[WriteLog] RE: WriteLog digest, Vol 1 #199 - 2 msgs

[Dick Green]

Barry,

I wouldn't blame Writelog for this problem. I believe the design evolved
from what other programs do. CT and NA also depend on an external relay,
triggered by a signal on the LPT port, to route CW to the appropriate rig.
The design makes sense because full SO2R requires external relays to switch
the audio, paddle, and mic between rigs and to enable/disable stereo mode.
As long as external relays are needed, why not add one more for CW and PTT?
That's marginally better than requiring two LPT ports or building a box to
break out different signals for each rig (plus the possibility that there
may not be enough spare controllable pins on the LPT port to duplicate CW
and PTT for the rigs.)

As far as I know, neither CT nor NA supports COM port CW. This seems to be
something of an afterthought in Writelog, particularly since there appears
to be no way to switch which rig does the transmitting when you use only a
CW port. I think it's intended only for single radio operation. Wayne
probably had to add COM port support when he discovered that NT and its
derivatives (2K and XP) don't support direct control of an LPT port. I don't
think there's any reason why there can't be separate CW signals on two rig
control COM ports, although it would require changes to the port setup
dialog to allow the extra combinations. Also, as the help file points out,
some rigs require the RTS and DTR signals for rig control to operate
properly, and that will require you to build special cables and/or add some
external components. Finally, you still have the issue of how to switch all
the other stuff (unless you want to do that with a manual switch box, in
which case you can use it to switch CW too!)

It appears that you would need some sort of external switching for the N1MM
logger, and I don't see any way to drive it automatically.

The bottom line is that automatic SO2R switching requires either an external
relay box or one of the W5XD+ keyers. I opted for the latter and am very
pleased with it. Now, when you're ready to talk about automatic antenna
switching in SO2R, take a look at the TopTen or WX0B web pages.

73, Dick WC1M

> From: "Barry N1EU" <n1eu@hotmail.com>
> To: writelog@contesting.com
> Subject: RE: [WriteLog] SO2R Port Setup
> Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2001 07:09:04 -0500
>
> It looks like I was wrong in the simple assumption that WriteLog
> can send cw
> to each of the two rigs.  I just scratch my head at the
> disappointing fact
> that WriteLog doesn't seem to do this.
>
> FYI, look at http://pages.cthome.net/n1mm/html/help.htm and select
> "Configurer Dialog" - this is what I would expect to be able to do.  Note
> that the N1MM software also allows you to assign separate
> bandmaps to VFO A
> and VFO B, another nice feature when you're trying to be two
> places at once
> ;-)
>
> I guess I need to use a separate computer for each radio or buy a
> SO2R box
> that does the switching.
>
> 73,
> Barry  N1EU