[MacLoggerContest] Contest entry screen specification

[David Ferrington, M0XDF]

and mine to yours - we could spend all year going on like this!
--  
They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can  
see nothing but sea.
-Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626)

On 25 Jan 2009, at 00:27, B. Scott Andersen wrote:

> Use of a local copy of the Super Check Partial database or the QRZ  

> CD ROM is not cheating.

> Further, logging programs often present information associated with  

> a call sign gathered from

> previous encounters (such as the exchange given in last year's  

> contest).  None of these will

> put you in the "assisted" category since they do not assist you in  

> finding people on the air;

> they simply help collaborate information you have received on the air.


I stand corrected than and will have to double check my understanding,  
I was thinking of  General RSGB rules, which state:
b) A single-operator station is operated by one person, who receives  
no assistance whatsoever from any other person in operating, log- 
keeping, checking and so on, and who does not receive notification of  
callsign information by packet, telnet, telephone or any other method  
including skimmer and skimmer-like technologies.

I'll check up on that and see if it covers SCP/DXCluster used by  
yourself etc.


> My suggested design put it so the eye could glance to the right edge  

> and see the serial Number.

you've got better eyes that me - or better trained anyway :-)


> As for it being to the right of something with text, all the labels  

> are positioned to the left of the

> field they label.

I ment that its to the right of the Recv S/N number, easiy to look at  
the wrong one and since they will both be in standard text, easiy to  
get confused. I've done it a few times with MLDX classic and have to  
be very careful.


> I am not sure what alternative you would suggest.


a layout of

Recv RST [__]         Recv sn [_____]
Recv Txt  [____________________]

Sent RST [__]     Sent sn [00012] -- this last in bigger font and bold
Sent Txt  [____________________]

however, this is where things get difficult, because of people's way  
of working etc - I expect if you were 'running' you'd want it as

Sent RST [__]     Sent sn [00012] -- this last in bigger font and bold
Sent Txt  [____________________]

Recv RST [__]         Recv sn [_____]
Recv Txt  [____________________]

I accept you can't please all of theops, all of the time :-(


>



> Perhaps we do work different contests. When I am able (which has not  

> been often recently)

> I work CQ WW, ARRL SS, CQ WPX, CQ VHF, NAQP, NEQP, ARRL 10m, and  

> some other

> QSO parties. For these and others the RST sent and received is 59 or  

> 599.

> That is: the RST is set at 59 or 599 before the contest and is never  

> touched.  Everybody is 59.

> So, there is no reason to tab around and even touch these entries  

> during most/nearly-all contests.


But not in most VHF contests - at least in Europe, where the RST (ok  
just RS) is important, in some cases checked and gives an indication  
of how likley you are to get around at the edge. I fully accept that  
most HF contests don't do this, even some VHF ones don't. Anything UHF 
+ does tend to, I understand.

>

> Whether S/N or Text Exchange should be first after the call sign is  

> something that could be debated.

> I spent some considerable time thinking about this and made good  

> arguments for both. In the end,

> I decided that more contests exchange text and only text than  

> exchange only serial numbers. For

> those contests that expect both, Shift-Tab can move you back. Ugly,  

> I know, but if we are only

> given one screen and tab configuration we will have to make  

> compromises and some contests

> will have smoother entry sequences than others.


Hmmm - every rule I've looked at has at least serial number, but I  
admit, I've not done many variants of contest.

>

>>

> My suggestion was consistent with the current keystroke mappings of  

> the Pre-Cocoa MLDX.

> I have worked both contests and DXpeditions with the CMD-K type  

> SHIFT-CMD-L and found

> Don's original keyboard shortcut definitions to be satisfactory.  

> Well, that's one man's opinion

> I guess. It isn't clear to me why one who is left-handed would find  

> any particular keystroke

> combination more-or-less difficult than someone right-handed. Why  

> would that be? I always

> thought touch typing with fingers on both hands fully engaged was an  

> equal art for both

> righty's and lefty's!


Ah - well I can't touch type and my right hand just doesn't 'lay'  
right to get the 'L'. Cmd-L would have been easier.
Again, you wont be able to please everybody

And find I need two hand to achieve cmd-shift-l, but could for  
example, use just one hand to get cmd-shift-s (or, a/z), on the right,  
it would be cmd-shift-/ and that's about it.
But my point is more about having to press 3 keys for what is a very  
common function, and would have thought just one or at most 2, far  
simpler - we must agree to disagree.

>

> I do believe that logging and clearing should be two different  

> operations. When running

> one might log AB1HB and then the calling station comes back and  

> says, "Negative, negative,

> the calls is AB1HD!" At that point you do NOT want to re-enter all  

> the captured information,

> you really want to just update the call and log again. Automatic  

> clearing would preclude this

> use case. It happens often enough that a deliberate clear is  

> warranted, IMHO.


Well, I'm saying that in fact, I tend to clear as I start a new QSO  
and not after login the last one. however, you said you log and then  
clear, I don't quite spot how that isn't doing it in one keystroke.

>

>

> I don't really care who sets the number. I just thought it would be  

> helpful to see what

> power was nominally used.

Yes agreed on that, we are just talking at cross purposes.

>



>

> One of the worst for tedium is the ARRL SS exchange:

> * serial number

> * precedence

> * callsign

> * check (last two digits of first year licensed)

> * ARRL/RAC section

>

> and all this goes into the STX / SRX fields (in an order specified  

> by the Cab-converter manual).

> I would be delighted if these were broken into separate fields, but  

> as it stands today we have

> MLDX and Cab-converter handling this contest, even with all this  

> stuff in one field. If there is

> another contest even worse than this one (besides those contests  

> where they read back

> previous QSOs) I'd like to know about it. Then again, don't bother,  

> Cab-converter isn't going

> to support it anyway. {grin}

I'm not aware of one in the UK, RoPoCo gives it a run for its money in  
difficulty, but not in number of fields. So CC expects a number of  
fields, combined into just the one STX/RTX field and separated in some  
way. That obivously works because people are using it. Also, at that  
point you've got the other other end nailed, so you just have to fill  
it in.

73 de M0XDF


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