[Elecraft] Fwd: [FlexEdge] Field Day, Focus and Contest Skins?

[Lyle Johnson]

  I think you'll find this interesting.

Lyle

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[FlexEdge] Field Day, Focus and Contest Skins?
Date: 	Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:18:15 -0500
From: 	Dr. Howard S. White <drpaper at kleega.com>
To: 	flexedge at flex-radio.biz <flexedge at flex-radio.biz>



Ran the Flex 5000 for Field Day with 2 Flex Newbie's who were Very Experienced Contest Operators who regularly win major contests.

The issue quickly became the fact that it was difficult to use the Flex in a contest environment because the operators had difficulty with the focus of the keyboard in search and pounce mode.  This was not an issue when we held a frequency as we did not have to touch the radio.

On several occasions, they would be typing into N1MM, then changing frequencies, forgetting to move the focus back to N1MM so PowerSDR  abruptly changed the radio frequencies or bands because they typed on the wrong  screen...and of course lost the contact....  It became highly frustrating in the heat of battle..

I had the mouse set so that by hovering over a program it would shift focus but that was not really good enough in the heat of the contest where the mouse needs to be hovering over PowerSDR but typing needs to be into the Contest logger.

Bottom Line:      They concluded that the Flex was not ready for "Prime Time" Contesting.


I seem to recall some discussions on program focus on this reflector but it is impossible to search this reflector's archives..


A Few of Recommendations:


1.       There really needs to be a Contest Skin which removes about 90% of the controls that you never use in the contest...they could be "set it and forget it" in the main form and hidden during contests..... You really only use frequency via mouse wheel, band, filters.

2.       The Contest Skin needs to integrate a contest logging program such as N1MM or Writelog into the Skin so that you never have to switch programs...ideally the logger should show inside the skin.

3.       In the alternative, remove the ability of the keyboard to interact with PowerSDR during contests and fix its focus onto the Contest Logger while fixing the focus of the mouse wheel on frequency changing.

4.       Or in the alternative, use a second computer for the contest logger... really ugly solution...

5.       There needs to be a detailed Knowledge Base Article on Focus for contesting.

One other suggestion... move this reflector to a reflector such as Yahoo Groups which has a searchable archive...so you won't continually have people asking the same questions all the time.
__________________________________________________________
Howard S. White Ph.D. P. Eng., VE3GFW/K6  ex-AE6SM  KY6LA
Website: www.ky6la.com<http://www.ky6la.com/>
"No Good Deed Goes Unpunished"
"Ham Antennas Save Lives - Katrina, 2003&  2007 San Diego Fires, 911"

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This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge.  It is used for posting topics related to SDR software development and experimentalist who are using alpha and beta versions of the software.