Change "Transmit Profiles" to "Mode Profiles"

Ken - NM9P

I submit that the current Transmit Profile in SmartSDR should be repurposed and renamed "MODE PROFILE."  Because it really should be a personality profile based upon BOTH the mode and purpose being used.

I would love to have the TX profile also save the RX EQ and other settings along with the TX EQ settings. But they should be slice and frequency independent.

Why would this help?  

If I am operating CW, I would usually want my RX EQ set to enhance my CW receiver, not set to enhance a SSB signal....  If I am DXing on SSB, I would probably want my RX EQ set to enhance a weak SSB signal.  and so on with my RAGChew SSB Profile.. I would want my RX EQ set to reduce noise and smooth out the rough edges of others on the round table.  And when I am using RTTY, I probably will always want my TX Filter set to 300 Hz wide, and my RX Filter the same.

Others may say..."Just set a global profile for this"  but this is useless if I click a spot for DX and then need a quick way to set these parameters up AFTER I have moved to the DX station's frequency.  .... (A Global Profile would change my frequency and other parameters that I DON'T want to change.)  If I have changed from a SSB frequency to a CW frequency, I must now manually reconfigure the RX EQ sliders and activate it.  Then change the CW filter, turn on APF, and set AGC to "fast" and readjust it.....  All to try to pick up a DX station on CW after trying to bust a pileup on SSB.
     
Now if I work the station and see a new one on SSB I must reverse the process all over again.... Change transmit profile, readjust RX EQ sliders to enhance SSB weak signals, set AGC to MED or SLOW, change RX filter back to 2.7 (because currently, the rig will sometimes change to SSB but NOT change the filter, which remains at 100 from CW or 300 from RTTY) .....

If I am tuning accross 40 Meters looking for DX and come across the guys on my 40 Meter Rag Chew frequency, I will hit the RAGCHEW profile, but I still need to readjust filter width, RX EQ, and AGC speed to match my needs for the rag chew...

Having all of these linked to the TX Profile, or the new MODE PROFILE would simplify things greatly.    Yes, they could have these parameters linked to the various MODE selections, but there are differences in the way they would need to be set up whether I am rag chewing or DXing or doing weak signal on 6 meters, or digging a weak one out on noisy 160 meters.  The TX profile seems to be the best place to link these parameters.....  

Am I alone in this "gadfly" approach to hopping the bands and modes?  or are there others who seem to spend more time adjusting these parameters that could be automated easily with a MODE PROFILE?  But for whom a total Global Profile is overkill and not useful.

Let's hear some other ideas, folks.

Ken - NM9P

Jim Gilliam

Your comments are very justified. My problem is that there are many gliches in the core software that needs to be redesigned or tweaked and I can see all of these requests are building into a mountain of suggestions, although justifiable. I would like to see all the basic function of SmatrSDR work properly including the DSP functions, the DAX (why just digital?), etc.

To get around all these little requests, there is a mountain of third party software that can be used to enhance the Flex 6000 series. For example, I am doing exactly what you requested with the Romac equalizer. It is one spectacular piece of software that greatly enhances my enjoyment with the Flex radio.

JIm

Ken - NM9P

Jim, this suggestion is one of several ideas I have as to how they can polish and perfect things when V.1.5 comes out.  Along with the eagerly anticipated major improvements to NB, NR, ANF, APF, et al., the functioning of the two different Profile modes is a major operational issue for me.  It is the source of most of my wasted efforts and actions as I gadfly about the bands.  The human/computer/software interface and associated visual and auditory feedback to the user is as important an operating issue as the proper functioning of the various DSP functions, especially to contesters and active DXers.  For those who mostly hang about a single frequency or a short list of them, it won't be nearly as important.

Patrick

The one thing that I have learned about the two profile types is that one is a subset for the other.  If you set up a mode on Global profile, the Global will call on the transmit profile.  So they go hand in hand.  Example I set up a mode for JT65 which gives me a start frequency in one of the JT65 bands, in my case it is 20M.  In which I set the Mode, BW Audio, etc. Then I set up a specific JT65 profile in transmit which mainly sets the power level and DAX levels.  I save the Transmit profile. Then I re-save the Mode profile int he Global profiles.  So now when I call a mode like SSB it calls the saved transmit profile as well and in one step I am set up for SSB or JT65 and any other modes that I set up.  Works very well...

Pat   WR1Z

Stu Phillips - K6TU

Ken,

I don't know if you use my K6TU Control iPad app - but if you do, check out the Profiles within the app.

When you create a profile the entire configuration of the radio is saved - with the exception of slices. The logic for not including slices was to avoid a conflict when a profile was recovered - my feeling was that it was better to leave slice creation & deletion to the user and not have to make a decision when starting the app and finding there were already slices in existence.

The profile also lets you configure specific filters by mode which are also saved with the profile.  You can set a profile as the default to be loaded when the app begins or you can select a profile at any time.

Selecting a profile causes the state of the radio to be set to the conditions captured when it was created.

I have several profiles saved based on contesting modes - that way I can quickly reconfigure the radio including equalizers, DSP functions, custom filter configurations etc.

Here's a pointer on how profiles and filters work in the app:

http://k6tu.net/ipad/k6tuc-profiles.html
http://k6tu.net/ipad/k6tuc-filters.html


Stu K6TU

Ken - NM9P

Understood, Pat, and that works as long as you know in advance that you are going to operate a particular mode and not change it after arriving at your desired frequency.

But if you jump around a lot utilizing the spotting networks, and click on a spot which takes you to the DX station's frequency on a different mode, you cannot hit a Global Profile to set all your other parameters the way you want to because the Global Profile also changes your pan, slice and frequency.  

