Messages

1

General discussion forum / Re: Winkey compatibility problems

« on: 2017-10-20, 06:57:06 »

Ha!  I just found how to make a half space with N1MM the right length when using the Winkey interface to the RemoteRig. 

It's the "|" character (hex 0x7C) is interpreted as a quarter space, but seems to sound about the same as the "~" half-space in the N1MM direct keying I had been using before.

"N6IE" is hard to copy with so many dit's in a row, so I'll program it as N6|I|E in N1MM from now on.

Ron, N6IE

2

General discussion forum / Re: Winkey compatibility problems

« on: 2017-10-20, 06:34:42 »

Dennis:

I see we have worked many times in contests, most recently in the CA QSO Party where we worked on CW on 5 bands and on phone, two more.  I was using N1MM to key using RTS then, but I have since changed to something like you have where N1MM connects by Winkey mode, and the paddles go direct into the remote rig.  The remote station is only about 5 miles away and we have Comcast on both ends, plus a 'double hop" Ubiquiti link to go from the property owner's home to the garage about a quarter mile away.  You can see most of the equipment on my QRZ page. 

I'm running the K3 through RCForb Server at the remote site and at the shack, RCForb Client and a K3/0 Mini.  RemoteRig can work between the K3 and K3/0 Mini, but you lose the ability to run things like a SteppIR, band scope and CW Skimmer at the remote site and N1MM at home, so I only use it for CW keying and for the audio codec.  I have enough bandwidth to run a real-time NaP3 band scope at the remote site that I view with Team Viewer.

It all works extremely well except once in a while when a few packets start to drop somewhere in the Comcast system.  Round trip latency is usually about 27 ms, but with occasional jump to 100-130 ms.  That's when 'dits' can turn into very long 'daaaaaahhhs', or get skipped altogether.

Ron, N6IE

3

General discussion forum / Re: Winkey compatibility problems

« on: 2017-10-18, 17:30:25 »

Dennis:

I guess emulations are never as good as the original!  Since your call ends in a 'e' as does mine, you probably get your call busted a lot during contests.  My call, with a '6' followed by an "I" then an "E" is very hard to copy, so I put the half-space between those three characters which helps a lot.  It's just too many dits in a row for many ops to copy, especially in QRM.  That's why I'm hoping there is a solution.

I have found that Winkey connection to N1MM works better when sent over the internet since it appears to be more resistant to the packet collisions that have been ruining about one out of every ten contest exchanges.  I still have problems running Winkey, but not as many as with straight serial port keying out of N1MM.

Ron, N6IE

4

General discussion forum / Winkey compatibility problems

« on: 2017-10-18, 04:51:54 »

I just set up Winkey keying into the RemoteRig COM3 using N1MM and found two problems.  One, any macro that uses "<<" and ">>" (keyer speed UP and DOWN) will stop all further macros unless {END} is placed at the end.  The other is that the 'half-space' "~" causes a full space to be sent.

I got the following response on the N1MM Logger Plus reflector:

"This is not an N1MM+ issue. It is most likely an issue with the RemoteRig implementation of Winkey emulation.

73,
Steve, N2IC"

Is there anything that can be done about this?

Thanks, Ron N6IE

5

General discussion forum / RRC Radio Output Logic

« on: 2017-05-29, 03:42:02 »

I'm confused by what I'm seeing in the Status window of my RRC Radio.  Output 0 sends closures to the K3 for CW, but the status shows logic "Low" when the key on the control side is open and "High" when it's closed.  This is the opposite of the control side where Input 0 shows logic "High" when the key open and "Low" when it's closed.  I would think the radio wants to see Low logic to key and high to un-key.

I started wondering about that this weekend when CW through the system became intermittent. I still have not determined where the problem is, but I'm in the process of troubleshooting. 

Am I reading the Status windows wrong?

Ron
N6IE

6

General discussion forum / Re: CW sending screwing up!

« on: 2016-11-16, 17:45:10 »

My internet connection is very fast since the site is only 4.5 miles away with Xfinity internet on both sides.  Upload, download and latency are all within spec.  No matter how much Key Delay I add, the problem does not go away.  I heard from another ham this morning off-list who is having the same problem.

I understand that TCP would add too much delay if your remote was thousands of miles away, but what about a nearby situation like mine where ping delay is only about 25 ms?

Can something along the lines of Winkey be implemented where actual text can be sent over the internet rather than just dits, dahs and spaces?

Ron
N6IE

7

General discussion forum / CW sending screwing up!

« on: 2016-11-08, 08:48:02 »

I'm having a problem with CW sending where there are 'stutters', dropouts, and weird chararacters that occasionallly occur. For example, if I send a string of dits, after about 15 or so, one turns into a dah, or it skips altogether.  It's OK for something like "TU 5NN", but in this past weekend's SS contest, the long exchanges were disasters!  I tried virtually every combination of Key Delay and LF Delay, but it has no effect.  Here are some parameters of the setup:

Radio: K3
Internet: Comcast on both ends, just 5 miles distant.  About 25 ms latency, and quite stable. 6 mbps/25 mbps or better on both ends.
Keying is using the RemoteRig internal keyer and straight key input from N1MM.

