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K3/ Microkeyer/N1MM lockup at FD

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Buck - k4ia

K3/ Microkeyer/N1MM lockup at FD

The mighty K4TS, Rappahannock Valley Amateur Radio Club, 8A Field Day
featured 1 K3 - mine on 40 CW. 40 CW made 925 contacts but only 854
after eliminating the dupes. The K3 really strutted its stuff and it
was obvious what a superior rig it is when I went around and listened to
what other radios were hearing - a mush of noise and IMD that made
operating almost impossible Saturday night. Several ops just gave up as
the noise and close signals crushed their rigs. They marveled out how
clear the K3 sounded. No news there.

I did have one glitch that happened several times. I proffer it to all
three groups for comment.
The setup was a K3, N1MM and a MicroHam MicroKeyer (the CW only model).

The keyer would start to auto-send CQ just as I heard a call. When I
hit a key on the computer keyboard (including the ESC key), the keying
should stop and the radio go into receive mode. Several times, the
keying stopped but the radio remained frozen in transmit mode. The PTT
light was ON on the MicroKeyer, the transmit light was ON on the K3 and
N1MM wouldn't respond. Paddles plugged into the MicroKeyer did
nothing. The "fix" was to turn off the K3 and turn it back on again.
That would release the PTT and all would go back to normal. It didn't
happen every time but it did happen a lot.

Anyone with any ideas, chime in.

--

Buck
k4ia

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Joe Subich, W4TV-4

Re: K3/ Microkeyer/N1MM lockup at FD

> The setup was a K3, N1MM and a MicroHam MicroKeyer (the CW only
> model).

Do you mean the microHAM CW Keyer or some other interface?

> Several times, the keying stopped but the radio remained frozen in
> transmit mode. The PTT light was ON on the MicroKeyer, the transmit
> light was ON on the K3 and N1MM wouldn't respond.

I assume you had a PTT cable connected from the CW Keyer to the K3
PTT jack.

1) What version of N1MM Logger were you using?

2) What PTT settings did you have in N1MM Logger?

3) Did you have PTT assigned to an RTS line on the Radio port?

If so, did you have "Energize Hardware & Software PTT" checked
in the N1MM serial port configuration?

If you had "Energize Hardware & Software PTT" checked did you
have "PTT via Radio Command CW Mode" checked?

microHAM Router intercepts the WinKey "PTT On" and "PTT Off" commands
and translates them to serial (RTS) PTT internally. I have not tried
to look at the WinKey data stream recently but perhaps N1MM Logger is
not sending the WinKey "PTT Off" command when you strike any key
except <esc>.

73,

... Joe, W4TV

On 6/27/2011 5:59 PM, Buck - k4ia wrote:

> The mighty K4TS, Rappahannock Valley Amateur Radio Club, 8A Field Day
> featured 1 K3 - mine on 40 CW. 40 CW made 925 contacts but only 854
> after eliminating the dupes. The K3 really strutted its stuff and it
> was obvious what a superior rig it is when I went around and listened to
> what other radios were hearing - a mush of noise and IMD that made
> operating almost impossible Saturday night. Several ops just gave up as
> the noise and close signals crushed their rigs. They marveled out how
> clear the K3 sounded. No news there.
>
> I did have one glitch that happened several times. I proffer it to all
> three groups for comment.
> The setup was a K3, N1MM and a MicroHam MicroKeyer (the CW only model).
>
> The keyer would start to auto-send CQ just as I heard a call. When I
> hit a key on the computer keyboard (including the ESC key), the keying
> should stop and the radio go into receive mode. Several times, the
> keying stopped but the radio remained frozen in transmit mode. The PTT
> light was ON on the MicroKeyer, the transmit light was ON on the K3 and
> N1MM wouldn't respond. Paddles plugged into the MicroKeyer did
> nothing. The "fix" was to turn off the K3 and turn it back on again.
> That would release the PTT and all would go back to normal. It didn't
> happen every time but it did happen a lot.
>
> Anyone with any ideas, chime in.
>

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Buck - k4ia

Re: K3/ Microkeyer/N1MM lockup at FD

Joe

You're right - the correct name is the MicroHam CW Keyer. Router
version 7.7.1 Was using the latest N1MM 11.5.1

I was not using a PTT cable - I had "PTT via Radio Command" checked in
the N1MM serial port setup. I did not have "Energize Hardware and
Software PTT" because I wasn't using Hardware PTT. Should I check it
anyway?

I don't think this is a MH issue. Sounds more like you suggested, N1MM
is not releasing the PTT properly when a key is struck - or the K3 is
being confused by the software command. It may be a data-clash timing
issue depending on exactly when in the sequence of commands flying back
and forth I hit a key. I say this because the lockup doesn't happen
every time I interrupt the auto CQ sequence. In the heat of battle I
can't say for sure, but it seems like it happened if I hit a key right
about the same time the auto CQ was just getting started.

If it is a data clash, one solution could be to hook up the PTT line and
use hardware PTT. What do you think?

