Actually, this is NOT such a good approach.
From an ergonomics viewpoint, the press of the A>B button is an example of
an unrecoverable, destructive action. The frequency
of the B-VFO is wiped out: the "destructive" part. Once the B-VFO frequency
has been overwritten, it can not be recovered.
This is the classic example of what triggers the "oh shit" reaction when a
person is operating a piece of complicated equipment:
working fast in a demanding situation, he performs some action (reach up, push
a button), and just as his hand pushes the button, he
realizes it's the wrong button. Poof! The information is gone.
Well-designed systems limit the number of unrecoverable destructive actions.
This can be done is two ways:
a) provide an easy "un-do" function, so that the data which was destroyed
can now be recovered quickly.
b) make it somewhat more difficult to complete an unrecoverable destruction
action. The degree of difficulty is selected to be
proportionate to the importance of that which is being destroyed. At one end
of the spectrum of importance, it should be very
difficult to launch a nuclear weapon (perhaps the ultimate in unrecoverable,
destructive actions). More common approaches employ
extra steps. Some examples:
-- the button or switch that initiates the action has a cover which must
be opened first, before the button is pushed.
-- the button must be held down for a longer period of time than normal
buttons (i.e., those that don't destroy information).
-- the button requires more force to depress.
-- a message is displayed, asking the user to confirm his intent by
pressing the same button again (weaker) or taking a
different action (mouse click, different button press, etc) (stronger
protection).
Expanding the A>B function to destroy more information (bandwidth, etc) is
just aggravating the current situation.
Here is one example of an alternative which would be better than Tom's
proposal from an ergonomic perspective:
-- single press of < 1 second of A>B: transfers frequency only (just as today).
-- double press within 1 second of A>B: transfers frequency and other receiver
parameters to VFO B.
-- press and hold the button for >1 second: Undo the most recent of the
single- or double-press actions of the A>B button. The
extra duration of this "un-do" button press is a safety feature.
Now we no longer have destructive functions executed by the A>B button,
because there is an easy recovery mechanism.
[Note that this approach suggests that the one copy of previous contents of
the B-VFO (freq and receiver parameters) gets saved
when A>B is single- or double-pushed. That opens up the possibility for an
advanced operator with a deeper understanding of the
radio to temporarily change the B-VFO's parameters for a while, and then use
push-and-hold to revert back at a later time.]
-- Eric K3NA
-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Bill Tippett
Sent: 2004 July 11 08:05
To: tentec@contesting.com
Subject: RE: [TenTec] Re: An example of changing
Orionfirmwaretomeetexpectations
N1MM wrote:
>A simple solution would be to have a quick press of the A>B button just
transfer the frequency. A two second press could be used to transfer mode,
bandwidth, agc, etc.
EXCELLENT suggestion Tom! I hope Gary will consider this.
73, Bill W4ZV
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