Amazing...within 24 hours of posting my message about erratic computer CW
keying with WL, almost two dozen replies pop up on the Reflector! This
problem is apparently widely experienced, but the solution is no slam dunk.
Here is a summary of what we have, so far.
* Several tout the W5XD Keyer as a workaround to keying issues with Windoze.
Waitaminnit! What kind of sense does it make to buy a several hundred dollar
keyer to ensure functionality of a $90 piece of software, especially when I
already have an external keyer? It would make more sense to go back to CT
for CW contests.
* Several suggested adding CW_ON_PIN1=1 to [PORTS] in writelog.ini. Cool--I
did not have that in my writelog.ini---but others said they do have it, and
the problem is unaffected. Worth trying, I suppose---maybe I will be among
the lucky ones. I recall a discussion of the "LPT1 Problem" but I do not
recall what that problem was.
* Several suggested that RFI might be the culprit. This is always a
possibility, and my keying line is longer than previously due to the
computer being on the floor. This is not difficult to check out and I have
plenty of beads, but I suspect this will not prove to be the problem. In my
shack, 10m and 160m have had problems in the past, but I spent most of my
time in WPX on 15 and 20.
* Several suggested that Windoze might have too many processes running in
the background. Indeed, I am seeing a helluva lot more than Explorer and
Systray! Even with no other applications open, I have six HP printer drivers
for my G95 All-In-One running on my network, Realplay, Mediadet, Ctnotify,
Alogserve and Ahqtb. Could one or more of these be grabbing the CPU's
attention every so often? I have no idea what some of them are! This
suggestion reminded me that I am occasionally seeing sluggish responses to
such mundane acts as typing in an email address in Outlook----this one is
starting to look interesting.
* One contributor suggested that I disable my Anti-Virus program. Also worth
trying...
* A local contester observes that, when he has this problem, it correlates
with hard disk activity, i.e. something else is happening at that time. This
in turn could be related to all those other drivers in the background. K5ZD
says this has to do with the way Windoze DOESN'T handle multitasking, and
suggests unloading all the printer drivers. Verrry interrrrresting. I think
I would rather unload Writelog. Tell me again why we abandoned DOS-based
contesting programs...
* OTOH---at least one guy said he has the same problem with CT....go figger.
* Some guys suggested getting rid of Findfast.exe. My version of Office
apparently does not have Findfast.exe. Next suggestion...
* Computer not fast enough? One guy is running a 1 GHz P4 and has the same
problem.
OK---it looks like I will need to slog through these one at a time--modify
writelog.ini, beads on leads and dummy loads, disable applications, remove
printer drifvers (oh, no, what a PITA!). I suspect it will wind up being a
Windoze background process issue, since I am pretty sure it worked without
incident back at CW SS, and I probably added something since then that is
resource-greedy.
Whew! This is more confusing than SO2R after drinking a sixpack. What do
people do who have real lives? I go sleep now.
Thanks to all,
Garry, NI6T
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160 meters---not a band but an obsession
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