----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Parry" <BPARRY@RGV.RR.COM>
To: "'Mike McCarthy, W1NR'" <lists@w1nr.net>;
<Georgek5kg@aol.com>
Cc: <writelog@CONTESTING.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 10:16 AM
Subject: Re: [WriteLog] Writelog and CW
> Mike and George,
>
> I wasn't going to put XP on the old computer; I was just
> going to buy a new
> one. The reason that I was thinking about changing is that
> I have had a
> networking problem that I think is going to be difficult
> to fix. It is also
> really really slow in booting up my DXBase logging
> program...the data file
> is many MB.
>
> Computers are pretty cheap now so I thought it might be a
> good time to
> change.
Let's talk about simple solutions. I'm no Writelog guru or
anything, so maybe the old timers can chime in here in case
I missed something.
You can share one com port for rig control and cw keying. I
think you can get a physical ptt signal off that same com
port. You can also get a software ptt on the rig control
line. Or, you can use vox instead of ptt. I've got a laptop
(the one I am typing on now) that has NO serial port. I used
a Belkin F5U103 USB to serial converter from EBay to get rig
control and cw keying for field day. I just checked Ebay and
they are still on there for $10, including shipping. The
field day setup worked fb. The f5u103 is also one of the
very few usb converters that will also send rtty fsk. For a
desktop computer though, I think most of them still come
with two serial ports on the motherboard, so you shouldn't
need to mess with usb at all.
Now, if you want to do so2r, you will need to access the
printer port, which is not supported in Windows XP. You need
to get to the A/B signal on the printer port to route the cw
to the correct radio. Of course you will also need a second
serial port for control of the second radio. You will have
to install third-party software for the printer port.
DLPORTIO and DIRECTIO are the two choices. DLPORTIO is free,
but I couldn't get it to work. Ymmv. I think DIRECTIO is
about $15 after a free trial. It worked fb for me. See my
previous writelog reflector postings (actually a repost of
someone else's work) of a step-by-step procedure.
The only remaining issue is whether the cw is choppy. I
didn't have any problems with one radio on FD. If you have
problems, try shutting down other running Windows processes.
If the cw quality is unacceptable to you, then you may need
to graduate to more expensive and complex solutions. I
didn't have any problems on FD, using a speedy laptop.
Dave Hachadorian, K6LL
Yuma, AZ
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