WinKeyer USB

W8JJ
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2020 3:18 am

WinKeyer USB

Postby W8JJ » Sun May 30, 2021 4:38 pm

I'm interested in using the K1EL Winkeyer with my 7000 DLE MII. However, I'm not having much luck making it work. Any suggestions or resources for set up much appreciated. Does it connect to the front panel? I recall a thread talking about DIG IN 1 and DIGI IN 2 in the back panel as well. But, I'm a bit nervous about trying this without some confirmation first.

I like the reliability of the K1EL keyer and the potentiometer for adjusting the speed is convenient as well. In addition, I like using N1MM for contesting and this seems like a good solution for that application as well. Please share your experiences with the K1EL WK USB device as it relates to the ANAN.

73 Tim W8JJ
Last edited by W8JJ on Mon May 31, 2021 3:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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w-u-2-o
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Re: WinKeyer USB

Postby w-u-2-o » Sun May 30, 2021 8:59 pm

Tim,

I don't have one, but looking at the manual it would appear all that you need to do is follow the directions: make a cable to go from the KEY1 output to the 7000 key input, set up Thetis for straight keying, and off you go.

What have you done so far that is not working? If you've made a cable please describe it's construction and connections.

73,

Scott
dl4zbg
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Re: WinKeyer USB

Postby dl4zbg » Mon May 31, 2021 12:54 pm

W8JJ
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2020 3:18 am

Re: WinKeyer USB

Postby W8JJ » Mon May 31, 2021 11:40 pm

Update: I was never able to get the K1EL Winkeyer working properly using the front panel key jack. However, I did succeed in connecting via an RCA phono cable from the Winkeyer KEY1 jack to the rear panel DIG2 jack as mentioned in a prior post above and it worked pretty good. But, I noticed that while using my paddles within the N1MM software, characters would get chopped at speeds greater than 28 wpm. Ultimately, I was able to mitigate the issue by disabling Autospace on both the WK3 settings and N1MM settings. Now, it seems to be keying smoothly at higher speeds and appears fully functional.

I think I may stop trying to troubleshoot the front panel keying issue unless there are disadvantages to using DIG2 that I'm not yet aware of. Prior to adding the external Winkeyer device, my paddle worked flawlessly into the front panel. So, it's either a software set up issue or perhaps the TRS cable requires a custom configuration that is not compatible with my other radios.

73 Tim W8JJ
NS8K
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Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2022 4:49 pm

Re: WinKeyer USB

Postby NS8K » Fri Mar 03, 2023 3:50 am

Tim,

I know this thread is dated but I had the same desire as you, connect a K1EL Winkeyer to the front panel key jack. It didn't work. The solution turned out to be rather simple.

First, the cable. The output of the WinKeyer is an RCA jack. Center pin is the keying signal, shield is ground. The other end is a 3.5mm TRS plug. It needs to be wired ground to the sleeve, keying signal to tip. The ring must remain isolated.

The Iambic option for the internal keyer must be set to off.

In my shack, my paddle is wired according to standard convention (at least I think it is). However, when I plug it into the front panel of the radio, the dit and dah paddles are backward. No problem, I just popped into Setup, DSP, CW and select Reverse Paddles. Works just fine. However, when I then plug in the WinKeyer using the cable described above, it's impossible to send CW. The reason for this is with the Reverse Paddles setting on, now the tip of the TRS jack is generating dits. A straight key plugged in with the above described cable will also not work. All it can do is generate dits.

The simple solution is to go into Setup, DSP, CW and unselect the Reverse Paddles option. Now the tip causes steady carrier instead of dits and your WinKeyer should work FB.

The only issue with this "fix" is, if you at times want to plug your paddle directly into the front panel, you will need to select Reverse Paddles in setup again for your paddle to work properly. If you want to interchange the WinKeyer and paddle freely without having to change the radio setup, you could forget what I said in the second paragraph regarding the cable wiring and instead, wire ground to the sleeve and keying signal to the ring, leaving the tip isolated. That cable wiring will work for the WinKeyer or a straight key but only if the Reverse Paddles option is selected.

Either method will work and I am assuming the original issue was because your paddle is wired the same as mine and you had selected Reverse Paddles to make it work properly when plugged into the front panel.

73,

Tom - NS8K

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