Band Plans

W5XZ - dan

just like we had in PowerSDR, would be nice; all the sub-bands + all the SW & MWBC bands + all the WWV & CHU freqs.

Tim - W4TME

Band plans? We don't need no stinkin' band plans. :-) We have some really cool visual band plan indicators planned for SmartSDR such as coloring for sub-bands and license class.

K4EAR

Now ain't that the cat's meow

Ken - NM9P

I love this idea! Indeed, really cool. Especially if we can change the color code... i.e. I don't need color codes for license class, (Extra) just band edges and mode restrictions. But If my wife (a general) operates, she would need them.

Bruce, AE0T

Wow Tim, this really is a simple, practical, yet a very powerful idea that falls inline with the simple uncluttered SmartSDR look. It is easy to forget we are not all extras and where sub bands lie. As my gen would say, that's really cool man!

W5UN_Dave

I like the triple click band memorizations, and as Dan mentioned: CHU, all the WWV channels by consecutive clicks. Hopefully that will be available someday. Let me think a moment: Yes, it took ten years to get PowerSDR and Flex 5K from the start for Flex 1K. OMG, I won't live that long, I'm getting too old. SO HURRY UP :-)

SteveM

Sorry to rehash, but I'm new to the forum.

Forget the band-plan markers. Hams should know it. If not, they can keep a copy of the ARRL chart on the wall or open on the PC-desktop.

However, the reason I found this is that what would be more useful are user definable vertical frequency markers on the scope. They must be easy to set, clear, and customize for color/width/embedded text/etc.. That way I can quickly mark previous QSOs, distinguish potential QSOs from ragchewers, etc., while I am making the rounds. Heck, I could even mark the bands in big-****-red vertical bars in case I forget where I am :-)

W5XZ - dan

steve, some guys use the TNF's to do exactly that...

thanks for resurrecting my idea...73, w5xz, dan

SteveM

Hi Dan,

Heh! That's the first hack I've heard of. Cool.

However, seems like a sin to waste hardware resources for a UI issue.

W5XZ - dan

agreed!

Bill / VA3QB

Have these "Band Plans"  been implemented or are they in the near future ??  

Bill

Walt - KZ1F

I envisioned, for XPSSDR, using the radio callsign, if sert, to block non-allocated subbands such that a general could not key up in an advanced/extra segment. While interesting, I dismissed it as being too 'nanny society'. It's not hard to do if people like the idea.

Robert -- N5IKD

I could be a tool to help people stay legal. If they can easily turn the feature on and off for guests, then it wouldn't be too 'nanny society'.

Ernest

N5IKD - Robert,

Why? 
No one is listening, or cares if you are legal or not.
Many are receiving their license today; after a couple of hours of cramming answers using "YI" course: with little, or no idea what ham radio is!
I know!
I am a VE

Bill -VA3WTB

Just a simple band marker would be ok I think.

Bill / VA3QB

I agree Bill Buchanan.  As a Canadian we have a slightly different Band Plan as I'm sure you already know and as well I don't normally operate CW. I'm mostly a SSB and Digital op. So it would be nice to be able to put the markers in as well so I don't accidently operate in the CW/Digital areas of the bands.  I also find that when your contesting, it is very easy to jump outside the areas of operation according to the contest rules. 

73
Bill 

Bill -VA3WTB

I suppose for now we could just put a TNF line there were we want it and It will always be there.

Walt - KZ1F

What XPSSDR will do is lock the demos modes when out of subbands. In other words it will prevent ssb in the cw/digital subbands altogether. It's a minor extension to block transmission out of you licensed allocation.

@Ernest, I kind of agree with you, my take, no code turned Amateur Radio into citizen band . this is one reason I try to stay on cw

KY6LA_Howard

@Walt and @Ernest No Code SAVED Amateur Radio Our numbers were dwindling, our population was dying we were under imminent threat of losing the bands from lack of use. No Code reversed the trend ..our numbers have increased and the bands looks secure. PLUS. No Code brought in many Technically Competent people who had been kept out of the hobby because they had no interest in Code or like me even though I have been a ham for 57+ years found code to be EXTREMELY difficult to learn and rather unpleasant to use. I operate a lot of contests. I find that if anything No Code SSB operators are as good as full code operators and many of them are much more technically competent than the old hams.

W5XZ - dan

interesting perspective, Howard; hadn't thought of it that way, myself..

I suppose we'll always have us "CW only snobs" around, though.  not that I refuse to get  on SSB, it's just tough to beat good old fashioned cw for quick weak signal dx'ing,
 and pulling a new one out of the QRM, QRN, and QSB, especially on the low bands..

73, dan

Bill -VA3WTB

Yup there is something for everyone in this pastime.

