A serious contest effort involves developing an operating plan, executing it,
and constantly measuring performance against plan. With this in mind, here are
a couple of ideas that would add to the value of WriteLog as a planning and
performance management tool:
1. Prior to the contest, it would be cool to be able to enter a set of
operating plans, including times to be on primary and backup bands. This might
also include reminders to go to certain bands for mults on the hour [160],
scheduled off-time and other important tasks. This plan would appear in a
window showing "Current" and "Upcoming" actions. Perhaps this could be
implemented through connections to an existing scheduling package like Outlook.
[Actually, I did try this with Outlook. It generates an alarm window for each
action item. These window need to be closed manually to get them off the screen
- I had to run it on a separate laptop. Even there it was annoying to have to
shut all the reminder windows. What we want here would be a single WriteLog
window that updates with the current plan items, and keeps them there as long
as they are appropriate, then replaces them with new stuff.]
2. In addition to scheduling of actions, it would be great to be able to
more
closely monitor real-time performance against targets. So, I'd like to enter
the minimum QSO rates and multiplier totals I should be achieving by band at
various periods and times during the contest. A starting point for these target
performance numbers could easily be generated from breakdown sheets from the
operator's log from the prior year. Rates and totals that are on or above
target might be indicated by green colored text in the Rates and Band Summary
windows. Falling below the target might cause the text to turn red. Over in the
Operating Plan window, there might be a message like, "Hey! You're losing! Go
get more mults on 40 meters!"
3. Instant real-time performance reports would be fantastic. A single
hot-key
that creates a 1-page summary of rates, QSO and multiplier totals, etc, all
crammed on one page. Fantastic tool for multi/multi captains. Get out your
whips!
Just a few ideas to think about. What do you think?
73,
Jim K1IR
--
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Problems: owner-writelog@contesting.com
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