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"K3 VFO A Not Responding" message

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RLVZ

"K3 VFO A Not Responding" message

Hi Guys,

Hoping someone can help me fix the following problem which is driving me
crazy:

For the past couple of years, on the top of the N1MM Logger screen, I often
get the message "K3 VFO A not responding. When I get this message my
computer is locked up and I'm unable to log or transmit. A very bad problem
to have when running stations during a contest. The problem seems to occur
aprx. every 15 minutes when operating RTTY and aprx. every 30 minutes on CW.

People have told me "you have RF getting into your system. So for the
past 2 years I've been putting double chokes on every cable connected to the K3
and logging computer. And I endlessly keep working on grounding all of my
equipment better. When the problem didn't get fixed, I replaced all of
the cables but that didn't help either.

I've tried 4 different Windows XP computers, and 2 different Windows 7
computers. All computers have given me about the same number of "K3 VFO A Not
Responding" error messages, except for my Office computer which runs
Windows 7 and has a Quad Core processor, this computer will often operate a
couple hours before giving me the dreaded ""K3 VFO A Not Responding" message.
(so that's much better than the other computers)

A few other thoughts:

-I've received these error messages whether running 100 watts or 1,500
watts so I'm not sure high power is the problem.

-I've had the dreaded "K3 VFO A Not Responding" message occur while
receiving, though it usually occurs while I'm transmitting. So I'm not sure
transmitting causes the problem.

So I'm wondering if the problem could be with the K3? Perhaps I should
try a different brand radio to see if the problem goes away.

Has anyone else frequently had this terrible "K3 VFO A Not Responding"
message occur to you?

Thank You in advance for your recommendations.

73,
Dick- K9OM

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N5GE

Re: "K3 VFO A Not Responding" message

Usually when a computer locks up it is not the fault of equipment
that is connected to the computer. It is usually a problem with
software that is running on the computer.

Since you are controlling the K3 with a software application, the
software is the first place you should look for the problem.

Have you contacted the N1MM Logger folks to ask for help? That would
be the first thing I would do.

73,
Tom
Amateur Radio Operator N5GE
ARRL Lifetime Member
QCWA Lifetime Member

On Wed, 1 May 2013 01:25:59 -0400 (EDT), [hidden email] wrote:

>Hi Guys,
>
>Hoping someone can help me fix the following problem which is driving me
>crazy:
>
>For the past couple of years, on the top of the N1MM Logger screen, I often
> get the message "K3 VFO A not responding. When I get this message my
>computer is locked up and I'm unable to log or transmit. A very bad problem
>to have when running stations during a contest. The problem seems to occur
>aprx. every 15 minutes when operating RTTY and aprx. every 30 minutes on CW.
>
>People have told me "you have RF getting into your system. So for the
>past 2 years I've been putting double chokes on every cable connected to the K3
> and logging computer. And I endlessly keep working on grounding all of my
> equipment better. When the problem didn't get fixed, I replaced all of
>the cables but that didn't help either.
>
>I've tried 4 different Windows XP computers, and 2 different Windows 7
>computers. All computers have given me about the same number of "K3 VFO A Not
>Responding" error messages, except for my Office computer which runs
>Windows 7 and has a Quad Core processor, this computer will often operate a
>couple hours before giving me the dreaded ""K3 VFO A Not Responding" message.
>(so that's much better than the other computers)
>
>A few other thoughts:
>
>-I've received these error messages whether running 100 watts or 1,500
>watts so I'm not sure high power is the problem.
>
>-I've had the dreaded "K3 VFO A Not Responding" message occur while
>receiving, though it usually occurs while I'm transmitting. So I'm not sure
>transmitting causes the problem.
>
>So I'm wondering if the problem could be with the K3? Perhaps I should
>try a different brand radio to see if the problem goes away.
>
>Has anyone else frequently had this terrible "K3 VFO A Not Responding"
>message occur to you?
>
>Thank You in advance for your recommendations.
>
>73,
>Dick- K9OM
>
>
>______________________________________________________________
>Elecraft mailing list
>Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
>This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

