - with full 'advanced so2r' 
functionality when coupled with the EZmaster...

> + networking is really stable (IP) and easy to set.

Win-Test utilises the CT way of networking whereby there is no 
'central' server (as with WriteLog). Instead, data is simply 
broadcasted network-wide using UDP. This makes it very easy to setup 
the networking in Win-Test... You simply have to specify a broadcast 
address, which is dead simple.

If you have a network with IP range 192.168.0.x and the subnet 
255.255.255.0, the address you specify in the configuration window 
within Win-Test is 192.168.0.255. If you had the range 10.0.x.x with 
the subnet 255.255.0.0, the broadcast address would be 10.0.255.255.

Now, Philippe mentions in his email that there is a distinct 
disadvantage with using the broadcast method for networking:

> - M/M/M synchronisation on the fly need improvement (maybe with a central
> repository).

Indeed, there is currently no on-the-fly log synchronisation, purely 
because of the way Win-Test broadcasts data over the network. 
Unfortunately many people are now used to having log synchronisation 
as this is how WriteLog behaves. However, Win-Test simply follows in 
the footsteps of CT.

Log synchronisation is an area of Win-Test that needs to be looked 
into, but in the meantime the arguments against the need for log 
synching are as follows:
* Win-Test is very reliable (as already discussed)
* Should Win-Test crash during a contest, there are various ways to
   overcome to the lack of synchronisation - on-the-fly log merging,
   or copying the log from a computer on the network which is known
   to have a full/complete log etc. Not ideal, but possible
* The Win-Test developers have used the application in a multi-op
   environment many times @ FY5KE with no problems. Five PC's, all
   with Win-Test, in a "field-day" style shack (where there could
   be a potential for RF getting into PC equipment etc)...

However, what I can say is that Olivier and Larry are both working 
on a method of synchronising logs between machines. It's just 
finding the correct/best method of synching the data between the 
PC's on the network. Having a central 'server' is probably easier 
from a coding point of view, but further issues could be encountered:
* what would happen if the central server had a power supply
   failure in the PC? All other networked computers would also have
   to go QRT
* what would happen if the central server's log got corrupted
   somehow... all other stations would have to go QRT

etc...

Anyway the important info is that I am told log synchronisation will 
be introduced in the next major release of Win-Test (version 3).

> + CT (K1EA) look and feel.

Key assignments remain the same as CT, too, which makes it very easy 
for a user of CT to become accustomed with the key assignments 
within Win-Test. Indeed, a user of just about any contest logging 
program should be up to speed in Win-Test after a very short period 
of time.

Text commands are supported in the callsign entry field, which helps 
a lot in the 'heat of the moment' when you just do not have the time 
to grab the mouse to access a menu option.

> - I hope RTTY support one day, it is for my point of view what is missing in
> Wintest.

RTTY support will come with time, I'm sure. However, the developers 
are concentrating on making Win-Test a kick-ass CW/SSB contest 
logging program at the moment. And I'm pleased that is the case. :-)

> - The online doc, often not up to date.

The documentation is somewhat lacking at the moment Philippe, I 
agree. And it's a little out of date now (no mention of SO2R 
functionality etc in the docs).

The good news is that new updated documentation is on its way. I've 
offered to work with Larry on writing new documentation for 
Win-Test, or indeed building on the existing docs. At the moment I 
just don't have to time due to my college commitment, but I finish 
early June and will commence the documentation writing then.

Finally, the money generated from the sale of Win-Test does not find 
its way into the back pocket of the developers - instead, it goes 
towards the FY5KE fund.

CU in WPX CW (@ G6PZ), M/S HP as always. I'll be @ G6PZ this coming 
weekend for an International Marconi Day special event - will be 
using the call GB6MD. And we plan to use Win-Test for logging in 
that too :-)

Enjoy Win-Test!

73,

-- 
Simon Pearson, M0CLW
* CDXC * WWYC * UKYC