[WriteLog] Rotator Control Mystery

[JE Brown]

Gary,

I changed various settings in the ini file per your suggestion.  No luck.

I finally got tired of messing around with it.  I opened the DCU-2, and 
changed the jumper from USB to RS232, and broke out a COM to USB converter 
cable.  I set up the COM Port as 1, and changed the baud rate to 4800. 
After setting the COM to 1 and DCU-1 protocol in Writelog, it works fine.

Thanks for your input.

Jim  W4LC

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary AL9A" <al9a at mtaonline.net>
To: "Writelog" <writelog at contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2013 11:17 AM
Subject: Re: [WriteLog] Rotator Control Mystery


> Jim,
>
> I just checked my writelog.ini file and find the following lines in the 
> [ENTRY] section:
>
> LR=-1
> RotatorPort=6
> RotatorType=0
>
> In looking at the Entry section in the Help manual it says "LR=1  -1 for 
> neither, 1 means Right, 0 means Left"  I have no idea what "LR" stands for 
> and the manual doesn't specify it.  Maybe you could play with this setting 
> and see if it changes anything.  My rotator com port is 6, it must be 
> between 1 and 8, and my RotatorType=0.  The manual says "RotatorType=1 
> DCU-1, Yaesu, etc.".  My rotator is an old Create Design with a Green 
> Heron controller box.  It uses a USB connection and the DCU-1 protocol.  I 
> don't know why my ini file says RotatorType=0 and the manual says 
> RotatorType=1. Again, you might try playing with this setting in the ini 
> file to see if it makes a difference.
>
> Do you happen to have another logger program that can control the rotator 
> via a port command?  In my case I use DXBase and can control my rotator 
> from that software as well as WL.  I think N1MM and others can do 
> likewise.  If so, try setting up the rotator interface in the other logger 
> and see what happens there.  If the problem repeats it probably isn't WL.
>
> 73,
> Gary AL9A
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "JE Brown" <W4LC at fuse.net>
> To: <writelog at contesting.com>
> Cc: <CQ-contest at contesting.com>
> Sent: March 17, 2013 5:51 AM
> Subject: [WriteLog] Rotator Control Mystery
>
>
>> The DCU-2 control mystery continues.  I have been trying to use my new 
>> Hy-Gain DCU-2 in the BARTG contest.
>>
>> This has a built in chip, and only requires a USB cable to the PC.  A 
>> virtual COM port was installed per the instructions and using the drivers 
>> called for.  This port (COM8) shows in Device Mgr and reports to be 
>> working ok.
>>
>> Writelog recognizes the port in "port setup", and the DCU-1 protocol is 
>> selected (same as DCU-2).
>>
>> When a call or  prefix is entered into the logging field, the bearing 
>> shows as it should in the Bearing box.  Selecting RADIO>ANTENNA to XXX 
>> Azimuth from the top menu moves the rotator to the correct bearing as it 
>> should. But it will not do it again for any call or prefix.  The correct 
>> bearing still shows in the RADIO>ANTENNA to XXX Azimuth for the next call 
>> or prefix, but the rotator does not get the command.  Checking the Device 
>> Mgr, the COM8 still shows and reports to be working ok.  The COM8 port 
>> and DCU-1 protocol still shows as being selected under "port setup".
>>
>> Exiting Writelog, then restarting, Writelog remembers all settings, 
>> including COM8 and DCU-1 protocol.  Again, the rotator will move to the 
>> correct bearing or prefix as entered in the logging box, but only once. 
>> Then not again.
>>
>> I have reinstalled the drivers, but no luck.
>>
>> The DCU-2 works just fine under manual control.
>>
>> This must be something fairly simple, but I am out of ideas right now.
>>
>> Any suggestions?
>>
>> Jim   W4LC
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>> -----
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>
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