I'm new to RTTY.... It seems that it is important to state whether you
are running or S&P. That said, I bet Ed searches rarely <grin>. Last
in priority seems very useful when S&P. Once the running station calls
QRZ, I want to grab that call and make a contact. The other calls are
just noise. N1MM lets you choose either priority to fit the situation.
I'm not seeing the usefulness of stacking for S&P, but see great value
for running.
Rich
NU6T
On 2/15/2011 3:38 AM, Ed Muns wrote:
> Gary, AL9A, describes below one way to accelerate QSOs when you have more
> than one call sign available, either from a pileup, or from a tail-ender.
> This method is the way I used to do it up until a year ago. For me the
> "gymnastics" with this prior method were pretty severe, especially with two
> strong runs going on SO2R.
>
> The far better method is to use "call sign stacking" and N1MM Logger led the
> way with this functionality the past few years. WriteLog has had a call
> sign stack but it was almost as hard to use as Gary's description below, so
> none of us did it that way, AFAIK. In the past year, WriteLog has enhanced
> its call sign stacking feature so that now it is extremely efficient and I
> use it almost every QSO. I don't always just pounce on the first call sign
> that prints with the Insert function any more. Instead I left-click the
> first call sign into the Entry Window, then wait a partial second to see if
> any other calls might, and do, come through. They get stacked as I'll
> describe later. If things get hairy on SO2R or SO3R, then I revert to the
> Insert function to keep the juggling going.
>
> An important benefit of call stacking for me is the ability to control the
> order in which I work stations. I've always hated the common logger
> behavior of grabbing the last call sign in the pileup rather than the first
> one. That is exactly backwards from the pileup behavior you want to
> encourage--you want short calls, not long ones and repeated calls that
> extend the pileup and QRM your ability to respond to someone. Plus, I think
> it is rude to not give priority to the first station who gets through. With
> call stacking I click the first call in the Entry Window (instead of using
> Insert) and then click the next calls into the stack in the order they
> print. N1MM Logger used to then pop calls out of the stack in the reverse
> order, that is last one in, first one out which is just plain wrong. Rick
> fixed this a year or so ago by allowing the operator to choose whether the
> stack is first in, first out or last in, first out. Please configure your
> N1MM stack for first in, first out and push calls onto the stack in time
> order of appearance.
>
> In WriteLog, the stack has always been first in, first out as (I believe) is
> the only way it should be. What has improved this past year is the
> extremely efficient way that calls are pushed onto the stack, eliminating
> "gymnastics". First, Wayne added PUSHCALL to the menu of the right-click
> function of Rttyrite. You right-click a call sign and a menu pops up giving
> you seven choices. The default WriteLog configuration has PUSHCALL as the
> first menu item which annoyed Don, AA5AU, because he likes to use the SENDF3
> menu item which used to be the first one before PUSHCALL was added. Now,
> Don had to be distracted to move the mouse cursor down the list to the
> second item. That prompted a second enhancement where a new writelog.ini
> section was added so the user could select the order of menu items. Once
> that was in place I suggested that if one configured this menu to have only
> one item rather than all seven, how about the right-click simply executing
> that menu item immediately, to eliminate the second mouse click. This was
> added to 10.84c which Wayne sent out literally hours before WPX RTTY began
> last Friday. I immediately updated all my computers with that Beta
> release, played with the feature and decided to go for it in the contest.
> This is counter to my strong belief that one should never change any
> components in their setup at the last minute, especially logging software
> and especially Beta logging software. But the temptation was too great to
> have this feature which really polishes off the capability in WriteLog.
>
> So now, I left-click the first call into the Entry Window and right-click
> subsequent calls into the stack. Also, I right-click any tail-enders into
> the stack. There were some brilliant tail-enders this past weekend who
> dropped their call in just once with perfect timing at the end of the
> exchange I was receiving from the station being worked. I right-clicked
> their call and then hit the Fn key with my "TU %C, NOW%L" key, followed by
> my normal Run Exchange key (either the Fn key or just Insert, since the
> stack pops a call sign into the Entry Window when the first station is
> logged with '%L').
>
> The other thing I do in WriteLog is define two keys as PUSH CALL and POP
> CALL which allows me to manipulate the stack. Repetitive cycles of PUSH
> CALL, POP CALL effectively circulate the stack through the Entry Window
> allowing you to get the call sign you want if things get out of order. Or,
> as sometimes happens, the first call sign that pops and you send an exchange
> to doesn't respond. Hit POP CALL, then Insert to send an exchange to the
> next station in line, etc. If you want to erase a call from the stack,
> circulate it as above and when the call you want to delete is in the Entry
> Window just go Alt-W.
>
> The top three calls in the stack are "sometimes" visible just to the left of
> the Entry Window where the QSO number resides, but the serial number takes
> precedence in the display so there is very little time when the stack is
> visible. N1MM Logger's call stack is always visible and this is an
> advantage. Maybe Wayne can figure out a way to improve this in WriteLog.
> But, in practice I've found that there is seldom more than one or two calls
> in the stack and it is better that the stack image is in my brain rather
> than on the screen anyway, where I am distracted by reading it. So, I don't
> miss the visible stack at all. If I have a question on stack contents, I
> simply circulate the stack with my PUSH CALL, POP CALL keys, doing Alt-W as
> needed.
>
> Wow, this posting really got strung out. Sorry about that. I just got out
> of bed and am still in a fog. Time for coffee before heading over to P49V
> to meet the fire department bucket truck so we can fix his 40m Yagi
> feedline.
>
> Ed - P49X (W0YK)
>
>> I do this with WriteLog, although probably not in the most efficient
>> manner.
>> I think N1MM and Win-Test can do similarly. Kudos, as always, to Don
>> AA5AU
>> and his terrific web site for the how to do it instructions. The secret
>> is
>> to program a F key macro memory (I use F8) with the following:
>>
>> "%R%P1 TU NOW %C 599 %3 %3 %C %E" which translates as:
>>
>> %R - Line feed& Carriage return
>> %P1 - the call of the previous station worked
>> %C - the call of the new station
>> %3 - the 3 digit NR
>> %C - the call again
>> %E - end of transmission
>>
>> It works like this. After sending a CQ and I am called by multiple
>> stations
>> that print clearly. WL highlights them as mults, good ones or dupes.
>> Press
>> Insert and WL populates the Call field with one of the calls and sends the
>> normal exchange. WL always uses new mult calls first regardless of the
>> order received and then good calls. If two calls are equal, either both
>> mults or both good ones, WL selects the last one printed. I usually don't
>> like this and click on the first one received to put it into the Call
>> field,
>> but that is operators choice.
>>
>> Once the first call is worked the mouse/keyboard gymnastics start. After
>> sending my exchange to the first station I wait for his reply. When it is
>> received I click on his NR and then hit Shift+Enter which logs the QSO
>> without sending a new CQ. I then quickly jump back to the mouse and click
>> on the second call to populate the Call field. When the first station
>> ceases transmitting I hit F8 which sends his call, now the previous call
>> worked, TU and then NOW the second station's call. If more than two
>> stations have printed do it over again for the next one(s). When none are
>> left hit Enter to log the last one and send CQ.
>>
>> I need to learn about using the call stack as this may simplify the
>> process.
>> Ed W0YK just posted a message this evening on the WL reflector about
>> improvements recently made in V10.83 and new enhancements in beta V10.84
>> that are coming soon. Hope to be up to speed so to speak by the next
>> contest.
>>
>> 73,
>> Gary AL9A
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