Another CW Complaint

Geoff AB6BT

Well, I finally decided to add my experience to the CW "corruption" pool.

I have paddles connected directly to the back of my 6400 using 2.7.6. Frequently I experience the issue where the CW timing or duration of individual dits or dahs in inconsistant. For example, if I send a series of either there will be a string that is as expected then one character will either be truncated or show some sort of timing anomaly. This behaviour continues in a random (?) manner.

I can supply audio or scope recordings to confirm what I hear.

It seems that power cycling the radio fixes the problem for a time. I don't believe closing and opening SSDR has any effect.

I realize this has been reported many times but just wanted to throw in my 2 cents worth as it is quite annoying when I try to make a contact and I can't even send my call correctly. The receiving station has no idea what I'm sending.

Mike-VA3MW

SmartSDR v2.8 does have internal latency improvements. You might want to give that a try.

MichaelCaditz

Has this been resolved?

Geoff AB6BT

Not that I'm aware of.

Lasse SM5GLC

Geoff,

Did you upgrade to 2.8? I am currently on 2.4.10 due to all the CW oddities on later releases, and not brave enough to do the 2.8 upgrade, with the problems regarding fall back to 2.4.10 if things fails (not to mention the SD issues). Lately I have noticed some choppyness while transmitting, not verified if this is only the side tone or showing up on RF. Hard to pin-point as it is spurious and occures seldom. BTW I am on "local", keying the radio from the front and receive audio also from the front. Radio is 6500 and Maestro. Come to think that I have been running SSDR on my PC, and left the Maestro off for most of the summer, and not noticed this fenomena, but lately I have reverted back to use the Maestro (just control no key nor audio), and this is when I noticed the choppyness. Will use the PC-SSDR to see if I notice anything.

Geoff AB6BT

Hi Lasse,

I'm using 2.7.6 on a 6400 with paddles plugged directly into the radio.

Lasse SM5GLC

Geoff,

Flex keep telling us that things have improved with the latest releases, so mayby you feeling brave and give 2.8 a try? As you are in the US, there should only be minimal down-time if your SD-card conks out during upgrade. Myselfe, I haven't yet managed to muster enough bravery to try, but any day now :)

Cheers Lasse SM5GLC

K1ESE

Buy a backup SD card from Flex first. Cheap insurance.

73 John K1ESE

Joe N3HEE

2.80 does not address the CW timing issue. Here is response from Flex when I submitted yet another ticket...

Thank you for using the HelpDesk. Now let's get started addressing your issue. 

We are having continuing issues with CW Performance once the radio has been running for over about 48 hours. The current work-around is to restart the radio before any major CW operations if it has been running for a while. 

As you have mentioned, the CW failure after sending with N1MM can be reduced by reducing the length of CW Delay, so that the radio is more likely to return to RX mode after a N1MM CW Macro sends so that you don't try to send with the paddle while the CW Delay is still counting down from the N1MM Transmission. This is one of the things that seems to trigger this situation. 

The analysis of your HelpDesk support incident has concluded that the issue you reported is a possible software defect. I have transferred this issue to the Engineering/Software Development group and placed it in their bug tracker for further analysis and resolution. 

This issue has been logged as defect number: SMART-8513 

Unfortunately, at this time there are no known workarounds other than the ones mentioned above..

Dan Trainor

Does this issue exist in latest release of version 3 or has it stayed broken or has it got worse? de WA1QZX

Ed Stallman

I'm using 3.3.32 and have the CW problem . I bought a WinKey USB and problem solved . Now how do I work a SSB contest with the Vox dropping out ? I guess a foot switch . Can you still buy those ?

Trucker

Guitar Center sells foot switches. Plenty on Amazon as well. I believe Flex Radio sells them too.

Then there's Heil Sound. Foot switches and hand switches. Prices not too bad. You can always roll your own too. Lots of possibilities.

James

WD5GWY

Joe N3HEE

Do yourself a favor and buy a high quality foot switch and save yourself some headaches. I have the heavy duty one from DXE. DXE-FS-002. Built like a tank and made to last a lifetime.

John K3MA

I believe I have three new/like new foot switches that are not needed and no one seems to want to buy them at any price. So rather than throwing them in the trash you can have one for the price of postage. You will need to wire it up. Easiest for me would be a USPS Priority Small Flat Rate box @ about $10.

Email is good on QRZ.

John K3MA