[WT-support] STRANGE HAPPENINGS

Don Beattie don at g3bj.com
Mon Jul 13 22:09:36 CEST 2015


Thanks Bob – as you say complex.

 

But what I find surprising is that despite the primary rig being set to CW, WT said it was on SSB, and this seemed to be the start of the problems. I am assuming (but don’t know for sure) that the reason the “Insert” did not work fully was that the program thought it was dealing with SSB. But the one thing that surprised me is that the program did not read the mode of the primary radio – would I be right in suspecting that it is meant to? I know when I change modes on the rig, WT follows. So how did it manage to confuse itself to believe that the rig was on SSB? I would have thought (with the benefit of zero understanding of the software!) that a relatively simple fix would be to make sure the rig mode is regularly read!

 

Thanks for the QSO, by the way, Bob, in the contest.

 

73

 

Don, G3BJ / G5W

 

www.g3bj.com

 

From: support-bounces at f5mzn.org [mailto:support-bounces at f5mzn.org] On Behalf Of Bob Wilson, N6TV
Sent: 13 July 2015 19:41
To: Win-Test Reflector
Subject: Re: [WT-support] STRANGE HAPPENINGS

 

Mixed Mode Advanced SO2R mode is a complex thing to automate, and it's just not handled very well by Win-Test, especially if one radio is on Phone and the second is on CW, and you are swapping [ * ] or changing modes by clicking on spots.  If you're using ESM mode, things become even more complicated, because there's one set of messages for Run Mode and a second set of messages for S&P mode, and you could have Primary Radio in Run Mode and Secondary Radio in S&P mode, or vice versa.

 

Primary or Secondary Radio, Run Mode or S&P, Phone or CW messages, Phone or CW scenario in control, Latch mode on or off ... is that 32 possible permutations?

 

The Advanced SO2R design of Win-Test uses one set of scenarios on Phone, and a separate set on CW.  They are independently programmed.  You can see only one at a time.  I think the mode of the Primary radio controls which one is used.  Clicking on a spot may change the mode and scenario.  I gave each scenario a unique name, but it wasn't clear to me when it would switch the scenario name displayed at the top of the Secondary Radio window.

 

Primary and Secondary radio messages are programmed for each scenario.  On all Phone scenarios, the Insert and Plus key messages are grayed out, because there is no way for Win-Test to send $LOGGEDCALL or $CORRECT on Phone,  So on phone, when you press Insert, Win-Test sends the F2 message (exchange), and when you press Plus, Win-Test sends the F3 message.

 

So my guess is that when the Primary Radio is on Phone, and the second on CW, and the Phone Advanced Scenario is active or quickly selected by clicking on a spot, Win-Test may use the Phone Advanced scenario, and always send F2 instead of the Insert message, so no callsign would be sent.

 

You might be able to work around this on CW by reprogramming Insert as F2, and put $LOGGEDCALL in the F2 message.  But then you wouldn't have an easy way to just resend the exchange alone.

 

It's not as simple to fix as simply using the scenario of the active radio.  A scenario can use $TR1 or $TR2 to send a message on the opposite radio.  If that radio is on a different mode, which scenario message should it use to complete the action?

 

In sum, if you want to use Win-Test SO2R in a Mixed Mode contest with Advanced Scenarios, just keep both rigs on the same mode.

 

73,

Bob, N6TV

 

On Sun, Jul 12, 2015 at 5:25 AM, Don Beattie <don at g3bj.com <mailto:don at g3bj.com> > wrote:

After many years of faultless operation with Win-Test, the IARU Contest showed a very strange fault. Let me describe it.

 

I was running 2 x FT5000 in SO2R, using a Microham u2R controller. This is the same arrangement that I have used for yours without any issues.

 

On several occasions the following fault would develop when on CW. Win-Test would start by losing the full CW message on the insert key. It would still send 599 + zone when pressing the insert key, but the call sign was not linked to it. So I would finish the QSO manually, and log it. On pressing <enter> to log the QSO , Win-Test changed the next logging line to SSB! I could not change it back to CW, even though the rig was set to CW, and I was still able to key it manually. The only cure I found was to change bands on the rig (eg from 15m to 20 then back to 15m) and Win-Test would then return to CW. 

 

I tried to work out what the environment was when this happened ( it happened about 6 times in the contest this weekend). The only common factor was that just before the fault, I had been bringing spots down from the band map into the second rig – on SSB – by clicking on the spot, and so moving the second FT5000’s “A” VFO. I had also been switching the active radio using the “*” key and switching the latch on the u2R. So I think there is something happening when making adjustments to the second transceiver, which seems to upset the first one.

 

Has this been seen before? If so, is there something I can do about it? I don’t often take part in multi-mode contests, so have not noticed this before. I’m using 4.17, - ie the latest release.  

 

73

 

Don, G3BJ / G5W

 

www.g3bj.com <http://www.g3bj.com> 

 


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