Category — WriteLog

Here’s the latest on the update to the WriteLog User Site:

Completed sections:

First Time Setup

• Files
• Radio Settings
• Setup
• Window Functions
• Saving Your Configuration

Specialized Setup

• Entry

Much more to do in this category.

WriteLog Windows

• QSO Entry
• Super Check Partial
• Check Call
• Packet
• Rate
• Sked
• Band Map

Still to go: QSO Log Editing and Show Multipliers

WriteLog.ini

• General Settings
• Band Map
• CW Settings
• Rigs
• RTTY

This section is complete.

Sections still to do:

Other Subjects, such as how to arrange windows, exchange fields, master data, sound cards, etc.

Plus “After the Contest” for reporting and sending in Cabrillo files.

I’m pleased with the progress. I’m also cleaning up a lot of code, so the site should run a lot faster as well.

You can access the site at: http://writelog.k9jy.com

Scot, K9JY

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Just a quick update to let you know that I’ve been making some fairly good progress on getting the WriteLog User Site back up and working in the new format.

There is a new template that I’m using that seems to work pretty well, a “floating” width template that will go as wide as your screen and maintain the writing.

I’m setting up the site with four (right now) main sections associated with WriteLog:

First Time Setup. This is the one-time setup that needs to be done to get WriteLog up and working.

Specialized Setup. This is mainly all about the setup needed for different modes, classes, and contests based upon the rules.

Other WriteLog Topics. I need a better title, but essentially reference material not found any other place.

Operating WriteLog. This is how WriteLog is used in a contest in the heat of battle.

There will be some tweaks, of course, but I’m happy with how the content is turning out — only one place to find information on a given topic making things easier to find — and how the content is structured.

Right now, most of First Time Setup is complete. Click on that on the main menu and you will see another row of topics show beneath it for your subjects.

By the way, you can bookmark the site directly and bypass this blog by inputting this address and then saving it to your favorites:

http://writelog.k9jy.com

As noted, I’m going to be done with the site by the end of August as I want to be ready with it for the fall contesting season.

Scot, K9JY

After the move to Bluehost (where I am very happy so far with everything), I sat down today and put together a project plan to get the WriteLog User Site back up here at this hosting company.

It’s no small deal.

First, the content needs to be updated.

Second, the entire site infrastructure needs to be set up.

Third, the information needs to be tracked and moved over to the new site.

So today was important. Getting the plan together along with the next actions to take gets all this stuff out of my head and into a place with a list, a check off for the tasks, and a roadmap to get it all done.

And, by the way, let me know what information you’d like to see on the WriteLog user site. I can’t guarantee that I’ll get it there, but it’s better than shooting in the dark.

Shoot me an e-mail via the Contact K9JY page or write it in the comments.

Thanks…Scot, K9JY

Every once in a blue moon, someone goes on an e-mail reflector somewhere and complains about the cost of the subscription or maintenance fees associated with a program. That event happened over the weekend on the WriteLog reflector.

It’s really about the perception of value to the user paying the maintenance dollars against the use of the program. If you think you get value for it, you pay. If you don’t think you are getting value out of the program, you don’t.

I go through this same value proposition all the time when it comes time to renew my anti-virus subscription, my anti-spyware subscription, my ARRL membership fee, my AAA membership, when I fill up my car with gas, when I consider going to Visalia or Dayton, when I renew my membership in a radio club, when I decide whether or not to support Field Day, when I put a dollar in a QSL card to get a return card, and on and on.

Ham radio software is a bit different from the rest of the software world, though. The difference is that I don’t know of anyone who ever retired wealthy by writing ham radio programs.

Almost all of the programmers of ham radio software have day jobs so they can feed their families and themselves. They have to work the corporate game or stay self-employed. The radio stuff, like all of us, is done because we can use our skills, enjoy our hobby and help out the ham radio community.

I get no dollars from anyone for maintaining the WriteLog users site and yet it costs dollars every month for the domain name, the web hosting, and the dollar investment associated with purchasing and maintaining the software I use for the site. Not to mention my time. I obviously get other things of value to me from the site, one of which is providing a service to my fellow ham radio operators.

But, one of the things that happens when I receive no dollars for the site is that the updating and maintenance of the site slide compared to other things that I do to earn a living.

And if I got $10 for every hit on the site, I’d be making more than a pretty penny — and I’d be logically more incented to keep the site right up to date with the latest releases of WriteLog.

To be fair, I’m way far behind on my updates and I’m in the process of fixing that as I write this.

But paying thousands (and for many — more thousands) of dollars on radios and antennas, plus making pilgrimages to far away Hamventions every year, and then complaining about the maintenance fee for a program that’s used for every contest…well, that’s why we all get to decide the value proposition to ourselves when we renew, isn’t it?

Scot, K9JY

For a long time, I’ve wanted to move the K9JY WriteLog site to a different software platform. Since it’s inception, I’ve used FrontPage to build the site.

The main reason I selected FrontPage originally was that I did not want to learn HTML code and FrontPage was one of the few programs out there that allowed me to build stuff out using what are now called widgets.

The problem with Front Page is that every time I update pages on WriteLog, I almost have to relearn the program all over again. The big things are not hard — but there are a lot of subtle things in a web page and subtle things, like timing in a DX pileup, take time to learn. Time I really don’t have.

Blogging software, as you see here, have widgets and modules. They are relatively easy to update. And, you can change the template that contains the content all you want (something I am prone to do…) without impacting the content.

Since I maintain three blogs, I have a lot more experience that is consistently applied using the software that maintains this site.

So I’m planning to move the WriteLog site over to blog software. It will still look like the WriteLog site does now (this template has three columns with the narrow ones on the right; I want three columns but narrow-wide-narrow as the format).

But there is a lot of arranging, making sure all the links work, and all of that kind of stuff before flipping the switch.

I’ll be starting that move on the weekend. Essentially, I’ll do all of the moving, validation, and testing, then move the site on one night through changing the pointers. And announce it on the WriteLog reflector.

A lot of work. But, the payoff is easier maintenance — and updates that are done a lot more often because doing the updates is a lot easier for me. That should make it better for the readers of the site; that’s the whole idea behind the site anyway.

That’s the plan. Now, build out the steps and go on to implementation…

Scot, K9JY