CT 9.22 comments

[K3NA@aol.com]

Hi Ken (and the gang) --

   Here are remarks about CT9.22, based on my experiences at W3LPL.  We were
multi-multi with the usual 11 computers in a non-loop network, plus one TNC
connection.  About 4 computers had DVP cards installed (a first for us; this
will expand).  And three computers ran radio interfaces: one TS940 and two
FT1000s.

   There is no particular order of significance to the comments.

1.  ESCape does not cause you to leave the Alt-M multiplier window anymore.

2.  We have trouble with the Alt-J window in our environment.  On all bands
except 160m, there are two radios, two operators, and two computers.
   a)  The Alt-J frequency display has two columns, whose labels are not
well-understood for us:  RUN and PASS.  I thought one usually passed stations
to the running frequency?
   b)  We discovered the undocumented command PASSFREQ, which helped us keep
the PASS freq column updated manually for the stations without radio-computer
interfaces.
   c)  The "Run" frequency column suffered from duelling updates between the
two stations on each band... with the frequency winking back and forth
between the left and right band-operator position.
   Suggestion:  Having two frequencies listed didn't seem very helpful in our
situation... but maybe I don't understand its intended use.  For W3LPL, the
best solution would be ONE frequency entry per band from the station
designated as the running station.  For SSB split operations, it would be
helpful to see both xmit/rcv freqs, with the xmit freq first:  7213.0/047.2
   Only one decimal point (hundred Hertz digit) is really useful on the
screen display... and some would argue that one should just round off the
frequency to the nearest kHz.

3.  DVP operation for neophytes:  I thought there was a way to keep the
running in BackCopy mode, and punch a button to hear in one's headphones the
last "x" seconds of receive audio.  But I couldn't make this work.  Hitting
Alt-6 might have saved something to disk (couldn't tell), but pressing
Alt-minus seemed to have no effect.  And maybe I don't really want that
snippet saved on the hard disk forever... I'm just trying to catch the
transmitter power again that I forgot in a typographical-error-correcting
frenzy.

4.  It would be desirable to toggle the display of the following windows on &
off:  Pass ... Pktcluster ... Schedule.  As it is now, one can't get rid of
them (without a mouse)... only cover them up.

5.  BandMap:  W3LPL has sent you some suggestions for improvements by
prioritizing the information to be displayed in the available space.  A
further suggestion comes into play as one lives near the band edges:  Rather
than keeping the "bar" (with your current frequency) locked in the center of
the column, allow the bar to migrate to the top or bottom of the window as
you approach the band edge. Example: if you are parked at the bottom of the
band, the top half of the window should not be completely empty.

6.  BandMap:  As the band fills, let the Map expand vertically to fill the
entire height of the screen (50 lines of data).

7.  The Map itself could be narrower by dropping the MHz digit in the
frequency column.  This would help keep the map from overlapping the Check
Partial window.

8.  Allow point & shoot in the band map, just like in the Alt-A packet
announce window.  For a multi-multi, this (in conjunction with the W3LPL
prioritized data suggestions) would eliminate entirely the need to display the
 Alt-A window.  For everyone, it would allow us to delete entries from the
bandmap which are no longer on frequency (point to the entry and DEL to make
it go away).  And it allows one to find one's own multipliers, keep them
listed in the map, point at them and jump around until you finally crack the
pileups.

9.  When a pass has been worked, it should be deleted from the Pass window.

10.  The Pass window should be able to be configured for one-band or all
bands.

11.  CW messages:  How about allowing "+" and "-" to be stored in the CW
messages?  "+" means increase speed by 2 wpm.  "-" means decrease speed by 2
wpm.  Message sending always starts out at the displayed (Alt-V) speed.  This
would give great flexibility to configuring messages so that boring parts of
the exchange are sent quickly, complicated parts of a callsign are sent more
slowly, etc.  (No one here understands the purpose of the existing half-speed
minus command.)

12.  Weighted rates:  As a single op, it would be valuable to see a "weighted
rate" version of the Alt-R numbers.  This figure of merit takes into account
the value of multipliers worked by adding in the Q/M number for every
multiplier worked.  In this way, one can judge if , for example, jumping on
160m to find and work multipliers was worth sacrificing the existing run-rate
on 40m CW.

13.  Clocked rates:  It would also be valuable to see "clock" rates (last 10
minutes, last 60 minutes) rather than rates keyed to the last 10/100 QSOs.
 Clock rates make more sense when the bands are slow: 100 QSOs might stretch
out over many hours and give a rather distorted sense of what's happened.
 (This might be a matter of stylistic preference, so I'll be very happy with
a -NA startup switch a la -FO and -TT...)  Note:  in this form of calculation,
 the rate numbers must be recalculated each minute as well as when a QSO is
added to the log.

Thanks!

-- Eric  K3NA

k3na@aol.com 

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