Well Said Jack...
You are saying much more lucidly what I want... the features of a contest
logger built into the Flex Interface such as:
. 1. I can keep the great Flex Panadaptor but have the
Contest Band Map and Spots integrated into it.
2. All the controls on one interface so I do not have to
switch focus
3. Features such as supercheck partial into the interface
4. Logging and dupes checking in the Interface
In other words something like N1MM built into the Flex without the knobs
Interestingly.. one of my more experienced contester friends commented this
weekend that the issue was that the Flex tried to copy the knobs too closely
and perhaps it might be better to try a complete redesign of the interface for
contesting.
Sign me up as an Contest Alpha Tester for Deep Impact....
Can't wait to try it.. in 2011? Or 2012??
__________________________________________________________
Howard S. White Ph.D. P. Eng., VE3GFW/K6 ex-AE6SM KY6LA
Website: www.ky6la.com
"No Good Deed Goes Unpunished"
"Ham Antennas Save Lives - Katrina, 2003 & 2007 San Diego Fires, 911"
-----Original Message-----
From: Jack Haverty [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, June 28, 2010 6:14 PM
To: Dr. Howard S. White
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [FlexEdge] Field Day, Focus and Contest Skins?
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
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