Implementing a 'Mode Profile" would allow all of those operating parameters to be easily changed, independent of your frequency.

Basically, what I am asking is to shift a few of the parameters from the Global Profiles into the subset of "Transmit" or "Mode" Profile so that they can be changed as a group once I have already arrived at a frequency.

KY6LA_Howard

Since there is NOT ANY DOCUMENTATION as to exactly which parameters are being saved by

1. Persistence
2. Global Profiles
3. Transmit Profiles

We are all at best guessing as to how they work

Hopefully with Release 1.4 we might finally get updated documentation to tell us what is happening

Ken - NM9P

Thanks, Stu.  I have your app, but hate to say that I haven't used it much.  It took so long to get my CAT6 and GB switch run to the shack to solve IP addressing problems that I adapted to other techniques.  

I haven't tried your latest version, issued after Flex's Profiles came out.  I need to play with it a little this weekend.  But the other hang-up is that I would rather not occupy my ipad for normal operating because I use it so much for everything else.  And leaving WiFi turned on with the program running tends to eat my battery faster than I want.  I just got another charging cord, so I will try that.  Someone said that there is charging voltage on the 6500 USB port?  I haven't tried that either.

BTW.  I will probably not play much in the Sweepstakes this weekend.  One major contest a month is about my limit or my XYL and 7 year-old son start to feel neglected!  Good luck on your efforts.  I may look for some of you guys and give you a couple of points.

Ken - NM9P

Stu Phillips - K6TU

Fair enough!  I just plug my iPad into a spare USB port while I'm operating - the app will disable the automatic screen lock if the iPad is plugged into power.

I know what you mean about using the iPad for everything - but in a contest, the only thing I'm doing is contesting!  So having the iPad committed at that point to the radio is what its intended for!

Have a great weekend!
Stu K6TU

Ken - NM9P

I looked over your instruction pages and have a question.  If I am using your program and select one of my transmit profiles from the SSDR menu, will your control program copy those TX filter and TXEQ, Compression and other parameters so I can clone them to a K6TU Control profile?  I really don't want to recreate all of these again on your program.  It would be nice to be able just to copy them from my rig in some way and then fine tune the other parameters and save them.  You have some really nice functions there!

Stu Phillips - K6TU

Ken,

You don't have to re-create - select the transmit profile from SSDR, then open the Profiles view on the app and touch the + button to create a new profile.  You will see that the current state of the radio is shown on the controls in the view.

Enter a name for the profile and tap on the Save button - this will give you a pop up that lets you save it or save it and make it the default.

The default profile is restored whenever you run the app - or if the app has been in the background and then gets restored.

When you tap on a profile name in the list, the radio state is set to the saved state.

The saved state includes the transmit filter bandwidth, the equalizer settings for TX/RX, and all the configuration parameters of the radio (power level, audio setup, CW setup, vox, plus all the set up parameters like ALC, PTT lines, delays etc).

Also saved is the current setting of the radio display - so you could set the radio Nick name to the name of the profile if you wished - so you can see what profile is currently in force).

One note - if you change the filter setting of a slice using the iPad, the TX filter size will be set to whatever is stored in the FILTER view - those are set from a pre-set list of values and you will need to edit the transmit filter size by mode if you want to have something else.

When you select a filter using the iPad, it sets BOTH the receive and transmit filters to the values that you configured in the Filter view.

If you edit the filters, be sure to SAVE the profile AFTER completing the edits of the filters.

Stu K6TU

DrTeeth

Definitely with you on this one. It drives me nuts that some parameters that one would expect to be saved are not, like Ken says.

I want to be able to use the profiles to include the receive filter, for example.

The documentation is LONG overdue.

Patrick

If you are are changing frequency allot this will not change any of the other parameters that have been saved in the global.  It save the Frequency simply because that is were you initially want it to be.  I have some profiles that consist of multiple Panadapters and mixed modes. No problem, they are remembered and become active when the TX button is pressed.  Pressing the TX button actually calls the TX profile also.  Works great. 

Pat

Patrick

Custom filter widths can be saved.  You have to adjust them manually then you save the Global profile that you want that filter to be in.  I use custom RX filter BW in my JT65 setup. 

Pat

Ian1

Ken

The idea to have the receiver equalizer in profiles is a good one I find myself tweaking it to pull out DX stations.

There should be a squelch during Rag Chew on very few occasions I enter into it would be nice to **** the static and have things quiet.

Copy and Paste frequencies from HTML DX monitoring programs. " Already working on HRD "

Built in CW decoder coupled to CW Profile.

Just some to add to the list.

BTW does STU's I Pad app allow a LAN remote operation presently?
Couldn't find that in his Y Tube videos.

Ian

Ken - NM9P

Though I haven't done it much, I can use Stu's iPad controller via the WiFi connection on my LAN and it will control the 6500 which is hard-wired via a GB switch to the computer and LAN.  The controller will control the 6500 anywhere I can connect to the WiFi on my LAN.  But there is no audio in or out via the K6TU iPad controller.

DrTeeth

If I had any documentation, I would be able to find that out for myself without bothering anybody, hi hi. If I am to use a global profile, I would still like to know exactly what is saved and what is not.

DrTeeth

I know what I want from profiles, but without any docs do not know if it is possible.

I would like to be able to store mode profiles, so I could save all the RTTY sections of all the bands that I use (for example) and all TX/RX parameters. The idea being that I could run my 6300 as a RTTY rig, all filters, frequencies and everything else set up. Wanting a change of scene, I could load the PSK31 profile etc. Ken's ideas in the OP are so spot on I would like to 'like' his post x10.