[Trlog] Changing Auto QSL Interval on the fly

[Jim Smith <jimsmith@shaw.ca>]

One thing I tried in an attempt to turn Qs around a little faster in 
CQWW CW was to ID after every third Q.  I feel this is a reasonable 
compromise between the need of the Runner for rate and the need of the 
S&Per to not have to wait a long time to find out the Runner's call. 

TR's  Auto QSL Interval command which you can put in the contest config 
file will enable you to use a very brief TU QRZ message for each Q 
except that every nth Q will send a different TU QRZ message, presumably 
one with your call in it.  So, my brief one said TU and the longer one 
said TU VE7FO and I set the longer one to be sent every third Q.  You 
can set the longer one to repeat on each Q, which means, in my case, I 
would be ID'ing after every Q. 

When the rate is 30 I want to ID after every Q.  When it's over 100, I 
want to ID every third Q.  This means that I need to be able to change 
the ID rate.  You can use CTRL-J to call up a configuration menu in TR 
where you can change the ID rate but I can't imagine me being able to do 
that quickly when things are hot and heavy.

Here's what I did.  It works well and is easy to do on the fly.

I created a file, named Q1, containing the line AUTO QSL INTERVAL = 0
I created another file, named Q3, containing the line AUTO QSL INTERVAL = 3

Normally, I have AUTO QSL INTERVAL = 0 as low rates are much more common 
for me than high ones.  When the rate starts picking up I hit CTRL-V and 
respond to the prompt for a filename with Q3.  Bingo, I now ID on every 
third Q.

When the rate slows down again as, sadly, it inevitably does, I hit 
CTRL-V and respond to the prompt for a filename with Q1.  Now I'm ID'ing 
after every Q.

This is way faster and easier than going the CTRL-J route and trying to 
find the right menu item.  Thanks again to Tree for the foresight in 
making it so easy to change the configuration file on the fly.

The files could just as well be named 1 and 3 but I find it easier to 
remember what the files do if named Q1 and Q3.

You want to also be able to select ID'ing on every fifth Q?  No problem, 
make a Q5 file with AUTO QSL INTERVAL = 5.

I haven't tried it yet, but I see no reason why this shouldn't work just 
as well in a phone contest using sbdvp.

Hope this is of some interest.

73 de Jim Smith   VE7FO

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