[chirp_devel] Receive only channels
I found out how to program receive only channels with CHIRP, but I had to google for it.
Duplex="off" to me says simplex !
Would it not make more sense for the "off" option to read something more meaningful to users "NO_TX" or "RX_ONLY" for example.
Thanks, Jon
Hi Jon,
I found out how to program receive only channels with CHIRP, but I had to google for it.
Duplex="off" to me says simplex !
Would it not make more sense for the "off" option to read something more meaningful to users "NO_TX" or "RX_ONLY" for example.
Yeah, maybe. A duplex of None means no duplex. The point was to interpret the duplex field as a command, along the lines of "what happens when I transmit". Many radios overload their duplex field/setting/indicator in a similar way.
Changing it now would be a bit of a problem, because people have CSV files out there with "off" and even if we supported that on read, users with new versions of CHIRP would create invalid CSV files for users of older versions. If you want to write a patch to handle it as gracefully as possible, we can certainly discuss it.
Thanks!
--Dan
On Tue, 2014-08-26 at 15:09 -0700, Dan Smith wrote: Hi Jon,
I found out how to program receive only channels with CHIRP, but I
had
to google for it.
Duplex="off" to me says simplex !
Would it not make more sense for the "off" option to read something
more
meaningful to users "NO_TX" or "RX_ONLY" for example.
Yeah, maybe. A duplex of None means no duplex.
Yes and "no duplex" = simplex ! All that theory I swallowed made me very literal :-)
It always was the wrong word anyway. Except for the very few handsets that really can transmit and receive simultaneously, mostly it is not duplex, it is simply "split".
Google dictionary. du·plex "(of a communications system, computer circuit, etc.) allowing the transmission of two signals simultaneously in opposite directions"
The key word is simultaneously.
It is more normal to have a TX and RX frequency and simply default to them being identical. The idea of the offset being a meaningful value was OK when (and only when) it was always the same for any given country. These days it is not true. The UK has at least 3 offsets in use in the amateur bands alone - PMR is often just a mess :-)
Personally I would re-structure the GUI to have a TX and RX frequency and drop the entire duplex section, make an TX frequency of 0 be "no transmit". That would be a large change though and might just be my own personal preference :-)
The point was to interpret the duplex field as a command, along the lines of "what happens when I transmit". Many radios overload their duplex field/setting/indicator in a similar way.
Changing it now would be a bit of a problem, because people have CSV files out there with "off" and even if we supported that on read,users with new versions of CHIRP would create invalid CSV files for users of older versions. If you want to write a patch to handle it asgracefully as possible, we can certainly discuss it.
Can't you simply change the text in the GUI and leave the the token (or whatever moniker the language you write in calls it) as "off"
Or another way of looking at it the back end continues as before (for compatibility with CSV files etc) but the front end changes "off" to to something more meaningful for display?
Thanks, Jon
It always was the wrong word anyway. Except for the very few handsets that really can transmit and receive simultaneously, mostly it is not duplex, it is simply "split".
Google dictionary. du·plex "(of a communications system, computer circuit, etc.) allowing the transmission of two signals simultaneously in opposite directions"
The key word is simultaneously.
Of course, but the decision to all it "duplex" was to mirror what most radios (and their manuals) call the function.
Personally I would re-structure the GUI to have a TX and RX frequency and drop the entire duplex section, make an TX frequency of 0 be "no transmit". That would be a large change though and might just be my own personal preference :-)
That preference would confuse like 90% of the users who are used to programming a receive frequency and offset.
Can't you simply change the text in the GUI and leave the the token (or whatever moniker the language you write in calls it) as "off"
Of course, but then we'd have None, Off, *and* NO_TX to explain to people :)
--Dan
Personally I would re-structure the GUI to have a TX and RX frequency and drop the entire duplex section, make an TX frequency of 0 be "no transmit". That would be a large change though and might just be my own personal preference :-)
That preference would confuse like 90% of the users who are used to programming a receive frequency and offset.
:-D
Can't you simply change the text in the GUI and leave the the token (or whatever moniker the language you write in calls it) as "off"
Of course, but then we'd have None, Off, *and* NO_TX to explain to people :)
Yes, on the other hand only the people trying to reconcile a CSV file against the source code ? A number I suspect much smaller than the than people seeing "Duplex=off" and thinking 'what on earth does that mean?'
That is what comments in source are for :-) ?
Or am I just getting old....
Thanks, Jon
What if the label for that column in the UI were changed to something like "TX"? Then you'd have a column 'TX' with the options "+", "-", "split", "(None)", "Off". Or, expanding on that, call it "TX offset", and change "Offset" to "Offset MHz"? Might make things a little clearer without needing to change anything else- the labels in the CSV wouldn't match the UI, but I'm not sure that would really be an issue. Even if so, it should be possible to change the import logic to recognize "duplex" = "tx_offset" and "offset" = "offset_mhz" (or whatever).
Ben
On Tue, Aug 26, 2014 at 7:28 PM, jon jon@jonshouse.co.uk wrote:
Personally I would re-structure the GUI to have a TX and RX frequency and drop the entire duplex section, make an TX frequency of 0 be "no transmit". That would be a large change though and might just be my own personal preference :-)
That preference would confuse like 90% of the users who are used to programming a receive frequency and offset.
:-D
Can't you simply change the text in the GUI and leave the the token (or whatever moniker the language you write in calls it) as "off"
Of course, but then we'd have None, Off, *and* NO_TX to explain to
people :) Yes, on the other hand only the people trying to reconcile a CSV file against the source code ? A number I suspect much smaller than the than people seeing "Duplex=off" and thinking 'what on earth does that mean?'
That is what comments in source are for :-) ?
Or am I just getting old....
Thanks, Jon
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