FreeDV Reporter Status Dropdown on FreeDV main Page

[MrJoeGonzales]

Contact Details

At least 10 that we have spoken to on our SARCnet and on the two Sunday FreeDV nets. Contact details provided by emailing us.

Feature for this project

GUI Change Request: FreeDV Reporter Status Dropdown on FreeDV main Page

History

We have now split our daily School Amateur Radio Club net operation into two parts, as follows:
• 7045 FreeDV from 9am to 2:30pm.
• 7105 LSB from 2:30pm to 4:00pm.
We also listen on 7045 FreeDV from 8:00pm, where the same group gathers including some ZLs. We also participate in the two Sunday FreeDV nets run by Peter VK3TPM in Victoria. We are hearing about 10 different FreeDV stations each day with about 4 hours of QSOs. Even more on Sundays. The numbers are increasing all the time.

Problem

Running a net with FreeDV is easy with FreeDV Reporter. However it is time consuming and frustrating to all to have to call in stations who are only listening or are away and not listening. The RX only status check box is currently located at: Tools |  Options | Reporting | FreeDV Reporter | Force RX Only reporting. It can only be changed by stopping and starting the modem.

This is not all about running nets with FreeDV. There are always stations "just listening or away" on any popular FreeDV frequency. The RX only status is hardly ever used as most users don't know where to find it or couldn't be bothered stopping and starting the modem to change it. This leads us to a popular request for a FreeDV GUI update:

Proposed Solution

It would be very convenient for a FreeDV Reporter Status drop-down to be located on the FreeDV front panel and to be enabled at all times. The drop-down could indicate the station status as follows:
• OFFLINE: I'm away from the station
• RX ONLY: I'm listening but not able transmit
• ONLINE: I'm listening and able to transmit 
Then operators could easily change their status when they leave, return or if they can't transmit. The status words could be changed by the development team. For example, the same status selections could be:
• STANDBY
• LISTENING
• READY
Tool tips could be provided, and more status selections could be added in the future, if required.

Kind regards and stay safe,
73, Julie VK3FOWL and Joe VK3YSP
School Amateur Radio Club Network® VK3SRC
Web: www.sarcnet.org
Email: info@sarcnet.org

VHF/UHF

No

Deprecated features

No

Non-standard compiler

No

Legal worldwide

Yes

Implementation assistance

We are good Python programmers, but are unfamiliar with the project repository.
We would gladly provide documentation and tool tips according to your style guidelines.
We would gladly test development builds if provided.
We would gladly report on the correct usage of this feature and introduce its use to new operators.

Support assistance

As above.

[tmiw]

Thank you for submitting your feature request! Can you email the contact information to me directly (mooneer@gmail.com)?

[peterbmarks]

I agree that the Status should be easier to get to and shouldn’t require stopping the modem to change. Having said that I hesitate to add more to the main window as people with small screens have trouble fitting it as it is. I propose either:

• A menu, in the menu bar, called Status with “Away”, “RX Only”, “Ready”
• A menu, in the FreeDV Reporter window, next to the Message box.

Peter
VK3TPM

[tmiw]

I agree that the Status should be easier to get to and shouldn’t require stopping the modem to change. Having said that I hesitate to add more to the main window as people with small screens have trouble fitting it as it is. I propose either:

• A menu, in the menu bar, called Status with “Away”, “RX Only”, “Ready”
• A menu, in the FreeDV Reporter window, next to the Message box.

Peter VK3TPM

I'd probably lean towards having something in the FreeDV Reporter window (maybe not necessarily a menu) since that would be most relevant to the proposed feature. However, if someone prefers something in the main window instead, I'd appreciate feedback on that.

[g4dya]

I agree that it would be useful to be able to change one's status on FreeDV Reporter without having to stop the modem.

It seems logical to put this Reporter-related feature in the Reporter window.

On a side issue, perhaps the "Report Freq. (MHz)" drop-down menu in the main window could usefully be re-labelled as "Freq. (MHz)" because this doesn't just report the frequency, it controls it. It would also be useful to have this work whether or not reporting is enabled.

[barjac]

It puzzles me why people who are 'Away' don't just switch OFF and remove the clutter!

...But yes I agree with this proposal as amended by G4DYA except that it should not take any more space in the reporter window.

A context menu activated by right clicking the 'Status' column heading would be perfect.
I also think that the RX mode column should be removed now.

[tmiw]

A context menu activated by right clicking the 'Status' column heading would be perfect.

I recently had to explain to someone that a proposed feature was actually already there, just in the context menu for the Send button. A context menu may not be obvious enough for this proposed feature, unfortunately.

I also think that the RX mode column should be removed now.

Probably can't do that until the remaining other modes are removed. That can be discussed separately.

