[drats_users] D-RATS questions, suggestions

Mon Nov 12 15:00:41 PST 2012

Can we get the designer to "fix" them?   

Ralph (Bud) Stephens (N7USC)
Budstephens at msn.com
Cell: 801-879-9545
Photos: www.fluffy.smugmug.com

On Nov 12, 2012, at 3:36 PM, "Craig Gunther" <craiggunther at yahoo.com> wrote:

> These are very good questions.  Thank you for taking the time to ask them in writing.  I run a reflector for our city and have observed many of the same issues you mentioned.  I anxiously await the answers as well.
>  
> - Craig KE7YLZ
> 
> From: Brian Mileshosky <n5zgt at swcp.com>
> To: drats_users at intrepid.danplanet.com 
> Sent: Monday, November 12, 2012 2:02 PM
> Subject: [drats_users] D-RATS questions, suggestions
> 
> Dan --
> 
> I'm beginning to use D-RATS and am trying to generate interest 
> throughout New Mexico for its use as well.  Some questions and 
> suggestions for improvement:
> 
> 1) It would be VERY helpful if the "Stations" screen on the right side 
> of the Chat tab reflected stations on a particular Chat channel ONLY 
> (when viewing a Channel tab).  That is, if I create a channel called 
> "NM", and I click on its tab, then the callsigns on the right side of 
> the screen should only show those on the NM channel.  If I want to see 
> EVERYONE on a given ratflector, then I can click on the default "Main" 
> chat tab.  This way, if during an emergency event that requires a number 
> of tactical "chat nets" via chat channels (i.e. a channel where the EOC 
> is found, another for where shelters are found, etc), I can see exactly 
> (and only) who is on each channel, and not have to wonder who is on one 
> channel and who is not.  Right now, when I set up a channel I have no 
> idea who is on it since the list is cluttered with callsigns of people 
> who are NOT on that channel as well.
> 
> 2) In the log screen, when filtering for file transfers, it would be 
> nice if a file transfer log listing also included the callsign of 
> whoever grabbed a file from my "Shared" folder.  This way, if I ask a 
> station to grab a file from me, I have record that they in fact did, so 
> I don't need to consume additional time following up with them and 
> asking. Right now all I can see is that a file was transferred at a 
> certain time, but I have no clue who transferred it.
> 
> 3) Is there any reason why transferring files via internet can't occur 
> at internet speeds?  It would be nice if D-RATS knew the method of 
> transfer based on whether it's connected to the internet, or via RF 
> (even if a future release made each message user selectable via a radio 
> button or pull-down menu): Internet would occur at internet speeds, but 
> if via radio it would automatically throttle the speed settings for that 
> particular medium accordingly.  If the internet is up in an emergency, I 
> say leverage it as fully as possible to unburden the limited RF 
> channels.  Somehow this should be seamless (based on the software 
> detecting the medium across which a file or message is to be sent) and 
> not require the user to change blocksize when sending via the internet 
> vs RF.
> 
> 4) I noticed, when sending multiple NTS forms in version 0.3.3, that 
> after I click on "Send" within the message screen, the message(s) isn't 
> actually sent.  I have to secondarily click "Send/Receive" on the main 
> program screen before the message actually gets sent.  Additionally, if 
> I have multiple messages queued up for sending, I need to click 
> "Send/Receive" for each message in the queue before each is sent 
> individually.  It would seem that the "Send" within the message screen 
> would be sufficient, and that multiple messages in the queue would be 
> sent on their way automatically.
> 
> 5) We recently set up a ratflector here in New Mexico and our initial 
> testing revealed that, if a ratflector went down temporarily, then any 
> D-RATS user out there who was connected to it would manually have to 
> reconnect to it.  I can see a situation where a user, perhaps in an ARES 
> tactical net, might not be aware that his connection was lost and might 
> consequently miss out on important action.  Is there not a way for the 
> D-RATS application to sense that a connection has been lost and 
> automatically reconnect?  It could be as simple as, when D-RATS hasn't 
> seen data from a ratflector for n-minutes, the D-RATS application sends 
> a ping or keep-alive message to the ratflector.  If no response from the 
> ratflector, it assumes it went down and automatically tries to 
> re-establish connection with it.  If the ratflector is down for a long 
> duration, D-RATS would attempt a reconnect every n-minutes until a 
> connection is re-established or until the user switches to a new 
> ratflector.
> 
> If you wouldn't mind sharing your thoughts I'd appreciate it.  Thanks 
> for an excellent software application!
> 
> 73,
> Brian N5ZGT
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> 
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