General Comments
| Jul 24th 2011, 21:46 | |
aa6eTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
This is a thread for your comments and suggestions about the ARRL Forum system. |
| Jul 24th 2011, 21:48 | |
aa6eTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
Hello, everyone. Thanks for checking out the ARRL Forums. It's new to all of us. I just created a topic, it seems! Add your comments or suggestions here by using the "Post Reply" link. 73, Martin AA6E ARRL Technical Advisor |
| Jul 26th 2011, 18:42 | |
0006018804H80Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
What is the meaning of the "joined" line as the dates shown do not seem to have any relevance to any date I can discern in the either my own personal history, the history of the ARRL, or the creation of the Forum system. Larry, W4RA |
| Jul 26th 2011, 19:27 | |
K4KYVTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
I logged in to the ARRL website and received the welcome message, but the forum page displayed the error message "Login failed. Invalid username or password." Let's see if this post goes through. |
| Jul 26th 2011, 23:10 | |
W1RFIAdminTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
Hi, Larry. I'll wager a guess that it may be the date you first registered on the arrl.org website. Seeing many "April 4, 1998" dates suggests that some update or site change was done at that time, perhaps one of the migrations of the arrl.org site from one host to another. If you'd like more of an answer than my speculation, send me an email and I'll see if anyone knows just what the forums software is looking at to get that date. 73, Ed Hare, W1RFI ARRL Lab Technical forums moderator |
| Jul 27th 2011, 11:28 | |
N0NBTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
It is nice to see the ARRL hosting a forum for its membership. Being a participant in other amateur radio mailing lists and forums useful discussion is sometimes squelched by persistent anti-ARRL bias. I hope that we can discuss both sides of any issue here in a respectful manner. Regarding the join date, I'm not sure how long ARRL has had login access to the site. Perhaps that is what this date reflects. I first had Internet access a bit over two years before my "join" date although I don't recall when I first visited arrl.org. |
| Jul 27th 2011, 12:12 | |
W1RFIAdminTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
I, too, have seen what appears tto me to be anti-ARRL bias in other forums. I expect to see that here, as well, and it's my opionion that such should not be moderated simply on the basis of disagreeing with or criticizing ARRL, even if the moderators think the post is incorrect, but presented in an in appropriate manner. If it is a matter of personal preference, there is nothing to refute, although a preference can be discussed. If accurate, ARRL needs to hear it, and an opinion about ARRL is based on a misunderstanding, this is a good opportunity to discuss and mutually share ideas and thoughts. For a lot of positive reasons, I welcome discussion about ARRL, as it's a great organization that can always be made better. One does not put a puzzle together by keeping the pieces in the box. Respecful is good. As a minimum, discussions here should not be in the form of personal attacks, against any individual, company or organization. Moderation of those things will be primarily by leadership and example, although members can be locked out from being able to post. I will note that profanity, even mild, is not appropriate for this site. This site must be a place where the parents of the youth we want to attact to ham radio will feel comfortable leting their children visit. Dang is the strongly preferred term and one F-bomb or other strong language will get someone instantly deleted and locked out without recourse. Thanks for the encouragnement and I agree completely about the need to keep this wholesome and useful to all. But that must also include the free exhange of ideas with which we may not agree. 73. Ed Hare, W1RFI ARRL Lab Techncal forums moderator |
| Jul 27th 2011, 16:11 | |
WA2CWATotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
When posting a reply, there should be a "Preview" key. It saves having to go back and Edit after you post, plus it allows you to review, "is that what I really want to say" before posting. |
| Jul 27th 2011, 16:22 | |
WA2CWATotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
Under your main page forums: ARRL Forums Awards Contesting Technology The column "Activity" seems to be dead in the water. It's reporting "No latest activity to display" even though there is recent activity in those categories. |
| Jul 28th 2011, 01:25 | |
W0BTUTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
Are there are a lot of features in this forum software that are currently disabled? If not, perhaps you should think about switching to something else (and sooner rather than later). Really. QRZ uses vBulletin, while eHam and AMfone use the free SimpleMachines forum software. Although people may debate which is best, the reality is that both are very widely used on the web and have features that are very much needed here indeed. (I wish I could have put the last few words in italics, but that's another story. :-) Although styled text, attachments, avatars, signatures, would be nice, they are not absolutely necessary. But here's just a couple of things that this forum BADLY needs: 1. The New Posts feature is OK for now, because there are so few threads. But when it gets more threads, it's going to be a LOT of work to search for unread posts. I use http://forums.qrz.com/search.php?do=getnew&contenttype=vBForum_Post and http://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php?action=unread several times a day, and think this site should work the same. 2. Subscriptions to threads. I know that's being looked into. Although some people prefer e-mail notifications, all that is REALLY needed is a page users can visit to see if there are any new posts to them. I use http://forums.qrz.com/subscription.php several times per day, and also think this site should work the same way. Unless those features --along with others-- are added to this forum, I guarantee you that many people are just not going to stick around, let alone take this forum seriously. Both QRZ and AMfone makes it VERY easy to find new posts (eHam less easy, but far easier than this forum) and I hope that the ARRL sees that as well. I am not complaining; I want this forum to succeed. Please take this as constructive criticism. Nor am I siding with a particular site; I use QRZ, eHam, and AMfone, and I enjoy them all. Why doesn't the ARRL ask for volunteers to assist? There are competent programmers that would fall all over themselves to join a group to improve the way this forum works. 73, Mike www.w0btu.com |
| Jul 28th 2011, 02:59 | |
K5DETotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
I would agree with Mike (W0BTU) that a forum/BBS package with a higher level of features should be sought soon. Heck, I created a forum using a freebie system for my siblings and I to use for a period of time that had considerably higher level of features than here, and I had no background with forums (other than a user). For those of us familiar with forums around the web, this one is obviously low-end -- sorry if that offends, but I'd love to see you successful and I think it's critical to success. 73, Rick Edit: I apparently need to update my site info: K5DE now, not N4YQP. Edit2: Well that was easy. :) |
| Jul 28th 2011, 03:22 | |
GOOD517Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
I have a general question about Radio Crystal Holder. I saw an miltary crystal holder in the shape of an large barrel that mounted about 20 or more crystals around an rotary switch. I would like to make a copy of this item but can not find anything about it. It was an wwll military receiver. Does anyone know any thing about this barrel or receiver? Thank You Eric KD8MEM |
| Jul 28th 2011, 03:26 | |
GOOD517Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
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| Jul 28th 2011, 03:47 | |
w1rfiSuper Moderator Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
Hi, Good517. I think the post about crystal holders will get more attention in the Technical Q&A forum. I'll check there tomorrow and if the post is there, I'll delete this one from here. Thanks. 73, Ed Hare, W1RFI ARRL Lab Technical forum moderator |
| Jul 28th 2011, 04:15 | |
w1rfiSuper Moderator Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
My thanks to all who are posting their opinions about the forum site and software. I'm an EMC guy, not a web guy. I for one like the simplicity. I know that our web folks are looking into improving the functionality. In the meantime, most of the bbcode commands seem to work. Bold Italics Underline You saw this one coming, right? 73, Ed Hare, W1RFI ARRL Lab Technical forums moderator |
