Tlf
Provide a key combination to alter received RST
As I posted to the list back on 31 Aug 2025:
I searched and only found a method of changing transmitted RST.
However, in QSO parties a lot of ops take sending the signal report
seriously. Unless I missed it, I had to log everything as 599. I
recall that CT and possibly N1MM had the feature where space would jump
to the next entry field and Tab would jump into the signal report field,
likely at the S digit and in Replace mode would allow simply typing the
value such as 5 for a 559 received RST. Some other program may have
used a key combination to change the value with successive strokes but
that seems inefficient.
Tlf is already loaded with keystroke combinations, so handling Tab differently than Space may be the easiest to use, though perhaps not the easiest to implement. The next question would be how to change the R value when needed. Perhaps handling the left/right arrow keys to move between S and R.
As an example. Some station gives a 479 report. Well, it should be recorded as such but at the moment Tlf offers no way to change it except after the fact by log editing (not ideal, IMO). How can this be handled? At this point I think it is safe to assume the cursor is in the Exchange field but it could be in the Callsign field as well. Pressing Tab would jump the cursor to the RX RST field (which is which on the screen?) with the cursor on the S value. At this point the 7 digit is typed and the default 9 is replaced. Then the left arrow key would be pressed and 4 typed replacing the 5. The subsequent Tab or Space would move the cursor to the Exchange field.
Is this ideal? I'm not sure. An alternative would be a key sequence that decrements the RST by one on each press. It would be a lot of presses to get to 339!
The feature request is driven by my participation in the Kansas QSO Party where it seems a much higher percentage of ops will send a "real" RST than just the standard 599.
I use Tab a lot to fix up the call sign, so having that go through the RST field first would not be helpful.
How about Shift-Tab? That's still easy to memorize ("go back one field") and doesn't change the 99% workflow.
For the R and S values, I would put the cursor on the S digit by default. If you still needed to change the R as well, press Left first. The buffer should always be in overwrite mode (not insert).
just thinking loud: if it's mostly about logging received RSTs, then how about this approach?
Just log both RST and the actual exchange into the exchange field -
Then upon completing the QSO the contest script parses the exchange and sets the RST field -
Advantage: no extra key presses are needed.
I think that may well be the best approach, Zoli. To make it more complicated, it should be able to be parsed even if it is entered as 479 ATC, ATC479, or ATC 479. Of course, then there is the issue of multiple spaces...
Spaces are no issue, provided the real exchange doesn't contain them (like ATC JOE 71). But even in this case a hand picked regex can work wonders...
Trailing RST: probably the best is to keep the same order as received, typically RST+the rest.
I just stumbled over this while reading the code:
PgUp Increase CW (Morse Code) speed (from call and exchange fields).
If the cursor is in the call input field and it is not empty and CHANGE_RST is set: increase sent RST.
If the cursor is in the exchange field and it is not empty and CHANGE_RST is set: increase received RST.
PgDown Decrease CW (Morse Code) speed (from call input and exchange fields).
If the cursor is in the call input field and it is not empty and CHANGE_RST is set: decrease sent RST.
If the cursor is in the exchange field and it is not empty and CHANGE_RST is set: decrease received RST.
CHANGE_RST
If set in logcfg.dat, PgUp and PgDown will change sent/received RST instead of CW speed if you are in call/exchange field and call field is
not empty.
Default is these keys only change CW speed.
CHANGE_RST=33, 43, 47, 499, ...
Provide a comma separated list of RS(T) values which are used for the sent RST.
Received RST will always be 33–39, 43–49, or 53–59.
Providing a value for T is optional but will be ignored.
In CW and DIGI modes T will always be 9.
So everything seems to be there already.