Forgive the bandwidth for resending this, but I received a couple of
comments that my lack of 'carriage returns' presented a message
with only 4 lines....4 very long lines.
Sorry for any inconvenience.
73,
Dale, KG5U
==================
Subject: Omni VI and Computer Control
Field Day was interesting. My remote antenna switch, controlled
from the DB-25 connector on the Omni worked like a charm. The
Computer Control, however, did not.
We experienced many lockups with the units. I identified the
problem as being with the Omni and not the laptop because even
the keying from an external keyer, connected in parallel with the
laptop keying line, would not key the radio. One way to resolve
the problem was to push the USB button, then the CW button
and all would be hunky-dory for a while. Frequently, while calling
CQ or a sending a report, the laptop display would show the out
of band message. Also, and I have not had a chance to correlate
it to any particular activity, the tuning rate would drop to its lowest
speed. Bummer!!
Fortunately, we had a good signal and could hold our own on the
frequencies where we found productive spots, otherwise, tuning
around would have been a real problem or having to do a reset
would have been worse. We were just about at the point where
we were going to pull the plug on the computer....the computer
control interface plug, that is.
Anyone have any ideas? We were running at 4800 baud. Should
we have tried a higher or lower baud rate? Anyone else experience
and solve a similar problem?
When the computer control interface worked, it worked well.
Nothing like being able to change bands with the press of two keys
(alt-f1/alt-f2) or one button (keypad bandswitch) and everything
(computer, radio, antenna) changes. Neat!!
Next year, two tribanders, a 40m beam, maybe, an 80m inv vee.
With a switch to select either (NW or NE) or both tribanders.
Also, this was apparently the first time some of the Texas DX
Society members had an opportunity to operate an Omni VI.
The comments that I received about its performance (outside the
lockup problem--everyone else blamed the computer) were very
positive. That was very reassuring.
73,
Dale, KG5U
kg5u@hal-pc.org
http://www.hal-pc.org/~kg5u
--
Submissions: na-user@ve7tcp.ampr.org
Administrative requests: na-user-REQUEST@ve7tcp.ampr.org
Questions: owner-na-user@ve7tcp.ampr.org
|