Not all software is created equal...

This is part 4 of the continuing Field Day Fiasco saga...

Catch up with the progress by reading the 3 previous posts below.

Anyway, it is time to move all this crap to an actual 'test' environment similar to what one could expect at Field Day. (one NEVER knows what to expect at Field Day, that is why they call it an 'exercise'...) Gotta clean off the kitchen table, Doreen is gonna be pissed as all hell when she realizes all of this complicated radio/computer/power/wiring is gonna occupy the kitchen table for a whole month. What the hell, dealing with her is GOTTA be easier than connecting all this stuff together and making it work.

Mental note - 50 amp power supplies are friggin' heavy. Try to get someone else to move it next time. So it looks like I can fit almost everything into a 4-foot square space on the table. This is good - there may be about this much room at the FD site, I will need to ask Chuck WA1NBU about where we will be and who will be there. So far I think the station will be on 40M phone. It better be, as I have no plans to bring a key or set anything up for CW.

Setting things up in the kitchen requires several trips back to the shack in order to obtain all the necessary connectors and cables, but this is why we test things in an actual test environment. At this point all is connected in a basic way, power to the radio, (and everything else) and computer to everything. Now the setup starts to break down...

Apparently not all software is created equal. At this point I have no clue that the Dell Latitude D630 running Vista 64-bit isn't going to work. Nevertheless, I plod on, installing software package after software package trying to get the rig control set just right. I can get Ham Radio Deluxe to work just as it did in the shack, it is what I use for PSK using this very setup except for the lack of a docking station and flat-panel monitor. The D630 has an actual 9-pin com port setup as COM1, and it works well to control the rig. As I have it setup, it will even key the rig and pass audio, albeit one-way. BUT WAIT! I haven't used this laptop here before! I used a different computer to run PSK with this setup! How does this even work? OK, ok... calm down, let's see what else will work. Chances are the SOVARC boys (and girls) will be using N3FJP Field Day Logger 2.8 as their main logging program. Let's run that and see what happens...

LOCK-UP... oh wait, it is just KEY-DOWN... unplug everything, and let's set this up... FD Logger is a simple program, it does one thing at a time really well. Problem is I won't find that out until later on in the process. Looks like it will do DVK, so let's set that up. Here is where I run into .wma versus .wav file difficulties. Apparently, logging programs will only recognize .wav files. The Dell D630 running Vista 64-bit will only record .wma files. What the hell!

Rip the Dell outta the setup, and place the IBM in its place on the table. WAIT - NO serial ports... Off to find some sort of adapter... YES I have 2 that actually work on XP Pro 32-bit. This is good. The Targus wants COM5, and the Belkin wants COM4. Looking in the FD Logger setup, it appears that I can use COM5, so I pick the Targus adapter, and I am off to the races. More like racing nowhere really fast...

Apparently the N3FJP FD Logger software cannot read the rig via rig control and key the rig for DVK on the same port. Took me 3 days to realize this. I had to turn off the rig interface (set to NONE) before the DVK would even begin to work. Even THEN the software keys the rig on the RTS (so it sez...) line which in all reality is the DTR line. (on the FT-100D I guess you need to key the rig via DTR and send CW via RTS...) I can tell this by looking at the front panel of the RigBlaster Pro, it has LED's for PTT & CW. Also when you activate the rig via one of these lines, it automatically switches the MIC out of the circuit and switches IN the output form the sound card in the laptop. But when I finally get it working, there is this strange buzzing being fed into the front panel mic input on the rig. What the hell! Where is this coming from?

So I pull the cover on the RigBlaster Pro, something I don't like to do because there are jumpers and wires and such inside. Besides, there are 4 screws holding the cover in place. I figure if God wanted us to play with the innards of stuff, he would have designed it with a quick-release hatch. This is a place where no normal person should ever venture. Referring to the User Manual again, I am still befuddled as to what I have configured wrong. At first I think it is something mis-wired with the rig control, after all FD Logger says I am keying the wrong lines... so I spend a day re-wiring all the serial stuff, A-to-B connections, FSK this and PSK that. All I succeeded in doing is breaking the rig control stuff, which, thank God for Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) gave me a quick and easy way to see if everything was still working. HRD is pretty easy, and it has a fairly long development path. I have used it and its associated programs for several years, and it is to the point where I am actually considering making a donation. Just like West Mountain stuff, HRD just works.

