RRC-Micro with a Kenwood TS-480

[dj0qn]

Guy,

I meant the settings on the radio RRC and in the PC Client,
not the operating system. It would be good to compare.

Thanks & 73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

[Jan (Microbit)]

What is the symptom of HRD not being able to connect? Can you check Window's Event Viewer, Application/System, and see if the virtual com port logs something there(Source "1274Serial")? And finally, run a session with the PC Micro Client's debug option set, close the Micro Client and send the created log file to me? (jan.andersson at microbit.se)

[ON4AOI]

Ok MItch, I know what you meant but I think it is OS related

here we go
RRC-RADIO
5-TS480
com0 = 57600/8/1/OFF
com1 = mode-3, 9600/8/1/OFF rts/cts=YES , term=0d
com2 = mode-4, 9600/8/1/OFF, term=0d

RRC-CLIENT
com0 = inactive
com1 = inactive
com2 = 4 - kenwood via microbit serialUDP (com5) install only com2 when setting up, Term=3B

HRD
Kenwood
TS-480
com5/9600/8/1 rts and cts high

above works ok with xphome except the ptt drop after 1-2 seconds
above works also with vista-home with perfect PTT this time but after a reboot/restart
HRD can't communicate with the rig anymore

Guy ON4AOI

[ON4AOI]

Hi Jan,
the vista laptop is from my wife and I only tried it out yesterday
because Mike asked me to, she needs it for here job so dont wanna
screw up that system,
all my other PCs (VISTA-& WIN7 Ultimate versions) refuse to install the
microbit serialUDP ports because they have conflicts with the eltima virtual
ports from my microham equipment.

I sended a list with all the software that is installed on the eeepc(xphome)
to Mike this morning to check if something is causing the PTT drop after 1-2 seconds
because it needs only to work on that PC and not on any other system I have,
Mike told me that they (maybe you) tested also on eeepc and didnt have the PTT problem

so .............

Guy ON4AOI
 

[Jan (Microbit)]

Hi Jan,
the vista laptop is from my wife and I only tried it out yesterday
because Mike asked me to, she needs it for here job so dont wanna
screw up that system,
all my other PCs (VISTA-& WIN7 Ultimate versions) refuse to install the
microbit serialUDP ports because they have conflicts with the eltima virtual
ports from my microham equipment.

What are the symptoms of "refuse to install"?

I sended a list with all the software that is installed on the eeepc(xphome)
to Mike this morning to check if something is causing the PTT drop after 1-2 seconds
because it needs only to work on that PC and not on any other system I have,
Mike told me that they (maybe you) tested also on eeepc and didnt have the PTT problem

so .............

Guy ON4AOI

That's right, we don't see that PTT behaviour on our EEPC. Therefore the log I asked you for is even more important.

/Jan
 

[ON4AOI]

They install Jan
But

IN
Device manager
Ports

The microbit Serial UDP driver doesnt look if the comport is allready in use or not
in my case they installed on com9-11-12 but they were allready assigned
since there is no way to change the serial udp comport settings you get the following

result

This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device. (Code 31)

Click 'Check for solutions' to send data about this device to Microsoft and to see if there is a solution available.

look at the picture attached


Guy

[Jan (Microbit)]

Guy(ON4AOI)

We have a new version of the PC client that might fix the problems you see with PTT on XP. There was an issue that didn't show up every time, and not on all computers, not even of same type.

As for the virtual com ports not being installed correctly it seems strange. We are relying on Windows' installer functions to assign a valid and free number for the com port. That is, we don't have control over which port numbers get assigned. Though somehow it obviously fails in your case.

I have scanned the registry and found that the com port numbers are stored under keys like this:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root\PORTS\0000\Device Parameters]

in a parameter called "PortName". If you have more than one port there should be one:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root\PORTS\XXXX\Device Parameters]

per port. (XXXX=0000, 0001 etc)

Changing the "PortName" to something free might solve your problem temporarily. (Note that the port will still have the same name in Device Manager) Be also warned that messing with the registry might damaged your OS 

 

[Jan (Microbit)]

Guy(ON4AOI),

I have made a small Windows Console program which enumerates Windows' com port database and prints out info about numbers in use. It would be valuable if you ran that on your "multiple virtual ports" computer(s) and provide us with its printouts. It needs to be run as Administrator in Vista/Win7. You can find it here: http://www.remoterig.com/downloads/Win32SerialPortTest.zip

[Jan (Microbit)]

Duh!!

Just found out that it is indeed possible to change com port number from within the Device Manager!

In Win 7(and most likely Vista): Right click the com port, select "Properties", go to the tab "Port Settings" and click "Advanced".  

[ON4AOI]

Jan,
ASAP that I have time today I will test out new version
and other things you sended
BTW I know how to handle with regedit hi
will look at the properties but as far that I remember it
didnt have a advanced tab in vista ultimate

Guy ON4AOI
send from IPAD

[ON4AOI]

Jan,
in vista-ultimate there are no Port Settings available
otherwise I would have changed them myself.
see attached screen dump

[Jan (Microbit)]

Does that apply to the other working com ports too? Maybe it isn't there because the port isn't up and running?

[ON4AOI]

No,
real comports have the port settings
virtual ports dont have that because they are setup by the software.

Difference between microham virtual ports and PC client ports setup
is that the user can asign the portnumbers for the eltima drivers
and pcclient does it for you (in my case wrong), in the meantime I know why
I run your serialporttest a few times and found out that if a port is not in use
at the present time the installer try to setup on that portnumber even if it is in your
system/hardware/portlist
see the attached screendump,
on the left you see that comport 9 is reserved for FSK, comport10 for PTT, Comport11 for footswitch
and not visible is comport12 that goes to my prosistel
comport 15 isnt seen in the test but was active (cat)
comport 16 was not in use but detected as it was in use

I think it would be better to compare with what is actually in DEVICE MANAGER/PORTS
instead of checking what is not in use at the time of installation

btw couldnt resist to test out directly so drove home to get some updates for you

Guy ON4AOI
     

[Jan (Microbit)]

Let me clarify a few things:

1/
The small program I sent you is based on API functions, exposing a "COM port database", provided by Windows for programs that explicitly want to know which ports are available and free to use. Calling those APIs isn't something we explicitly do when installing the com ports.

2/
As mentioned, our com port installer doesn't make the decision which com port number to use, Windows does that, obviously based on the information it keeps track of using the mentioned APIs as our com ports want to install the first one as COM9 which the test program also detects as first available port.

So my theory is that it's your other ports which install themselves somehow "directly", for ex. by modifying the registry, skipping the use of the mentioned APIs of which there is one function which "claims" a port and marks it as used. Doing so means that other programs which directly(using the APIs) or indirectly(as our com port drivers most likely do when installing them) use those APIs will be fooled into thinking there are free ports which actually isn't that. At least that is what it looks like based on the info we now have.

Great that you are eager to test and provide us with feedback! 
 

[ON4AOI]

Jan,
First test with what you sended me is not OK
HRD doesnt communicate with radio (eeepc on winxp)

Guy

trying a different way now