Tim - W4TME

Hear hear!!!!

Walt - KZ1F

@Howard, I am not convinced that statement, NC saved AR, is entirely accurate. I acknowledge it was a fear though. I do, however, agree it brought in a lot of competent people. I also maintain it brought in a lot of less than competent people as Ernest attests to. I, too, was a VE, but that was before no code. If there were nocode in the 60's I would have been licensed around '65. However code, even 5wpm, was just a barrier one had to cross before they were allowed on, just like, oh, being able to park a car before getting a license, land an aircraft before getting that license, fly without any ground references before getting an instrument rating. Memorizing the answer sheet is only a little bit different that filling out an FCC form for a CB license. I guess they don't have them any longer either. With the extreme budget cuts, who is going to monitor novices don't work the extra band segments, or advanced, or even general? I recall, as a teen, there were folks with 10m amps running them on 11m, fine, illegal but at least they were not in the 10m band...most of them.

Steve W6SDM

I am with Howard on the elimination of the code requirement saving ham radio.  I spent ten years as a "professional" CW operator and code instructor in the military. I have been using CW since before I could drive a car.  There wasn't much of a learning curve for me, but there is a tremendous learning curve for the typical person.  Many equate it to learning a second language.

The original reason for having Morse code as a requirement, as it was with electrical theory, was to create a pool of qualified radio operators for any need that may arise in either emergency or military communications.  While I love Morse, the fact is that technology has made it obsolete as a practical communications media.  It is, however, very much a viable communications media for contesting and DX communications, and a good standby "all else fails" method for disaster. 

Making CW a requirement at the cost of excluding many potential licensees doesn't make sense.  Using the requirement to keep out the "unworthy" doesn't make sense either because I know of many 35 WPM lids.

Steve W6SDM

I am an Extra so I don't have to worry about the band plan as much as the other classes of license.  However, there is a practical reason to have passive band plan indication in SSDR as there is in PowerSDR.  Even though I am required to know the various band limits and passed a test saying that I did, it's nice and convenient to be able to see where you are when you're on the air.  It helps keep me from messing up somebody's digital mode QSO with a CW signal close enough to lock up their AGC.  It's more than just phone and CW on the bands anymore.  Why have the operating manual sitting on the desk when the information can be available right on the screen?

W5XZ - dan

"thats what i'm talking about"....

plus, the old SWL'er in me sometimes forgets where the SWBC bands are supposed to be...at least the
 ones still on the air...

Walt - KZ1F

I certainly don't deny that Steve. As it is legal to use CW in the 'phone' portion it is not legal to use phone in the CW portion. So even in the case of the aforementioned Extras, having the control surface be 'smart' enough to switch demod mode to CW (or digi) when transitioning between phone and cw/digi has an attraction. Or, better yet, disable USB/LSB in the non-phone portion.

Ken - NM9P

I earned the 5, 13 & 20 WPM the hard way beginning in 1974. The 13 was in front of the FCC examiner with old military headphones. But I had no issue with elimination of the code requirement. The ability to learn an auditory alphabet has no bearing upon other operating ability. Though some thought it served as a filter against poor operating skills and low IQ individuals, my experience has been that no FCC test, other than an actual supervised operations test, can enforce good operating practices. Frankly, some of the rudest, crudest, most unfriendly ops I have encountered on the air had 1x2 calls. The best ops, then and now, we're TRAINED by Elmers and clubs who cared enough to teach proper procedures. one of the ha rags had an article called "losing your Novice accent." My Elmer, kept in contact with me on the landline while I made my first several contacts, and continued to teach me how to be a good ham for several years after that. Every time the hobby changes, there are those who claim, "if they didn't do it the way I had to do it, they aren't REAL hams." This has been true of the spark-CW transition, the CW - AM, the AM-SSB, and transitions to ESSB, digi modes, FM & repeaters, tubes to transistors, transistors to IC's, legacy to SDR, home brew to factory built rigs, and many more transitions. Let's all just agree... The hobby is constantly changing, and those who embrace the changes and progress will have fun. Those who refuse to will become old curmudgeons. Let's have fun! Ken - NM9P

Ernest

No worth my comment Ken....

Perhaps this will also be deleted too.  

And I have not said anything!

Question? Am I the only sensor on this forum???????

ab1do

I'm fairly new to SSDR so bear with me. From what I can tell a band plan indicator exists in SSDR for MAC and iOS, but not Windows. Back in 2020

> @"Tim - W4TME" said:
>... We have some really cool visual band plan indicators planned for SmartSDR such as coloring for sub-bands and license class.

Has this been implemented yet on Windows or is this just one of those "allways in the future" promises?

Joe

KD0RC

Hi Joe, there is no band plan indicator on SmartSDR for Windows (yet).