Ah. I see we've both presented our operating preferences as if they reflect those of the majority of contesters. Sorry for that.
There have been posts from both sides of the fence. Some ops apparently can memorize or hear the radio's settings, and other cannot or don't want to. Thanks to N1EU and P49Y for letting me know I'm not the only person out there who makes mistakes with my radio. One time I switched my FT-1000D RX ANT on to run the low bands listening to my Beverage in the wee hours of CQ WW CW, and forgot that it was on the next morning. It sure was frustrating trying to run 20m with that Beverage! I thought we'd had a solar flare. And the 1000D has a little green light next to the button that I should have noticed. Unfortunately, after 18 or 36 hours of contesting, I'm often on the edge of being able to remember my own name, let alone the radio settings. For me, the more prominent the display, the better. The Orion does a good enough job with DSP that it isn't easy to distinguish between 600Hz, 400Hz, or 200Hz. Sometimes I narrow the passband temporarily to block QRM or enhance a very weak signal. Other times I shift the passband to attenuate interference. Other times I twiddle the RIT because a station is calling me at the edge of the passband. I can't tell just by listening that these changes have been made (and I challenge anyone to be able to tell that RIT has been used just by listening.) Sure, most of the time I immediately reset to zero. In fact, Writelog zeros RIT for me when I log each QSO. But I run SO2R and sometimes I get distracted by something happening on the other radio. By the time I get back to the first radio, I may have forgotten the adjustments I made a couple of minutes ago. I'd appreciate it if you didn't preach to me about contesting style. I believe my scores and standings over the past 10 years speak to that issue. I don't adjust my radio excessively during contests. I may do it a few times every few hours under extreme conditions. That's hardly DXing. Even if done infrequently, a change here or there may not be the right setting for working the next QSO, and a valuable mult may be missed because the settings are off. SO2R contesting is very demanding of the operator's attention, and I don't want to spend any time figuring out that I shifted the passband, tweaked the AGC, inserted the notch, etc. I want to see the status of the radio at a glance, either with a light, a knob position, or a field on the display. It's important to remember that SDRs are relatively new on the ham radio scene and designers are still trying to get it right. In the old days, many settings could be determined by the position of a knob or switch, or perhaps a small LED. The trend today is to use multi-function buttons, knobs with digital encoders, knobs with built-in push buttons, etc. In many cases, the knobs and buttons don't tell you the state of that particular function. This places greater demands on the display to show the current state of the radio. I don't particularly like the Orion's LCD screen, but it's large and capable of displaying any parameters determined by the firmware. If the K3 has a weakness, it's the limited size display. It's going to take some creativity for that display to accommodate the operating needs of a wide variety of users. My comments were posted to help facilitate that. 73, Dick WC1M > Message: 16 > Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 08:28:03 -0500 > From: "DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [Elecraft] K3 display for contesters > To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net > Message-ID: > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > Hi Dick and other contesters who might be potential buyers but who are > now concerned by Dick's post: > > You said, "but there are many parameters that need to be available > at-a-glance: both VFO frequencies, bandwidth, shift/PBT, RIT/XIT > power, vox, AGC, RF Gain, preamp, notch, NB, receive antenna status, > power, etc. " > > Well, I think that I'm a pretty serious contester and completely > disagree (except for the QRG of both VFO's). I am able to hear the > different characteristics you mention. Narrow BW sounds a lot > different than wide. I'll adjust it (not that I do that much) based > on what sounds right; not by looking at a display or "the numbers." > Who cares what those are...it has to sound right. Same with > shift/pbt. As for RIT/XIT, for me, the only thing that matters is if > it is ON or OFF. If I twiddle either, it will be for a specific QSO. > And as soon as I'm done with that Q, I zero it by tapping the clear > button. If I feel that I need to twiddle it again for another Q, well > then the offset does automatically show up (as I understand it...I > don't have my K3's yet). Power? Why do you want to monitor that. > Isn't it "set it and forget it?" Vox? Are you turning vox on and off > during a contest? Why? Basically, I just do not see why these are > important to you unless it's just a matter of that is what you are > used to now. > > You also said, "I can't afford to spend time twiddling knobs to > determine the current state of the transceiver." I agree! In fact, I > would say that during a contest, you can't afford to be twiddling > knobs period. If you are adjusting AGC, Shift, Bandwidth RF gain, > Preamp, Notch, etc during a contest, sounds like DXing more than > contesting to me. Time spent twiddling knobs is time not making Q's. > > I won't dispute that these may be (seem?) "important" to you now, but > I know tons of contesters who simply "do it by ear" and usually don't > twiddle knobs at all. Like K3ZO, on cw I like to select one BW > (usually fairly wide) and that's how I operate the entire contest. If > I have to narrow it for one situation, I immediately "put it back" as > soon as that Q is done. > > So that's MY style of contesting. The purpose of this post is simply > to present another POV (mine). > > de Doug KR2Q > _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. 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