Manual Updates Questions

Ernest - W4EG

I know that I am preaching to the choir.

But, since the days of the PDSR manuals, I have been asking; Why not add new pages or tell us what the changes are, instead of printing an entire new manual?

HP loves you: The amount of paper and toner for my LaserJet and wallet are empting as fast as the new manuals are updated. I am deforesting the forest, faster than the trees are being planted.

How about, now and going forward let us know what the new pages are and we can insert them in their respective place in the manuals. 

I know that you are overwhelm and the staff is not equip to do this chore but at this rate; every time a new version is release is time to throw away the old manual. 

Example: If a page needs further clarification; just add the page number and insert a letter from a-z.

Recommendation: As a retired person, I like to offer some of my time if needed to sort the manual in a way where we can add a new pages instead of re-printing a new one.

KY6LA_Howard

Go for it Ernest Albeit a lot of people like me never print any manuals anymore as the electronic versions are just so much more convenient to use

Jon_KF2E

Sorry Ernest, but I have to agree, printing manuals should be a thing of the past. I would rather have a clean new copy each time there is an update. The search capability alone makes a PDF much more useful than a printed manual.

Jon...kf2e

John n0snx

I ditto the above statements....UMMM   Printed manual????.....Do they still do that???  Why would anyone want to print a manual.... you have to get printer ink and paper...you have to punch holes arrange it correctly in a binder...Whew that's a lot of wasted radio time.... I haven't used a printed manual in years.  PDF is the new manual.....faster, cheaper, easier to use.... it's a computer run radio of the 21 century... Sorry Ernest.... step out of the dark and into the light.

John n0snx

Tim - W4TME

Save the trees! :-)

Ernest - W4EG

Well, I guess that I am from the old school that still requires everything to be documented. 

PDF are okay but what happens to your old notes when a new revision is release? Or, you have not back up your drives: Puff! There goes your PDF manual.

My experience shows that the old PDF version is not  up dated, instead you are left to highlight previous noted notes. Whereas, with a printed copy they are still there and the new pages are just added or updated in the manual.

When PDF's notes have the ability to update previous PDF pages with all my notes; then and only then will I keep my records in PDF format.

If PDF file are capable of being update with previous notes. Please show me or tell me how to do it. I will be more than happy to switch.

Ps. The Library of Congress still requires all documents in paper written form.

Bill -VA3WTB

Ernest, you are 1 in thousands who need paper manuals. PDF files can always be downloaded and do not have to stay on you HD. And anyways, here you are using a state of the art radio and you have your head around that... going paperless should be easy for you..lol

KY6LA_Howard

Adobe Acrobat Pro has a feature that allows you to merge and transfer annotations to a new pdf. Store your annotated pdf in the cloud and you don't have to worry about Disk crashes. The Library of Congress is digitizing every document.

Ken - NM9P

I used to be more in favor of the printed manual option because I could sit down in a comfortable chair, or in the "reading room" and review stuff in the manual.  THen I got a Kindle, and later an iPad.  Wow!  Now I don't need paper.

Except... I can see that many still love to make notations, circle stuff, draw diagrams, etc. on their paper manuals in order to make them more user friendly.  Perhaps I will learn how to do this on my iPad soon.

Bob N7ZO

Ken,

I agree, the iPad and Kindle were the last step that allowed PDF's to almost completely replace paper manuals for me.  The search capability more than offsets the ability to flip though physical pages.

For annotations, I keep separate topic oriented WORD docs on my PC's desktop.  For example, I have a "Flex 6700 Notes" doc that contains notes from myself and many other sources, such as this forum.  With appropriate section titles, it is reasonably well organized and easy to access.

I also put these docs on my iPad and Kindle.  My normal mode of operation is to edit on the PC and read on the iPad and Kindle.  Someday I'll get comfortable editing on the iPad.

DrTeeth

I like Ernest's idea very much. Whilst I like PDFs and they have their place, I find I can absorb information (and spot typos in my own prose) better in printed format. Why that is, I don't know.

A printed manual is 100% portable too.

Guy G4DWV/4X1LT

KY6LA_Howard

You can always put annotations on the PDF's on your iPad...

Most iPad PDF Apps allow this

I have not bought a hard cover or paperback book since about 2011... everything I read is on my iPad... all backed up to Amazon Cloud or Dropbox Cloud.   -  I have even gone so far as to scan my paper manuals into PDFs

Love the PDF search facility..--- so much easier to find things than cumbersome paper

if you ever fly on a commercial jet...All their paper charts and manuals have now been digitized into PDF on their iPad's 


However .. there will always be OLD TIMERS who need to work with the familiarity of paper..

Richard G7EIX

Taking a line from your QRZ profile...

"NO KNOBS" - The way of the future for amateur radio.

Brings me to the logical...

"PDF" - The way of the future for the product manual.

But I do understand - been trying to convert my dad for years!  He has a draw full of ink, post-its and highlighters that he uses weekly!

DrTeeth

Am I an 'old-timer' at 55? Hi, hi.

Guy G4DWV/4X1LT

KY6LA_Howard

Old Timer is a State of Mind. Not your age. I have a more than a few years on you. BTW. I really believe that Ernest should do it as there are plenty of "old-timers " who would greatly appreciate revised paper manuals.

Tim - W4TME

The short answer is we will probably not make the page changes available as we update the manuals as there is significant re-pagination of the docs so all of the page numbers will be reordered from the previous versions.

I believe this post has been sufficiently answered, so I am going to close it.  73s.