Scan presets

[amelillo]

Hello,
et merci encore for all the good work.
I was wondering if there was room for scan presets.
Just like scanlists work for saved channels, we could save presets to be easily recalled without the need to open both VFO's and manually set frequencies.
This could let people quickly switch between presets and it would bypass the maximum range of a spectrum scan or the weird necessity to memorize a middle frequency to be able to get the desired range.
It would just help being able to save just start and stop freqs; then, if space is still an option, the preset could also save mode, step and/or bandwith.

[armel]

Hi,

Thank you for your message.
Humm, there won't be enough memory space in the eeprom to store these kinds of settings. Or we'd have to reduce the number of memory channels, which I don't think anyone wants.

Armel F4HWN.

[amelillo]

'jour Armel, and thank you for your reply.
I actually don't know how the firmware stores data, but a single channel stores frequency, mode, shift, shift direction, output power and step. To store a scan preset we wouldn't even need to store output power, shift amount and direction.
Moreover, in an OM-oriented environment, where frequencies are used in a very fluid way - I mean not channelized - storing a lot of channels is pretty useless. For instance, many of us store all 69 LPD433 channels in 69 memory banks. Same goes for PMR446.
But the truth is that we can't use our Quangsheng on LPD433 or PMR446 channels because of ERP and lack of certifications of the transceiver on those bands.
By the way, if just listening is our primary need, only a slice of the space used for 69 channels would be enough to store the whole frequency range to scan, et voila: I can scan all those 69 channels without actually storing each one in a memory bank, thus freeing up space instead of wasting it.
OM needs for memories are mainly related to repeaters, but - again - we actually don't need to store a whole nation's list of repeaters. I believe we could trade a couple of channels for useful functions, couldn't we?
Then, and I don't even know if this can be done and how would it impact on eeprom space, I'd be glad just to be able to use scanlists as scan presets. This because grouping memories "by theme" means mixing together different frequencies which would require different antennas and everyone knows how bad an all-purpose wideband reciver's antenna can be, set aside transmission.
The result is that with a current scanlist I almost limit myself to listen (badly) to a bunch of channels without the actual possibility to promptly transmit on any of them.
On the contrary, setting each time two VFO's frequency and scan step is pretty complex and slow. It can be partly bypassed using spectrum scan but also spectrum scan has its limits and sometimes a more traditional scan cycle is preferable. What's strenuous is changing manually each time we switch band (and, if we're congruent, antenna too).
But, finally, maybe there's a context where the firmware perfecly fits and it's me who's unable to see it :-)
Just suggestions and dialogue attempts.

Alex - IZ5IMK