[ICOM] 746Pro PW1 CT17 problem

[Mike Mellinger WA0SXV]

Actually, regardless of what you set in the rig-control software, there is
polling going on.

The PW-1 gets its frequency information primarily from having the
transceiver set to do CI-V "transceive".  This is a promiscuous mode in
which numerous messages are broadcast by the transceiver, without polling as
you change frequency on the rig.  Just in case, the PW-1 does a mode check
every ten seconds.  Rig-control software normally catches the transceiver
broadcasts but still polls.

This would be less of a problem if the primitive CI-V protocol included some
kind of error checking.  But it really doesn't.  The software can do fairly
primitive format checking but nothing on the order of a checksum or the
like.  So things get confused.

It might help if the rig control software didn't poll at all.  Or, maybe a
better idea, only polls if it hasn't heard from the transceiver for a few
seconds.

Statistically I think that things would be better at higher CI-V speeds.  I
use 9600 baud and only see the problem occasionally.  Of course, if you use
"automatic" on the software or the transceiver you run the danger of the
occasional clashes confusing the automatic speed setting and making it
worse.

It doesn't seem to harm the PW-1.  I've had two of them for going on six
years.  Only failures were manufacturing defects early and a bum tuner
recently that I asked for by trying to tune a weird antenna on 6m at 1kw
output. 

73,
Mike WA0SXV


-----Original Message-----
From: icom-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:icom-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On
Behalf Of Jerry K3BZ
Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2005 17:16
To: ICOM Reflector
Subject: Re: [ICOM] 746Pro PW1 CT17 problem

My PW-1 does the same thing. Not often, just once in a great while. I'm
using DXLab/DXKeeper.  I don't notice anything that's inconsistent with
Mike's analysis. No idea what to do about it.  No idea if anything actually
needs to be done about it. It would be interesting to hear from the other
ICOM experts we have here on the reflector, Adam.... 8^).... is this a
common phenomenon? Is it harmful to the PW-1?   73,  Jerry K3BZ