[Elecraft] another contesting how-to question

[Tommy Alderman]

Tim,

You will probably get a lot of under-informed information about using N1MM
and Windows to send CW. I have been using Windows and several different 'CW'
programs to generate CW since the early 1970's and I can tell you from
experience that IT DOES WORK!! Some folks will refer to 'CW stutter' when
using a PC serial port to generate code, but what they don't realize is that
a PC CPU generates I/O interrupts every time the system generates a sound.
The I/O interrupts affect the serial and parallel port and if you use a
serial port to generate CW, this will cause the CW generation to 'stutter'.
The very simple solution is to go into Windows, no matter what version, and
turn Windows sound generation OFF. The beeps and boops Windows generates
were 'cute' back when Windows first hit the market, they were cute but very
worthless. So turning Windows sound generation OFF will eliminate CW
stutter.

Today most hams would rather 'buy' than use a brain cell to 'fix' a simple
problem. So you can spend in excess of $100 to buy a CW keyer, or you can
make a simple change in Windows, that cost you about three minutes, and then
use N1MM's serial port capability to send CW with your K3, using the one
serial cable from your PC to your K3 and in N1MM, setting DTR to CW and on
your K3 CONFIG, setting PTT-KEY to OFF-dtr. And that is all you need!! N1MM
can send CW much faster than your K3 can send CW, but that doesn't matter
for contesting.

I presently use Windows 7 Pro 64-bit for my operating system.

Good luck and 73,
Tom - W4BQF


-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Timothy Urban
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 8:26 AM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Elecraft] another contesting how-to question

K3 operator used to work CW contests all manually with a paddle plugged
into K3 and a pad of paper, now would like to experiment with an integrated
logging setup where I use a logging program to both log and send cw.

Trying to figure out the shortest line from here to there with least number
of software applications, cables, phantom com ports, etc.

Can N1MM or other logging program be set up to use my computer's one RS232
port to log using the vfo freq and to generate and send cw, or do I need a
separate winkeyer USB box?

73 and thx in advance for any suggestions

Tim
N5IIT
urbanti at gmail.com
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