[Skimmertalk] Skimmer, Writelog, Rigsync and PowerSDR config inquiry

[Pete Smith]

At 03:47 AM 1/27/2009, Joey Panganiban wrote:
>Hello, can anyone help me configure Skimmer/Writelog/PowerSDR? I¢m a new 
>user of CW Skimmer.  I'm successful in making it run and was able to 
>decode all incoming CW signals with my Flex-radio.  My PC is a Core 2 Duo 
>2.4GHz, 6GB RAM,  Win XP pro. I use a Flex-Radio SDR1000 running PowerSDR 
>v 1.16.1, Roland Edirol FA-66 sound card, VAC 4.09, com0com v2.2.0.0, I 
>have Rigsync and Omni-rig installed.  I can run Power SDR (com14) and 
>Skimmer (com4) alone, but when I start Writelog (com4), or any logger 
>(com4), they don¢t communicate.  Obviously there is conflict on com4. I 
>would also like to ask what com pair assignments will best suit my 
>configurations or any other programs I need to run them. I will appreciate 
>it so much if you can give me a step by step instruction so I can run at 
>least my contest logger (PowerSDR v1.16.1/Writelog v10.70c/CWSkimmer 1.4). 
>73 & Thank you, Joey DU1BP du1bp at yahoo.com


A couple of things I can think of, Joey.  First, you can feed spots from 
Skimmer to Writelog simply by setting up Writelog to receive Skimmer's 
telnet spots as if it were a standard DX cluster, on IP address 127.0.0.1 
(or maybe localhost) port 7300.  In RigSync, on the Skim tab, there are 
checkboxes for sharing data between Skimmer and Writelog.  In Skimmer, on 
the Calls tab in Settings, there is an option for having spots on the 
Skimmer bandmap display color codes based on their status in Writelog - 
mult, new QSO, dupe, etc.  I think you need to turn all of those on, but 
frankly don't know what else (if anything) is needed.  Maybe Ed, W2RF can 
comment - I know he is working on a Help file for RigSync, which can do 
more things than I know.

One additional thing you will need is a way of sharing COM4 between 
Writelog and Skimmer/OmniRig.  I'm skating on thin ice here, but you may be 
able to do that with the free Virtual Serial Port Emulator (VSPE) from 
www.eterlogic.com.  A number of people have reported good results using 
that software to share the serial port on a hardware transceiver between 
Skimmer and a logging program.  You might also be able to do this using one 
of MicroHam's intelligent interfaces and their latest USB router software, 
which provides two virtual serial ports for simultaneous control of a 
transceiver.  I don't know if this would work with PowerSDR.

I hope this helps.

73, Pete N4ZR