N1MM+ with PSDR mRX on CW

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N1MM+ with PSDR mRX on CW

Postby K9RX » Sun Nov 26, 2017 4:20 pm

Hopefully someone can help. I've searched this forum, the Yahoo forum, N1MM site, youtube and google to no avail...

I have N1MM+ 'connected' to PSDR. I am using the CAT RTS/DTS for PTT/CW. It works - sort of. Unfortunately it appears there is a conflict between N1MM sending code and the internal keyer of the radio. If i set the speed on both to 28WPM it works - almost - every few characters are ill-formed. If the speed is anything different its choppy and unintelligible a good deal of the time. Obviously one wants to - needs to use the keyer (and its speed capability) in N1MM in a contest. [setting both to 28 seems to be a 'sweet spot' setting as if i set both to say 30 or 32 it is worse]

So I've tried setting the CAT to respond as "PowerSDR, TS2000, TS480" ... I've tried setting N1MM to use Flex, TS2000, TS480, ExpertSDR, Flex5000 ... and have yet to find a solution to this issue.

First if someone can answer this: what should PSDR be set to re the CAT "respond as" radio? (this needs to work for SSB, CW, RTTY contests as well)

What should N1MM use (since there isn't a PowerSDR mRX radio choice - it seems all other radios made in the last 15 - 20 years - no PSDR!)?

How do I disable the radios "keyer"? [I have tried turning "Iambic" off on PSDR just below the speed. It stops working altogether when I do this]

Is ANYONE using N1MM+ on CW with PSDR without going to a hardware connection for the paddle?
(I have also tried a separate VSC using its RTS/DTS instead for PTT/CW - results are the same)

Gary
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Re: N1MM+ with PSDR mRX on CW

Postby w-u-2-o » Sun Nov 26, 2017 4:46 pm

Gary,

Have you tried using the secondary port in Setup > DSP > CW? Use a virtual serial cable. Connect N1MM to that for keying. That is the intent of the secondary port. It's setup to accept straight keying from an external software app like N1MM. That way the primary port remains on "Radio" and processes the paddle attached to the radio. Both can and do run simultaneously!

73,

Scott
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Re: N1MM+ with PSDR mRX on CW

Postby K9RX » Sun Nov 26, 2017 10:58 pm

Yes - thanks Scott... I tried that. That is what I'm doing actually. It seems that it isn't divorcing the iambic keyer (internal one) when using this - it isn't configuring itself as a straight key.

What I haven't tried - and I don't know if I can do it - is to turn the Primary off (or maybe set it up for N1MM) ... it won't be ideal but it might work ... not even sure if i can do this ... back in a minute...

no. I can turn it off - same results ... can't configure it as anything else (and configure where to get the signal vis a vis the HS lines). I wrote to Doug - he asked me to send screen shots. He's not sure if it was broken somewhere along the line but is sure it worked at one point.

I will post back (and check back) ...

Gary
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Re: N1MM+ with PSDR mRX on CW

Postby W2PA » Mon Nov 27, 2017 7:40 pm

Gary,

I've been using N1MM+ quite successfully on my ANAN-8000DLE with this setup:

Two VSPE pairs as follows (choice of COM port numbers doesn't matter unless they conflict with something else):

Pair 1 for CAT line - one side specified in N1MM config for "Kenwood" radio set to 19200,N,8,1,Handshake,Tx=1

Pair 2 for CW line - one side specified in N1MM config for CW and the other side in HPSDR Setup DSP/CW as Secondary, using "None" for PTT line and RTS for Key Line. Primary is still set to "Radio"

I did not have to use WinKey and I did not have to either uncheck Iambic or disable Primary. It just works.

One glitch I noticed last weekend during the CQWW is that if I have the Telnet window open I get random delays after hitting a F-key for a CW message. Don't know why. N1MM has a good page about hunting down delays and timeouts here:
http://n1mm.hamdocs.com/tiki-index.php?page=Troubleshooting#Trouble_with_Keying_Delays_or_Radio_Timeouts
73,
Chris, W2PA
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Re: N1MM+ with PSDR mRX on CW

Postby K9RX » Tue Nov 28, 2017 3:29 pm

Thanks Chris ... what you lay out is indeed what I tried ad nauseum. The one thing I didn't try was to minimize the telnet. I'll try this again and just for testing I'll shut off Telnet in N1MM entirely ... see what that does.

