[Elecraft] A Feature I'd like to see

[Tree N6TR]

> Dear Elecraft & List Members,
>
> A Feature I'd Like to see...
>
> Way back in my ancient history, when I was working at KPH, we had  what we 
> called the "bird-dog."  It tuned the bands looking for a "KPH" call.  It 
> was only fair at it, but 80% to 90% of the time it worked; this was about 
> 1992.  Some ship would call KPH on the maritime bands and the bird dog 
> would find it for us, just in case us humans missed it, & turn off the 
> squelch, piping it over the loudspeaker.
>
> That would be my favorite feature for the K2.
>
> The user could program it to look for "CQ," or if he was a contester 
> "TEST," or if he was on a sked, it would look for his callsign.  As it 
> stands now, the scan mode just stops on any signal.  I consider it 
> remarkable that it has the ability to tell CW from steady carriers, but it 
> would be so handy if it could be carried one step farther!

Perhaps.  

About 16 years ago (wow - it's been that long), I developed a program using 
a Z80 to operated the Field Day on its own.  It was exciting watching it
work people.  Later, the same technology was used to be an operator assistant
in the Sweepstakes "bird-dogging" for a VE8 or VY1.  I found one before it 
did, but it did print out everything it heard to a CRT and it was nice to see
how people were doing on a different band than the one I was one.

With today's DSP technology, it might be possible to out perform the human
hear (or most human's ears).  I actually think it will be a sad day for 
ham radio if this technology becomes too widespread.  Small steps can take
you from having a band-scope, to having a display of what is being sent on
many frequencies and finally just making this look like a web chat room.  

For me, that would really ruin the magic of radio as my brain will be too
far away from putting on the headphones.

The Z80 op has been gathering dust for about 10 years now.

Tree N6TR
tree@kkn.net