[Elecraft] OT Bad Assumptions

[Fred Jensen]

I too like to use my radio, not the computer, for casual and other 
non-frantic QSO's. :-)

Based on the number of posts/questions about HRD and other radio control 
software, I think that might be a valid if not universal assumption.  I 
think it's safe to say all contesters do, although I ran the Locust QSO 
Party QRP with my K2, a #2, and a piece of paper recently.  It's likely 
that virtually all RTTY/Digital ops use a computer too [so far, I can 
recognize my call and "TU" on RTTY by ear, if I've been doing it for the 
last 3 hours and in the same exchange].

Al, I agree with you that, with the proliferation of external devices 
and software, an awful lot of the discussions here apply to getting a 
Signalink or MicroHam thingy working rather than to Elecraft equipment. 
  K1's, K2's, K3's, and KX3's behave as they were designed.  If you're 
going to add extra external stuff, you will have to deal with the makers 
of the external stuff, it's not Elecraft's fault.  This list is a good 
resource for that and, at some juncture, it may be good to take it 
"off-line" to resolution.

I have my laptop interfaced to my K3/P3/KAT500/KPA500.  I use that 
interface and N1MM/MMTTY in contests ... well most of them.  I chase 
SOTA activators a lot using a homebrew logger that will create .csv 
files to upload to the SOTA database, but which does not control or read 
anything from the K3.

I confess, I have a Pigknob, external device, it solves some orthopedic 
issues for me.

I added OT to the subject because it is.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 50th Running of the Cal QSO Party 3-4 Oct 2015
- www.cqp.org

On 2/16/2015 5:10 PM, Al Lorona wrote:
> 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