[ct-user] 9.38 Beta CW keying of Yaesu

[Jim Kehler]

Keith,

I'm not sure the stuttering problem is with all Yaesu radios.... heres what I 
did the other nite:

Computer 686 Whatever running Windoze 95. Also has bootable 6.22 DOS. 

Keying line is COM port, COM3, and radio is COM1.

I tested 9.37 and 9.38.  9.37 polls the radio faster, as you know.

*** 9.37 running in a DOS window under WIN 95:

  CW keying works fine.
  Radio control doesn't work at all - no CAT lite on radio, RADIO TIMEOUT on screen.

*** 9.37 running in same machine, with DOS 6.22

  CW  keying works fine.
  Radio control is OK, all I checked was band changes but CAT lite blinks 1 time a 
  second.

  I ran CW at 20 WPM and 45 WPM. I don't notice any stuttering, watching the power
  meter and listening to the sidetone. I didn't listen to myself in another receiver.

*** 9.38 running in a DOS window under WIN 95:

  CW Keying works fine.
  Radio control doesn't work at all - no CAT lite on radio, RADIO TIMEOUT on screen.

*** 9.38 running in same machine, under DOS 6.22

  Same results as 9.37, both keying and radio work fine, no stuttering noticed.

And then I did this. Since I just happen to be writing some WINDOZE CAT software 
for the FT920, I ran CT in a DOS window under Windoze 95 and with just CW port
(no radio) and I ran my CAT test program in another window. I cranked the polling
speed up on my CAT program so that the CAT lite on the radio was on SOLID, with
VB I can't tell you exactly the timing, but probably 100 times faster than 9.38 polls the
radio.  Then I went to the CT window, and ran the keying. No stuttering noticed.
Naturally, when I go to the CT window in the foreground, the CAT slows down, but
the radio was still getting polled three or four times a second I would guess.

Conclusion is that with the FT920, anyway, polling the radio does not cause it to 
stutter when it is sending CW via a COM port. 

A TNC will not work correctly on my computer with CT under WIN 95 either. 

If I am running CT in a DOS window under Windoze 95, sending CW, and switch 
to another window, that makes the CW stop - usually with the radio keyed.....

All the problems I observed I attribute to Windoze 95, and since CT is a DOS program,
that doesn't surprise me at all. CT wasn't designed to run in an environment where
it has to share processor time with other programs and where can't communicate directly
with I/O devices. Yes, you may be able to jury rig Windoze to make cetain options of
CT work, but you'll never be able to jury rig Windoze to let CT do what it was designed
to do.

I don't have a parallel port interface made, so I couldn't test that. 

73, Jim KH2D

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