[WT-support] OmniRig & CW keying

Wed May 5 17:02:35 CEST 2021

Hi Bob & Larry,

Thanks for the feedback & hints. (@Bob: Nice presentation BTW)

I’m quite familiar with these things…

Using a second COM only for keying is an option. At least I had to cope with limited space and few USB ports in our 19” contest rack.

With all these (free of charge) port emulators and routers I didn’t get happy in the past.

I’ve programmed an own COM router with com0com a while ago but this was for ICOM devices only.

All those solutions a not very handy…

Currently, I’ve done a full port of OmniRig sourc code to managed .NET running on Windows & Linux/Mono for the use with AirScout (without the ActiveX COM interface).

Therefore I know that OmniRig does support setting/resetting of status lines via ActiveX interface. But I didn’t check the timing behavior so far.

All of this would not help because Win-Test does not support keying via OmniRig so far.

@Larry: 

The OmniRig ActiveX object gives you a “PortBits” interface which allows read/write access to the RTS and DTR line (and read access to the others)

Is it worth to give a try implementing this in Win-Test? 

If not, I can live with above mentioned solution, tnx.

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 18:30
An: Win-Test Reflector
Betreff: Re: [WT-support] OmniRig & CW keying

There should be no need to struggle with COM interfaces of the IC-9700.  Just install the driver well before you connect the USB cable.

Everything you need to know, including how to recover from connection problems, is covered in my presentation (https://bit.ly/USBserial2021).  If you can't figure something out, install TeamViewer and I'll help you remotely.

Note that if you move the rig's USB cable to a different USB port, it may end up on a different internal "USB hub", so it will be assigned new COM port numbers.

For simultaneous rig control and DTR/RTS keying of the IC-7300 when using OmniRig, the most economical solution is to buy an FTDI to CI-V cable (CT-17 equivalent), use that new connection for rig control via the REMOTE (CI-V) jack, and use the ONE virtual serial port provided by the IC-7300 USB connector for CW and PTT keying via DTR and RTS, and sound card.

For the KX3, I'd recommend my Serial Box USB which provides the CW and PTT keying circuits, plus a KXUSB for rig control, or use an S-BOX-USB-2 which provides two independent serial ports, one for rig control, one for DTR/RTS keying, so no need for the KXUSB cable.

https://www.kkn.net/~n6tv/S-BOX/Features.html#KeyingExampleKX3  (shows one port being used for both, but there are many other configurations available).

73,

Bob, N6TV

https://bit.ly/S-BOX

On Tue, May 4, 2021 at 8:44 AM dl2alf <dl2alf at arcor.de> wrote:

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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