Friends are a good thing

It's good to have friends, especially in Ham Radio. They see things that you don't and catch things that your brain sometimes just overlooks.

I had my weekly Echolink session with Bob W3BBO today. I've mentioned Bob many times on this blog; and will probably mention him many more times in the future. Bob lives in Erie, PA; but we got to know each other and become close friends when he was temporarily transferred to NJ in the 90's by the company that he used to work for. Since retiring, Bob has moved back to Erie. We meet often enough on the bands; but we also have a weekly Echolink BS session. At least we try to, every Saturday afternoon. More often than not we are successful.

Today we were talking about a lot of things and the conversation came around to some of the things that I have posted about here. Bob told me that he was sorry I was having so much trouble with AC Log; as he has used it for quite a few years now with no problem. Anyway, I went into a bit of detail about that annoying delay problem I was experiencing. While I was describing it, Bob switched windows and opened up his log. Sure enough, he told me, he was seeing the same delay or hesitation that I was experiencing. But then he told me that this was really the first time he had noticed it.

Immediately I began to wonder how it could be the first time he really noticed it. I know that Bob has been using AC Log pretty much since it first came out. Surely, if this wasn't a phenomena unique to my computer, he should have seen this before. He then explained to me that after the basic information is inputted, that he does not use the Tab Key to scroll through the rest of the fields to get to the comments box. If he needs to go to that field after inputting the basics, that he just goes there by clicking on the field with his mouse.

Duh !!!!!

V-8 smack to the forehead !!!!

Talk about not being able to see the forest for the trees !!!

The solution was SO simple and SO obvious that I could kick myself for not thinking of it. I tried that approach on the shack computer, which was giving me the most delay; and of course it worked like a charm.

Now I have a new problem. I like the look and feel of AC Log. I like the look and feel of Ham Radio Deluxe. I wonder which will eventually win out?

Tomorrow ...... more work on the PFR3A.

73 de Larry W2LJ