[WT-support] WPX S/N bug

[Tõnno Vähk]

Why does it force RUN op to stop? Not at all. The S&P op waits till he sees the RUN op enter QSO and he presses Enter then. RUN op does not have to do anything.

I agree it might be possible to hold number when sth is entered to the call field but this changes the concept of sequential QSO numbers A LOT. In my case I imagine S&P op/station enters at least 10 (possible hundreds of) times more calls/fragments to the call field than it makes actual QSOs. Having a number blocked for each one of those entries will boost the QSO numbers to tens of thousands and completely distort the picture. Also, if you use number blocked later then the sequence will be messed up.

I have felt uncomfortable with the idea of seriously messing up the number sequence. To have a very liberal view on it and taking into account that number just have to match but they don't have to be in the right sequence at all or they can repeat then why not just give 001 to everyone?:)

73
tonno

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom W8JI [mailto:w8ji at w8ji.com] 
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 4:17 AM
To: Tõnno Vähk; support at win-test.com; n2ic at arrl.net
Subject: Re: [WT-support] WPX S/N bug

We do it by just giving the next number and waiting for the 
run station to enter QSO and enter yours then. $NEXTSERIAL 
command was created for that also and works great. Also when 
the 2nd station has eye contact to RUN station monitor and 
he sees the callsign line empty he can give current number 
and just enter the QSO reserving the number by doing that 
immediately. You can always go and correct the number sent 
or callsign after that.>>

That's what we tried doing, but it forces the run operator 
to stop.

<<It is not 100% neat way but I also find it might be 
confusing to have number blocked. How and when? There cannot 
be one single and simple rule. It cannot be based on writing 
sth on the callsign field so it can only be based on sending 
your call (S&P) or then Exchange (RUN) but sending call will 
not necessarily result in QSO?! Also in SSB when MIC is used 
there is no way to reserve at all. So why just not enter 
something if you want to reserve if a manual action is 
necessary anyhow?>>

All it needs to do is hold the number when something is 
entered in the call field. It does not matter of a number is 
lost, skipped, or duplicated so long as the logs match at 
each end of the QSO. The only problem is when the logs do 
not match at each end of the QSO.

I would think if it holds the number upon a partial or full 
callsign entry it would be OK. Surely there is a way to roll 
the other stations number up over the network. If one gets 
unused, not a problem at all.

73 Tom