Brian, Forgive me as I have some "parental" bias but I'd encourage you to really try a FlexControl in real world operating and then see what you think.
The FlexControl wasn't designed to solve all problems - it was designed to deal with a need to tune and control the radio without having to move window focus from a logging program to PowerSDR - for example as you would want to do when operating a contest or attempting to find the station the DX is working in an attempt to bust the pile up. For example, in busting a pile up, you can set the FlexControl to tune VFO B, turn on MultiRX and have the waterfall stay fixed around VFO A while you tune around using the VFO B directed receive window. In this case, there is no waterfall smearing. In a contest (which was the genus for the FlexControl), I find myself in one of three modes of operating... 1. - Running a frequency via CQ and hopefully lots of calling stations 2. - Search and pounce - for stations I haven't worked or multipliers 3. - Trying to find a "weak spot" in the band to start a run frequency For #1, I'm not tuning the VFO, I'm tuning RIT - I can set the FlexControl to be able to alternate quickly between tuning the VFO and RIT, also using the FlexControl to clear RIT. All this without changing window focus... For #2, I'm tuning using the panadaptor - the waterfall is less useful in this mode and generally I'm tuning sequentially (and methodically!) up or down the band. For #3, I use the waterfall in history mode to see where there might be a weak spot - then often I'll click tune to the weakest frequency and try to set up a run. Sometimes in S&P mode, especially when it's a big band like 10m with widely spaced operation, I'll still use click tune to navigate around - I just need to remember to set window focus back to the logging program. One of the first things I do in a new PowerSDR database is to go and TURN OFF frequency change from the keyboard - I go to the Keyboard tab in Setup and then select "None" for every control (I wish there was a single click way of turning these on and off). This way, if I forget to change window focus and start typing a call sign into the wrong window, I don't find myself suddenly on some unknown frequency wondering where the guy disappeared! As you suggest, it would be a great enhancement to PowerSDR to be able to tune VFO A's receive window around and have the waterfall stay stationary. You CAN achieve this effect already by turning on MultiRX, using the FlexControl to tune VFO B AND have transmit follow VFO B. Turn the audio for the VFO A receive window down to zero by using the left slide on the audio balance control. In the release of PowerSDR which supports FlexControl, VFO A and B can be independently tuned regardless of whether the transmitter follows A or B - all without any lag or tuning delay. Not all problems are nails and the FlexControl is not a hammer! Between the tuning controls, different modes and the auxiliary switches, I think you will find the FlexControl is a Flex-ible solution to a lot of operating problems! Cheers & Best 73's Stu K6TU -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Brian Lloyd Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2011 9:01 AM To: FlexRadio reflector; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: [FlexEdge] Fundamental problem with tuning knob First, let me say I am probably going to get one of the new tuning knobs from Flex. The key is that it is NOT a "Human Input Device" (HID) as far as Windows is concerned so it stay 'attached' to PowerSDR no matter what else you are doing on the computer. This is DEFINITELY a good thing. But, there is a very basic flaw in PowerSDR that substantially reduces the usefulness of a tuning knob (any tuning knob) and that has to do with the way the frequency is displayed on the panadaptor/waterfall. Actually, the problem is only moderately annoying with the panadaptor since the pan display is immediate and ephemeral anyway, i.e. no memory -- what you see is what happend 50ms ago, period. (Oh, until you turn on averaging and then it gets very 'smeary' as you tune -- how annoying.) OTOH, the great power of the waterfall is that it shows you what happend for the last 30 seconds. (FWIW, this is why the pan display is less useful than the waterfall.) When you are scanning the band it is very likely you are going to want to check out that station that stopped transmitting 5 seconds ago. As soon as you start to knob tune YOU HAVE LOST ALL MEMORY OF WHAT HAPPENED! Nothing in the waterfall is valid anymore. You can't even tune over to that frequency unless you have bothered to check the frequency ahead of time. Only click-tune works in this situation and then it only works once. If you get it wrong and click twice, POOF, you are off in the weeds again and have to wait 30 seconds for the waterfall display to build up again. Every time this happens to me I want to scream! So, the real answer to making a tuning knob work well is to do one of two things: 1. Have tuning move the VFO lubber line, not the panadaptor or waterfall background. 2. Scroll the waterfall laterally so the whole waterfall remains relevant to the displayed frequency. Of course, PowerSDR is still doing a full FFT of the spectrum. If you have the display zoomed in, i.e. 1x, 2x, or 4x, you keep around all that "old" FFT data so that as you tune, you can scroll beyond the current edge and still see the waterfall data. It is only after you have tuned so far and so fast that you no longer have any "old" FFT data that you start to get black-screen on the waterfall. (You know, if the tuning knob were tied to the IF frequency for tuning within the range of the display, that would make the display work. Somehow I think that would be a hack but it might be doable within the existing PowerSDR architecture.) Regardless, I consider this to be one of the top problems with PowerSDR as it stands now. (The other big problem is that RX2 cannot be used independently with digital modes.) So, these are my two greatest complaints about the way that PowerSDR works. Now that we HAVE a really good knob to use, let's hope that Flex makes the changes to PowerSDR to make the new knob really useful. -- Brian Lloyd, WB6RQN/J79BPL 3191 Western Dr. Cameron Park, CA 95682 [email protected] +1.767.617.1365 (Dominica) +1.931.492.6776 (USA) (+1.931.4.WB6RQN) _______________________________________________ Flexedge mailing list [email protected] http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is used for posting topics related to SDR software development and experimentalist who are using beta versions of the software. _______________________________________________ Flexedge mailing list [email protected] http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is used for posting topics related to SDR software development and experimentalist who are using beta versions of the software.
