This is a grand idea, Tim. Being neither a contester nor a programmer, I'll be of no help with development but I'll certainly sit on the sidelines and cheer you on. And I might be able to assist a little with on-screen ergonomics.
One thing is pretty obvious, we'll all be buying big monitors... Bill On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 11:07 PM, Tim Ellison <[email protected]> wrote: > And here we stand at the edge of a paradigm shift chasm.... > > The evolution from hardware based radios and their rudimentary software > controls via CAT to an integrated software based radio system where the > radio is abstract and the interface to the "electrical world" is provided > via a "black box" that has limited smarts is upon us. Actually it has been > here for a few years, but the number of followers were too few (limited > market share) to make a difference to the ones writing contest software. > > What it is going to take is a twofold effort. The first is DI where the UI > is not integrated or bound to the rest of the radio system allowing one to > easily integrate the logging capabilities in order to eliminate the focus > issue. Second is going to take a new class of loggers/contest software > where they take the information from the SDR UI, process it (for dupes, > multipliers, etc..), provide feedback to the SDR UI and then store the QSOs > in their database when told to via the SDR UI. > > CAT could do this, but a much better protocol is needed and a standard > created. I have thought a lot about ADIF over IP. ADIF already has a data > dictionary for 98% of the things logger/contest software needs. Add some > extensions for message passing (as opposed to data element transfer) and you > have the makings of a new SDR-to-ancillary process protocol. > > The interface should not be called CAT, as that is demeaning. In terms of > a language, CAT is a bunch of grunts and gestures. This protocol needs to > be fluid prose; elegant and beautiful. It will have to be an API so > third-party vendors could easily integrated it into their software. This > isn't rocket science > > Once the tools are in place, then great things can be constructed. I hope > that something like this will evolve out of this group. > > It is time to starting thinking of how to build a bridge across the chasm > and breaking ground, as this can be done before DI is complete. You don't > know what middle layer you need to talk to, just a clever message syntax and > rules for reliable message passing. > > Anyone up for establishing a working group? > > > -Tim > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] On Behalf Of Jack Haverty > Sent: Monday, June 28, 2010 10:31 PM > To: Don > Cc: Flex Edge > Subject: Re: [FlexEdge] Field Day, Focus and Contest Skins? > > The problem is that the current control interface to any 3rd party > program is through "CAT", which simply doesn't provide access to the > Flex' unique capabilities. It was designed for Knobby Radios, and does > a pretty impressive job in that world. But in the Flex SDR world, it's > limited. > > E.G., there is no way for N1MM to say via CAT "put the text "K3FIV - > Mult!" on the PSDR panadaptor at 14.236 in bold red font" Nor is there > any way to tell PSDR "set up a filter from 600 to 2300 Hz" (instead of > 200 to 2100) to mask out QRM from a strong station slightly lower in > frequency than a target station. > > Similarly, the CAT interface doesn't have a mechanism for PSDR to supply > the current panafall display to the 3rd party program to integrate with > th3e 3rd party program's own GUI display. > > Knobby radios can't do such things, so it's not in the interface. So, > right now neither program can deliver all the power of the software and > Flex architecture in a single GUI. The 3rd party interface - CAT - is > the main limitation. A 3rd party programmer simply cannot write the > code to use a Flex capability that the CAT interface doesn't make > available. > > Hopefully, DI will have a new interface which is rich enough so that > these kinds of things are possible and intriguing, and attract 3rd party > SW developers to write the appropriate code. I wouldn't be surprised > to see a "PowerContester" program with a GUI, interfaced to DI for all > the neat signal processing functionality, where DI has no GUI active at > all. > > We just have to be patient... > > Hmmm, I used to do real-time programming, many many moons ago.... > > 73, > /Jack de K3FIV > > On Mon, 2010-06-28 at 18:52 -0700, Don wrote: > > I'm not much of a contester, but it seems to me that this is where a 3rd > > party software company should shine. > > Why not contact the "N1MM" authors or whomever ? and tell them that there > is > > a market out there. > > For me I can wait 1 or 2 (3) years for Flex's (DI), but if you're in a > > hurry - hmmm... > > > > kd6hq > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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. > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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. > > _______________________________________________ > 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. > -- The proportions and relations of things are just as much facts as the things themselves. _______________________________________________ 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.
