I too have the K1EL WinKey and haven't had any problems with it, though I
have used it more with DXbase and N4PY's Icom rig control program than
Writelog.
It's very configurable, so it can compensate for rigs that shorten
characters, can send Curtis A or B from the paddle, etc. It can even send
Farnsworth. The price is $28, and the newly-available enclosure for $19
would have saved me lots of time, both shopping and cutting a DB9 hole.
Like the W5XD keyer/SO2R box, you can interrupt keying being sent from the
message memories by tapping the key, and paddle CW is sent at the same speed
as that sent from the keyboard or memories. It is powered by the serial
port. (I have a ByteRunner 4-port serial card.)
Unlike a stand-alone keyer, such as those sold by Idiom Press,
http://www.idiompress.com/keyers.html, it doesn't have its own memories and
must be used with a program such as Writelog or DXbase that supports it.
The WinKey is the keyer that's included in the microHAM USB micro KEYER,
which is what I'd be using if I didn't have the serial ports. The $179
price seems extremely reasonable considering what it offers and the time one
would save by not stuffing the board and assembling the WinKey. It's at
http://www.microham.com/mk.html.
K1EL's web site is http://www.k1el.com/.
Incidentally, I'm wondering if the problem with high spots rates from packet
would be alleviated if telnet were used instead of packet, since it's so
fast compared with 1200 baud packet.
Jim McDonald, N7US
Mesa, Arizona
AR-Cluster node N7US: 145.09 MHz or telnet to n7us.net
AZ DX Cluster Users' reflector:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adxc
-----Original Message-----
From: writelog-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:writelog-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Rick Tavan N6XI
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2005 1:01 AM
To: k4fj@myway.com
Cc: writelog@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [WriteLog] Stuttering CW
Although my LPT interface works quite well most of the time, it does fall
down when I'm receiving lots of packet activity via telnet. The stuttering
is pretty embarrassing. So I recently got a K1EL WinKey ($39 board kit,
+$19 for enclosure and connectors) which eats and buffers ASCII via a serial
port and sends it as clean CW. It seems to work well for computer sending
although I haven't yet subjected the system to the huge packet load that I
experience during SS. It doesn't work well for paddle sending -
synchronization problems and delays between computer and paddle sending.
That can be solved by using a separate keyer for paddle sending just like I
do when using parallel port computer sending. That's a nuisance but it's no
worse than
LPT+keyer and the stuttering problem is probably solved.
/Rick N6XI
On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 18:47:50 -0500 (EST), Steve K4FJ <k4fj@myway.com> wrote:
>
>
> I experience stuttering CW this weekend in the contest. Drove me
> nuts. Using 10.52, WIN 98SE, P2/350, using LPT port for CW with a
> W1GEE interface. Used NO packet--only rig control via COM port.
>
> Maybe RFI?
>
> Suggestions are appreciated. I am old and broken, but I don't send CW
> that badly.
>
> 73, Steve
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