[WriteLog] Multi-Keyer Problems

[Richard L. King]

I bought a new W5XD/K5DJ Multi-Keyer before the 2003 CQWW CW and I am 
having some problems with it. I mentioned one of the problems here before 
but never got what I would call a true solution. I would like to ask if 
anyone else has experienced these problems or if you can point out 
something that I have done wrong.

I have used the keyer for two CW contests now (CQWW CW and ARRL 160 CW) and 
I am running Writelog version 1042C.

Problem 1. There seems to be a serious incompatibility between the W5XD 
keyer and the FT1000MP MkV PTT inputs.

When I first hooked the keyer up I found that the PTT line will drop the 
radio back to receive sometimes while it is sending. This happens whether I 
am sending from CW memories and/or sending with the paddle input. The 
problem seems to come and go and will drop out right in the middle of a 
string of characters.

I have two FT1000MP MkVs and the problem is the same on both the left and 
the right radio. So I don't believe the problem is one of the radios, 
unless it is a basic incompatibility problem between the keyer and Yaesu.

I also discovered that my footswitch, connected through the keyer, would 
also allow the radio to drop out of transmit while I was holding it down 
and not actually sending anything. Since this happens when I am not 
sending, I don't believe I have a RFI issue.

At one point the footswitch failure became almost solid and I was able to 
help matters by rewiring the 1/8in stereo plug that goes into the 
footswitch jack on the keyer. I soldered the cable shield that goes on the 
ring to the ground connection in the plug making the ring and ground 
common. This made the footswitch work much, much more reliably, but only 
the footswitch. The PTT generated by the paddle input and/or the computer 
through the keyer was still intermittent.

It was my understanding from reading the keyer literature when I was making 
the keyer cables that no grounds should be used at the keyer and the shield 
of the cable should go to the ring of the 1/8in stereo plugs. But maybe I 
missed something about that? But connecting the shield of that cable to the 
keyer ground certainly improved the reliability of my footswitch.

I am wondering if I now need to solder the shields of the cables that go 
from the two FT1000 PTT inputs to the keyer ground to improve their 
reliability? Or does that defeat the purpose of the opto-couplers?

I really need to stop the keyer from dropping the PTT line while sending 
and I need some advice as to the best way to do that.

Problem 2. When I occasionally use my paddle in a contest, it usually works 
as expected. This is a situation when I send a call again, or ask for a 
repeat, or send a repeat exchange using the paddle. However when I do a 
small ragchew, I have problems.

If I continuously send CW for longer that a few seconds using the W5XD 
keyer, it goes key down on me with a solid keyed output from the radio/amp. 
If I hit the dit key once or twice the radio will stop keying and is ready 
for me to resume sending.

I tried turning off the amplifier in case there as a RFI problem and the 
problem is still there running only 50M. That doesn't necessarily rule out 
RFI. And the problem was happening before I soldered in a ground connection 
back in problem #1. So that's not the reason.

I just paused typing this note, brought up WriteLog, tried to recreate the 
problem, and couldn't. I tried to do it with both a empty log and a full 
log with 1200 QSOs just in case log size was a factor. But no problem now. 
So unless someone has seen something similar to what I experienced, I will 
approach this as a RFI problem.

Problem 3. I seem to have a lot of trouble getting the Writelog program to 
read the frequency from both radios when I am setting up for SO2R. One 
radio is on com 1 and the other is on com 8.

The program will set up easily for using either radio without the other. 
But it is very difficult to make it use both radios at the same time with 
one as the left radio and the other as the right radio.

Usually I can get both to finally start working if I spend 30 minutes 
starting and stopping radios using the setup ports radio selection while 
selecting right and left radios. Finally after I have reached the point 
where there is no sense in the procedures that I am doing to try to make it 
work, it will suddenly start working.

Perhaps there is a specific procedure that must be followed to do this and 
I am missing it.

I would appreciate comments or advice from anyone?

73, Richard

k5na at texas.net