Unable to set zero delay via "delay" slider in SSDR cw control panel.

km9r.mike

8600 v3.8.20.34503

I was hoping to see this already addressed but have not seen anything like this in current or past discussions. I also looked at release notes for .21 but nothing in fixes.

While getting ready for NAQP CW this evening, I noticed cw delay was set to 41 msec. I went to adjust the delay slider to zero , however the minimum setting allowed by SSDR was 41 msec. I use an external keyer, however, this issue persists if cwx is enabled or not.

I then noticed cw speed on the SSDR cw control panel was set to 30 wpm and immediately wondered if that had any effect on minimum delay setting. I moved the slider for cw speed to 5 wpm and sure enough it did have an effect. The minimum delay changed from 41 msec to a new minimum of 241 msec. So the next logical step was to set cw speed at the maximum of 100 wpm which now made the minimum settable delay to 13 msec.

I also checked the "tx delay" setting in"settings"…."radio setup "….."tx tab" and it was at zero.

In conclusion, for me at least, it appears SSDR has a variable minimal "delay" value based upon cw speed selected in the cw control panel and no matter what I try I can not set that delay to zero milliseconds. If this is not operator error, then it appears to be a software issue to me but I am not a programmer by any stretch of the imagination so my mind is open.

Thanks,

mike km9r

N5NHJ

I noticed the same behavior when I first got the 8600 few months ago.

I think it is just an annoying little bug, probably a wrong initialization of the variable.

Looks like once set, it behaves as expected without interactions with other controls.

Mike-VA3MW

I created a support ticket for this.

km9r.mike

Thanks Mike. QSK can be important to contesters running in the assisted category. I have noticed a technique by some in that category who will interrupt your cq to get you to stop cqing and listen for their call as they try to work through their spots as quickly as possible. I find that technique useful as well because it is one more q in an overall shorter period of time, however I need to have the assurance that I have the shortest delay possible set to hear their interruption of my cq. Regardless I made a higher score this year in NAQP cw than last year with my 6700 and I did better as well in RTTY Roundup this year with my new 8600. Better band conditions may be a part in both score improvements , but at a minimum the 8600 is performing just as well or perhaps even better than my old favorite Flex rig.

Mike-VA3MW

Hi Mike

I tried to recreate this on 4 other radios but I wasn't able to.

For your best QSK experience make sure you are not using PC Audio and you have headphones plugged into the back of the radio. (I say this for others if they are not aware).

I had a serious CW friend of mine use a Maestro B and my remote FLEX-8600 for NAQP and he said he had 1 station who started sending before he was done. He ran N1MM on a local computer using CAT and made about 300Q's with 100 watts and a vertical.

I'm sure better conditions contributed to your higher score as well!

km9r.mike

Ok just a final followup on this. Tim @ Helpdesk suggested that third party software like node red can control cw delay but I assured him I was only running SSDR to control delay. He also suggested a factory reset of the radio which I should have tried already but as you know for whatever reason I thought this was not related to the radio. Sure enough a factory reset has now given me the ability to set a delay of zero with the delay slider in SSDR cw control panel. For whatever reason this did not work previously but works 4.0 after factory reset. Thanks like always for the great support.

Mike-VA3MW

Tim and I discussed it. I did mention to him that this is possible it would be very unlikely unless you wrote the NodeRed code and therefore you would be aware of it. But, the first thing we always ask is to make sure there are no 3rd party programs involved.