Note that the one guy I mentioned in my post on Yahoo is using Telnet (VE7CC), he is using "CC User" to bring it AND 2 skimmers in to N1MM+ .... AND he is doing this on an i3 computer. He has 3 monitors running - all HD. Never a glitch - never an issue. He's using 2 x TS590's.

g.
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Re: N1MM+ with PSDR mRX on CW

Postby w-u-2-o » Tue Jan 16, 2018 5:11 pm

Gary,

If you are still having problems with this setup, please post all of your relevant setup screens from PowerSDR, N1MM+, and whatever virtual serial port software you are using. Since others have got this to work, perhaps there is something subtle in your setup that needs tweaking.

73,

Scott
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Re: N1MM+ with PSDR mRX on CW

Postby w-u-2-o » Wed Jan 17, 2018 5:52 pm

I set up N1MM+. Both rig control and CW keying. I set semi-break-in delay in PowerSDR to 0ms. I'm by no means any kind of CW expert, but it seems to work just fine, and it follows the CW speed setting in N1MM+.

Obviously the relays in the radio prevent going super fast. I'm not sure what the limit of the radio is.

73,

Scott
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Re: N1MM+ with PSDR mRX on CW

Postby K9RX » Thu Jan 18, 2018 4:06 pm

unfortunately my 8000DLE failed yesterday ... I am working with Doug on a solution.

Strange that others also had problems doing this - and yet lo-n-behold "its easy"!

I'll try again when I have this resolved. Its good to know you are at least getting it to work. By the way, even though I tried it at slower speeds I normally would use 30-35 WPM in a contest.

You're using what again for your serial VSP? That might be the key - although once again mHKII is a known great product and it works for all other functions I use it on (as a VSP manager). I asked for and downloaded VSPM from K5FR. I'll try this. He says to uninstall all other com ports - geez - that is onerous.

Gary
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Re: N1MM+ with PSDR mRX on CW

Postby w-u-2-o » Thu Jan 18, 2018 10:52 pm

I have tried all three of the most common solutions: com0com, VSPM and VSPE. I recommend Eterlogic VSPE. It has proven to be the most reliable and flexible for me. It does cost a few bucks, but IMHO worth it. Plus, I use a port splitter function, which VSPM does not have, but com0com does.

I would say that at least as many people have it working as not, if not more, because you rarely hear from people who are not having problems ;) . To me that implies mis-configuration on the part of those who don't have it working. However, perhaps it has something to do with obscure virtual serial port software.

Did your 8000 run OK at 35WPM? I would think that's pretty fast for the slow relays that are in there.

73,

Scott
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Re: N1MM+ with PSDR mRX on CW

Postby K9RX » Fri Jan 19, 2018 2:16 pm

Scott,

I'm at a loss as to what "mis-configuration" i could have had. There really isn't any rocket science here - there are only a few settings that come in to play. Actually, not sitting at that computer and just thinking about - just the two come to mind "Primary and Secondary". And note - its not as if there is some nuance to those settings - either it should work or not - and it definitely was "working" to the extent when I selected it it did its thing - just the code was not well formed. This should be - should be a work/no-work issue - but its not. I'm obviously making the serial connections - just not getting the proper results.

As for the radio - I've no problems with 35 with just the radio alone. But of course that isn't the issue as I tried it at much slower rates.

When I get this going again - the radio - I'll get back in touch and see what I can see. It MIGHT be the computer itself - too slow - possibly. That might be the distinction between some have it working and some don't. I have an i5-4660 that seems to do fine in all other regards ... I changed to an SSD, increased the ram and added a video card instead of using the MB video (which by the way DID make a difference in the pops and clicks heard). So I'd hope it wouldn't be the computer. I did try closing as much as I could as a test to see if that were the case to no avail.

Gary
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Re: N1MM+ with PSDR mRX on CW

Postby K9RX » Sun Jul 01, 2018 10:12 pm

re-visting this issue. I know I've seen a number of guys post to the Yahoo group saying they have N1MM working fine with Power-SDR ... so here's what I've done/changed:

-I bought VSPE as I was told by some that it works well in this regard. I had been previously using my MicroHam Keyer II interface, it has serial emulation capability and that had always worked fine for everything else I've ever needed to use it for... VSPE didn't solve the problem. Same thing. But getting VSPE was in the plan as I don't need MicroHam KII anymore (sold my FTdx5000). Turns out it loads MUCH faster than MHKII loaded, a benefit.

well - I guess that is it. So still no go getting N1MM+ to work for code generation.

