Beaconing and CQ-ing
The following is just a thought about beaconing and live chats. It may or may not become a feature request in the future. Wonder what other users think about it.
When we send VarAC beacons at regular intervals, we may or may not be at the radio to chat live.
If another ham has received our beacon and double-clicks on the callsign in his VarAC beacon list to connect with our station, he may soon encounter an "AWQ", indicating that there will not be a live QSO but instead a VMail can be left (after a QSY). Vmail is good but the intention is usually to have a live chat.
What if we had an indication in the beaons list that tells us whether the distant beaconing station is available for a live chat or not? See below. We could then make an informed choice about whether to connect a station in the beacon list or not. "L" stands for "Live". You say: another form of CQ calling. Yes, and no. CQ-ing requires us to be at the station. "L" means we can be sitting near the shack desk reading a book. Happy to be interrupted for a chat. Old "L" entries would need to be detected, like auto-cancel after 30min or so. We may have forgotten about the "L" - no big problem.
I think this has some merit. Maybe I missed something. Let me know if.
73
Dieter, VK3FFB
Your solution for an "L" flag is a good one and much simpler than the other suggestions posted here