Momentum is being gained quickly.
Yesterday was a very productive day after banging my head against a few
walls on Monday that finally came down.
First off - my arduino keyer is fully functional (again) and I have the
development environment all setup on my linux computer (same one that is
going to be used in the shack). This keyer is based upon the CW keyer that
was in the DOS version of the program - only a bit better. The resolution
is improved from 1.68 ms to 1 ms and it sports a new curtis keying option
recommended by W6NL that seems to work for both A and B users (although A
and B will still be options).
This keyer will interface to TR Linux using a single USB port and will be
expanded to support the SO2R commands needed. K5TR sent me one of these -
and I have the keyer program running on it now.
SO2R Mini: SO2R Box In Your Palm – NN1C — Blog, Products, and Productions
<https://nn1c.org/so2r/>
I am going to add support for a small speaker in it as well. At $60 for a
kit - it isn't worth trying to build my own.
This keying option will be added to TR Linux (keeping the existing options
for now). I am very excited about this - since I will have total control
of what is happening on both sides of the USB cable. This should allow me
to totally recreate the timings and flexibility that we had with the old
DOS program.
Today - I get to start with a blank piece of paper and create the protocol
that will be used. One of the most demanding applications will be the auto
start send and auto call terminate feature. I think it should all work
like it used to - and I am imagining having the letters of the call that
have been sent show up in reverse video - and not allow you to backspace
beyond letters that have been sent. The protocol will be designed to
support that level of interaction between the operator interface and the
keyer.
There is also another interesting feature that the keyer currently supports
that might be interesting to make the program use. If you send CW with the
paddle - it is decoded by the arduino firmware and sent back to the host.
I have always dreamed of a "passive" logger where someone just sends with a
paddle and the program figures out what to log based upon that.
So - we are perhaps only a week or two away from having some kind of beta
version available that people can play with. If you are determined to be
on the bleeding edge - you should order up one of those SO2R mini boxes and
have it QRV.
Once I get the basic stuff working - my focus will be on updating the
contests that need updating or adding. Then, we will be set to start
thinking about "what next". Likely some kind of 2BSIQ feature will be
looked at seriously.
I am excited to finally be back in a situation where memory isn't a
limitation any more - which will open up lots of possibilities for
enhancements.
73 Tree N6TR
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