[DogParkList] MacloggerDX and SO2R

[John Graf]

As I get ready for the ARRL SS contest this weekend, I have been playing
with some ideas on how to use MacloggerDX in a SO2R environment.  I don't
know how many of these ideas have been tried already, but I found it all
very interesting and I thought I would pass it along.

I have two transceivers connected to my Mac with separate USB to RS-232
adapters.  To get them both adapters to work at the same time, I created new
users under OS  X System Preferences -> Accounts. and enabled Fast User
Switching.  Now I can run a separate copy of MLDX on each user's desktop,
and switch back and forth very quickly between the two transceivers.

I originally had both copies sharing a single log; which was placed in the
"Shared" folder of the Users Directory.  Both copies saw the log and read
the log, but only one (apparently the first to access the log) could write
to the database.

My second idea was to have separate logs for each copy of MLDX.  This works
fine, and the only penalty that I saw was that I would have to keep track of
my outgoing serial number (STXn) manually.  Then, after the contest, I would
be able to export from one log and import into the other.

That was going to be my plan until today, when I realized that the other
missing feature would be the inability to check for duplicates.  That is a
bit more significant, and for now is enough to scrap the plan.

Still, I don't think it would take much to get this setup to work.  The
ideal way would be to allow multiple copies of MLDX to write to the
database.  I am not a programmer, but perhaps there could be a way to change
access to R/W when the "Log QSO" or "Save" buttons are pushed, and revert to
Read access afterwards.

A second solution would be have the contest helper window access multiple
log files.  There may be some other benefit to that solution besides SO2R
operation.

At any rate, this has been fun!  I hope to talk to some of you this weekend
during the contest.

Thanks and 73,

John
KK6MS




-- 


The world is best viewed through the ears of a horse
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