[TenTec] Top 10 with mouse only controls - WAS: "End of an Era"

[Duane - N9DG]

--- Bill Tippett <btippett at alum.mit.edu> wrote:

>          An SDR might be great for listening to wide
> BW unoccupied VHF spectra for the occasional signal,
> but it makes less sense in contests that have lots of
> signals requiring extreme agility.

I agree it makes less sense when a majority of the Q's are
made while sitting on a run frequency. But having instant QSY
to a new quiet spot anywhere in the band I have to believe
would be useful for contests on the DC bands as well. Or
seeing and QSY'ing with a single click to that really weak
signal between two big ones 50 kHz up the band the moment it
appears could also be an advantage. Also if you are in a
multi-multi configuration operating on a mostly dead band
that spotting the new station pop up as it pops up on the
band would also be useful (more closely matches life in VHF
contests).  

> A contest like the Sprint is even more demanding of
> agility, where you must QSY every other QSO, with
> winners hitting rates approaching 100/hour over the
> 4 hour duration.

Here I bet a properly done UI could easily beat knobs and
buttons. Note that there aren't any properly done UI's yet.
So instead of sitting on the sidelines grousing that SDR and
software controls can't be made better than traditional knobs
and buttons try spending some time actually trying to think
about ways that it could be done so that it would work
better. I'm sure that the ways are out there, even for HF,
but only thinking in terms of how it has always been done
won't get you there.  

> 
>          If SDR had advantages over traditional rigs,
> you would see contesters flock to them...but they aren't,
> and the simple reason is agility.  SDR may overcome
> that issue someday but the present ones aren't even
> close enough to bear serious consideration.

The reason the optimized agility isn't there yet is because
one of the first things people try to do is write (or think
about) a user interface that is just a picture of a radio on
a computer screen, - complete with simulated knobs and
buttons. Let it be noted that I will be the first to agree
that is not a good idea. The UI must be written to take
advantage of the graphics and mouse control from the get go
and not try to shoehorn traditional controls into software.
Taken a step further using a repurposed game controller has
some tremendous potential for radio control as well. 

Duane
N9DG


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