[WriteLog] Radios keying up upon boot up

[Floyd Sense]

Hi Thom.  Windows does not need to initialize the serial ports at boot up. 
The reason it examines the serial ports is to see if there are any devices 
attached that need device drivers loaded in order to operate properly.  If 
you don't have such device (modem, etc.) on a particular port, there is no 
need for Windows to examine that port on start-up.  Microsoft has made 
available instructions for modifying Registry values associated with the 
ports so that you can instruct Windows to NOT examine specific serial ports 
when it starts.  I followed their instructions and disabled the examination 
process for the serial ports I use to control my radio functions. 
Everything worked as advertised.  The downside of this is that not everyone 
is capable of doing the Registry mods required, and if you make any changes 
in your serial ports (adding a port, or changing the port numbers), the 
changes are lost and you have to redo them.  I don't recall the title of the 
Microsoft Knowledgebase article describing these changes, but can dig it out 
if anyone is interested.

I've found that the easiest thing to do is add a switch to my PTT/CW/FSK 
interface box that simply disconnects the RTS and DTR lines when the switch 
is turned off.  That prevents any accidents on computer start-up without 
having to make the Registry mods.

73, K8AC

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "WI8W" <wi8w at wi8w.org>
To: <writelog at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2005 6:24 PM
Subject: [WriteLog] Radios keying up upon boot up


> The reason the radios key up for brief periods upon a computer boot up is 
> because the computer needs to initialize all the serial and parellal ports 
> on each boot up.  Good idea to keep the radio off when restarting 
> computers connected to them to prevent a signal being transmitted on the 
> air or worse yet into a  connector that is not connected to anything.
>
> 73
>
> Thom WI8W
>
>
>
>
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