RUMped review and ideas
Posted: Tue 15. Jan 2013, 05:30
Hello Tom and fellow contesters,
I used RUMped over the weekend with the NAQP CW contest. Worked great! I have experience with N1MM, and I found that use and particularly set up of RUMped is a breeze compared to N1MM. It would always take at least an hour to remember how to set up the voice keyer and CW macros in N1MM, and after much swearing and searching of the ridiculous phone book sized manual, I would finally find it and loose the first hour of the test. Everything in RUMped worked really well, and there are other features I still need to learn how to use. I was able to use the CW macros with my HamGadgets MK-1 keyer, which uses the WinKey protocol. I did have a few ideas that I think can make RUMped more fun to use.
1) F-key priority: A few times I would panic and hit an F-key to play a CW macro and it wouldn't play because the main logging window wasn't in focus. I often have other windows in focus such as the band map while waiting for a QSO to end so I can drop my call sign, and it is an extra step to refocus the main window before playing a macro. It would be nice if the F-keys worked regarless of focus. Maybe when in S&P mode, hitting F4 will play the marco and then focus logging window automatically? Just a thought.
2) Band Map hopping: I use the band map a lot when search and pouncing. It would be nice to be able to go from one spot on the map to the next, to the next, to the next, etc. with a simple keystroke, like the down arrow (or shift-something). Maybe this is already a feature and I haven't found it yet.
3) Tuning VFO from keyboard: Is there a way to tune the VFO, in increments, from the keyboard? Maybe the "page up" key tunes up, and "page down" tunes it down, in user defined steps (10kc, 100kc, etc.).
4) Cabrillo Export: I noticed when comparing the Cabrillo file with my previous logs that it is missing a few fields, namely the ARRL section (state), and Club/team. (This could be dependant on the contest, dunno).
5) Multis (RT-Text): (rumped>>window>> multis (RT Text) ) This is a handy way to see what mulitliers I've worked and which ones I'm still looking for. If it was organized by call area it would easier to read. Such as:
1 NH ME VT MA CT RI
2 NY NJ
3 PA MD DE
4 VA NC SC GA FL TN KY AL
5 TX AR LA MS OK NM
6 CA HI
7 UT NV MT ID WY OR WA AZ
8
9
0
etc etc. 6) Entry line: I'm used to this now, but it took a little while to get used to finding the pink entry box and TX and RX entry boxes when previously looking elsewhere. I would love for the text of these rows to be larger so my eye goes right to it, and/or make this area stand out by creating more blank space above/below it. Finally, changing the colors of everything as in Rumlog would be awesome, but I doubt it would increase my run rate. Comments and feedback welcome. I am looking forward to using this again next weekend for the phone NAQP.
Chris
kF7p
I used RUMped over the weekend with the NAQP CW contest. Worked great! I have experience with N1MM, and I found that use and particularly set up of RUMped is a breeze compared to N1MM. It would always take at least an hour to remember how to set up the voice keyer and CW macros in N1MM, and after much swearing and searching of the ridiculous phone book sized manual, I would finally find it and loose the first hour of the test. Everything in RUMped worked really well, and there are other features I still need to learn how to use. I was able to use the CW macros with my HamGadgets MK-1 keyer, which uses the WinKey protocol. I did have a few ideas that I think can make RUMped more fun to use.
1) F-key priority: A few times I would panic and hit an F-key to play a CW macro and it wouldn't play because the main logging window wasn't in focus. I often have other windows in focus such as the band map while waiting for a QSO to end so I can drop my call sign, and it is an extra step to refocus the main window before playing a macro. It would be nice if the F-keys worked regarless of focus. Maybe when in S&P mode, hitting F4 will play the marco and then focus logging window automatically? Just a thought.
2) Band Map hopping: I use the band map a lot when search and pouncing. It would be nice to be able to go from one spot on the map to the next, to the next, to the next, etc. with a simple keystroke, like the down arrow (or shift-something). Maybe this is already a feature and I haven't found it yet.
3) Tuning VFO from keyboard: Is there a way to tune the VFO, in increments, from the keyboard? Maybe the "page up" key tunes up, and "page down" tunes it down, in user defined steps (10kc, 100kc, etc.).
4) Cabrillo Export: I noticed when comparing the Cabrillo file with my previous logs that it is missing a few fields, namely the ARRL section (state), and Club/team. (This could be dependant on the contest, dunno).
5) Multis (RT-Text): (rumped>>window>> multis (RT Text) ) This is a handy way to see what mulitliers I've worked and which ones I'm still looking for. If it was organized by call area it would easier to read. Such as:
1 NH ME VT MA CT RI
2 NY NJ
3 PA MD DE
4 VA NC SC GA FL TN KY AL
5 TX AR LA MS OK NM
6 CA HI
7 UT NV MT ID WY OR WA AZ
8
9
0
etc etc. 6) Entry line: I'm used to this now, but it took a little while to get used to finding the pink entry box and TX and RX entry boxes when previously looking elsewhere. I would love for the text of these rows to be larger so my eye goes right to it, and/or make this area stand out by creating more blank space above/below it. Finally, changing the colors of everything as in Rumlog would be awesome, but I doubt it would increase my run rate. Comments and feedback welcome. I am looking forward to using this again next weekend for the phone NAQP.
Chris
kF7p