[CQ-Contest] RE: [WriteLog] FW: Orion and Writelog -PROBLEM FIXED:NO RIG but Frequency Can be Sent

[Igor Sokolov]

> 2. But, great news, when I put the rig on one COM port,
>    and put the CW keying on the other COM port, the
>    frequency is correctly displayed, can be commanded
>    from call window or spots, and the CW keying seems
>    to be perfect from either WriteLog's alt-K or from
>    the F-messages.
>
>    And, with separate COMs, I can now toggle the SP switch
>    on the Orion to enable its internal keyer, and the
>    paddles work just fine, with no erratic behavior.

It is step forward for sure. But still it is not as good as in TRlog where
one can connect paddles to parallel port and can send from the computer and
from paddles without any additional switching.
TRlog can also use just one com port for one radio carring all three (CW,
PTT and rig control) just in one com port.
The limited number of Com ports with modern laptops makes SO2R operation a
serious challenge. In case of pair of ORIONs one therefore will need 4 COM
ports which may be difficult.

> 5. And using a single com port for radio and CW has one other
>    strange impact: just the existence of WriteLog running
>    corrupts the internal keyer: a string of dots or dashes
>    sent from paddles by the internal keyer are erratic -
>    a series of 5 or 6 correct dots/dashes, then a very long
>    dot/dash, then a series of good, and an elongated dot/dash,
>    for as long as either side of the paddle is closed.
>
>    As soon as I close the WriteLog program, or disconnect
>    the Rig Control DB9 cable, the keyer sends perfect dashes
>    or dots.
>

This is apparantly the WL bug not being control different COM port lines
independently.

> Barry, W5GN

> So I'm tickled pink, now that I have two com ports,
> one for cw keying, one for rig control, I'm in good
> shape for the contest this weekend, so I can use
> the diversity reception, which is the primary reason
> I bought the Orion, plus its great receiver.

Good receiver is defenetely ORION's big plus. I only wish they rectify all
the software glitches. By the way did they disable DSP ajustment while in TX
mode in this firmware version? I remember that being a problem and the
reason was - underpowered processor that could not cope with DSP ajustment
and CW sending at the same time.

73, Igor UA9CDC