I've been exploring my new Flex-3000 and N1MM contesting for the last year, and have much the same perspective on contesting. The Flex is a great radio in general, and it's good for contesting - but it's not great, or as great as it could be, for contesting due to annoyances such as the "focus problem".
I've been a ham for 47 years, but didn't get back into HF until last year with the new Flex-3000, and tried contesting for the first time. In the last year I've done a bunch of contests, SSB, CW, digital, etc. to learn how it all works and have fun. I didn't have much mental baggage from using those now-antique Knobby Radios back in the 60s - so everything has been a learning curve in the last year. Lots of fun. I think there's not really a "focus problem" per se in contesting with the Flex, but rather a deeper architectural problem. The Flex SW (PowerSDR) is designed to look and feel like a traditional radio (both capabilities and limitations), but with on-screen knobs and buttons, mouse and keyboard. It's optimized for voice QSOs, and pretty good at CW too (the QSK issue). Similarly, logging software (I'm most familiar with N1MM) is designed to heavily utilize the computer GUI, and assumes that there is a radio at the other end of the CAT connection. The logging software integrates many of the radio functions (freq up/down, PTT, band-switch, etc.) into it's own GUI as CAT allows, but the radio's actual physical knobs and buttons are close by when needed. When both of these programs are in the same computer, you end up with the "focus problem". If they're in separate computers, you end up with a not-enough-hands problem for all the mice and keyboards. In both cases you have a too-many-things-to-watch challenge. The root of the problem is that you need to interact with both programs at virtually the same time to utilize the unique SDR capabilities in contesting. That's the architectural problem. As Neal and Tim pointed out, a "skin" alone isn't likely to solve the problem, but DI and it's modular architecture is where the promise lies. I use PSDR and N1MM for contests, with PSDR keyboard disabled to avoid unexpected QSYing, and try to watch carefully that the mouse is in the right window before typing or clicking. It's not perfect but it's workable. With only 100 watts and a dipole, I do mostly S&P. What I'd really like is "ContestSDR", e.g., a combination of N1MM and PSDR in a single GUI designed purposefully for contesting to take advantage of the Flex's power. N1MM is pretty well integrated right now for Knobby Radios through CAT. I really like the "Bandmap" display that identifies all the stations on the bands, color-coding by status - worked, new multiplier, etc. Of course those stations might not actually be there right now, but they were there in the recent past. I can quickly jump from one to the next with a keystroke, listen for the callsign, and N1MM will remember it for me. But to catch that new station that just came on the air, I need to see it in the panadapter over in the PSDR window. PSDR's panadapter excels at showing stations that are transmitting right now, or in the very, very recent past with Panafall. It's great for S&P - it's easy to see signal strength and with a little experience you can even visually recognize the pattern of CQs, both in CW and voice (but not digital - the PSDR display is too coarse). But PSDR does nothing to help me identify the stations, remember which ones I've worked, highlight high-point opportunities, etc. Is that new station one I've worked before? I have to look over at the N1MM window for help there. So, I end up constantly switching my visual focus back and forth, watching one window then the other, mousing here, mousing there, and hopefully don't screw it up too often. Another hand would really help too since both the keyboard and mouse are heavily used. It seems to me that the Knobby Radio setups don't have these quirks because the CAT interface makes pretty much everything that those radios can do become accessible through the logger - you rarely need to look at or touch the actual physical radio. But the Flex has much more capability (panadapter, draggable filters, click-tune, etc.) that isn't exposed through CAT but that you really really want to use. So we Flexers try to use both programs at the same time, unlike the Knobby World where I think contesters just mostly live in the logger program. The architectural problem is that neither PSDR nor a logger (N1MM for example) is sufficient for contesting in the Flex world - unless you're satisfied to just not use the Flex's unique capabilities. Not! Wouldn't it be great if N1MM's "Bandmap" display window contained a Panafall instead of just callsigns of stations that might not be there anymore? Or PSDR's Panafall window had a way to tag signals with callsigns and log status so you can quickly tell which ones to click-tune for that multiplier? The possibilities are endless... By the way, most of these comments would apply equally to using PSDR with digital modes -- it's the same situation where two separate programs, each using their own GUI, competes for my limited brain's attention. It's especially interesting in digimode contesting. My $0.02....waiting for DI! 73, de K3FIV Point Arena, CA _______________________________________________ Flexedge mailing list [email protected] http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is used for posting topics related to SDR software development and experimentalist who are using alpha and beta versions of the software.
