[Elecraft] Ham software

[Larry Phipps]

I also do professional programming, although I consider myself an 
engineer. I have written a number of free ham programs as well. My 
programs variously link to and support TRX-Manager, HRD, DXLabs Suite 
and N1MM. These are all excellent programs, and all are free except 
TRX-Manager, which is not expensive. I tend to use TRX-Manager for 
regular remote control operations, because I started out with it many, 
many years ago, but I like aspects of all these programs for specific 
needs. Laurent, Simon, Dave and Tom are all great guys and provide first 
rate support for their programs. Most of them have K3s on order, and 
probably monitor this reflector (Simon posts here regularly). I would 
simply try them all and pick the one you like best, whether it's free or 
not. For remote control, I think you'll find TRX and HRD the best. You 
may also want to visit my website for some free programs of use for 
remote control, www.telepostinc.com. 73, Larry N8LP
> Julian G4ILO wrote:
> > I don't have any axe to grind for any of the programs mentioned, and
>> > in fact use none of them, but I have to take issue with the notion
>> > that HRD is great just because it's free. I believe that the range and
>> > quality of software available to hams is limited because of their
>> > reluctance to pay for it, and that we are ultimately the poorer for it
>
> First, I'm a professional programmer.
>
> I've paid good money for some ham (and other) software, and it has 
> turned out to be junk. Much ham software is written by hams who are not 
> professional programmers, and it shows.
>
> There is a big difference in writing a program that is useful to you, 
> and one that will work properly in multiple environments, has a polished 
> interface, a balanced feature set, etc.
>
> Unfortunately, even if hams were more willing to pay for software, the 
> market is small. The cost of professional programming is high, so that 
> means that the per-unit cost of good ham software would need to be quite 
> high for the publisher to make a profit. Do you want to pay $500 for a 
> rig control program? I didn't think so.
>
> That's why we shouldn't expect to find much good ham software for sale. 
> On the other hand, there is the author of HRD who is willing to provide 
> a world-class program as a labor of love. We are very lucky. There are a 
> few others that have decent shareware or low-cost programs. But they are 
> not going to make a living that way.
>
> Another approach that works is the open-source model, which has given us 
> the N1MM contest logging program. A little clunky, written in VB, it's 
> nevertheless one of the best programs of its genre. And it is free too.
> -- 73, Vic, K2VCO Fresno CA http://www.qsl.net/k2vco

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