On Sat, Apr 29, 2000 at 08:09:48AM -0300, John Ackermann wrote:
> Hamish wrote:
>
> > > 1. A CW keyer on the parallel port with programmable speed.
> >
> > Personally, I would prefer to generate the CW as audio tones injected
> > as SSB.
>
> This is probably not a good idea. Many (most?) rigs are only optimum
> for CW receive when set to CW mode -- operating in SSB will lose a lot
> of RX capability (narrow filters, fast AGC, and proper zero beat).
>From an operational standpoint John is right. However, we here in the
States may run into another problem. Modulated CW (MCW) is limited by the
U.S. rules to above 30 MHz. MCW is defined as, "Tone-modulated
international Morse code telegraphy emissions..." I don't wish to
start and off-topic discussion, but, at least for contest and normal
CW work, I would prefer the program controlled the state of a pin on
a port that I can drive my rig's key input with, or at leat had the
option.
Also, mentioned in this thread was rig control. IIRC, some months
back a post was made to the list of someone writing a library for ICOM
rig control. Perhaps this could be extended to other models. I think
it would be a good idea to develop such a library so that any programmer
doesn't have to re-invent the wheel each time rig control is needed.
Along the same lines I recall a post concerning a CW library. This would
be another good idea.
Finally, I think the use of a real database like PostgreSQL is a great
idea for a general logging program. However, for contesting a more
specialized approach may be better. I had rolled around in my mind
some time back of a contest logger using Berkeley DB for the database
backend. I don't know squat about databases and programming, so this
may be a lousy idea. That said, it would seem a contest logger needs
to be optimized for speed and data integrity. We all know how the
lights go out on Field Day or the power fails during the big 'test.
One thing about CT is that I've never lost data on any completed and
entered QSOs due to power failure and it's happened a lot! Also, it
would be nice (essential?) for the contest logs to be read by the
general log program for award tracking and the like.
Food for thought or grist for the bit bucket...
73, de Nate >>
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