I have recently converted my station over to using Writelog in a SO2R
configuration. The computers in my shack run WIN2K and WINNT. If you
want to run SO2R or utilize Writelog?s Band Data, a parallel port(LPT)
is required. The SO2R left/right radio signal only directly appears on
your PC?s LPT port. The Writelog W5XD/K5DJ Multi-Keyer gets around
this LPT port requirement through indirectly synthesizing the left/right
signal via a serial port and the Mult-Keyer?s internal microprocessor.
The Multi-Keyer does not switch the microphone between the left/right
radio. It assumes your station mic is plugged into the mic-in of your
soundboard. The WL SW routes your PC Soundcard?s Mic-in and .wav file
messages to the left/right radio by routing it to the soundcard?s
audio-out . The soundcards audio-out left channel is hooked to the left
radio and the right audio-out goes to the right radio.
My problem with the PC soundcard controlling the station Mic audio
concerns noise. I use SONY laptops for my portable operations (9M8R,
CN2R). The audio generated by these laptops is of low quality(computer
noise). Many laptops don?t score high enough on the sound board check
program to allow much versatility for station audio routing.
In my search to solve the WIN2K and WINNT parallel port problem along
with the desire to externally switch the station mic, I have settled on
the Array Solutions SO2R box. It provides great control for received
audio and switches the station mic between radios. I then needed a way
to get the LPT port working on my computers.
When Writelog starts up on your PC it tries to ?discover? the LPT ports
on your PC by directly reading a register from the LPT1, LPT2, LPT3
parallel port hardware. If the read succeeds, WL enables the LPT ports
on its Setup->Ports dialog. On all current Windows Operating Systems
{ WIN2K, WINNT, WINXP} the read fails. WL detects this failure and grays
out the LPT ports on the Setup->Ports dialog.
The current Windows Operating Systems doesn?t allow ?WL style? direct
reads and writes to the parallel ports. WIN95, WIN98 and WINME
(dead OS?s) do allow these direct reads and writes. The solution
involves adding a device (LPT) driver to your PC that allows WL to
access the LPT ports. A device driver basically runs at a ?higher
privilege? level which allows it to access hardware directly.
Applications run at a ?lower privilege? level on current Operating
systems. This ?lower privilege? level blocks direct hardware access.
This privilege mechanism prevents multiple Applications on your PC from
trying to use the same Hardware resource (i.e. LPT) simultaneously. A
device driver exclusively manages the Hardware resource which leads to
PCs that crash less.
FINALLY THE SOLUTION:
A company called Direct-IO makes a configurable device driver. They
recently introduced version 4.2 of their product. Prior versions did not
work for me. Installing and using this device driver is painless. In
addition, this driver does not block the use of your LPT ports for
printing or other devices that use the LPT.
Goto : http://www.direct-io.com/
Navigate to the Download page and get the demo version 4.2.236
It has a simple installer. The driver is configured by the following steps
1) After installing, launch the Direct-IO configuration dialog from
the Control panel or Start->Programs->Direct-IO->Control Panel menu.
2) Select the I/O ports tab
3) Enter 378 for begin and 37A for end, then click Add
4) Enter 278 for begin and 27A for end, then click Add
5) Enter 3BC for begin and 3BE for end, then click Add
6) Select the Security Tab
7) Browse to the base directory you installed WL in
8) Continue to browse to writelog\Programs\WriteL32.exe
9) Click Add
10) You may want to reboot.
The next time you run WL, your installed LPT ports will be recognized
and you now have full LPT capability with current Operating Systems.
The demo version of Direct-IO will expire. It is $29.00 to purchase. I
purchased my copy with a credit card and received the license key, via
EMAIL, in 1 day. You will need to cut and paste the large license key
in the License Tab of the Direct-IO configuration dialog. Make sure your
name and Company Name (if used), entered in the License tab, exactly
match these fields in your License key EMAIL
I hope this helps WL users. I also hope that a future version of WL will
include a device driver for the LPT ports. It seems to me that this is
inevitable as the Dead operating systems fade away. Thanks to Wayne for
helping me solve my LPT problems.
73 Jim W7EJ
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