(v 1.372) Here are a couple of remarks based on recent programming
work with the Orion.
Observations:
1. The menu-based Antenna select options cannot be accessed or set from
the serial port. (Or, I haven't found the magic formula.)
The Antenna select programming [by band] seems to be only effective
when the user manually pushes the band select buttons.
2. The "band select" and "band stacking registers" are functions that
do not seem to exist as seen from the serial port.
3. Setting the operating frequence (VFO A, etc) to a new band from the
serial port does not trigger a "band change" in the antenna selection
logic. You can explicitly command the antenna selection, of course.
It's confusing to have antennas auto-selected in one mode (manual use
of front panel and not in another - computer control). This comes up
when when working in a mixed mode - partly computer controlled & partly
manual front-panel.
Suggestions:
1. All front panel & menu settings should be available for read/write
serial port programming. This would be particularly helpful to set up
antenna selection and band stacking registers to known values. (The
BSR's now are pretty hard to use if the user's memory isn't perfect.
What mode was I in 3 button pushes ago?)
2. Unrelated: Let the computer display a text message on the Orion's
LCD screen, e.g, one line in the sweep area when the sweep is off.
Would that ever be neat...
Collaboration!
73, Martin AA6E
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