Welcome

How goes?
I watched an excellent hydrophone attack tutorial a few days back. He effectively intercepts and sinks a target without raising the periscope to check it. This may help with your speed/AOB question also. Here is the video tutorial link;
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=154461
I can't answer the notepad question unfortunately, as I use only the manual TDC screen and enter settings there. It's well worth looking into using that instead of the notepad if you haven't already done so. The video deals with this also.