I am using wfview as much as possible to control my 7300. I have not yet jumped into remote use - all in due time. What I am concentrating on is adequate rig control for remote usage. To do this, I would like to see the following:
Band registers that return to last frequency!
Meters that show PO, ALC, Comp, SWR, Current, Voltage, Temp.
Controls for Compression, RIT, PBT, Filter settings, etc. so I don’t have to touch the radio.
Lower on the list, but important if used locally - not so much remotely - reflect control settings on the screen if adjustments are made on the radio. Currently, except for frequency and filter selection, it seems to be a one-way path.
I am very happy with the ‘feel’ of the GUI to change frequency within a band. Perhaps a way to mark a few frequencies for rapid return by clicking above or below them in the Spectrum display. Maybe right-click to set them and an indicator appears, single-click to return to the frequency, and right-click on the indicator to clear?
All in all, everyone has done a remarkable job in putting wfview together, and I am very pleased with how it works and presents, so thanks to all contributors!
Thank you for the kind words! wfview is also my method of choice for driving the 7300. I actually really like the keystrokes and using the numberic keypad for frequency entry (hit “*” and then key in the frequency, then press enter). That’s my favorite usage when I’m at the rig for sure.
With regards to your suggestions:
Band registers: It surprised me to realize that the rig’s band stacking register is not updated when it is remotely commanded to different frequencies. I had though it would be like using the radio where changing between bands causes an update. We will have to address this in a few revisions from now. It’s more complex than it had seemed. We’ll have to “notice” when we change bands, and manually trigger a BSR change sent to the radio.
Meters! We’ve got code to read all the meters. The problem is that our meter artist (me) is taking his time drawing meters and writing code for the UI. Ultimately we will provide a selection of meters types and data. There are also some subtle details with regards to the timing of meter requests, and the more meters a user wants to see the less often we can update over the bandwidth available, etc.
Controls controls controls! We’ll do all the ones you mentioned. I think some will go to a separate dialog box that the user can leave open during operation if desired. Also NB, NR, notch, bass, treble, etc.
Rig to wfview sync: You are correct that we do not regularly poll for status on many things. We have done this to prioritize a smooth s-meter and other UI aspects, tracking controls “as-needed”. However, with a user at the radio, there clearly is a chance for controls to be adjusted that the rig doesn’t announce over CI-V automatically. Now that we’ve got Release 1 out (today!), we will start assessing a method of more intelligently polling the radio. It’s definitely something where there is a limit, a balance, and a priority to consider.
As to your other point, we will implement something we are calling “overlays” to Release 2, which will allow a number of interesting things to be indicated on the spectrum plot. We’re looking at:
Passband
Memory Locations
Temporary “marked” frequencies
Satellite frequencies (transponder high and low, telemetry channel, etc)
DX Cluster activity
VFO A/B if applicable
It’ll take a while to get all that in, but the first step is to take that spectrum display and re-work the code (also supporting removing the spectrum for rigs that don’t have it, and showing dual spectrum for rigs that have this capability).