I'm certain this is not an original idea, but I wonder if somebody will
ever come out with a dedicated all-in-one notebook-sized portable rig
for the FT-type digital modes. I'm pretty new to FT8/4 but I find it
interesting that when I'm operating it all I ever do with my K3 is turn
it on and make band changes since everything else is done on my
computer. I wouldn't even need to do that much on the K3 if WSJT-X had
a button to make band changes.
Possibly such a unit might look like:
1. 12 volt operation (10 watts output) for portable use
2. large enough screen to be practical
3. running modified (mouseless) version of WSJT-X to allow up/down
arrow keys for:
a. band selection
b. frequency change in 2 KHz increments
c. mode selection
d. contact selection from activity window
e. TX1-TX6 sequence override
f. transmit enable/disable
4. a button to momentarily press for log, press/hold to autolog
5. USB port to run modified WSJT-X from flash drive for easy upgrade
and log transfer
6. internal antenna tuner (could be manual)
7. etc.
Rigs dedicated to specific modes have never been very popular, but I
suspect that FTx might change that and I suspect an integrated low power
SDR version could end up being fairly inexpensive. A side advantage is
that audio levels would be preset in hardware and we'd see less
overdrive situations. ;)
Anybody know if there is already something like this out there? I can
find small inexpensive transceivers designed for FT8, but they still
require a separate computer.
Just some ramblings on a rainy day ...
73,
Dave AB7E
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