[Elecraft] Band stacking UI rant (was: K3 Band changing...Devils Advocate...)

[Brian Lloyd]

On May 31, 2008, at 3:31 PM, Don Rasmussen wrote:

>>>> So, is this a good problem statement?
>
> Negative.
>
> This may be hard to grasp if you have never used an
> IC756p 775dsp, or OMNI VI+.

I have an IC-706MKII. (Speaking of bad user interfaces ...)

> The object is to have single press access to a desired
> band, on the last freq and mode you used - without
> ever needing to specifically perform a "save"
> operation of that frequency and mode in the past.

But that already happens when I return to a band. I guess I don't see  
the huge advantage of have a separate button to do this when the  
standard band-changing button already does that. OK, I have to press  
my band changing button multiple times to get from 6M to 160M but that  
is not a likely scenario. Most of the time the band I want to get to  
is only one or two button-presses away.

> The rig is smart enough to know anytime that you leave
> a band using memory recall or FREQ ENT, to store the
> last band's freq, mode, and filter settings for single
> button recall later.

Well, the K2 already does that. I am assuming that the K3 does too.  
I'm just not seeing an advantage yet.

And isn't it more likely that people are going to grab the VFO knob  
and twist? If you do that how is the radio going to know to save the  
freq? See, you still need a button-press to say "remember".

> The "stacking" art of the idea happens when the rig is
> smart enough to save (for example) the last 3 places
> you were on 10 meters, without you ever having to
> press a button.

How does it know what the "last" three places were? When I change  
bands? That seems just silly. The radio is not telepathic and can't  
know that I want a particular frequency? If it only happens when I  
leave a band, well, that seems silly as well and now we are back to  
the "frequency of interest" stack I suggested. Oh yeah, when I enter  
another frequency with the keypad. Yeah, I do that all the time ...  
NOT. I tune across the band with the VFO looking for interesting  
signals.

Look, you want to know what comes naturally to people? Sit a new ham  
in front of the radio. I guarantee they are going to grab the VFO knob  
to change frequencies, not key in a new one on the keypad.

(Caveat -- the K3 may already have this, I don't know. If so, I  
apologize for wasting everyone's time.)

> For example, the first press of the 10 meter button
> would call up 28.010 CW 500hz, the second press,
> 28.400 usb, and the third press, 29.600 FM with PL and
> negative offset - if these were the last three spots
> on 10 meters where you were operating.

So I spin the VFO dial, hear a CQ, and reply. Is that when the radio  
knows a frequency is "of interest"? Does keying the rig mean "save  
this"? Do I have to enter a new frequency or change bands? Seems  
awkward. Seems like, "remember this," or, "remember this in memory  
1," (I understand that the K3 does this already) makes more sense to me.

All of this is a user-interface issue. Frankly, the user interface on  
most radios that have microcontrollers sucks.

> You never have to press "save", you have an automatic
> "bread crumb" trail of all the most recent places
> you've been

I must be dense. No matter how it works I still need to do *something*  
to indicate that a frequency is of interest. Just pausing on a  
frequency is not enough. I may have gotten a phone call. I have to  
*DO* something to make the radio know to save that frequency. And if I  
have to do something, it may as well be to tell the radio explicitly  
that I want this frequency.

I am somewhat sensitive to this issue right now. I have 12 new hams in  
my classroom (10 tech and two upgrade to general). They are all  
chomping at the bit to get on the air. I am telling the kids that to  
get on a repeater all they need to do is set the repeater output  
frequency, the offset, and the PL tone into the radio to get in. One  
5th grade boy conned his folks into getting him a new Yaesu VX-3R HT.  
OH MY GOD what an awful radio. I spent a good 5 minutes trying to  
fathom that abortion of a user interface and then had to punt to the  
7th grader (just upgraded to general -- good kid) who had more time  
than I did. (I still had to work with the other kids.) After both of  
them spending 15 minutes heads-down over the manual they figured out  
how to program repeaters and save them to memory. An hour later I  
asked the boy to show me what the sequence was to program a repeater  
into his radio. The response? "Uh ... (furrowed brow) ... (poke-poke- 
poke) ... (deer-in-headlights-look) ... (run for the manual) ... uh,  
could you help me again?" Yeah right. Good job Yaesu.

 From now on my recommendations on radios are going to hinge on the  
rationality of the UI. It doesn't matter how good the radio is if the  
operator can't figure out how to use it. And if you can't use it  
without the manual, how are you going to use it in the field?

(BTW after all this I tossed them an old IC-2AT I use as a hidden  
transmitter for our T-hunts. The response? "But this is so easy! How  
come the other radios aren't this easy?" At least Elecraft has active  
hams working on the design of their radios so there is SOME hope for  
us. :-)

So, give me a simple, obvious UI. I can dispense with most features.  
And while I don't think you can beat the UI on the Collins KWM2, the  
K2 is pretty usable. Certainly the kids and I can manage to get that  
radio on the air and on the proper mode to make contacts, without ever  
having to consult the manual. Set the band, set the frequency, set the  
mode, set the filter, set the keyer speed, and start. We even go from  
band to band and the last frequency/mode/filter for that band pops up.  
No huhu.

Well, there is one nit -- who came up with the brilliant idea that AGC  
OFF is not on the AGC button? Another friend has a K2 and didn't even  
know there was an 'AGC Off' function! I had to explain that it was  
function-shift-filter-power-PTT-meta-control-alt-delete-something to  
turn the AGC off and to go look it up in the manual. Hello! Fast,  
slow, Off, Fast, Slow, Off. It isn't rocket science.

(Sorry. Sometimes I get carried away.)

--

73 de Brian, WB6RQN
Brian Lloyd - brian HYPHEN wb6rqn AT lloyd DOT com