While this is aimed at the MkV it could probably be adapted to
other radios.
I have one radio, a MkV, and one set of modest antennas. In the
recent NAQP I tried scanning with VFO B while CQing with VFO A and
then S&Ping on VFO B when I ran across something of interest.
Although one can't hear anything while transmitting with this
arrangement, nonetheless, I made Qs I wouldn't have otherwise. I
may have also made some enemies. For details see my NAQP
submission on 3830. (If I CQ'd in your face in NAQP it was due to
clumsiness, not lack of caring. Please accept my apologies.)
This modest success has caused me to investigate how I could use
TRLog to help me do this.
I can now do the following (F Key details below):
CQ on VFO A as usual while tuning VFO B looking for stations I
haven't worked. (Takes a long time to find one, not being able to
hear while transmitting, but a Q is a Q. Pick up an extra one
every 6 minutes and my rate goes up 30%.)
Find a station I want to work on B.
When ready to work him, enter his call in the call window (this
stops the auto-cq) and hit CTRL-F1. (If I don't stop the auto-cq
somehow the function keys don't work.) I'm in CQ mode so this is
a CQ memory. The A & B VFOs swap and TRLog switches to S&P mode.
Hit enter to dump my call and work him in usual S&P manner.
When ready to go back to CQing I hit CTRL-F1 again. I'm in S&P
mode so this is an Exchange memory. i.e. contents are different
from CTRL-F1 in CQ memory. A&B VFOs swap again and TRLog switches
to CQ mode. I now hit ALT-C to recommence auto-cq.
QUESTIONS FOR THE EXPERTS.
1. When terminating the auto-cq I would like to send AS in case
someone is about to answer me. Putting AS (&) into CTRL-F1
doesn't seem to work as the VFOs have swapped before the AS has
been sent. Tried putting a bunch of half spaces between the AS
and the VFO swap string. Didn't seem to make any difference. Any
ideas how to do this? Can I concatenate F Keys? i.e. put AS in a
different CQ memory and follow it with a pointer of some kind to
CTRL-F1?
2. When swapping back from S&P is there something I can put in the
CTRL-F1 exchange memory to automatically restart auto-cq?
F KEY CONTENTS
High level view
CQ -> S&P
CQ Memory CTRL-F1 contents: <Swap VFOs><Switch to S&P mode>
S&P -> cq
Ex Memory CTRL-F1 contents: <Switch to CQ mode><Swap VFOs>
Why is the order in which the operations are performed different?
Who knows. That's how I did it and it worked.
Details for MkV
CQ -> S&P
CQ Memory CTRL-F1 contents: CTRL-C SRS1= NULL NULL NULL CTRL-A
CTRL-E CTRL-D CTRL-C SAPMODE CTRL-D
S&P -> cq
Ex Memory CTRL-F1 contents: CTRL-C CQMODE CTRL-D CTRL-C SRS1= NULL
NULL NULL CTRL-A CTRL-E CTRL-D
I hope I don't have any typos here.
NOTES:
To enter a Null into a memory use CTRL-@ (i.e. CTRL-P CTRL-@.
Remember, you need to use the Shift key for the @.) Thanks to
Doc, N7DR for this one.
See pages 38-43 of the manual (v6.56)
CQMODE overrides Auto S&P Mode in .cfg file so you can keep that
in there if you want.
A separate receiver on its own antenna would probably speed up the
S&P process. Then just tune VFO B to that frequency.
CAVEAT
Have I tried this in a contest? No. I'm hoping to enter the WAE
this weekend. I'll post Status Report #2 next week with my
observations plus whatever help the experts have been able to
provide.
Nobody's going to set the world on fire with this. If it keeps me
from annoying people and ups my rate by 10% I'll be happy.
A side benefit of this to me is that I've been able to do another
walkabout in the TRLog universe.
I hope this will be of use to those who don't have 2 radios but
would like a taste of what SO2R might be like.
73 de Jim Smith VE7FO
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