Sked Window

The Sked window performs two functions. The first function is to record a schedule with another ham radio station for a future time to work the station on a different band. The second function is to notify other operators in a multi-operator contest environment that the multiplier is being passed to them.

To open the Sked window, go to the tool bar and select 'Windows|Sked.' This will open the window shown below:

After schedules have been recorded and worked (or the time has passed), the 'Show old skeds' check mark will show these previous schedules in a default grayed out color. If you don't want to see the old schedules, uncheck this box. If you need to see them (to get a correct call sign, for example) just check the box and all the old schedules will show up.

The check for 'show all bands' is really a Single Operator vs. Multi-operator choice. If you are a single operator, check this box to see all of your schedules. If you are a multi-operator station and only want to see schedules associated with your band, uncheck this box.

To record a schedule, click on the 'S' (think of 'Schedule') button. You will be presented this dialog box:

Tab through the fields. The frequency for the schedule, in whole numbers (14086), should be entered in the Frequency field. The ham radio call is taken directly from the current ham radio call shown in the QSO Entry Window. If you want to override this, just enter in the ham radio call to be recorded for the schedule. The time presented is the current time in the contest (for passing multipliers between stations in a multi environment, this is very nice). You can type in another time or use the up/down arrows to set the time.

Finally, if the schedule is greater than 24 hours from now (like you're one hour into the 48-hour contest and XU7ABC calls you and you set a schedule for 2300Z the next day, one hour before the end of the contest) click on this check box so that the schedule is presented on the appropriate day.

I would suggest using the Tab key to go through these fields. Using the tab key immediately highlights the entire field and you can use the numeric keypad on the PC to type in the numbers needed.

Once complete, of course, click OK to save the schedule. Your Sked window will now look like this:

At one minute before the scheduled time, the line in the Sked window will start to flash in red (it's very bright!). To access the schedule, simply double-click on the scheduled line and WriteLog will automatically move the call to the QSO Entry window and move your radio to the correct frequency. Once you work the station, you can then press F12 to return to your (run) frequency.

The red will flash for a minute after the scheduled time and then stop. It will also stop flashing if you click on the line at least once.

Once a schedule is recorded, the 'C' button (read 'Cancel') will activate. You can select a current or past schedule to cancel by clicking on it once. To cancel the highlighted schedule, you then click on 'C.'

If you want to change the colors for the background or the flashing, you can enter them in the WriteLog.ini file under the [Sked] section. Here are the appropriate entries:[Sked]FlashColor=0x00bbggrrOldSkedBkColor=0x00bbggrrwhere 'bbggrr' is the hex equivalent of Blue, Green, and Red.