I think there is merit in the original idea, but I also believe that modes that affect UI are hard to understand. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_%28computer_interface%29
So, while the macro button proposals provide the functionality, they don't provide the ease-of-use that the original users seems to want. To do that without building in a mode would require a new window or dialog. I think, as I said, that that idea has merit. Think of it as a chat window. You could have a menu item to bring it up, just like with the PSK Viewer dialog, except that it would have a history buffer at the top and a one-line typein area (to discourage long-windedness which translates to dead air time). Another enhancement: Many chat programs fill in dead air time by sending a "foobar is typing" message. This dialog could do the same; if there is no RX sync and you're typing, every 15 seconds or so it could send "de WA5ZNU: <AS>" which the receiving program would interpret at a signal to display a "typing" icon and other hams reading on the air would recognize as the CW "AS" prosign, to wait. This would also prevent unintentional QRM. (Applying an CSMA-like exponential backoff algorithm would be difficult though so it would be useful only in a QSO, not in a net, where it would simply itself become QRM). Another enhancement, maybe not worth it but an interesting gedankenexperiment: bring the analogy with IM chat and the similarity to PSK Viewer forward a step further and you could have multiple chat windows open and do multiple simultaneous QSOS on different frequencies. The half-duplex nature means it wouldn't work very well, but it's an interesting thought and perhaps some further thought can lead to more overlap with the PSK viewer window. In summary, I can see a new dialog like the PSK Viewer, but with a big text RX buffer, a single line input, and no TX button (maybe a STOP button, maybe a signal quality green bar), and maybe a "someone is typing" icon that lights up (or perhaps that just shows up as italic colored text in the RX buffer which is replaced by the actual text when it appears). Leigh/WA5ZNU > Stelios Bounanos wrote: >> You can already do something like this, though not using the Enter key >> as in flarq. >> >> 1) In receive mode, type a line of text followed by ^r >> >> 2) Press Ctrl-T. The text up to and including the ^r is transmitted and >> erased, and fldigi goes back to receive. In the meantime you are >> typing the next line and so on. >> >> Remember that fldigi will pause transmission whenever it encounters the >> text cursor, so that must always be positioned past the text you want to >> send (and the ^r) >> It is easy to prefix every line with some text. You would put that text >> in a macro and press the correct F-key at the beginning of each chunk of >> text you are sending. >> >> > Seek and ye shall find, > Ask and it shall be given, > Knock and the door shall be opened unto you. > > Thanks Stelios, I've used that technique so many times I forgot that it > was there! > > Instead of the ^t you could also the default F9 macro to start the > transmit. And oh yes, that is not a control-r that you enter in to the > text. It is the carat followed by the r. The transmit is control-t as > Stelios points out. > > A variation on the above is to create multiple macro lines where each > has a line of text followed by the ^r, as in: > > "this is a line of text > ^r" > > Note the newline between text and ^r ... makes it easier to read. > > Then simply press the macro key(s) for those lines and send each with a > new control-t. > > Another variation would be to create a single macro with all of the text > lines that need to be sent one at a time > > this is line 1^r > this is line 2^r > this is line 3^r > ... > this is line N^r > > The transmit process is again the same. > > For interactive line by line you will need to use the technique that > Stelios outlined. > > Dave > _______________________________________________ > fldigi-alpha mailing list > fldigi-alpha at lists.berlios.de > https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/fldigi-alpha >