After successfully breaking and then reconnecting all the rig control stuff, I decided to move my attention back to the mic jumpers and all that associated wiring and configuration. Referring back and forth between the User Guide and every other reference I could find, I ended up back at trial and error. What could possibly explain the wierd buzzing noise in the mic audio? Then it hit me. The FT-100D uses the same GND between the mic and the PTT line, as configured in the mic connection. In the RigBlaster Pro there is a GNDTIE configuration jumper used to tie the two grounds together. Somehow, I thought this jumper was necessary in order to get the rig to key with the PTT button on the mic. Yet again, apparently I was wrong. I pulled off the GNDTIE jumper and stored it on a single pin, and all my (well, most) audio woes went away. Mental note - Try things with ALL the software running, not with the computer turned off. I needed to have the stuff running in order to insure all was working correctly together.

Along comes N1MM Logger, my preferred software since I dumped WriteLog a few years ago. N1MM is pretty neat, it is what all the big guns use (unless they have custom proprietary software, written especially for that particular contest station) because it will allow SO2R operation as well as a host of other options such as SO2V, rotator and CW keyer control, and so many more this blog ain't big enough to list them. It is ULTRA configurable (if that is a word) and it would be real nice to have it up and running just in case the powers that be realize they can save $6.00 (that's right folks, N3FJP costs a whole $6.00) by using N1MM instead. This might be the subject for my next blog post - Why does N1MM say one thing and FD Logger say another? And why can't WriteLog use COM5?

Trying to setup N1MM was another exercise in futility, pressing F1 to start the DVK made the program spit and sputter, like a handicapped kid with a speech impediment, a lisp and a big 'ol Tootsie Pop all stuck in his mouth at the same time. Tried this with changing every configuration setting known to man, combinations and permutations numbering well into the square root of a bazillion somewhere. Better leave this for yet another day, yet another post...

So it comes time to actually feed some audio from the computer into the rig, and here is where I actually discover what the meaning of 'full-duplex' really means. Remember back when you could purchase an audio receiver that actually had jumpers where the pre-amp output was? There were actually jumpers that connected things in a bigass loop, allowing you to put whatever piece in or out you needed. Along comes the new millenium, where everything is controlled with an actual 'switch' of some sort allowing you to switch things in and out easily with the touch of a button. In today's world, buttons have been replaced with check-boxes and such that one must 'click' on in order to configure. Here is where you can turn full-duplex on or off on a Windows XP Pro 32-bit computer...

Right-click (or double-click) the audio icon in your System Tray and bring up your Audio Properties dialog box. Click Options and choose Properties. Choose the Recording Controls. To enable full-duplex, find where the mic is muted, and 'un-mute' the microphone. This is the KEY to all the RigBlaster Pro operations.

Try to do this in Vista...

My Blaster is ALIVE! Everything works! I can hear static out of my headset! HOLY SOUNDCARD, BATMAN! Why didn't they tell me this already? How come it took 2 weeks and an ungodly number of hours of trial and error to set this up? Because the words 'full duplex' are mentioned in the RigBlaster Pro manual only 1 time, under Advanced Audio Considerations. And only then it talks about the ability to process your audio properly. Nowhere does it mention that if you wanna have headphone audio, you MUST have a soundcard capable of full-duplex audio.

OK, if I sound overly excited, it is probably because I am. I now have almost everything working as I think it should. I have a base system working, with DVK setup to call CQ FD... There are many other things yet to accomplish, such as setting up all the other voice messages, and trying to get the Rig Interface working with FD Logger so that it will at least read frequency and mode. Remember, I need to make this as simple and bulletproof as possible (yeah, right...) so that when I have a 6-pack or 2 into me it will all be as clear as day how to setup and operate 40 meter phone...

This is not to mention the other equipment yet to interface, such as the D630 running Vista 64-bit. I am determined to get this baby setup and working, as I have never seen a more stable OS in my life. This 64-bit stuff is incredible. Not only can I fully address 16G (that is 16 GIGABYTES) of memory, it is pretty much immune to the 32-bit puking of programs one would normally experience on XP or a Mac. Shit flies on this laptop. When you double-click an icon by mistake, the program is up, running and waiting for user input BEFORE you realize you made a mistake. I imagine this will consume the next week or so.. at least it will give me time to blog some more about software.

Stay tuned...