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Re: [WriteLog] HELP - Rig Blaster Advantage

To: Writelog Forum <writelog@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [WriteLog] HELP - Rig Blaster Advantage
From: Wayne <support@writelog.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2016 14:50:37 +0000
List-post: <writelog@contesting.com">mailto:writelog@contesting.com>
> Need help in getting the Rig Blaster to work with Writelog.
> The are four comm ports that are installed by rigblaster software
>
> Can not Writelog to work with any of the four
>
> Any ideas
>
> John, N6QQ
While this question would be best addressed to the Rig Blaster folks at
Western Mountain Radio, I happen to use one myself and will venture to
help. The Rig Blaster Advantage only has one hardware COM port and, at
least on my machine, it only installs one COM device in Windows. The
device comes with a CDROM with "stuff" on it. I never put that CDROM in
the drive because every device on its USB bus (sound boards and COM
port) already has manufacturer-provided drivers, at least on Win 7 and up.

To get WriteLog to work with Rig Blaster Advantage:
Start with what the Rig Blaster doc's tell you:
Cable the rig's RS-232 port to the one on the back of the Rig Blaster
cable the rig's mic to the Rig Blaster
cable the rig's headphone jack to the Rig Blaster
(The simplicity of the hardware connection in the above 3 steps is why I
use Rig Blaster--it is easy to set up.)

The problem you appear to have is figuring out which of the numbered COM
ports on Windows (COM1 up to very big numbers is possible: COM999)
corresponds to the hardware port on the back of the Rig Blaster. Here is
what works for me on Windows 10:

In the (stupid) Cortana "Ask me anything" box on the Win10 desktop, I
type in devmgmt.msc and ENTER. I get a warning about not having admin
privileges and cannot make changes, but then I get the Device Manager
panel I want to look at. Scroll down to "Ports (COM & LPT)" and open it
up. One (and only one--on my machine) is labeled "West Mountain Radio
RIGblaster Advantage (COM3)" And that "COM3" is the answer.

Having said how easy it is, I'll add a couple of caveats to my use of
the device:

Its receiver sound board is one channel, not stereo. I route all my
receiver audio through WriteLog--including any rig subreceiver--and this
device has no right channel. So I use it on my K2 which has no subreceiver.
I had some trouble with hearing artifacts of in my K2 audio that
correlated with COM activity on the rig blaster and I had another COM
port elsewhere on my PC. The artifacts went away when I abandoned my Rig
Blaster COM port for the other one. I did not bother to debug any
further. Your mileage may vary.

Wayne


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