Hello, Joe, you and I corresponded a few months ago about a similar nonstandard call sign problem - which was overcome. I recently encountered and researched my problem of grids not showing in the new WSJT-X ver 2 for nonstandard call signs such as mine - W4/AH6FX ... or AH6FX/W4. Got dangerous and read the November 26, 2018, Quick Start Guide and postings from this forum. I understand non-grid for those with nonstandard calls is built into ver 2 because of a real estate problem - the 77 bit message payload limitation.
I am hoping you all will fix the issue in some way. I understand the bit allocation and limitation. Wondering if you all considered trade offs to allow non-standard calls to show grids. Are there any unnecessary QSO exchanges? For instance in TX3, can extra bits be obtained by omitting the worked station's call sign? Or maybe truncate the call to its prefix. After all, the QSO handshake has been made so why transmit the other station's call again [just for nonstandard calls]. Maybe there are other areas for trading bits. Also, perhaps including nonstandard call sign stations in the Advanced tab under Special Operating Activity. Perhaps a unique, but permanent, block can remain checked allowing "special" message formatting such as those for contests, field days, et al? Wonder if KH1/KH7Z would have a non-grid problem ... or does fox & hound resolve that issue? [perhaps it is important to allow the "nonstandard call" box to remain checked when also checking "Hound" or "ARRL Field Day," etc.] Lastly ... maybe something can be done on the receive side for real estate management purposes. Perhaps a database of nonstandard call types may be linked to the grid square pop up, log, and logging screens showing the grid. For instance, P5/K1ABC appears as grid PN30 in North Korea. [[granted - maybe the database generates a "center of mass" or capital city grid ... but the correct grid may be user-obtained from QRZ and substituted for the "placeholder grid."]] The shortfall here would be the grid only visible in the grid square pop up log and QSO log ... and not displayed in the standard message sequence portion of the Band Activity screen. But maybe that shortfall can be overcome too by making everything seamlessly normal for nonstandard call signs. Most of my P5 comments seem to relate to the receive station ... the sending P5/K1ABC station ideally includes the grid in his transmission sequence - but the receive side work around is intended if there is no fix for nonstandard calls generating grids. Just a few thoughts. I am sure I am not alone with this problem. My challenge on the east coast with a Hawaiian call is controlling expectation. Even with versions 1.8.* and 1.9.* working perfectly ... I still have hams emailing me for Hawaiian QSLs, or insisting I was in Hawaii. I am dealing with that. Also as version 2 is currently programmed, everyone must lookup my grid in QRZ or just slam in a fake grid just to save the QSO to a log. Thanks very much for your consideration. I am very appreciative of what you all have done for the ham radio community. Season's Greetings, Danny AH6FX/W4
_______________________________________________ wsjt-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wsjt-devel
