[DXBase] CW keyer problems

[Joe Subich, K4IK]

> I have the same problem here.
> Seems that DXBase CW does not support the USB to Serial ports.
> It will work fine if I put the CW interface on Com 1 or 2 Standard 
> Serial Ports but will not work on any of the Rocket port Serial 
> ports.  I think this is another thing that should be fixed either 
> now or in the next release of DXBase.

This is not something that is under the control of the software 
authors.  The problem with CW (or RTTY FSK) on add-on ports is well 
known.  

Quite simply, many of the hardware designers are not including the 
hardware necessary to directly control the hand shaking lines of the 
UART because it is not needed in most cases for "normal" 8-bit serial
communication.  Similarly, many of the "virtual COM: port" drivers 
provided for many USB -> serial converters do not allow program 
control of the (virtualized) hand shaking lines even if the actual 
hardware supported it. 

If you want to do serial port CW and/or FSK, either do it on the 
motherboard serial ports (COM1:/COM2:), use external hardware 
(the W5XD keyer for CW and PK-232 or KAM for RTTY) or be prepared 
to buy a lot of add-on cards and/or USB->Serial converters until 
you find one that is 100% 82509/16450 UART compatible.   

73, 

   ... Joe, K4IK