[MacLoggerContest] Keyers

[Ted Brattstrom]

Aloha Jonnathan and all - 


Not being cw op - I'll limit myself to phone comments :-)

Minor contests, the voice keyer isn't needed - major efforts - it really
helps a lot - At a minimum - the CQ string should be playable. I can
usually hold out for a contest on the rest on regular voice :-)


there ARE a lot of boxes out there that do this, the question of letting
the software do this boils down to a couple of issues - how many more
wires / interfaces are we going to have from the computer to the radio -
remembering that the microphone has to get in there someway too :-)
(yes, there are interface boxes for that  too...)

side thought:
     (I'm seeing the need for a box that has USB on one side, 
      Mic in, Key in (straight and otherwise) Radio audio in,
      - then outputs Audio to radio (voice, PSK, JT, RTTY, 
      SSTV), cw keying to radio, Amplifier keying, and 
      band/mode data  both  ways...  and the like - all 
      for under $29.95 :-) :-) )


However, the voice side of things can be done in the same format as the
CW side of things - prepared sound files - and synthesized sound files
for number increments. (with the option for all synthesized - which
helps out some hams who have a hard time talking... I remember one (non
contest) qso with a ham who was clearly running a speech sythesizer - it
worked)

I haven't played a lot with the text to speech parts of the mac - but it
seems all there :-)

Just a few  more thoughts from the mid-pacific...

73 and aloha - ted - nh6yk



----- Original Message -----
From: Jonathan G0DVJ <g0dvj at amsat.org>
Date: Sunday, February 20, 2005 5:57 am
Subject: [MacLoggerContest] Keyers

> 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.



> 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.