At 09:29 PM 10/18/2006, you wrote:
>I have used CT for contesting since I bought my first copy in Dayton in
>1987. I have not kept up with developments in the N1MM contest software at
>all. So now, 19 years later, I am wondering what the pro's/con's of each
>package are. Has anyone published a comparison? Is it time to change?
N1MM is probably the best piece of contesting software you'll ever
use. Not only is it immensely powerful, but support is first-rate,
it's completely free to use, it can network for multi-multi in a
breeze, supports distributed databases (in case one machine crashes
you won't lose the log), it has amazing documentation and it boasts a
featureset to die for. It also has built-in voice and CW keying, and
most importantly, you can get it up and running and start using it
with a very shallow learning curve.
Put another way, if Tom decided to charge $100 a year for it, I'd pay
it, not bat an eyelash and *still* consider it a bargain.
If you have a relatively modern PC I'd say give it a try. Download
the install (version 5.7.2), then apply the latest updater, load the
most recent help and cty.dat files and give it a whirl. Create a fake
contest, go run Europe or stateside for an hour and check out the
features it has, explore menus, etc. Sure it will take a while to
master, but to get a contest configured and running takes very little effort.
Personally, my favourite feature is what they call ESM mode (Enter
Sends Message). Once properly configured and tested you can run an
entire CW or even SSB contest with only your ENTER button and a few
mouse clicks (S&P) or typing only callsigns (if running).
Cheers,
Peter,
W2IRT
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