So a few days ago I tried using CWX - after 3 hours of sitting trying to work the KH1 group on 30 meters (they were ONLY working JA) I was getting tired of sending so I grabbed it, entered a message - and tried it - guess what - it does the same thing that N1MM did! The code is garbled in the same way. But THIS is part of PowerSDR and not going from N1MM generating code to PowerSDR! I was hoping Scott or someone else that is very familiar with how PSDR generates code using CWX might hear this and say "AH-HA!" ...

Gary

[I have ordered a K1EL keyer - I'd rather not have to implement it but its on order nonetheless]
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Re: N1MM+ with PSDR mRX on CW

Postby w-u-2-o » Mon Jul 02, 2018 9:35 pm

Here's how to set up N1MM+ to key PowerSDR. This is a proven configuration. It works on the 8000 here. It worked on the 7000 that Rob Sherwood used in the last 160M CW contest. I believe Chris, W2PA, has an identical setup.

First order of business: you will need to set up two virtual serial port pairs. For virtual serial port software, I prefer using Eterlogic VSPE, but VSPM and com0com are also serviceable choices. I apologize for the randomness of my virtual pair numbering in the examples below.

Use two pairs to connect N1MM+ to PowerSDR. In my example, COM 7 & 8 are used for CW keying and COM 17 & 18 are used for rig control.

Image

Image

It matters not which CAT instance you use in PowerSDR. I just happened to use CAT3 as my station evolved. I don't believe that baud rate actually matters, but I always use 115200.

I also chose to use Flex5000 RX2 as the radio type in N1MM+. Because the roots of PowerSDR mRX PS are from the legacy Flex version, I believe that this will let you use some of the more advanced RX2 features with N1MM+, however I have not tested this. If you have problems, you can set the radio type to Kenwood TS-2000. That will also work.

I recommend you set your break-in parameter to 0mS.

73,

Scott
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Re: N1MM+ with PSDR mRX on CW

Postby K9RX » Tue Jul 03, 2018 12:51 pm

I believe I have done all this multiple times with both the VSP from MicroHam KII and also Eterlogic VSPE ... but I'll take a look, hopefully I missed something ... note this doesn't explain why CWX doesn't work and as a matter of fact 'acts' identically to what N1MM+ produces. I still believe there is a connection there and it's not just a coincidence.

Thanks Scott - if i still can't get it going for whatever reason at least there is a nicely done presentation of how others need to set it up. I know I'm not the only one with this issue as there were a number that posted to my original inquiry months ago that said they could not get it to work. So I don't believe it is simply setup... but I'll be happy to stand up and apologize if shown to be wrong ... will report back.

Gary
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Re: N1MM+ with PSDR mRX on CW

Postby 4L5O » Mon May 23, 2022 7:06 am

K9RX wrote:I believe I have done all this multiple times with both the VSP from MicroHam KII and also Eterlogic VSPE ... but I'll take a look, hopefully I missed something ... note this doesn't explain why CWX doesn't work and as a matter of fact 'acts' identically to what N1MM+ produces. I still believe there is a connection there and it's not just a coincidence.

Thanks Scott - if i still can't get it going for whatever reason at least there is a nicely done presentation of how others need to set it up. I know I'm not the only one with this issue as there were a number that posted to my original inquiry months ago that said they could not get it to work. So I don't believe it is simply setup... but I'll be happy to stand up and apologize if shown to be wrong ... will report back.

Gary
K9RX


Hello Gary,
Didyou used MicroHam KII to 7000 dle, ? if yes i'm interesting cable connection, on microham have not for sale.

I have microkeyer II but microham have not sale cable for anan 7000 dle,
I don't know if this cable is ok for anan ( FLEX RADIO DB37-FX-5000 cable. https://www.microham.com/Downloads/DB37-FX-5000.pdf )

Kind regards,
K9RX
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Re: N1MM+ with PSDR mRX on CW

Postby K9RX » Mon May 23, 2022 11:55 am

Hello sir (4L5O):

I installed a K1EL keyer and have used that since then. I've not gone back to try the inbuilt CW generation. The K1EL interfaces to N1MM+ and for normal CW it is between the paddle and the input to the rig - the rig has iambic turned off.

Hope that helps,

Gary
K9RX

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