[Lowfer] 'Freakin Beacon" Keyer ?

Tue, 9 Dec 2003 20:29:37 -0600

I think it sounds like a good addition to our Lowfer projects. I am going to
pass on it for now as I am going to get into programming PIC's and see where
that leads me to over the winter.

Mike>WE0H

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
On Behalf Of Peter Barick
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 9:53 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [Lowfer] 'Freakin Beacon" Keyer ?

Yes, Mike, and what's more, seems it has happened.

Got this from the ESS place:
"
However, you are the 3rd or 4th person to ask for QRSS recently, so I
am
going to add some freakin' QRSS speeds to the Freakin' Beacon code.
Several
of the present commands, such as "O" and "V", were requested by FB
users. I
will send you an email when the new code is working. It will be
Beacon6.

73,
Bill  N4ES
"
That other email also came and indicates QRSS1-60 speeds, in the usual
steps. Also, dit-dah ratio is 1:3, although Bill (ESS) considered 1:2
but rejected that as less effective.

And note the message text is 128 chars. The interface is via a serial
conn. to Win95-98's HyperTerminal, included in Windows but may be absent
in NT (see the well done doc for the "FB").

Summary:

1) The Freakin' Beacon would compete with existing PC based, dedicated
beacon keyers in its message content versatility, yet would Not be
classified as a "boat anchor," thereby saving both power and shelf/desk
space. It may offer some noise reduction if the old PC and its monitor
were emitting such.

2) It also competes with the K1EL keyer chip, though the FB is more
costly, about 5x. However the cost disadvantage is offset by the instant
text/format changeability of FB, using a bit more PCB real estate.

3) ESS seems to have a good attitude toward users of its products,
based on my inquiry of yesterday that provided me two emails and
indications their programmer already made and tested changes for the now
latest version, 6.

For those already using HB beacon keyers or the K1EL types, there may
not be enough need to change to the FB, but for upgrading or those
starting out the FB should get some consideration (not used by me now).
Then there are the MedFER beacons, where a text message is more common,
the FB covers that and the higher code speeds.

Comments, men?
Peter
---------------------------------------------------
>>> [email protected] 12/08/03 09:25PM >>>
Wow, that looks like it would be a piece of cake to mod the program to
do
plenty of things differently.

Mike>WE0H

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