Trials and Errors Issue #53: Near-term Innovation Wish List

Where is the original article your wrote? What advancements would you like to see?

 

Hi Mike -- this thread is a discussion of article #53 from QRZ's column, "Trials and Errors -- Ham Life with an Amateur." As in all of the discussion forums for T&E, the first post on page one links the original article. Thanks, Dave W7DGJ

 

Nice article. Some good ideas!

 

That is especially true when it comes to the new small QRP rigs, new SDR software techniques, and new digital modes (how many big manufacturers include built-in FT8, and how long did that take?)

 

Some food for thought..

How about making sure the program for the whatever digital mode is truly optimized for use and display on a proper computer screen, and/or perhaps phone/tablet display. And then build the needed radio user interface functionality into that program? Things beyond just band/frequency like is usually done already. So additional things like pre-amps/attenuation, RF gain, filter settings, AGC settings, speaker audio level, TX power, etc.

Seems like everyone only thinks in terms of adding some of the WSJT-X suite of digital modes, and various other digital 'data' modes into the existing radio box, and its usually very limited display interface instead of adding 'the radio' (user interface) into those existing program(s).

A black box SDR, or one that can function like a black box SDR will let you do that. Those SDRs do already exist, several of them actually, including the HL2.

Edit to add: That in digital program radio UI functionality can also optionally include full band panadapter(s)/waterfall(s).

 

Like everything else these days, there's the desire for instant gratification without any individual effort, aka, lazy man's ham radio.

 

Hey Rick - Whenever we talk about this stuff, the topic of lazy man's radio or "appliance operators" or plug-n-play comes into the discussion. While I agree with much of what you'd say about this topic, I think the point should be to have an activity here (the ARS) that includes ALL manner of users. My next column is going to be about the "Us vs. Them" issues that hold us back. Thanks for being here Rick, Dave W7DGJ

 

Lazy people are responsible for nearly all innovation. They are the ones who want better tools and more efficiency.

Robert A. Heinlein: He remarked, "Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things."

John Atanasoff: He famously stated, “I was too lazy to calculate and so I invented the computer.”