Having recently installed a 160m antenna here for the first time, I am starting completely new on this band. I find that I am doing a huge amount of tuning on the band, and find the DX4WIN bandmap useful for skipping over stations already worked, etc.
I had waited for 8.03 to be released to see if Paul made any improvements to the band map's functionality, but it seems to be the same as in 8.02. Therefore, here are my wish list ideas for improving the band map for DXing: 1. Entering a callsign/frequency on the band map. As far as I know, the only way to get a call onto the bandmap is to spot it. The band map should be useful for those who are not connected to a cluster or who wish to enter a call without spotting it. Working a station should automatically enter that call on the band map at the logged frequency. A Ctrl or Alt key combination should take the call from the "Callsign" field in the main entry window and enter it in the bandmap at the current radio frequency. 2. Band map scrolling. (In this email, "scrolling" is meant as the way the band map is repainted when you tune off the visible part of the map.) a. Inconsistent scrolling - For whatever reason, I find that the band map does not consistently scroll, that is, I can tune off the top or bottom of the visible portion of the map, and the red arrow just disappears and the map does not repaint to bring the current frequency (red arrow) into visibility. When this happens, clicking either the + or - zoom button will recenter the frequency, and the red arrow is again visible. b. I am not particularly fond of the way the band map scrolls as you tune. What happens now is you tune the radio up in frequency, the red arrow moves down the visible map until it "disappears off the bottom." (See 2.a. above for consistency issues.) Then the map repaints (or should do so) with the current frequency at the top of a new band segment. In my opinion, this could be improved by scrolling the window when the current frequency gets a certain distance away from the center of the map. This way, your current frequency is always near the center of a segment of the band, the size of the segment being set by the + and - buttons. I find the band map to be very useful, even as is, but hope that future DX4WIN releases can provide increase functionality. If I have missed some menu setting or other band map control features, please direct me to them. 73 - Dave N3RD ______________________________________________________________ Dx4win mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/dx4win Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