Buck
k4ia

On 6/27/2011 6:56 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:

>
> > The setup was a K3, N1MM and a MicroHam MicroKeyer (the CW only
> > model).
>
> Do you mean the microHAM CW Keyer or some other interface?
>
>> Several times, the keying stopped but the radio remained frozen in
>> transmit mode. The PTT light was ON on the MicroKeyer, the transmit
>> light was ON on the K3 and N1MM wouldn't respond.
>
> I assume you had a PTT cable connected from the CW Keyer to the K3
> PTT jack.
>
> 1) What version of N1MM Logger were you using?
>
> 2) What PTT settings did you have in N1MM Logger?
>
> 3) Did you have PTT assigned to an RTS line on the Radio port?
>
> If so, did you have "Energize Hardware & Software PTT" checked
> in the N1MM serial port configuration?
>
> If you had "Energize Hardware & Software PTT" checked did you
> have "PTT via Radio Command CW Mode" checked?
>
> microHAM Router intercepts the WinKey "PTT On" and "PTT Off" commands
> and translates them to serial (RTS) PTT internally. I have not tried
> to look at the WinKey data stream recently but perhaps N1MM Logger is
> not sending the WinKey "PTT Off" command when you strike any key
> except <esc>.
>
> 73,
>
> ... Joe, W4TV
>
>
> On 6/27/2011 5:59 PM, Buck - k4ia wrote:
>> The mighty K4TS, Rappahannock Valley Amateur Radio Club, 8A Field Day
>> featured 1 K3 - mine on 40 CW. 40 CW made 925 contacts but only 854
>> after eliminating the dupes. The K3 really strutted its stuff and it
>> was obvious what a superior rig it is when I went around and listened to
>> what other radios were hearing - a mush of noise and IMD that made
>> operating almost impossible Saturday night. Several ops just gave up as
>> the noise and close signals crushed their rigs. They marveled out how
>> clear the K3 sounded. No news there.
>>
>> I did have one glitch that happened several times. I proffer it to all
>> three groups for comment.
>> The setup was a K3, N1MM and a MicroHam MicroKeyer (the CW only model).
>>
>> The keyer would start to auto-send CQ just as I heard a call. When I
>> hit a key on the computer keyboard (including the ESC key), the keying
>> should stop and the radio go into receive mode. Several times, the
>> keying stopped but the radio remained frozen in transmit mode. The PTT
>> light was ON on the MicroKeyer, the transmit light was ON on the K3 and
>> N1MM wouldn't respond. Paddles plugged into the MicroKeyer did
>> nothing. The "fix" was to turn off the K3 and turn it back on again.
>> That would release the PTT and all would go back to normal. It didn't
>> happen every time but it did happen a lot.
>>
>> Anyone with any ideas, chime in.
>>

Joe Subich, W4TV-4

Re: [N1MM] Re: [microHAM] Re: K3/ Microkeyer/N1MM lockup at FD

> N1MM Logger only sets Winkey PTT for SSB. For CW, the Winkey PTT is
> set automatically by the Winkey chip, based on data in the buffer,
> not by any N1MM Logger command.

Interesting ... then there is still another source of PTT being set -
perhaps RTS on a separate serial port. In any case, with both the
K3 and CW Keyer showing PTT independently (no hardware PTT cable
between the two) it appears that the logger is not releasing PTT.

73,

... Joe, W4TV

On 6/28/2011 10:56 AM, Steve London wrote:

> On 06/28/2011 08:37 AM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
>
>>
>> I'm concerned because you indicated that the CW Keyer PTT LED was
>> lit. Even though you did not have a PTT line connected between the
>> CW Keyer and K3, that tells me that N1MM had sent the WinKey PTT On
>> command (and the K3 "TX1;" command) and did not send the PTT OFF
>> commands when you hit the key. The fact that *BOTH* (potential)
>> sources of PTT were engaged would point to an N1MM timing issue -
>> I can't see both devices "missing" the PTT Off commands.
>
> N1MM Logger only sets Winkey PTT for SSB. For CW, the Winkey PTT is set
> automatically by the Winkey chip, based on data in the buffer, not by
> any N1MM Logger command.
>
> 73,
> Steve, N2IC
>

Buck - k4ia

Re: [N1MM] Re: [microHAM] Re: K3/ Microkeyer/N1MM lockup at FD

In reply to this post by Buck - k4ia

That confuses me - how does the Winkey chip send PTT based on data in
the buffer? Is there a setting I am missing?

Buck
k4ia

On 6/28/2011 10:56 AM, Steve London wrote:

> On 06/28/2011 08:37 AM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
>
>> I'm concerned because you indicated that the CW Keyer PTT LED was
>> lit. Even though you did not have a PTT line connected between the
>> CW Keyer and K3, that tells me that N1MM had sent the WinKey PTT On
>> command (and the K3 "TX1;" command) and did not send the PTT OFF
>> commands when you hit the key. The fact that *BOTH* (potential)
>> sources of PTT were engaged would point to an N1MM timing issue -
>> I can't see both devices "missing" the PTT Off commands.
> N1MM Logger only sets Winkey PTT for SSB. For CW, the Winkey PTT is set
> automatically by the Winkey chip, based on data in the buffer, not by any N1MM
> Logger command.
>
> 73,
> Steve, N2IC
>
>
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