[Elecraft] Does K2 benefit from simple Microham interfaces?

[Dick Dievendorff]

I'm not exactly sure of the timing requirements, but sending well-formed CW
at 30+ words per minute requires timer resolutions in the low numbers of
millisecond range.  This can be done with high resolution timers (introduced
for multi-media), but you need to have the process priority right so that
the program that is turning the serial port (or parallel port) control lines
on and off can get control within a very few milliseconds of the desired
time.  Often higher priority things like disk I/O interrupt handlers and
programs that are I/O intensive can keep control away from the (user
priority) program doing CW long enough to cause grief.  Disk I/O from paging
in programs is often a higher priority task than any user-mode program.

I've seen some low-level device driver level solutions (I recall N6TV wrote
one for OS/2) that can get close, but this isn't the way that the popular
logging programs do it.

I'd recommend a WinKey.  Standalone it costs a few tens of dollars (the
basic K1EL Winkeyer2 serial is only $36), and if you're into contesting at
all you'll find that it eliminates a problem that can cause great
consternation at really unfortunate times.   

I use microHAM products that incorporate WinKey chips.  They work quite well
for me.

Dick, K6KR


-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Julian, G4ILO
Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008 7:08 AM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] Does K2 benefit from simple Microham interfaces?




Dick Dievendorff wrote:
> 
> My experience is that keying the radio via RS-232 control lines is
> sometimes
> problematic with some logging programs using a multi-tasking operating
> systems (like Windows NT and its derivatives), and that problem doesn't
> always show up until the log is large and you're late into the contest. 
> 

Is the reason for this that the amount of time the program spends dupe
checking increases as the log grows, and this pre-empts the time critical
keying process?

-----
Julian, G4ILO. K2 #392  K3 #222.
http://www.g4ilo.com/ G4ILO's Shack   http://www.ham-directory.com/ Ham
Directory    http://www.g4ilo.com/kcomm.html KComm for Elecraft K2 and K3 
-- 
View this message in context:
http://n2.nabble.com/Does-K2-benefit-from-simple-Microham-interfaces--tp1473
656p1473817.html
Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft    

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com