[WriteLog] PC Generates

[Radio K0HB]

AL9A> I've noticed others with a MicroKeyer II have posted that
AL9A> they are having gibberish and delay problems, but I think
AL9A> all of these have Win7 as the OS.
AL9A> Based on my experience with the MicroKeyer II and Vista Home
AL9A> Premium I'm betting the problem resides with Win7 and not
AL9A> MicroHam.

I'm one of those guys.

I run Win7 Home Premium (64-bit) and WriteLog 10.81f.  The computer is an 
Intel "i5" multicore processor. I use a MicroKeyer II, and have WriteLog 
configured for K1EL WinKey.  The serial port (really a USB "fake" comport) 
shows up on Device Manager as "ULTIMA Virtual Serial Port (COM4)".  The 
driver is "evserial.sys" version 6.2.41.0 from Ultima Software.

The problem is a bit more subtle than "gibberish".  In my case (just seen 
this past weekend in SSCW) after some period of time (typically a half hour 
of running, or longer periods if S&P) I would notice an occasional dropped 
character in my transmission.  These AWOL dropped characters later would 
show up inside another transmission, or even spontaneously key out when I 
was in receive mode copying an exchange. If ignored, the incidence of 
dropped characters increased quickly.

It was as if these characters fell out, and then later found their way back 
into the keystream.  The only cure was to reboot the computer.  Exiting and 
starting a new instance of WriteLog did not cure the problem, nor did 
powering down/restarting the microKEYER-II.

Most interesting to me was the fact that on one occasion when I had exited 
from WriteLog and not yet restarted it, a couple of these delayed characters 
were keyed out my transmitter. That suggests to me they were "lingering" 
somewhere in the OS.

I emergency transplanted an old Win-XP machine into the shack (same version 
of WriteLog and microKEYER-II related stuff) and the rest of the contest ran 
without a hitch.

73, de Hans, K0HB
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