[CQ-Contest] Keyer question

[Kenneth E. Harker]

On Thu, Jan 18, 2001 at 11:34:30AM -0500, Tom Rauch wrote:
 >
 > I'm "doing" a keyer for contesting and general ragchewing, and I
 > have a contest related question.
 >
 > The keyer has a LCD display that displays what is being sent
 > either through the paddles or from a computer. Would there be any
 > use to running the keyboard through the keyer also, and allowing
 > the *call sent* through the key paddles to be outputed as a
 > "keystroke" to the computer for logging?
 >
 > In other words, you hear AA1K and send his call and then punch a
 > single button and the keyer enters the call into your logging
 > program without typing it out?

The keyer (or the contest software) would need to be pretty smart to figure
out which characters constitute a callsign, and what to ignore (i.e. your
own call, "DE", etc.) in order for it to work smoothly.

 > Would it be useful if the keyer was also a "smart" interface, and
 > could do timed switching functions like give **advanced warning**
 > to amplifiers and other equipment that a signal was going to appear
 > in XX milliseconds?

This is a VERY desirable feature.  It is the only gripe I have with the
Super CMOS III/ Logikey K-3 keyer.  I use that keyer with four VHF/UHF
radios for contesting, and one of them (the IF radio for 1296 MHz)
doesn't do semi-break-in, so the keyer has to do the PTT thing.  I built
a small circuit K5GU designed that does PTT with an adjustable delay, but
the delay is not connected with the keyer speed.  The only way to really
get that is to have the keyer chip implement PTT.  A very similar circuit
to what I did was recently published in QST Hints and Kinks, so there is a
demand for this feature.

-- 
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Kenneth E. Harker      "Vox Clamantis in Deserto"      kharker at cs.utexas.edu
University of Texas at Austin                   Amateur Radio Callsign: WM5R
Department of the Computer Sciences         President, UT Amateur Radio Club
Taylor Hall TAY 2.124                         Maintainer of Linux on Laptops
Austin, TX 78712-1188 USA            http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/
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