Norvin I just set the time and temp and leave it, can’t be doing with hovering over it listening for cracks and pops, that level of control gets old very quickly.
I used to do the same for many years and that worked fine, but since I returned to roasting and added the dimmer, I do go back to control the last third or so of the roast. I know approximately how long I have until close to the beginning of the first crack, so put on a timer for that. I listen for the begining of the first crack and start a stopwatch on the phone on the very first pops. Once this happens, or even a little before that, I move from full blast on the heating element to dimmer opperation, and take the heater down a notch, just to lower the intensity at the cracking stage. I aim to keep the temp stable, or reduce by a degree or two with the dimmer (as opposed to the temp keep creeping up without the dimmer and without watching the roaster). I end the roasts manually when the first crack finishes (usually 60-90 seconds from when the cracks start). This gives me a reference for the next roast: if I want a little more or a little less roast, I adjust the stopping poing a tad. I don’t weigh the beans going in to the roaster, just eyeball, so that saves some effort. :)
I’m very happy with the coffee I’m getting since I returned to roasting after a break, but I have changed many other things at the same time so can’t say for sure what contributes what, but the bottom line is that I was never happier with what I get.