In a message dated 10/20/2003 10:52:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
irwindarack@comcast.net writes:
I am preparing for the CQWW SSB contest this weekend. As a test I was able to
get two Windows XP machines networking together with Writelog. At the contest
station I will have a combination of Windows XP and Windows 98SE machines.
Any lessons learned that I should be aware of in setting this up.
Irwin,
This should work ok.
I have used a network of two laptops running WL at J75KG and K5KG several
times. One time in J7, we had a problem with RF getting into the network.
Each
time we had to reboot both machines, and that was a pain. Keep your antennas
and/or RF power as far away from your computers as possible. In our case, we
had a yagi in the front yard of the cottage (about 30 ft away), and every time
we would beam to JA (and right into the cottage), the network would go
haywire. I understand that there is shielded Cat5 cable, so you might try to
use
that.
I don't know if you have used WL networked before, but it does take some
getting used to. If you have not already done it, I'd suggest setting up your
complete stations with computers and rigs to fully test the networking and
radio
control BEFORE YOU LEAVE HOME. If you are not familiar with WL networking,
this will give you an opportunity to play with it before you set up in V2.
Also
set up your contest files and directories in advance. Once you hit the
ground in V2, you want your radio setup with WL to be as plug-and-play as
possible.
Do all the discovery before you get there. Setting up your V2 QTH and
antennas will have enough challenges and surprises without having to fiddle
with
the computer, network and radio control set up.
Decide which station's computer will have the master log, and call that
Station A. Create your contest log on Stn A's computer and save it in a
directory.
The other station will then be Station B. Establish a network connection,
and go to Stn B and open the contest log by browsing for it on Stn A's
computer. Then save that log file in a directory on Stn B's computer. Both
Stn A and
Stn B can then make log entries into that file, and WL will keep the two
files in synch. If either computer goes down, the log file will be
automatically
resynched when the network connection is re-established.
I use a Dymo lablemaker to label the laptops and their network names. At 3am
during a contest, this can come in handy, especially if you have more than
one operator, one of whom may not be as familiar with the setup as the others.
Say you are using Dell and Sony laptops. Label them STATION A DELL RUN and
STATION B SONY MULT. I also Dymo label the network PASSWORD and the LATITUDE
and LONGITUDE and IOTA number for quick reference. You will want to set the
LAT
LONG in the Great Circle setup in WL for V2 in advance also.
On one of our J7 operations, we discovered that a Sony Vaio laptop power
supply was causing hash in the receiver. Fortunately, we had a spare laptop
(Dell), so we swapped out the Sony for the Dell and eliminated the problem.
Lesson: Take Spare Everythings!!!
This is all I can think of quickly. Pse let me know if you have any
questions es GL.
73, Geo...
George I. Wagner, K5KG
Productivity Resources LLC
941-312-9450
941-312-9460 fax
941-400-1960 cell
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