Bill,
The "no output" from your test using COM13 directly in MMTTY indicates
that your USB-to-serial adapter does not support the 45 baud speed you
need for RTTY. You will almost certainly have to use EXTFSK. The trick
is to ensure that Windows assigns a port number that EXTFSK can use
(i.e. 1-8) to the driver for your USB-to-serial adapter.
You said:
> The USB port I am using is comm 3. Using the adapter, it
> will make comm 3 into comm 13.
It's not quite clear to me what you mean by this, but my guess is
something like this: "Since my computer only has serial ports COM1 and
COM2 occupied by real devices on the motherboard, I would have expected
the USB-to-serial adapter to be on COM3. However, Windows has assigned
port COM13 to the adapter."
If there truly are no other real or simulated serial devices in your
computer, you can override the choice made by Windows and assign another
port number to the device.
In Windows XP, you can do this as follows:
Open the Control Panel and select System.
Select the Hardware tab and click on the Device Manager button in the
upper part of the window.
In the list of hardware device types listed by Device Manager, click on
the + sign next to "Ports (COM & LPT)". You will see a list, including
entries like "Communications Port (COM1)", "Communications Port (COM2)"
and "ECP Printer Port (LPT1)" - these are the real serial and parallel
ports installed on your motherboard - and at least one entry such as
"USB Serial Port (COM13)" or "Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port (COM13)"
or something else along those lines (depending on which chipset and
driver the adapter uses). If you are using software (like the microHam
Router or LP_Bridge) that creates virtual serial ports, you may also see
entries such as "ELTIMA Virtual Serial Port (COM6)".
If you have other serial hardware devices (including USB-to-serial
adapters such as the one inside the WinKey USB), you will not be able to
use port numbers assigned to them. Likewise, if you have software that
creates virtual serial ports, you may not be able to use any of the port
numbers that this software has assigned, or at least not without first
reassigning one or more of the virtual ports to a new number. However,
there is a good chance that there is at least one port number in the
range 1-8 that is not used in your system, in which case you can change
the port number assigned by Windows to your USB-to-serial adapter from
COM13 to this unused port number.
Right-click on the entry that ends in "...(COM13)". In the pop-up menu,
select Properties. Select the Port Settings tab and click on the
Advanced... button. At the top of the window that appears there will be
a listbox called "COM Port Number:". If you click on the down arrow at
the right end of this listbox, you will get a list of port numbers
(1-256) from which you can choose a new one. Some will be marked as "(in
use)" and others will not.
Ideally, there will be at least one number in the range 1-8 that is not
in use. If so, just select one. That should enable you to find and use
this adapter from within EXTFSK.
If you find that Windows is claiming that all of the port numbers in the
range 1-8 are in use, you may be a victim of Windows' long memory. The
"(in use)" flag may actually be indicating that this port number was
used once in the past, rather than that it is being used now. If this is
the case, it may be safe to use the number despite the "(in use)"
marker. Windows will complain when you try to select it, but it will
allow you to override the complaint.
Using this technique, you may be able to get Windows to assign a low
enough number to your adapter so that you can use it with EXTFSK.
There is one other trick to this. In MMTTY, after you select EXTFSK as
your port number for PTT & FSK under the TX tab in the MMTTY setup
window, and after you then select one of the two COM-TxD(FSK) choices as
Tx Port under the Misc tab, a button labelled USB Port will appear.
Click on this button and select the "C. Limiting Speed" option to ensure
that MMTTY's PTT timing is correct.
Good luck!
73,
Rich VE3KI
_______________________________________________
RTTY mailing list
RTTY@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rtty
|