______________________________________________________________
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Amateur Radio Operator N5GE

Roger de Valle

Re: "K3 VFO A Not Responding" message

In reply to this post by RLVZ

Dick

For it to lock your computer totally it is usually a problem in the driver
area and I would suspect a problem with the USB to RS232 interface if that
is what you are using. I know proper RS232 ports are rare these days but you
may consider a PCI express type RS232 port. After some frustration with
similar problems over the years I have made them go away by not using the
USB to RS232 solutions, some of them just seem a little sensitive to RF
despite common mode chokes.

Not much help but just a thought.

Regards.

Roger VK3ADE.

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of [hidden email]
Sent: Wednesday, 1 May 2013 15:26
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] "K3 VFO A Not Responding" message

Hi Guys,

Hoping someone can help me fix the following problem which is driving me
crazy:

For the past couple of years, on the top of the N1MM Logger screen, I often
get the message "K3 VFO A not responding. When I get this message my
computer is locked up and I'm unable to log or transmit. A very bad
problem to have when running stations during a contest. The problem seems
to occur aprx. every 15 minutes when operating RTTY and aprx. every 30
minutes on CW.

______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:[hidden email]

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

Raymond Sills

Re: "K3 VFO A Not Responding" message

In reply to this post by N5GE

I'd also wonder if there might be a background process (anti-virus app
or such) that interrupts the communication flow between the Logger app
and the K3, causing unpredictable data to be presented and then
interpreted as a "not responding" situation. Also, is the control
computer connected to the web?

73 de Ray
K2ULR

On May 1, 2013, at 1:56 AM, Tom H Childers wrote:

>
> Usually when a computer locks up it is not the fault of equipment
> that is connected to the computer. It is usually a problem with
> software that is running on the computer.
>
> Since you are controlling the K3 with a software application, the
> software is the first place you should look for the problem.
>
> Have you contacted the N1MM Logger folks to ask for help? That would
> be the first thing I would do.
>
> 73,
> Tom
> Amateur Radio Operator N5GE
> ARRL Lifetime Member
> QCWA Lifetime Member

Richard Ferch

Re: "K3 VFO A Not Responding" message

In reply to this post by RLVZ

This might be caused by Windows putting a USB port to sleep. Windows
appears to be unable to detect when many programs, including N1MM
Logger, are using a USB port, and if it is allowed to, it will shut the
port down to save power after a period of assumed inactivity. This will
cause programs using the USB port to lose contact with the hardware they
are controlling.

Try this:

Open Device Manager, select Universal Serial Bus Controllers, and you
will see a list of devices among which may be some "Generic USB Hub"
entries and some "USB Root Hub" entries. For each of those Generic USB
Hub and USB Root Hub entries in turn, right-click on the entry in the
list, select Properties, select the Power Management tab, uncheck the
check box that says "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save
power", and click on OK.

In Windows 7, open Power Options from the Control Panel, click on
"Change plan settings", then click on "Change advanced power settings",
expand the USB settings entry in the list, select USB selective suspend
setting, and make sure it is set to Disabled.

If you sometimes take a break with N1MM Logger or similar software
running, and you don't want the operation of the program to be
interrupted while you are gone, you might also choose to change the
Sleep settings to prevent the computer from automatically going into
Sleep or Hibernate mode (Sleep after = Never and Hibernate after = Never).

73,
Rich VE3KI

K9OM wrote:

> For the past couple of years, on the top of the N1MM Logger screen, I often
> get the message "K3 VFO A not responding. When I get this message my
> computer is locked up and I'm unable to log or transmit. A very bad problem
> to have when running stations during a contest. The problem seems to occur
> aprx. every 15 minutes when operating RTTY and aprx. every 30 minutes on CW.
______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:[hidden email]

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