I also was more than a bit frustrated with the contest mode this past weekend. It's not a fault of the software, just that there's no way to know from someone's CQ whether they are in contest or QSO mode.
A suggestion that is hopefully easy to code that might fix the problem - add a CQ predefined message that includes a binary flag to the software with 0=QSO mode and 1=contest mode. Then, when someone double-clicks on the CQ to respond, WSJT-X can switch to the appropriate mode. That will also help those of us in a contest that want to work non-contesters for points, even though those folks don't want to use contest mode. 73, Eric NC6K -----Original Message----- From: W0MU Mike Fatchett <w...@w0mu.com> Sent: Monday, July 23, 2018 4:37 PM To: wsjt-devel@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: [wsjt-devel] Contest mode CQVHF First of all I want to thank everyone for this great advancement in the hobby! The CQ WW VHF was my first exposure to contest mode and it was a very frustrating 27 hours. If I am in contest mode and I call CQ and get an answer from someone who is not, there is essentially no way to complete a qso unless one side changes into or out of contest mode. What happened to me is I would switch and then the other side would switch and we would be opposite. Frustrating! The main issue is that we cannot expect those not in the contest to have to switch into a specific mode to work us. This does not happen in any other contest. We cannot expect this from casual ops. I am glad they want to work me. Being able to work them should be painless too! Why is contest mode needed? If a qso is good in contest mode with less sequences I suggest that all FT8 exchanges be the same. Is there a specific reason two have multiple sets of exchanges for in a contest and not in a contest? I don't think so. I understand that this was an issue for the June VHF contest too. If you guys can move my xmit around in fox/hound mode, which worked out really well, there has to be a solution for this. I believe that the fox was still able to work people not running hound? We need the same ability in contest mode. I believe that this is already being examined but I thought I would give my feedback. I would be happy to provide more information if desired. Thanks again for all the hard work in bringing us FT8! W0MU ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot _______________________________________________ wsjt-devel mailing list wsjt-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wsjt-devel ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot _______________________________________________ wsjt-devel mailing list wsjt-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wsjt-devel
