Use of the number keys to access menus etc

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VK3KYY
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Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2019 3:25 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Use of the number keys to access menus etc

Post by VK3KYY » Tue Dec 17, 2019 10:51 pm

There has been some discussion in another thread about how to provide quick access to menus.

One way that I could implement this, is to re-use the existing Number Key Assign part of the CPS and codeplug
number_key_assign.png
number_key_assign.png (17.09 KiB) Viewed 1855 times
And use Function + number to access whichever menus had been assigned in the CPS for that specific number

This would be a relatively simple change for me to make in the CPS but modifying the code that displays the list of Contacts on the drop-down menus, with a list of menus from the OpenGD77 firmware.


However, this would remove the possibility of using the Number Key Assign screen and codeplug data for its original purpose.

I don't know how common it is for Ham Radio operators to use the number key assignment feature, and I think this has to a large extent been superseded by the ability to do direct TG number entry and also the use of the Rx group to hold a list of Tx TG's

Having a completely new feature added to the CPS to handle the Function + Number key is not easy, mainly because there is no unused space in the existing codeplug data structure. So adding a completely new screen would also require a separate storage system to be developed which didnt conflict with the codeplug storage in the radio.

I already did some tests and the bottom 128 of the Flash memory does not appear to be used by the official firmware, because I erased it and then reloaded the official firmware and it seemed to work OK.

But developing a whole new data storage structure, as well as building new screens in the CPS and writing the code to upload and download from the new storage area would take a long time to write, and consequentially is not likely to happen in the short to medium term, because I have higher priority bug fixes to deal with in the firmware.


Hence if we can find a simple way to re-use the existing screen and existing storage, for this alternative use, I think it will be practical to implement. But anything more complicated would probably not be available for a long time.

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DU2XXR
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Re: Use of the number keys to access menus etc

Post by DU2XXR » Wed Dec 18, 2019 2:38 am

I agree, at least regarding the use of ad hoc TGs or private calls. So no practical use for mapping contacts to the keys.

VK3KYY
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Use of the number keys to access menus etc

Post by VK3KYY » Wed Dec 18, 2019 10:07 pm

Thinking about this a bit more.

I think just accessing the menus using this function would not be very useful.

There are a few screens e.g. Last Heard, which perhaps people may use more often, but the functionality probably needs to be more complex, and perhaps allow enabling or disabling of the TS filter etc.
However this is much more complicated and time consuming to implement

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