[WT-support] OmniRig & CW keying

[dl2alf]

Hi Bob,

 

Thank you for your quick response (scripts also arrived meanwhile, tnx). I’ll go and check them asap.

I remember that I’ve struggled quite a while with the COM interfaces of the IC-9700 to get it working in general but we will see.

 

I forgot to mention that I’m facing similar issues with OmniRig & IC-7300 + Elecraft KX-3 in our contest setup…

 

73 de Frank, DL2ALF

 

 

Von: support-bounces at win-test.com [mailto:support-bounces at win-test.com] Im Auftrag von Bob Wilson, N6TV
Gesendet: Dienstag, 4. Mai 2021 07:13
An: Win-Test Reflector
Betreff: Re: [WT-support] OmniRig & CW keying

 

Frank,

 

There's a much easier solution.

 

The IC-9700 defines two virtual serial ports.  Let's say they are assigned to COM5 (A) and COM6 (B).  You can find out which is A and which is B by looking at the Windows Device Manager, Ports, COM5, Properties, Details, Device Instance Path.  The last letter indicates which is COM A (rig control) and which is COM B (can be used for CW / PTT via DTR and RTS).  For screenshots see my recently updated presentation:  https://bit.ly/USBserial2021 .

 

Assign COM5 to OmniRig Rig 1, Radio:  IC-9700.

 

In Win-Test set Radio 1 type to OmniRig.

Do not select COM5.

Set COM6 to "Other Interface" in Win-Test, with DTR=CW, RTS=PTT

 

In the IC-9700 menu:

 

SET > Connectors > USB Send/Keying

Set USB SEND to USB(B) RTS

Set USB Keying(CW) to USB (B) DTR

 

Now OmniRig uses COM5 for rig control and Win-Test uses COM6 for CW and PTT with DTR and RTS keying.  Connect paddle into radio for hand sending.  I've just updated my IcomScripts to support the IC-9700 scope and other controls.  Still testing.  Will send you off list.

 

73,

Bob, N6TV

 

 

On Mon, May 3, 2021 at 9:56 PM dl2alf <dl2alf at arcor.de> wrote:

Hi all,

 

after running the May VHF contest here with new setup I am facing some new problems.

My aimed setup is as follows:

 

-          IC-9700

-          CAT via OmniRig (mandatory due to multiple access from different applications to rig needed) 

-          Win-Test V4.30

 

The only significant difference to previous setup is the connection via OmniRig instead of a plain serial connection.

Everything went well until I tried to use the CW keyer from Win-Test (Traditionally, CW keying was done via RTS/DTR status lines).

This function completely fails, so that I had to switch back to traditional setup.

Meanwhile, I did some investigations on this topic.

 

I see two ways to get CW keying via OmniRig working:

 

#1: Use OmniRig status lines similar to serial connection

- feature is available at the OmniRig ActiveX interface
- is not supported by Win-Test so far
- may cause timing problems

#2: Use CW send text command supported by ICOM

- possible to send any text via CI-V
- I modified the great IcomScripts collection by Bob, N6TV, to get this working (add IC-9700 as device, add some code for escape handling)

I’d prefer #2 BUT:

 

If I define a new F1 command script for CQ, I was not able to access the standard CW messages defined as $F1 .. $F8 so I must hardcode a new CQ text in the script.

Not the best choice. Furthermore, I was not able to send it repeatedly as a CQ loop does.

 

The best solution I came up with so far is to redefine CW standard texts into “#ICOMPLAY(“…CQ…CQ… DE…”) which runs the ICOM send text script with the original text message.

Works but is also not the best choice as the defines seem to be stored contest-specific in the *.wt4 files.

 

Any ideas?

 

73 de Frank, DL2ALF

 

 

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