It appears that when the fox gets busy, its response can be greatly delayed,
which leads to wasted extra calls from the hounds trying for a roger from the
fox.
As others mentioned, perhaps the fox should give rogers higher priority than
signal reports to newer hounds.
(Also, maybe the hounds should be able to send some 73's so the fox knows to
stop sending RR73.)
Here's my example:
I joined the 20M test at about the 20 minute mark and was seeing about 30
callers in one time slot here on the opposite coast.
I got my signal report (-10, piggybacked on someone else's RR73) in the very
next slot after just 3 consecutive calls,
and then proceeded to send my R-07 report 9 times before it timed out.
But I did not get my RR73 until ***20 minutes*** after I sent my signal report
!
In the mean time, I sent another 5 bursts of 4 calls off and on during that
time, adding to the pileup, trying to provoke an RR73.
These later seemed to eventually cause another 5 delayed RR73 responses,
running about 18 to 12 minutes after the re-calls to the fox.
The backlog seemed to be decreasing as the pileup eased, but it was seemingly a
deep hole to dig out of.
On the other hand, the 40M test went very well for me...
I joined the test in the first few minutes, got my signal report immediately
after my 4th consecutive call.
I replied with my report immediately and got an immediate RR73.
My program didn't shut off in time, so I sent one more signal report
immediately and got another immediate RR73, then things shut down. That's the
way it should be.
I only occasionally heard the fox on 30M and then in the minus twenties, so
only a handful of calls to the fox and no replies to me.
The fox was strong enough (as high as -7) out here on 80M, but he did not seem
to be hearing the Left Coast well. Again, no soap for me after many calls to
the fox.
Finally, a small complaint ...
I found that had to exit the program after each hour to get it to accept the
new DX Call...
simply typing it in to the window and/or clicking on it didn't work, the
program wanted to keep sending the previous DX call until I exited and
restarted wsjt-x.
Mike, K6ML
(session "trace" files and notes attached)
Summary:
- 2300z 14.080 - k1jt (fn20, NJ, ~2500 mi, 40 to 50 dB SNR VOACAP) was
about -4 to -6 here
summary: deep pileup (i saw 30 callers here in one time slot!!) may have
delayed RR73 response...
I joined about 1/3 of way in to test and it was 20M ...
I got my sig report after just 3 calls, on next cycle, but then had to wait
another 20 min for RR73.
This caused me to send 27 replies to the sig report.
Appears the response to extra calls is extra RR73s without sig report.
(note: need to exit and reenter to get it to stop sending k1jt, even after
updating DX Call)
- z 10.141 - w1/kh7z (n1dg, fn42, MA, ~ 2700 mi, ~ 35 dB SNR VOACAP)
only saw him occasionally, very weak (-22, -20) for a few slots at a time
never made contact
had to exit, reenter, again to change call...
- 0100z 7.080 -- w7/kh7z (aa7a, dm43, AZ, 620 mi, ~40 dB SNR VOACAP)
this time I got into test earlier and sigs were good again,,, got immed sig rpt
on 4th consec call,
i reply and he replies in next two slots,,, bing badda boom ... like it should
be
had to exit, reenter, again to change call...
- 0200z 3.585 -- k9an (en50, IL, 1800 mi, appx 10-15 dB SNR VOACAP)
use 120W Tx
didnt seem to be hearing very well out this far ... on a few qsos
he never came back to me, even tho i had him in the low teens most of time
and as high as -7
- 2300z 14.080 - k1jt (fn20, NJ, ~2500 mi, 40 to 50 dB SNR VOACAP) was
about -4 to -6 here
232245 Tx 2146 called 3x
232315 Tx 2146 called 3x
232345 Tx 2146 called 3x
232400 -7 299 ZF1EJ RR73; K6ML -10 (1)
232415 Tx 876sent R-07 9x (1)
232445 Tx 876sent R-07 9x
232515 Tx 876sent R-07 9x
232545 Tx 876sent R-07 9x
232615 Tx 876sent R-07 9x
232645 Tx 876sent R-07 9x
232715 Tx 876sent R-07 9x
232745 Tx 876sent R-07 9x
232815 Tx 876sent R-07 9x
232915 Tx 1393 called 4x (2)
232945 Tx 1393 called 4x
233015 Tx 1393 called 4x
233045 Tx 1393 called 4x
233415 Tx 1393 called 4x (3)
233445 Tx 1393 called 4x
233515 Tx 1393 called 4x
233545 Tx 1393 called 4x
233745 Tx 3601 called 4x (4)
233815 Tx 3601 called 4x
233845 Tx 3601 called 4x
233915 Tx 3601 called 4x
234022 Tx 3601 called 4x (5)
234045 Tx 3601 called 4x
234115 Tx 3601 called 4x
234145 Tx 3601 called 4x
234215 Tx 3601 called 4x
234325 Tx 3601 called 2x (6)
234345 Tx 3601 called 2x
234415 Tx 3601 called 2x
234430 -6 359 K6ML K1JT RR73(20:15-16:15 after 1)
234730 +1 419 K6ML K1JT RR73(18:15 after 2)
235100K6ML K1JT RR73(16:45 after 3)
235230K6ML K1JT RR73