[Elecraft] K2 and FLdigi

[Bob]

Mike and Julian,

	Thank you both for your information and suggestions - that gives me
some things to look at.

	The USB to serial adapter that I'm using is made by Belkin, but I
have no idea what chip set is used. However, I'll try some clip on ferrite
beads, as well as trying PSK at QRP levels - that might tell me if RF is
affecting the USB to serial adapter.

	I'm using a Toshiba netbook computer, which, needless to say,
doesn't have a lot of processing power, so I've already turned off many of
the extra processes and that hasn't affected things - and if it were a CPU
resource problem, I suspect that it would be more likely to occur with
HRD/DM780 since that's much more of a resource hog than Fldigi. 

	Thanks again and 73,

Bob W1SRB


-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Heitmann [mailto:n0so at att.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 11:43 PM
To: Bob
Cc: elecraft at mailman.qth.net; G4ILOJulian
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] K2 and FLdigi


Hi Bob,

I ran my K2 all evening using Fldigi 3.21.3 / Flrig 1.0.1. About half the
time I used a Dell XPS1530 (Intel Core 2 Duo CPU and lots of RAM, Windows 7
Pro). Then I switched to a Dell Mini 9 Netbook (Intel Atom CPU, Windows XP
Pro). I use the netbook for portable/travel/demos.

Fldigi/Flrig never failed to control or key the rig and never locked up. 

That said, Julian's suggestion to look at the USB<-->serial adapter is a
good one, the one I was using tonight also uses the FTDI chip set. 

You might also experiment with some clip-on ferrite RFI beads - I do have
another USB adapter that I use with one of my Linux systems on a D-STAR
radio. It works OK on in the shack with the antennas located far away from
the adapter, but I had it "lock up" repeatedly one time when I was using it
for a D-STAR demo using an HT with the whip antenna in close proximity to
the netbook/usb adapter. When the HT transmitted the adapter stopped working
until it was unplugged, then plugged back in to the netbook. It apparently
is susceptible to the presence of an RF field, so I stopped using it for the
demos. 

Also, turn off any "extra" processes Windows may be launching at boot time
like MS Office fast start, iTunes helper, etc. 

Hope this information helps!
73,
Mike, N0SO

--- On Wed, 2/23/11, Bob <rbsolosko at verizon.net> wrote:

> From: Bob <rbsolosko at verizon.net>
> Subject: RE: [Elecraft] K2 and FLdigi
> To: "'Mike Heitmann'" <n0so at att.net>
> Date: Wednesday, February 23, 2011, 12:24 AM
> Mike,
> 
>     Fldigi 3.20.34 and Flrig 1.0.1.
> 
> Bob
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Heitmann [mailto:n0so at att.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 4:25 PM
> To: Bob
> Subject: RE: [Elecraft] K2 and FLdigi
> 
> 
> Hi Bob,
> 
> For reference, which versions of FLrig  and FLdigi?
> 
> Mike
> 
> --- On Tue, 2/22/11, Bob <rbsolosko at verizon.net>
> wrote:
> 
> > From: Bob <rbsolosko at verizon.net>
> > Subject: RE: [Elecraft] K2 and FLdigi
> > To: "'Mike Heitmann'" <n0so at att.net>
> > Date: Tuesday, February 22, 2011, 6:42 PM
> > Thanks Mike - I'm running it on a
> > netbook computer under Windows 7.
> > 
> > 73,
> > 
> > Bob W1SRB
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Mike Heitmann [mailto:n0so at att.net]
> > Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 12:44 PM
> > To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net;
> > Bob
> > Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K2 and FLdigi
> > 
> > 
> > Bob,
> > 
> > I've used FLRig/FLDigi on Linux with my K2 for a while
> now and had no
> > issues
> > - I ran the ARRL RTTY Roundup that way this year. I
> don't know about
> > the windows version, I'll give it a try this evening
> and see
> > what happens.
> > 
> > 73,
> > Mike, N0SO
> > 
> > 
> > --- On Tue, 2/22/11, Bob <rbsolosko at verizon.net>
> > wrote:
> > 
> > > I've recently setup my K2 for digital
> > > modes using HRD and DM780. After some
> > > fiddling with audio levels,  HRD/DM780 seems to
> work reliably with
> > > my K2. It was subsequently suggested that I try
> the FLdigi set
> > of software
> > > (FLdigi, FLrig, FLmsg and FLwrap) instead since
> it
> > includes
> > > additional features for
> > > reliable communications that are being adopted
> for emergency
> > > communications by some organizations.  After
> setting up FLrig for
> > my
> > > K2, FLdigi/FLrig at
> > > first seems to work OK, but after a short period
> of
> > time,
> > > the control of my
> > > K2 becomes unstable, e.g., either not releasing
> from transmit mode
> > > or not going into transmit mode; and the only way
> to clear
> > the
> > > problem is to power
> > > cycle my K2. I've now tried both HRD/DM780 and
> > FLdigi/FLrig
> > > several times
> > > and the HRD/DM780 has been consistently reliable
> and FLdigi/FLrig
> > > has been consistently unstable. Does anyone know
> how to get
> > > FLdigi/FLrig to work
> > > reliably with a K2?
> > >  
> > > Thanks and 73,
> > >  
> > > Bob W1SRB
> > >