Ok, first let me say that I am a huge fan of WL. I was out of radio for 15+
years - when I last entered a contest I used a paper dupe sheet and was
state of the art :-) Getting back into contesting was eased considerably by
the availability of a solid Windows based logging program - I couldn't live
without WL.
But, the doc is a bit lacking :-)
So after one season of hacking around, I am ready to get my station into a
bit more solid condition. I invested in a used TS-850S (will be my "run"
radio) to complement my trusty old IC-740 ("mult" radio). I am busy
designing my summer projects to get these two rigs running using a single
computer.
For SSB, I'm doing ok. I will drive the 850 from COM1, so I will get PTT
for WAV files that way. I already have a relay based PTT scheme for the
ICOM that works off LPT1. My mike runs into the computer's mic input, and
then out to the two radios through isolation transformers, and WL will
switch the mic automatically. So far so good.
My only question here is the foot switch. Does WL have any means of
directing the footswitch to follow the mic, or do I have to do that by hand?
For CW, I am confused. I understand how to key one radio from LPT1. But
there doesn't seem to be any two radio support for CW similar to that for
SSB - no way for WL to automatically route the computer's CW output (and my
keyer, preferably) to the right radio.
Am I expected to move the computer CW output to the correct radio myself?
Finally, what is the A/B output on LPT1 for? There doesn't seem to be any
written spec on how it works, or what it intended to do - only a passing
mention in the doc for the W5XD keyer that it can be used to switch
headphones. I have this suspicion that I can solve most of my problems with
a little relay box that uses the A/B output to switch keyer, paddle,
footswitch, etc. - but I need a bit better doc on the A/B output...
I must say that a couple of well written pages on two radio setup for both
SSB and CW would be much appreciated by this user. If I get these answers
worked out, maybe I will try to write something up myself to be included...
Thanks in advance for your help,
***dan
Dan Levin, N6BZA
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