[peterbmarks]

It puzzles me why people who are 'Away' don't just switch OFF and remove the clutter!

It's quite valuable to have stations sitting there so others can key down and see how well they're being received.

Mooneer, I only found out about the right click on the Send button recently myself. There is no immediate visual clue about these secret options. (Although I can now see that if I hover a tool tip appears). I wonder if there's a visual indicator of UI elements with extra features?

[tmiw]

Mooneer, I only found out about the right click on the Send button recently myself. There is no immediate visual clue about these secret options. (Although I can now see that if I hover a tool tip appears). I wonder if there's a visual indicator of UI elements with extra features?

FWIW: https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/7025/how-to-indicate-right-click-functionality

[barjac]

It would only take a minute to check all GUI buttons for context menus and once you know, you know.
Is this really such a big deal!
I have requested that tooltips be added in the past for less obvious features and they have been added without any objection. That is adequate.
This is a technical hobby about self tuition after all.
I would object to cursor manipulation, that is a user/theme choice, not for applications to tamper with IMHO.

[barjac]

While discussing this issue on the air, another related point was brought up.
If the above was implemented it would be a good time to remove the direct link between the status message and TX audio capability.
There is no reason to automatically assume that someone displaying 'RX only' does not have TX capability. They may simply want to listen without being called.
Obviously if audio settings for TX are missing then the PTT will do nothing.
However we both agreed that the status messages other than TX which would over-ride any others, should be user settable and that even if displaying 'RX only' TX should be possible.

[barjac]

It puzzles me why people who are 'Away' don't just switch OFF and remove the clutter!

It's quite valuable to have stations sitting there so others can key down and see how well they're being received.

Maybe key down and call CQ?

Will you still be saying that in two years time when there are 2000 stations on the reporter?

It is becoming something of a nuisance now with lots of stations just reporting and advertising their rigs and QTH etc. 24/7.

Maybe its time for a reporting time-out to be implemented? I did suggest this a year or so ago. If last TX > 1 hour ago then you get dropped off the reporter?
I am seeing this suggested by several other stations too (calls available).

Developers/testers who need to keep stations in receive with reporting active could probably be exempted from the time-out.

[g4dya]

It's clear from this thread and discussions on air that people have an wide variety of views about FreeDV Reporter.

In recent days I've heard complaints that the display is getting cluttered with stations that are only reporting or listening. These have come largely from operators with impaired vision who can't cope with large tables of data.

Another view I've heard is that it's cheating to use an internet-based back channel instead of communicating exclusively on air and/or that some users (for various reasons) don't want to use an internet connection. To which I'd say (1) they don't have to use it if they don't want to and (2) we should be careful to avoid creating any dependency that coerces them into using it. We may already be getting close to this.

One of the long term aims is that manufacturers could build FreeDV RADE V2 into rigs as another voice mode alongside AM/FM/USB/LSB. Clearly when this happens there may be neither an internet connection nor on-screen real estate available for FreeDV Reporter. This is another reason for being careful about (2) above.

I think a 1-hour timeout for FreeDV Reporter would be a reasonable compromise but it might cause operator confusion unless it is clear what happened and why. ("Why has reporter stopped working?")

There's no need for a timeout to PSK Reporter.

It would be useful to be able to toggle reporting to each of FreeDV Reporter and PSK Reporter from the Reporter window without stopping the modem and going into the tools->options menu.

[peterbmarks]

I agree that the timeout of showing a listener is a good idea but I suggest it's done in the app rather than on the server so it's clear to the user that they've been removed for inactivity.

[barjac]

It's clear from this thread and discussions on air that people have an wide variety of views about FreeDV Reporter.

Yes but the majority are very favourable.

In recent days I've heard complaints that the display is getting cluttered with stations that are only reporting or listening. These have come largely from operators with impaired vision who can't cope with large tables of data.

This could be mitigated to a large degree with an instant reporting toggle in the main window, making it easy to turn off reporting when only listening.

One of the long term aims is that manufacturers could build FreeDV RADE V2 into rigs as another voice mode alongside AM/FM/USB/LSB. Clearly when this happens there may be neither an internet connection nor on-screen real estate available for FreeDV Reporter. This is another reason for being careful about (2) above.

I think that manufacturers would actually be keen to offer the reporter but this is all conjecture right now

I think a 1-hour timeout for FreeDV Reporter would be a reasonable compromise but it might cause operator confusion unless it is clear what happened and why. ("Why has reporter stopped working?")

The reporter would still be working and only their own call would be missing until they transmit or toggle reporting OFF-ON.
This would allow listeners to show their presence in nets or news broadcasts for example.
As for confusion - they may see a pop-up on the screen when they get back?