[Elecraft] P3 point and click with mouse

[iw1ayd - Salvatore Irato]

Hi Ian and all.

What you depicted Ian is what any FLEX-RADIO radio could do. It could be 
really useful for phone and somewhat interesting for other modes.  
Having a span of 200 KHz is really a big chunk of data to be shown and 
not all humans could drive safely over it, let me say, with a monitor 
smaller than 20/25" (still small I think). To have, at this wide span, a 
smooth usage for any signal mode you also will need such a bigger than 
big monitor.
Phone would leave the largest trace, so it could be viewed even in 
smallest monitor.
Having a waterfall to look at could be even a more interesting thing, as 
it add persistence and we could recognize those persistent patterns much 
well.
So also CW and other tight modes may take advantages on what you 
pictured out, even with the smaller screens, but still not < 20"/19".
But then we will frantically run on each signal pattern, clicking it and 
also spinning that VFO knob to get onto each signal as to decode it. It 
could be that having such a span or a smaller span would not permit you 
to check into what you see in a  way good enough to decode, by ears and, 
worse, by machine. I could imagine that it would not be easy onto 
smallest, or even smaller, monitors give the touch and feel of point and 
click smoothness to everyone.
(BTW the bigger the screen, the bigger distance from it that anybody 
would need to see it all, without having to turn the head head or it 
will will me a great ergonomic exercise)

A second mouse, not contesting (but ... follow me), would not be a 
problem. Part of the solution could be to have a trackball/s, instead of 
two mouse. This woult at times, limit the real eastae needed on our desk 
and give a precise place where the mouse live. Not having it running all 
the way on top of the desk (this late sound as a cage(?)).
I had used two PCs and one single PC to do SO2R RTTY, WAE and JARTS, the 
second solution is much more agreeable for me. But this is a whole 
different story as the devices for two PC are a bunch compared to just 
one mouse more.

I am coming from almost 3 years of FLEX usage and RTTY contesting, so my 
experience couldn't be enough to se all the scenario. Anyway those are 
my two cents.

Let me grab some more space of a fringe items that already popped out 
here ...
About programs, loggers, and radios it's a whole different story. About 
this I am not only driven by my short FLEX and RTTY contesting background.
We don't have right now loggers that could be enough inside any radio as 
to give a single point of focus, BTW on the PC. Action is there on the 
screen, eyes, and in our hears. Hands are to be moved by the small 
possible amount. Right now we are still traveling a lot, if not too 
much, in between the radio front panel, the mouse (guess what I use), 
the keyboard and the screen. So giving that elusive multiplier  or DX 
signal all the time to disappear. Even when we could use external VFO 
knobs that could live on the desk we are still prone to some programmers 
that misunderstand the whole approach forcing us to focus and un-focus, 
back and forth several times, un-synced at all, the logger and the 
virtual knob application. Now, since Tmate and brand specific products, 
those virtual knobs are much better. Somebody that wrote the software 
was listening, at last.

It's really a hard world, good products, but with near zero integration. 
RS232 isn't anymore a great form of digital data (not signals!) 
transport for integration, foggy me.

IMHO by now the K3/P3 represent , with its intrinsics good RF qualities 
and its large catalog of CAT commands one of the best best in class for 
RTTY contests (let me try it in the VOLTA). But only if you have enough 
MACRO buttons that could accommodate the CAT commands as I need. Not all 
Loggers are make in the same way, several of those out they still mimics 
old Borland interfaces and DOS commands ... just because this was the 
way, that "was" is gone since then, but it seems to me that nobody cares of.

Ian your suggestion, view, is a great idea to be used from inside the 
radio, with just some personal concerns about screen real estate and the 
usefulness of the rendering on small, <20" screens. I vote for it, if 
it's the case. It could be a way as more people get acquainted to 
something new.

I wold also vote to have more granularity, atomicity, stepping, in the 
Filter Width knob, 50 Hz seems to much, half of it would be better at 
half the times.

Hope my poor English would make all this sound to anybody not too stinky.

                                       73 de iw1ayd Salvo

BTW I would also vote, too much(?), for a TMATE like for the K3/P3, why 
not! But from inside it, not from the PC! I could see myself running 
SO2R, with two of those toys under the left hand, short move to reach 
each of the two. With one trackball and two screens, all the CAT 
commands needed MACROed. OK, OK, I will stay asleep. The front panel is 
definitively gone for the most repetitive tasks. Almost all is on the desk.