[WT-support] VK9DNX / Win-Test in DXpedition Mode

[Laurent HAAS - F6FVY]

Hi Chris

Christian Janssen a écrit :

> during the VK9DNX DXpedition we made 61.590 QSOs in CW, SSB and
> RTTY. All logged with WinTest Ver. 3.7.0 in DXpedition mode. Following
> bugs and hints:

Tnx for your very complete report. And congrats for your expedition.

I will try to answer to some of them I'm involved in (or not ;-) ).

> 1. wtDXTelnet 2.1 has a problem with memory allocation. After some days
> running non-stop it allocated several hundred megabytes and still got
> more (after 72 hours about 420 Mb). After one notebook had a HDD crash 
> (probably caused by wtDXTelnet) we restarted wtDXTelnet every two or 
> three days. The notebook with the crash run again without any problems 
> after wtDXTelnet wasn't started there anymore.

Interesting. We will have to track down this memory leak...

> 2. Log synchronisation: Worked, but changes are only synchronized on
> computers which are in the netwerk when the change happens.

It is a known limitation, and that is also why the "merge" function is 
still useful in such cases.

> 3. When a station with /M, /P or /QRP was logged searching again for
> that station the extension isn't shown in the check partial.

AFAIK, it is fixed in the very last version. Olivier noted that during 
the last French championship and we updated it.

> 4. "Self-spotting-feature": After the DXpedition we found the Win-Test 
> reset after a "self-spot" as a kind of paternalism. It is really 
> annoying when all computers had to be restarted after spotting 
> ourselves. I don't know what the background for this feature is or was 
> but everybody should decide on his own whether to spot himself or not.

IMHO : We can think abt disabling this "feature" for DXPeds, but I'm 
personnally in favor to keep it for contesting.

> 5. Scenario: You typed in a callsign, answer him with "Insert", he comes 
> back with the correct callsign, you edit it and send TU with the +-key, 
> but the station hasn't already finished. You press ESC. Then again you 
> press the +-key, but the corrected call isn't sent any more.

Noted.

> 6. It happened that after 30k QSOs CW keying with LPT became nearly 
> impossible. Maybe a problem with the port driver under Windows XP. One 
> member never had that problem at home with Windows 98.
> Keying with COM or via the microham USB interface was never a problem.

Needs investigation ! Tnx for report.

> 8. Rate Window: Adding the QSOs for the last 24 hours.
> 
> 9. The rate sheet only shows max. 4 days. All after that is blowing in 
> the wind. Better would be (if not more than 4 days possible) the last 4 
> days or scrolling through the days.

Actually, it is pretty difficult to deal with all sorts of DXPeds. Some 
of them are short (few days), some others are longer (one week) or even 
longer (several weeks). Not to mention the usage of commemorative 
callsigns for a week-end etc. I know several DXPeditionners who found an 
elegant way to solve this issue : They import everyday (or so) their log 
in a general logger. It even allows to get all the stats they need on 
various periods *and* it also save their log in case of disaster !

> 10. Show the dupes also in DXpedition-Mode. Maybe switchable (with 
> Dupes/without Dupes).

Noted. Even if it adds one more option ;-)  ("There are too many 
options" - Quote from "Love profusion" lyrics - (C) Madonna)

> 11. Scenario: Working in CW (without a paddle). You get a suffix out of
> the pile-up. You have a look at the Check-Partial and see the callsign.
> You add the rest of the callsign. You want to start to send, but the
> station sends again its callsign. So you loose time. Better: Grabbing
> the callsign with a mouse-click (like in RTTY).

Mmmhhh... It was supposed to work (Dbl-click) ? I will re-check that. A 
simple click can't be used because it is the way you select a window to 
bring it to the front.

> 12. A small info field according the band with information about band
> edges and NCDXF beacon frequencies.

You may use the .xdt files perhaps, with virtual callsigns 'BANDEDGES' ? 
Noted.

> 13. Is there a way to go to the menu bar with the keyboard?

No, but most of the usual commands have shortcuts. And we are lacking 
free keys ;-)

(snip)

> 15. With 8 operators there is a wish for user profiles for each
> operator. These profiles contain things like
> - language of WT
> - positions of the windows
> - sepearate texts for CW, RTTY, low bands, high bands
> The profiles should be available on each computer in the WT network.

In our mind since a long time. Requires a major development...

> Besides that everybody was amazed who easy to use Win-Test. We had a 
> great time there. Hope to get some topics fixed to be prepared for the 
> next one.

Rest a bit, and good luck for the next one !

73

Larry - F6FVY