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Locked FT8/4 RU

Joe
 

My first time in this sort of contest and it was an interesting experience.  I was using Flex 6600M/SSDR, WSJTX, JTALert, and DXLabs Commander/Keeper.  JTAlert was configured to log via DXKeeper.  Relatively new i7/6 core 3.1Ghz machine with lots of RAM and a SSD.

I used nothing but FT4.  It is hard for me to stand the pace of FT8 once I got a taste of a huge supply of FT4 stations.  Love the pace.

Questions:  I didn't think about it beforehand, but I guess I needed to move DXKeeper over to a new, virgin log file and then rescan it before the start, so that JTAlert could keep track of worked before status in the contest (rather than worked at any time)??  Is that how people that know what they are doing set it up?

Over the 14 or so hours that I was active, I experienced maybe a dozen occasions where the log failed because the received signal strength box was empty.  It was in the WSJTX line, but didn't make it to the log entry for the contest file.  Anyone else see this?

There were three or four occasions where I noticed only 3-4 stations being decoded, while the waterfall showed 10-12.  The system performance monitor showed very low CPU utilization on all cores.  Whats with that?

And speaking of cores, does anyone have any experience assigned different apps to different cores (assigning an affinity in task manager)??  Seems reasonable that each would run on different ones but it doesn't appear so.

And education would be appreciated!!

Overall, a fun experience.  Except when my rotor for the beam died mid-way thru.  Didn't really have time to move it anyway!!
Andrew O'Brien
 

I participated via WSJT integration in N1MM . Agreed , the FT4 pace much more tolerable than FT8. Pretty high failure rate if I tried to call a European station that was less than -12 SNR with this FT mode . Worked 42 USA States in just 5 hours of operating (40 and 20M ). Lot of fun . I

Andy K3UK

On Dec 8, 2019, at 7:37 PM, Joe <wq6q@...> wrote:

My first time in this sort of contest and it was an interesting experience. I was using Flex 6600M/SSDR, WSJTX, JTALert, and DXLabs Commander/Keeper. JTAlert was configured to log via DXKeeper. Relatively new i7/6 core 3.1Ghz machine with lots of RAM and a SSD.

I used nothing but FT4. It is hard for me to stand the pace of FT8 once I got a taste of a huge supply of FT4 stations. Love the pace.

Questions: I didn't think about it beforehand, but I guess I needed to move DXKeeper over to a new, virgin log file and then rescan it before the start, so that JTAlert could keep track of worked before status in the contest (rather than worked at any time)?? Is that how people that know what they are doing set it up?

Over the 14 or so hours that I was active, I experienced maybe a dozen occasions where the log failed because the received signal strength box was empty. It was in the WSJTX line, but didn't make it to the log entry for the contest file. Anyone else see this?

There were three or four occasions where I noticed only 3-4 stations being decoded, while the waterfall showed 10-12. The system performance monitor showed very low CPU utilization on all cores. Whats with that?

And speaking of cores, does anyone have any experience assigned different apps to different cores (assigning an affinity in task manager)?? Seems reasonable that each would run on different ones but it doesn't appear so.

And education would be appreciated!!

Overall, a fun experience. Except when my rotor for the beam died mid-way thru. Didn't really have time to move it anyway!! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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Dave Slotter, W3DJS
 

While WSJT-X can generate a Cabrillo log file, it does not know how to calculate the score.

What methods/programs are folks using to calculate the score for this contest?

73,

-Dave


On Sun, Dec 8, 2019 at 7:44 PM Andrew O'Brien <andrewobrie@...> wrote:
I participated via WSJT integration in N1MM . Agreed , the FT4 pace much more tolerable than FT8. Pretty high failure rate if I tried to call a European station that was less than -12 SNR with this FT mode . Worked 42 USA States in just 5 hours of operating (40 and 20M ). Lot of fun . I

Andy K3UK


> On Dec 8, 2019, at 7:37 PM, Joe <wq6q@...> wrote:
>
> My first time in this sort of contest and it was an interesting experience.  I was using Flex 6600M/SSDR, WSJTX, JTALert, and DXLabs Commander/Keeper.  JTAlert was configured to log via DXKeeper.  Relatively new i7/6 core 3.1Ghz machine with lots of RAM and a SSD.
>
> I used nothing but FT4.  It is hard for me to stand the pace of FT8 once I got a taste of a huge supply of FT4 stations.  Love the pace.
>
> Questions:  I didn't think about it beforehand, but I guess I needed to move DXKeeper over to a new, virgin log file and then rescan it before the start, so that JTAlert could keep track of worked before status in the contest (rather than worked at any time)??  Is that how people that know what they are doing set it up?
>
> Over the 14 or so hours that I was active, I experienced maybe a dozen occasions where the log failed because the received signal strength box was empty.  It was in the WSJTX line, but didn't make it to the log entry for the contest file.  Anyone else see this?
>
> There were three or four occasions where I noticed only 3-4 stations being decoded, while the waterfall showed 10-12.  The system performance monitor showed very low CPU utilization on all cores.  Whats with that?
>
> And speaking of cores, does anyone have any experience assigned different apps to different cores (assigning an affinity in task manager)??  Seems reasonable that each would run on different ones but it doesn't appear so.
>
> And education would be appreciated!!
>
> Overall, a fun experience.  Except when my rotor for the beam died mid-way thru.  Didn't really have time to move it anyway!! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


--
- Dave
  W3DJS
Carl - WC4H
 

Hi Joe.

You don't need JTAlerts for a contest.   WSTJ-X can log directly to N1MM+ and, with the N1MM_DXK_Gateway, you can log to DXKeeper simultaneously.

The only thing you need to do is to rename your wsjtx_log.adi to something else.  Upon making your first contact, a new wsjtx_log.adi will  be created.  You can use the WSJT-X colors to know if you have worked somebody before.  N1MM will also tell you.

This enables you to generate the cabrillo file from N1MM+ as well as keeping your DXKeeper log up to date without doing any exports and imports.

Once the contest is over, add the new QSO's to the old wsjtx_log.adi and rename it back.  Copy and paste will work for this.

You can look in the DXLab forum for the link explaining in detail how to interface the 3 programs.

73.
Carl - WC4H
Steven Weeks <swweeks@...>
 

Replying to
 
I guess I needed to move DXKeeper over to a new, virgin log file and then rescan it before the start, so that JTAlert could keep track of worked before status in the contest (rather than worked at any time)??  Is that how people that know what they are doing set it up?
 
In JTAlert, go to the Settings - Worked B4 tab and change the "Ignore B4 status before this date" to the first day of the contest.  Also, specific to the FT8 contest where the rules only allow one contact with a station per band, not per mode, you would check the "Ignore mode" box.
 
Obviously, change these back after the contest.  I normally have January 1 of the current year in that box, so that it reports B4 for anyone who I have contacted on that band this year -- in other words, one contact per band per year with a station is OK.  That's just my personal preference but it seems to be fairly widely shared.  The Grid Chase year was an exception, when once a month per band was common practice.
 
73, Steve AA8SW

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