[MacLoggerContest] Keyers

[Jonathan G0DVJ]

Hi all,

Next discussion ... Keyer functions ... by this I include CW and Voice 
"keyers".


For those of us that do both CW and Phone contests, I postulate that CW 
keying is a higher priority than a voice recorder/parrot function.
The CW keyer for contesting needs to allow a number of key strings to 
be easily sent and potentially seamlessly concatenated together.

Some of the contents of what is sent by the keyer should enable the 
exchange entered in the current logging line to be inserted 
automatically - such as serial number, RST report etc.  Some parts may 
be optionally included from info in the contest/operator set-up (e.g. 
grid/zone etc.)

It should be very easy to adjust the speed of the keyer since different 
operators respond at different speeds in quick succession and its nice 
to go respond at a matching rate.   Maybe this is an application where 
something like the Griffin PowerMate could be optionally employed?

Some guys seem to like to send some parts of the exchange (e.g. RST) 
faster than other parts (e.g. serial) although I have never been a 
great fan of this personally - but some contest loggers do allow you to 
specify speed changes in the programmable text exchange.  Anyone in 
favour of this ?

ESC to cancel in mid keying is a nice feature in case you initiate the 
keyer in error!


On the phone keyer side, I consider this rather a bell & whistle - 
assuming we are initially at least not talking SO2R operation.   Also 
there are many other boxes that people use for voice keying which can 
seamlessly fit into the set-up of the station.  But if we did have such 
a feature in MLC ...

It would allow sound file snippets to be sent by hitting a key - 
specifically for repetitive audio clips such as CQ calls.

Again an ESC to cancel immediately is probably a useful option.


Any comments on either of these ?   Anything I have forgotten ?

73,
Jonathan G0DVJ
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