tlf comments after CQP

[Drew Arnett]

Hi,

I used TLF for the CQP (California QSO Party) yesterday from San Diego
county.  (Debian stable tlf package version 1.3.2-1)

Worked fairly well.  Would be nice to have 2 entry boxes to tab
between for serial and qth (mult) instead of one, but it was workable.

I used an initial file which held QTH (mult) as well as super partial.
The only thing that wasn't so hot was that when I'd enter the serial
(and made sure QTH sent matched the initial), sometimes it would
revert the serial to blank or to the serial it had prefilled from
earlier QSO when I used ESM to finish the Q.  Not sure on the details
of how and why, yet.  Haven't played with it at home after the event
to better understand.

So, that's the feedback.

I love TLF.  Love using it from linux console.  I was running QRP off
of battery all day long.  I didn't want to run a laptop off the
battery as well at 40 or 80 W.  That just seems like a mismatch.  So,
setup a Raspberry Pi 2 B which was the lowest power consumption model
from what I could find.  Used the official Pi display & case.

Peripherals were:
Elecraft's USB serial adapter for CAT
Winkeyer USB
generic USB to PS/2 adapter with old IBM model M keyboard
NO MOUSE!  :-)

12 to 5V was using Powerwerx USB Buddy.  (I hoped it would be RFI free.)

On the bench, this drew 0.4 A off of a bench 13.8 V supply.  Wow, nice
match with a 5 W QRP rig!

Linux console, default font, and a cardboard box for a sunshield.
Glare wasn't bad unless my light t-shirt was lit up by the sun.  (I
was trying to stay in the shade.)

And, the model M with it's curly PS/2 cable, still is prone to RF on
40m.  I had to use a snap on ferrite choke for 40m even QRP.

I actually prepped a folder with tlf config files and database files
and pywinkeyerdaemon ahead of time on a regular PC.  Checked it out,
make a git repot, and then copied onto the Pi.  Nice.

Best regards,

Drew
n7da