Ron,
Thanks so much for your assessment. I have in fact complained to ICOM
as well about their problems of antiquated rig control. It is utterly
ridiculous that today's $3K radio still requires an external box to
bring it to current operations.
I do hope that K5DJ takes a look at this thread and hopefully
acknowledges that there is a problem and comes up with a fix.
Tnx es 73
Dick W7ZR
On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 16:11:19 -0600, Ron Stordahl
<ron.stordahl@digikey.com> wrote:
> I believe much of the difficulty in controlling radios are timing
> issues. DXBase2005 for example provides the control strings used in a
> file called radios.ini. In each radio's description the strings used
> are specified along with the ability to introduce 'waits' at various
> points in the sending of the strings. If multiple strings are needed,
> then delays can also be inserted between these. I would have thought
> making the 'waits' longer than they need be would only make things slow,
> but in some cases they make the commands fail as well...perhaps the
> radio times out. Surprisingly a radio which can be controlled without
> error at 9600 may not work at 1200, where apparently delays or 'waits'
> of different duration are required.
>
> The whole thing is a can of worms. I spent a lot of time 'fine tuning'
> the strings and 'waits' for the ICOM 781, and then later the ICOM
> 756ProII. Also the ICOM 7800, where I have it working at 9600 but
> cannot make it work at 1200! Since I have never had any problem using
> WriteLog with my 756 Pro II (which is set to the address for the Pro
> rather than Pro II) I have not looked into if Writelog has a user
> accessible file with the radio definitions...I guess it doesn't.
>
> When I finally got a working set of strings and delays for the 756ProII,
> they were released with DXBase and just as I should have expected they
> worked with some 756ProII's and not with others. I had to issue an
> update to the radios.ini file for that radio adding additional timing
> delays, which had the effect of slowing down the frequency setting and
> reading process, but at least, as far as I know, now wotks with all of
> the ProII's out there.
>
> As I said earlier the whole thing is a can of worms. And trying to get
> any cooperation from the radio manufacturer, at least from ICOM, has
> been impossible. For example in their current product line not one of
> the radios offers the ability to read the current status of split and/or
> dual watch. That ability is present in the Kenwood and Yaesu rigs, but
> not in the ICOM. I have been in regular contact with ICOM, both in
> person and via e-mail for several years about this deficiency. It came
> as a disappointment to me that when the ICOM7800 was released this
> ability was still lacking. Now they have released the ProIII and it
> also is lacking this needed capability.
>
> Not being a Kenwood, Yaesu, etc user I can't really say if those radios
> are easier to interface.
>
> The control interface to our radios is way down on the list of things we
> think of when we make radio purchases. This is unfortunate because this
> allow the manufacturer to pretty much ignore the issue as well.
>
> I believe your only hope is to contact Ron Stailey, K5DJ, the author of
> WriteLog to see if he can fine tune the timing of the commands for you.
>
> Ron, N5IN
>
>
>
> Richard Zalewski wrote:
>
> >I would like to renew this thread to see if we can come up with a
> >solution. Again it was a frustrating weekend having to click twice,
> >three, four times or more to get a spot to move to the entry window.
> >Sometimes the spot would move to the entry window but the entry window
> >would not be the active area so it would take another click or two.
> >
> >One thing that seemed to help a little (I emphasize little) was
> >changing the comm ptt to NO on the radio.
> >
> >I am able to use DX Labs suite of programs and select band spots
> >without any problem so I do not think it is a radio or computer
> >problem. It may be a set up problem of some sort but it sure is
> >annoying.
> >
> >One last clue and this has existed for some time. After transmitting
> >about 90% of the time there is a "No Rig" displayed for a brief moment
> >and then the correct frequency is displayed. This has been going on
> >for many revisions.
> >
> >I have to believe there is some sort of polling problem and sure could
> >use some help on this.
> >
> >Thanks to all.
> >
> >Dick W7ZR
> >
> >
> >On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 18:27:31 -0600, George Skoubis
> ><george.skoubis@verizon.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> >>Dick,
> >>
> >> Do you have the setting on the IC-775 line (in the ports menu) set to
> >>sync?
> >>
> >> Try that and see if it works. It may be a communications problem
> >>where the PW-1 / IC-775 / Writelog are trying to use the comm bus at the
> >>same time and there are collisions. I think sync tells Writelog to
> >>wait until the channel is clear until it sends its command.
> >>
> >> Wayne explained the sync setting a few years ago but I've forgotten
> >>since!
> >>
> >> Let me know if this helps.
> >>
> >>Thanks,
> >>
> >>George / KF9YR
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>-----Original Message-----
> >>From: writelog-bounces@contesting.com
> >>[mailto:writelog-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Richard Zalewski
> >>Sent: Monday, November 29, 2004 10:06 AM
> >>To: Writelog
> >>Subject: [WriteLog] Writelog-CT17-Radios
> >>
> >>This is the first time I have had a problem with this and looking for
> >>some advice. I use Writelog (Latest version) with an IC-775DSP and a
> >>PW-1. What I experienced all weekend in WW was when I clicked on a
> >>spot I had to do multiple clicks before it would put the spot in the
> >>entry window and change the frequency on the radio. What I noticed on
> >>the band map was that the frequency would change immediately and then
> >>just as fast go back to the original frequency. I would have to click
> >>many times to get this to work. I then tried it with the PW-1 off and
> >>that seemed to fix the problem. Frequency changes were immediate.
> >>So, have I a bad CT-17? I don't think so. I changed the ports around
> >>and it made no difference. Any ideas, help, or incouragement would be
> >>appreciated. Note-this had worked before in multi-band contests and
> >>this weekend I was single band.
> >>
> >>Dick W7ZR
> >>_______________________________________________
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> >>
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> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
--
Tnx es 73
Dick W7ZR
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