Re: Using hamlib for CW keying

[Drew Arnett]

Portable is good.  So I'd ask if hamlib found it possible to support
speed changes.

KX3 is only 3 wire serial CAT interface, so no RTS/DTR style keying
possible.  In that case, I suppose a Y cable could be fabricated that
fans out RTS/DTR to a separate key plug.  That's a bit tidier perhaps.

Another difference between rigs.  Some have a jack for paddles and a
jack for key.  KX3 doesn't, so I like using the external WinKeyer box
to let logging software and paddles key the rig.  Using the WinKeyer
box means I'll have a common solution regardless of which rig I end up
using.  (Operating at home, operating at someone else's station, FD
and other situations where the gear is an assortment from all the
participants, etc.)

Another bonus using a WinKer (or equivalent) is that the paddle input
then pauses any sending, too.  However, recently during contests, I've
been better about using CTRL-K to do fills instead of reaching for the
paddles. I'm still too green to know which method of keying for fills
I will ultimately end up preferring.

Best regards,

Drew
n7da

On Fri, Nov 22, 2019 at 10:19 PM Nate Bargmann <address@hidden> wrote:
>
> * On 2019 22 Nov 14:31 -0600, Csahok Zoltan wrote:
> > Hi Christian,
> >
> > Yes, keying does work with the script. But as far I can see
> > there are two issues with hamlib keying:
> >
> > - in-band speed changes are not supported. one can't send "+++TEST---"
> >
> > - sending a large message could block rig interface until it gets queued.
> >
> > Given the rig protocol (KY command) and the way hamlib supports it
> > I see no option to circumvent these.
> >
> > WinKeyer on the other hand offers in-band speed change and winkeyerdaemon
> > provides the buffering for a cwdaemon compatible UDP interface.
> >
> > Correct me if I'm wrong here.
>
> You may well be correct, Zoli.  As I recall, a speed change would
> require sending the proper CAT command each time the change is made.
> It's possible this could be done in a manner that doesn't mess up the
> timing of the sent Morse, I think it would likely be very rig specific.
>
> One thing the K3 and the later models can do is be keyed via the RTS/DTR
> line and N1MM+ takes full advantage of that, speed changes and all.
> Problem is whether more rigs support that and whether Hamlib supports
> it.  Even though I've been a part of the Hamlib project for quite some
> time, I'm not sure!  There may be some provision but probably needs some
> debugging.  Again, this is a feature that is rig specific.
>
> 73, Nate
>
> --
>
> "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all
> possible worlds.  The pessimist fears this is true."
>
> Web: https://www.n0nb.us
> Projects: https://github.com/N0NB
> GPG fingerprint: 82D6 4F6B 0E67 CD41 F689 BBA6 FB2C 5130 D55A 8819
>