[WT-support] Using microHAM MK2R or MK2R+, Elecraft K3s, and Win-Test

[Bob Wilson, N6TV]

On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 1:57 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV <lists at subich.com> wrote:

> First the WinKey v10 is the oldest version of the WinKey chip, and it
>> has bugs. The current release is 2.3.
>>
>
> First, WinKey version 10 is the current level for the original WinKey.
> *There are no bugs* although some features operate differently than
> the current Winkey 2 chip.


I stand corrected.


> If you are using an MK2R or MK2R+ with an Elecraft K3, communications
>
>> will be unreliable and the MK2R will often hang.
>>
>
> *This is complete and utter nonsense!*  N6TV has no status regarding
> "bugs" in MK2R/MK2R+ as he consistently refuses to operate use the
> software hardware *as designed*.


I have considerable experience trying to get two K3s to work reliably at
W7RN using an MK2R with current firmware (at the time, about a year ago).
 No settings worked reliably with Win-Test, even setting polling interval
to 500 or 1000 ms.  The COM port connections to the radio simply would not
stay up.  microHAM blamed Elecraft's serial port implementation, since it
can fail to respond to serial commands for too long a period under certain
conditions, such as changing bands.  The microHAM buffers overflow, and
that is when there are problems.  The older firmware didn't support two
serial ports per radio and didn't have these buffering problems.

Using the same setup at home with two K3s, MK2R+, but with very old Router
version 5 and corresponding older firmware (supporting only a single-com
port per radio), the system is very reliable with two K3s, even when
changing bands.  In sum, the older Router works well, the newer Router does
not, at least not with two K3s and Win-Test in Auto poll mode, though it's
possible it may work better now than when I last tried it.


> Disabling the 2nd COM port for the radio, in the Router Ports tab,
>
>> may help.
>>
>
> microHAM have consistently warned against running two applications
> that poll the transceiver heavily.


Win-Test by default polls the K3 transceiver heavily.  This is the Win-Test
"Auto" poll setting.

The only time the 2nd CAT port be used is with an application that
> primarily listens - e.g. a
> digital program looking for frequency reference or something like
> SpectraVue for SDR-IQ used as a panadapter.  Other software should
> have their polling rate reduced as far as practical - if the primary
> program polls at 200 msec, the secondary program should poll every
> 1000 - 2000 msec to avoid collisions or overloading the serial
> link to the transceiver.


microHAM's documentation shows selecting a polling rate of 100 ms with the
Elecraft K3 in the screen shots:

http://www.microham.com/Downloads/MK2R_Win-Test_USB_Setup.pdf (Page 3)
http://www.microham.com/Downloads/MK2R_Win-Test_LPT_Setup.pdf (Page 3)

Is 100ms the recommended polling rate for K3s?

Anyone here have reliable operation using two K3s, Win-Test, and an MK2R or
MK2R+ with latest firmware?  Maybe the problems have finally been fixed.  I
think I was trying to get Router version 7 to work but never could.  W7RN
is now using two micro2Rs, with the radio serial ports being handled by
external USB-to-Serial adapters.

A few weeks ago, I could I could not get SO2R operation to behave properly
using the microHAM control protocol and Win-Test with a micro2R.  I
selected "Last One Wins," but WinKey messages would always complete on
Radio 1 before the "interrupting" message was sent on Radio 2.

I then switched the SO2R method from microHAM Control Protocol to Classic
Auto Control, using virtual COM port pins, and everything started working
perfectly, with Radio 1 / Radio 2 CW message switching occurring
immediately, one message interrupting the other, as desired.

Perhaps W7RN didn't have the latest micro2R firmware and Router software
installed.  But I reviewed all the bug fixes documented here:

http://www.microham.com/Downloads/urouter_change_log.txt

and I'm not seeing anything like this described there.

73,
Bob, N6TV
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