Keyboard Commands

Richard, N7HX

I did not see anything in the roadmap about keyboard commands like there is in PowerSDR. What is status?

Tim - W4TME

Richard, That feature is not on the Road Map, but is one we are considering. I have converted you question into an Idea topic for further discussion on how you would like to have keyboard commands implemented for an 8 receiver (slice) FLEX-6700? There are only a finite number of key press sequences so we would like some ideas on how to address this new dynamic.

Richard, N7HX

Tim, I myself, was VERY surprised to hear that keyboard commands were not on the Road Map. I remember you mentioning in a previous email that SmartSDR would include what was available in PowerSDR AND MORE. While I have not owned a Flex radio before the 6500, I did install the PowerSDR demo and found using the keyboard to adjust volume, change frequency, etc. very convenient. I liked the way you could change frequency in different steps by using different keyboard keys, and changing volume using the plus and minus keys is a whole lot easier than putting your hand on the mouse, moving the cursor up to the volume slider, and dragging the volume up and down. I feel having keyboard commands is important, just like having persistence. I see you moved persistence up the list and I would hope that keyboard commands would be moved up also. I'm glad to see that you are considering keyboard commands, but again, I wonder why it was not included in the Road Map since it was such an integral part of PowerSDR. And from what I have seen in the PowerSDR demo, having similar commands in SmartSDR would be a great start.

Ken - NM9P

I have a 1500 and turned MOST of my keyboard shortcuts off, as well as keyboard fast frequency entry for exactly that issue. I wound up calling a station in a contest on an out of band frequency because I entered a w7 call and accidently called him on SSB on 7.000 Mhz.! But I have left a few of my favorites enabled. The ability to map the keyboard shortcuts myself has been very handy and would be desirable in a future release of SmartSDR. For me it is a lower priority request, after some of the major performance improvements. Persistence, Adjustable TX bandwidth and storable EQ profiles, AM Transmit, NB, NF, TNF, pan-fall, CW Keydown on virtual serial port, all come first to me. But it is getting to be fun!

Richard, N7HX

Having the option to turn the keyboard shortcuts off or on would give each operator the choice he wants. But if I was limited to just one keyboard command to be part of the Road Map, I would vote to have control over the audio volume as I find dragging the volume slider with the mouse to be a pain. And I agree with Ken, there are a number of other features that need to be addressed ASAP.