[RTTY] Some basic RTTY questions

[Michael Rapp]

Hi all,

I did some experimenting last night to work on my RTTY receive and it was
an exercise in enlightening frustration clearly in the unintended
consequences/too-good-to-be-true category.  :)

I tried three different sound cards -- two Audigy 2 models (PCIe) and one
$15 basic one (PCI) -- and none of them worked.  Either the jacks acted
erratically or the cards caused blue screens (in Windows 7, not an easy
thing to do).  After much research, I found out what is going on.  My shack
PC is an old Dell PowerEdge SC1430, which is from their server line.  It's
a very robust computer as you'd expect being a former server....but has a
little problem for shack use.

As low-end servers and desktop PCs are almost indistinguishable these days,
Dell intentionally crippled the PCI bus in the server so that you could not
buy a cheap server and then load it up with nice after-market video or
sound cards.  The only solution to get an internal sound card to work is to
buy a new PC, something I'd rather not do for the cost and the fact that I
just recently reformatted the thing from XP to Win7.

Of course, while the PCI bus is crippled, the USB bus is not.   That's why
the Signalink works just fine.

To recap my problem.  My Yaesu FT-950 has a single DATA/RTTY mini-din plug
on the back.  I can either have my Signalink USB plugged in or my W3YY FSK
box plugged in.  Indeed, right now, I use a switchbox to switch between
them.  So for RTTY, I can have either receive audio or FSK keying.
 Obviously not optimal.  :)

So my current idea is to devise a breakout box by which I can switch
between these two setups:

Full Signalink (for non-RTTY digital modes):
-- To Signalink:  Data Out from radio (receive audio), Data In to radio
(transmit audio), PTT
-- Nothing to W3YY box

RTTY Mode
-- To Signalink:  Data Out from radio (receive audio)
-- To W3YY box:  PTT, FSK

I'm wondering if I can dispense with the switching all together.  I don't
have an electronics background so sometimes simple things elude me.

Would there be a problem with the PTT line from the Signalink and the PTT
line from the W3YY box being connected to the PTT pin on the FT-950 at the
same time?  They obviously wouldn't be keyed/carry a signal at the same
time.

-- 
/*/-=[Michael / KT5MR]-=/*/