I have had TR Log for about a year now but have used it sparingly. That's
because I have been intimidated by the vertical learning curve that is
necessary to use the program effectively. That learning curve is further
complicated by the difficulty of getting help from the manual and the
organization of the program's naming conventions. However, the program
offers many innovations that I believe will make me a better contester
after I manage to memorize all the functions.
So I have started that learning journey with the CQ 160 Contest this past
weekend and I want to ask about several things; some things being possible
bugs, program effectiveness, a wish list, and some questions rising from my
own ignorance. Here is my list of items in no particular order.
FYI, I am using a 386SX with 8 meg running 6.20 and a IC765 radio on serial
port three and CW sending on parallel port one.
1. Control-J times out too quickly. When you are trying to find a function
that is named with some unapparent secret wording, the screen goes away
before I have looked at everything. Could Tree provide a switch to disable
the time-out? Or maybe increase the time-out delay by a large amount.
2. Sometimes the screen would almost blank out without my doing anything. I
say almost because not all the fields go away. It happens without warning
for a second or two and occurs irregularly. When it happens keystrokes are
ignored and not remembered by the program. One interesting thing that it
does is that the Band/QSOs/Mults field changes dramatically by blanking the
listing for all bands (160 through 10) but the ALL totals are kept and
moved to the far left of the field before eventually jumping back where
they belong. Other fields that disappear for an instant are the band map,
multipliers, and a couple others (I think).
3. I was using the Auto S/P function to help me remember to switch to S/P
when I started tuning around. But I started having trouble in CQ mode while
running because sometimes the program would switch me to S/P in the middle
of a QSO. I believe the program was having trouble reading the frequency
from the IC765 occasionally and when that happened the program thought I
had changed frequency enough to switch modes. This could be a problem with
my interface. I turned off the Auto S/P mode and the problem went away.
4. I had a couple of program hangs that required re-booting the computer.
In each case the program was locked up solid and it looked like the cursor
was fast-switching between the callsign field and the data entry field. It
was blinking very fast at both locations. Both fields were purple (and
visible) but I don't remember if I had a callsign entered at the time or
not. This might be an RF problem but it hasn't happened enough for me to be
sure.
5. I want to use the "`" key to send packet spots quickly but it won't let
me enter anything into the comments field. In the 160M contests it is good
to enter the state or other info in the comments field. I suggest that the
"`" key bring up a window with the spot information and that the cursor be
placed in the comments field. Then you can either type your comment and hit
enter or just hit enter to let it go as is. Also I like the idea that I can
review the packet spot before it is sent.
6. You need to be able to see several lines of the packet window while
operating. I missed some mults because the band map doesn't tell me what
state they are in. I would have seen the additional info if I could have
viewed the packet window continually. Also, it is fun to gab with a friend
on packet while you are working the contest. This is almost impossible to
do with the packet window and logging being exclusive of each other. They
need to be made to work concurrently.
7. There is another time-out delay on the packet window. Can we get a
switch to turn that off so the packet window stays up longer.
8. In the band-map, I think the "*" meant the station was already in the
log. However there were many exceptions where no "*" was present and I knew
I had already worked the station. Is that a program problem? And how about
a more noticable change when a station has already been QSOed like reverse
video or a color different than the fade-out colors.
9. The band-map is too busy and requires a lot of eye movement between it
and the radio frequency when you want to determine the relationship between
the two. I know it flashes when it is on an entry but most of the time when
I looked, I wasn't on a entry. How about a marker line (use a bright
stand-out color) between any two entries that your radio is between and
enhanced high-lighting of a flashing entry.
10. I called some JAs that were spotted using the radio in split mode. I
was using S/P mode and the first time I started to call a JA, his call
disappeared from the callsign field. Believe it or not, I couldn't remember
his call and had to release the foot switch for the call to reappear. The
program loses the call in the callsign field when the radio goes to the
transmit frequency. I solved the problem by calling JAs in CQ mode, sending
all the CW myself, and using CTL-Enter to enter the data. Can we make the
program remember the callsign from the receive frequency when operating split?
11. If you are using the Auto-repeat CQ function and switch to the packet
window, the CQ will finish and not restart as long as the packet window is
open. When you close the packet window, the Auto CQ starts again by itself
but the callsign field now has "or ESCAPE 0.0" in it instead of being
blank. When the CQ finishes, the 0.0 switches to the delay time and counts
down to 0.0 when the CQ starts again. The cursor is located to the right of
the 0.0 and if someone answer the CQ, the call gets tangled when you enter
it. For example, if you type "K1AA" it will be entered in the callsign
field as "AAK1". This is a solid and repeatable bug.
12. Finding help or information for the many functions of the program is
especially difficult. I'm sure that when Tree named most of the functions,
the name he gave it at the time made perfect sense to him. But to a new
user or someone not familar with the program, the names have no central
organizion or theme to help the user. Several times I gave up trying to
find a command and started reading from the beginning of the list in the
manual until I found what I wanted. I don't know if renaming everything
using central function themes would be a good idea or not. However, I would
like to see the commands listed in the manual grouped under typical user
tasks; for example, CW Sending, Packet Communications, Data Entry, Two
Radios, Search & Pounce, and so on.
13. When I use a "?" in the callsign field, I would like for just that
character postion to be in replace mode instead of insert mode. That saves
a "delete" keystroke when fixing a callsign.
That's all the little things I can think of for now.
73, Richard
K5NA@BGA.COM
http://www.realtime.net/~k5na
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