I have recently added a HAL DXP38 with the aim to have it as second receive
demodulator in addition to MMTTY which I run in FSK mode to get easy access
to the narrow filters on my FT1000MP MkV. I ran in the BARTG sprint with
the DXP38 attached to a second computer. This week I've been working to get
it running on the main computer with Writelog.
I consulted Don AA5AU's excellent web site and directly with Don and can
see nothing obviously wrong in what I'm doing.
I have some thoughts on what's happening and it is clearly restricted to
situations with MMTTY in FSK mode.
But first the evidence.
Configuration: Dual processor Pentium II 450Mhz with 256 MB RAM
My normal OS is Win2k but the machine has dual boot with Win98 and the
problems are the same with some slight wrinkles which may be clues. Win 98
also eliminates the dual processor issue. This might have been relevant
because I think the issue surrounds the sharing/coordination/serialization
of the COM ports between the multiple processes constituting
writellog/rttyrite/MMTTY. Also due to the "blessings" of Plug 'n' Pray the
additional COM ports in my system appear at different ports between the two
Operating systems which eliminates the question of COM ports >4 and/or
non-contiguous COM ports.
COM Port Configuration:
Win2K Win98 Function
COM1 COM1 MMTTY FSK mode via homemade interface (FSK
+ PTT) on COM1
COM2 COM2 Rig: FT1000MP MkV
COM5 COM3 HAL DXP38
COM6 COM4 RIGblaster MMTTY in AFSK Mode, rttyrite,
DigiPan PSK31, etc all with PTT on this COM port
I can run Writelog with no problems in one radio mode with any of ONE the
three rtty methods: MMTTY (FSK) on COM1, OR DXP38 on COM5/3, OR MMTTY(AFSK)
/ rttyrite AFSK on COM6/4 on both Win2k and Win98
So on both Win2K and Win98 the "connections" are all working correctly.
The fun begins when I try and go to two radio mode to get dual receive -
But only when MMTTY(FSK) is one of the players.
First, however, consider that Writelog runs fine on both Win2k and Win98 in
dual receive mode with this configuration....
Win 2K/Win98, Radio 1 - MMTTY (AFSK !!!) COM6/COM4, Radio 2 -
HAL DXP38 on COM5/COM3
This setup is solid. It doesn't matter how I get to this configuration....
I can start with one radio and no rtty windows and add rtty window, then
radio two then rtty window, I can save the configuration with or without
rtty windows at start up. It will then work just fine when started.
The same cannot be said for MMTTY(FSK) as it fails differently depending on
the sequence you follow to get to the dual receive, two rtty window
configuration!
I'll now go through some of the sequences. If your mind starts to spin
don't be ashamed...it took me a lot of "experiments" to boil this weird
behavior down to this which is repeatable!
Situation 1: Starting with Writelog with one radio and no rtty windows
at startup.....
- Add rtty window (MMTTY-FSK COM1) - at this point everything works.
- Add second radio but no rtty window for radio 2 yet - radio1 MMTTY(FSK)
still works.
- Add rtty window to radio2 (DXP38 COM5/3) ...let the games begin
MMTTY(FSK) works OK send and receive
DXP38 windows both open but are "hung" not receiving, tuning
indicator frozen, xmit does nothing
- Remove (kill) radio 1 rtty window (MMTTY_FSK) then
Radio 2 window (DXP38) "comes alive" now receiving and xmit works
Save this configuration with rtty windows at startup and hang on to your
hats....
Situation 2: starting up with saved configuration above......
(or with saved configuration with 2 radios but
no rtty windows at startup)
- Radio1 MMTTY-FSK window receives OK, BUT now on Xmit doesn't key up rig!
- Radio 2 DXP38 send and receive OK
There is an important clue here: If MMTTY is set to 'sound +COM TxD' then
on xmit your hear the tones being generated on the computer speakers, but
the rig isn't being keyed up over the com port. With MMTTY configured just
for FSK (i.e. COM TxD') then there is no sign of activity on the rig (or of
course on the speakers). Now if I have the writelog window in focus and
hit alt-K it does open the "transmitting from Keyboard - alt-K to close"
window which appears to work - can type text etc end with ESC or alt-K but
nothing on the rig, but obviously in the 'sound +COM TxD' case it has MMTTY
thinking it's xmiting because it generates tones but fails to open/use COM1
for PTT/FSK.
Another clue if you have MMTTY set to 'sound +COM TxD' and change it to
'COM TxD' it says can't open COM port - so even though this change leave
the use of COM1 unchanged it's only eliminating the sound card tones - it
is confused. The same happens if you do the reverse and add soundboard
tones to FSK.
Situation 3: starting with working dual receive configuration like this
which works just fine......
- Radio1 MMTTY-AFSK COM6/4
- Radio 2 DXP38 COM5/3
Everything works - Now try and change Radio 1 to FSK by changing port in
rttyrite window 'port' from COM6/4 to COM 1 and MMTTY options from Tx
Port -> 'Sound' to either 'sound +COM TxD' or 'COM TxD' then BOTH the
rttyrite window and the MMTTY window complain COM port unavailable even
though no one was using COM1 before trying to make change.
Further if running only one radio and it is running with MMTTY(AFSK) then
you can readily make change with no complaints.
On Win98 at least I also got lots of server busy msg boxes while
configuring/reconfiguring the system some of which were permanent. For
example, trying to open the Writelog Setup->Ports window would generate
server busy immediately in both rttyrite windows if the configuration was
dual receive. Also as a variant of situation 1 the rttyrite window for the
DXP38 would hang right in the opening process (only the tuning indicator
window would appear - empty) when started on Radio2 after Radio1
MMTTY(FSK) was running - killing the MMTTY window "freed up" the dxp38
windows and they completed opening and then worked (on win2k it was always
as described above in situation 1 - that is it and the tuning bar window
would open but would be frozen)
There are 4 visible processes in dual receive mode: Writelog, 2 Rrttyrite
processes, and MMTTY.
Dual receive runs solidly with the DXP38 + MMTTY(AFSK) but not with MMTTY(FSK)
It seems to me that the coordination/sharing of the com port usage runs off
the rails when MMTTY in FSK mode is in play - but only in dual receive
mode. It may be the fact that PTT and FSK are both going out the same com
port versus just PTT on the comport in MMTTY AFSK mode. I'm not sure how
the processes share/cordination their needs to have something done on the
comport but therin would seem to lie theproblem. I also tried to
putting PTT on the Rig control and this doesn't make any difference. I
don't know if selecting rig control PTT (on the Writelog setup->ports
window) overrides PTT on the rttyrite port or whether it's additive.
The problem is very solid on my system. I have tried many, many variations
of steps trying to configure it in dual receive with MMTTY(FSK) and they
all lead situations that don't work.
This type of bug is in the very nasty class - multiple process/task
programming affords wonderful opportunities to shoot your self in both feet
at once - been there many times......
73
Steve N1NB
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