[WriteLog] WL CW keying comments

[Timothy Coker]

Writelog CW keyer type: "PC Generates"

manufacturer: "(Prolific Technology Inc)", "Driver Provider" Prolific, and
"Driver Version" 2.0.0.24

I have had issues for about 6 months now in different contests.

Tim, N6WIN.
On Tue, Nov 9, 2010 at 9:49 PM, W. Wright, W5XD <w5xd at writelog.com> wrote:

> I have some comments on the numerous postings about problems with CW
> keying:.
>
> In Writelog's Setup/Ports menu, there currently 7 different entries under
> "CW keyer type". Three of the settings, "Microham" and the two "Winkey"
> settings share some code with each other (because they all have the K1EL
> keyer chip underneath), but none of the others share any code with each
> other or those K1EL keyer settings. It is exceedingly unlikely that there
> is
> any garbage cw software problem that is somehow shared among those settings
> that have no common code.
>
> That means that any posting on this topic that does not say what the "CW
> keyer type" setting was is not helpful in narrowing down any diagnosis. If
> everyone that has such a problem reports that setting, I am pretty sure we
> would discover that there are several "CW keyer type"s involved, which
> means
> that, assuming there is a software issue in WL, there has to be more than
> one. But to see any pattern, the data we have must be first separated by
> that setting.
>
> All the modern keyer types also involve a COM port (I doubt many folks use
> LPT port circuits on modern machines). I have noticed major differences in
> device driver behavior between the COM ports that are built into PC
> motherboards, and the ones that connect via a USB port. This is just a
> hunch
> on my part, but I suspect there might be a pattern if everyone reports
> exactly what hardware their COM port is. Again, the report has to be
> specific to be useful. Right click on "My Computer" and choose "Manage" and
> then go to the "Device Manager", and finally, browse to the COM port that
> you are actually using for CW keying. (Don't guess--figure out which one it
> really is by looking at WriteLog Setup/Ports). First go to the "General"
> tab
> and report the "Manufacturer". Then go to the "Driver" tab and report the
> "Driver Provider", and "Driver Version".
>
> If people report those configuration details, there might be a pattern
> among
> the reports.
>
> It has been suggested that multi-threading on multi-core CPUs might be a
> culprit. I won't agree or disagree with that theory, but I will comment
> that
> internal to WL, all CW keying code runs on the same thread as the rest of
> the WriteLog, including the user interface. (This was its original design
> back in the Windows 3.1 world where there were no threads, and I have never
> changed it.) The OS itself, and any device drivers, have multiple threads
> on
> multi core CPUs and that could somehow introduce bugs, but I consider that
> unlikely just taking into account the fact that we're talking about
> software/hardware combinations that are run in far more situations than ham
> contests.
>
> To add my own experience to the discussion, I ran the "w5xd multi+MK1100"
> setting with 1500W and two radios for 1000 QSOs this past weekend and did
> not notice any keying issues. The CPU is a dual core AMD. The port I
> successfully used this past weekend says manufacturer: "(Standard Port
> Types)", "Driver Provider" Microsoft, and "Driver Version" 6.1.7600.16385.
>
> At this point I don't see any pattern in the reports that I can see how to
> investigate further.
>
> Wayne, W5XD
>
>
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