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Why is there no remote CW sidetone option?

Conrad N5CRConrad N5CR Member ✭✭
edited April 2020 in Remote Operation (SmartLink)
I use N1MM+ and WinKeyer USB for remote CW contesting.  By "remote" I mean about 800' from my house over a fiber Gb LAN.  About 99% of what I send is by using the N1MM+ function keys, and the other 1% is done by typing into the N1MM+ CW Key window.  It is beyond me why Flex doesn't have an option to send the CW sidetone along with the receiver's audio over the LAN.  I don't care about the latency.  I just want to confirm that I sent what I think I sent, in case I hit the wrong key.  WHO IS THE BUREAUCRAT AT FLEX THAT THINKS FLEX'S CUSTOMERS ARE TOO DUMB TO TURN OFF THE SIDETONE IF THE LATENCY BOTHERS THEM?  This idiocy has been going on for years, and needs to stop!

Conrad N5CR
 

Answers

  • K1ESEK1ESE Member ✭✭
    edited December 2019
    The rant aside, the answer to the question in your title is that the needs of the CW operator are not a priority to Flex.

  • W5APW5AP Member
    edited December 2019
    I've ordered a K4
  • WW1SS - SteveWW1SS - Steve Member ✭✭
    edited April 2020
    I'm not even sure Flex listens to its customer base. Nothing ever matured yet with the survey of "most important" had to haves that was done I think 6 months ago. I don't believe anyone asked for profile saving on the fly. But it got put in and seems not too many like it.Noise mitigation has been an issue FOREVER.  I too have a K4 on order. 

    They may listen but acting on something is a different thing
  • John - AI4FRJohn - AI4FR Member ✭✭
    edited December 2019
    I agree that in some cases Flex thinks its customers are too dumb...

    But then again I am not the poor soul at Flex getting stuck with numerous help desk tickets because folks refuse to read a manual, can not understand it, or just will not try to figure it out on their own. Flex seems to have to take some folks by the hand and show them each and every SSDR function. Thus preventing or slowing the progress of Flex in improving the SSDR.

    The auto save feature for profiles are one example. As for your comment N5CR concerning that it has been going on a while is true as well. For example 3 years ago Steve from Flex stated:

    "The inability to change it is to prevent folks from doing things that will have an adverse effect on output."
    https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/fm-bandwidth-adjust

    I read that as minimizing the help desk tickets...
  • Bill -VA3WTBBill -VA3WTB Member ✭✭✭
    edited December 2019
    How do you know Flex is not listening and doing something about it? They only put out around four releases per year, the next release is not due out yet. Why is that so hard to understand?
  • Geoff AB6BTGeoff AB6BT Member ✭✭
    edited December 2019
    It is certainly the case that most folks have never been in software development and integrating that software with hardware. From my experience often when something seems simple and straightforward from a layman's view the opposite is true. Changing A affects B, B affects C, C affects D, etc. These influences are not necessarily anticipated and arise during the development process. That is the reality in my experience.

    I largely agree with John's second paragraph. 

    If you want to be an "Appliance Operator" buy something else.
  • Tom OK1DWQTom OK1DWQ Member ✭✭
    > @"Conrad N5CR" said:
    > I use N1MM+ and WinKeyer USB for remote CW contesting.  By "remote" I mean about 800' from my house over a fiber Gb LAN.  About 99% of what I send is by using the N1MM+ function keys, and the other 1% is done by typing into the N1MM+ CW Key window.  It is beyond me why Flex doesn't have an option to send the CW sidetone along with the receiver's audio over the LAN.  I don't care about the latency.  I just want to confirm that I sent what I think I sent, in case I hit the wrong key.  WHO IS THE BUREAUCRAT AT FLEX THAT THINKS FLEX'S CUSTOMERS ARE TOO DUMB TO TURN OFF THE SIDETONE IF THE LATENCY BOTHERS THEM?  This idiocy has been going on for years, and needs to stop!Conrad N5CR 

    I not found this issue in New Idea tikets with huge votes... only few member... that is why I think that nobody want it :wink: ... sorry.
  • Mark Aaker K6UFOMark Aaker K6UFO Member ✭✭

    Please submit a bug report to Flex. If they reject it as "working as intended" then please file a "New Idea/Enhancement Request".

    It seems quantity of requests on this topic has not reached a high enough level to merit work by Flex.


    Mark K6UFO

  • W1XYZW1XYZ Member ✭✭
    edited November 2020

    I use the little speaker that is in the Winkeyer USB box and don't worry about the sidetone anymore, but there are good points about CW being made, and I think they are very fixable. One improvement would be to produce a smoother demodulated CW note with a high bitrate on Rx, for example. Perhaps this project could be in parallel with a sidetone feature? Now that I run a spare 6400 dedicated 630M remotely, with a high gain LDMOS amp at the Xverter output, I wouldn't mind these enhancements. There isn't much SSB on 630. de W1XYZ

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