Why use menus rather than discrete switches?
Switches are the most unreliable electronic component used today. Risk of accidental alteration was a major concern of all the customers we interview. Switches require mechanical space, which, in the NAGRA V would represent more than 200 switches if all the menus were discrete. Each switch needs to be verified before use. Switches take time to set / program. We have templates to set the machine in one movement. Menus allow future expansion and flexibility in software which hard switches deny, as proven by the menu evolution of the ARES family and the NAGRA D / DII during their lifetimes.