What other parameter changes should I try?

Thanks
Ron
N6IE

8

Hardware, Cabling, Installations / Re: Remote Relay Closure

« on: 2016-02-17, 17:46:55 »

Thanks for the quick replay, Mike!

In0 on the Control unit and Out0 on the Radio unit are both currently set to Keyer. I'm not using the internal keyer in the RRC, but IIRC that circuit may be how I'm keying CW from my computer and external memory keyer.  The USB RTS as PTT and USB DTR as CW are both set to Disabled.  Also, COM1 and COM2 are set to Inactive.  Can any of these be used?

BTW, on the Radio unit, OUT0 and OUT2 are set to Keyer, OUT1 is set to Baudot-RTTY.

Thanks,
Ron
N6IE

9

Hardware, Cabling, Installations / Remote Relay Closure

« on: 2016-02-17, 08:32:16 »

I want to set up a very simple remote switching system on my RRC-1258 MKII where I can close a switch at the control side and have a closure at the remote end.  I am using the RRC-1258 only for the audio codec and FSK function with the remote radio controlled via remote desktop applications. 

Is there a simple way I set up one or more remote relay closures using the RRC-1258?  If so, how would I set that up?

Thanks,
Ron
N6IE

10

General discussion forum / Re: Found a bug!

« on: 2012-08-31, 03:35:11 »

Sorry for the confusion, Mike.  I found the problem...a cable that was accidentally disconnected at the remote site.  It's now reconnected and works fine!  I have not yet updated to v. 2.61, but I'll do that today...I'm sure it will work now.

Thanks
Ron
N6IE

11

General discussion forum / Re: Found a bug!

« on: 2012-08-25, 04:16:21 »

I tried v. 2.61, but that only made things worse...no CW or RTTY at all.  Going back to 2.50 returned things to the way they were: CW works OK until RTTY is used, the no more CW until at least one of the Remote Rigs is rebooted.  I guess that's just one of those things I'll have to get used to until it gets fixed or something better comes along!

Ron
N6IE

12

General discussion forum / Re: Found a bug!

« on: 2012-08-18, 00:04:35 »

I assume that's the "PTT activated by keyer" bug that's mentioned on the update.  I also get a "page not found" error when I try to download the file.  That will probably get fixed pretty soon and I can give it a try to see if that fixes the problem. 

Ron
N6IE

13

General discussion forum / Re: Connecting Radio and Control Boxes without actual internet?

« on: 2012-08-14, 08:36:06 »

This is exactly what I'm doing here in Northern California.  My remote site is 4.8 miles away over a "near line of site" path with a tree or two in the way.  I'm using an Avalan 915 MHz system that can be seen here:

http://www.avalanwireless.com/product-details-900_mhz_outdoor_wireless_ethernet_bridge-5.htm

Even though we have a lot of interference from Pacific Gas & Electric's 'Smart Meter' system that lives on the same frequencies, 15-element Yagis, 5-Watt amplifiers and inexpensive bandpass filters to knock out nearby cell interference on each end fixes things nicely.  The result is that the system and the RemoteRig are quite stable with only a very occasional, almost undetectable audio drop-out every few minutes due to the audio being sent by UDP instead to the more reliable, but slower TCP/IP.

The biggest compromise in such a system is bandwidth, which is about 900 KBPS throughput after the Avalan's overhead, but it's plenty good for ESSB quality TX and RX audio (setting #2) and a remote desktop link on a computer I use to control the ACOM 2000A, the Green Heron rotator, SteppIR controller, N8LP Remote and LP-100 Wattmeter.  Average ping time is about 6 to 15 ms.

The Avalans, amplifiers and filters are not inexpensive, about $2,200 USD, but there are no monthly bills to pay!

Ron
N6IE

14

General discussion forum / Re: Found a bug!

« on: 2012-07-07, 17:44:47 »

Mike:  It's clearly a software/firmware issue.  It happens predictably and is always fixed by rebooting the RemoteRig on the Radio end.

Ron
N6IE

15

General discussion forum / Re: Found a bug!

« on: 2012-07-07, 03:16:21 »

Using a Ten Tec Orion II and Remote rig is just for audio, PTT, CW and FSK keying.  I tried upgrading to version 2.60 but ran into awful problems with CW.   I don't use the internal keyer but instead use a Masterkeyer MK-1 keying the 'straight key' input which keys PTT on the radio.  The Orion allows CW keying by way of the PTT, so one input serves both functions.

With v. 2.60, each time I keyed, the radio would transmit a carrier instead of dits and dahs.  I went back to 2.50 and fixed the CW problem, but now, I cannot switch between FSK and CW without rebooting the Remoterig radio side.  Something is very wrong here!

Ron
N6IE