Welcome to the new FlexRadio Community! Please review the new Community Rules and other important new Community information on the Message Board.
If you are having a problem, please refer to the product documentation or check the Help Center for known solutions.
Need technical support from FlexRadio? It's as simple as Creating a HelpDesk ticket.

Is a Winkeyer even necessary?

KT8DX
KT8DX Member
I'm new to the Flex Signature Series world, having bought a 6400 a few weeks ago.  I am a casual operator and want to get more into CW contesting using either HRD or N1MM.  I've used a Winkeyer 3 with my other radios, but with the Flex I'm not really sure it is necessary, unless I'm missing something.  


Can I configure SmartSDR to do what I would do with the WinKeyer, or should I go ahead and hook it up.  Pros and cons would be most appreciated.

73s de KT8DX

Answers

  • Mark_WS7M
    Mark_WS7M Member ✭✭✭
    edited March 2019
    Hi,

    WinKeyer support is built into the SmartCat interface/SSDR.  You can configure a SmartCat port to look like a COM port that accepts the WinKeyer protocol.  N1MM can talk to that directly.

    That being said I have heard of a few people having some issues with it.  Search these forums for WinKeyer and SmartCat.   For me it has worked very well.

    Mark
  • K9DUR
    K9DUR Member ✭✭
    edited March 2019
    I agree with Mark.  I use N1MM+ when contesting.  I created a port in SmartCAT that emulates a WinKeyer & tell N1MM that that port is a WinKeyer.  Works great.  I have had no issues.

    73, Ray, K9DUR
  • Ria
    Ria Member ✭✭✭
    edited November 2019
    “It depends.”

    CWX is the built in CW keyer. As mentioned there is winkeyer emulation in CAT. You can also use CATASC commands in N1MM and other software.

    For casual use I just use CWX. For contesting I use the winkeyer. An external winkeyer may be valuable from a reliability perspective.
  • Duane_AC5AA
    Duane_AC5AA Member ✭✭✭
    edited November 2019
    One advantage to using the Winkeyer emulation as described earlier is that your keying speed stays in sync whether you use the built in keyer, CWX, or Winkeyer emulation thru your contesting software.
  • Bill English
    Bill English Member
    edited January 2020
    I have used the winkeyer for many years. When I realized the Winkeyer emulation was available I switched to it. No problems whatsoever. Be sure to turn the sync on and you are go to go whether on the winkeyer emulation or CWX. My old winkeyer is gathering dust in a box somewhere. 
  • Ria
    Ria Member ✭✭✭
    edited March 2019
    Oh this is a great point - actually a hardware winkeyer will not have any strange behavior changing speed mid-stream. Flex Winkeyer emulation does. 

    For example in my contest macros sometimes I speed up 5nn and then slow down for the actual exchange. 5nn is just punctuation anyway and most people give 599 reports always. 
  • KT8DX
    KT8DX Member
    edited November 2019
    Thanks for everyone's comments. Much appreciated.  I may still use the WinKeyer as I like control over character spacing, dot-dash ratios, and weighting.  I don't seem to be able to do this in SmartSDR.  Maybe a future enhancement?

  • Roger_W6VZV
    Roger_W6VZV Member ✭✭
    edited February 2020
    I am using the Winkeyer function with my Flex 6400 and HRD/DM780's Winkeyer function.  Seems to work real well.

    de Roger W6VZV
  • Ria
    Ria Member ✭✭✭
    edited March 2019
    That is quite correct. You cannot do this in SmartSDR. The only control you have is over speed (WPM). That is IT. While the winkeyer emulation is great, a real hardware winkeyer is better. In fact the Maestro has a hardware winkeyer. 

    Ria

  • John G3WGV
    John G3WGV Member ✭✭
    edited March 2019
    There is never a situation when it's a good idea to change mark/space, dit/dah or weighting ratios. There is only one correct setting. The principle advantage that an external WinKey gives you is a speed knob, so you can adjust your CW speed on the fly, while sending. This is such a valuable asset, especially in contests that I would never use the internal keyer for any serious operating.

    73, John, G3WGV (100% CW operator)
  • Andrew VK5CV
    Andrew VK5CV Member ✭✭
    edited March 2019
    Ria,
    That reminds me of an old joke.

    "How many academics does it take to change a light bulb?"

    Andrew VK5CV


  • Steven WA8Y
    Steven WA8Y Member ✭✭
    edited March 2019
    That's the I use it too.
  • KC9EI - Dave
    KC9EI - Dave Member ✭✭
    edited March 2019
    As I was saying to Ria, the E and I in my call is often missed. HOWEVER... and one I'm sure you will appreciate.... the faster operators (read as more experienced) seem to hear it better, at the faster speeds. There is a moral to the story there someplace. :)
  • Wilbur Doolittle
    Wilbur Doolittle Member ✭✭
    edited February 2020
    roger could you share your setup for winkeyer and dm780 AB8WD
  • Mark Griffin
    Mark Griffin Member ✭✭

    But here is my question, in the configure port section there is a tab for Winkeyer. Do I have to create settings within that tab to get the Winkeyer to work?

    Mark KB3Z

Leave a Comment

Rich Text Editor. To edit a paragraph's style, hit tab to get to the paragraph menu. From there you will be able to pick one style. Nothing defaults to paragraph. An inline formatting menu will show up when you select text. Hit tab to get into that menu. Some elements, such as rich link embeds, images, loading indicators, and error messages may get inserted into the editor. You may navigate to these using the arrow keys inside of the editor and delete them with the delete or backspace key.