[Elecraft] Bad Assumptions

[Al Lorona]

There seems to be an almost universal assumption that, if you have a transceiver in the shack, it is connected to a computer full-time.

That is certainly not the case. Plenty --perhaps most-- of hams operate their rigs in a standalone mode without computer, even while at home. This may come as a shock to some of you. Exceptions to this rule include while updating firmware.

This bad assumption usually rears its head when someone asks, "What's the best way to operate split?" or, "How do you use the CW memories?" and someone immediately responds, "Well I push this here button in my favorite software and everything works great."

I'm always frustrated and even a little annoyed by responses like this. A response like this is not answering exactly what was asked. Or at least, it assumes far too much.

I recommend that, unless computer control is explicitly mentioned by the original poster, we shouldn't automatically offer a solution that requires a computer to work. Original posters should be more clear about whether a computer can be part of the solution.


Al  W6LX