
	PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS FILE FOR VARIOUS COMPUTER AND STATION 
	HARDWARE RELATED DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED WITH MS-SOFT.
	------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.      I see no clock on the screen!

S.      You have started the program with cmsi.exe and not with the MS.BAT, 
	or the OS can not support the clock.

P.      The periods drift away from their correct timing, offsetting the
	period sequencing. This does not allow me to use MS-SOFT.

S.      This is a PC internal clock drift problem. The clock crystal 
	oscillator usually has a trimmer capacitor to adjust its frequency,
	to make the clock run at correct speed. Adjust and check drift, or
	run manually with auto sequencer OFF, until this HW problem is resolved.
	
P.      Why isn't there a PTT output on the serial port for my PA and antenna 
	relays etc.
	I always start the xmit period by turning the PTT on manually to
	prevent preamplifier damage etc.(.."good" reasons.... Very amateurlike approach...)

S.      This situation resembles to a similar type of question asked on
	packet radio by a newcomer: "I can not afford to buy 10 crystals, 
	please tell me how I make a synthesiser for my ex. commercial fm rig?" 
	(Ever heard of a cheap, easy to make, good, clean synthesiser? )
	A case of wrong philosophy in station hardware construction!
	You don't have 5 or 6 switches in your car dashboard to make it
	start and stop, but you have an ignition key to do all the switching
	and in right sequence!
	By all this I mean that a relay control (PTT) output should be generated
	by the transceiver, or any other black box and be time sequenced having 
	different outputs each controlling their own relays. 
	Only such system is safe in all cases (FM,VOX....)
	This function should not be generated in the computer as it will not
	be available when operating other propagation modes on SSB or FM or
	using hand keying. It is safer too not to hard wire the computer to 
	all those cables running down from the tower, in case of "a local 
	static discharge" should occur.

	One more reason is that all the COM port output registers and
	free pins are allready used (DTR & RTS). Changing one of them
	to PTT would cause complaints form those who have wired their
	interfaces from the to be PTT output and they would not have keying.
	
	Look at ARRL HANDBOOK's article on T/R TIME DELAY GENERATOR for how to 
	make one. It is easy to make and pays off in increased station 
	reliability and longer coaxial relay life time.
	
	An internal TX delay circuit for a transceiver is described in the        
	TX-DELAY.TXT file. It allows the transmit power to rise smoothly only after 
	certain delay.

	On V5.0 there is now a programmable software relay saver that is 
	supposed to switch (pulse) the transceiver to transmit and then wait a little
	and then start sending CW: "DE...", or the message. It does it every time when
	the software goes to transmit! The pulse time and delay can not be user set
	in MS-Soft v4.3, but in v5.0 it is.

P.      I have only one RS (com) port where I have connected a serial mouse.

S.      When operating MS, remove MOUSE DRIVER loading commands off from the
	AUTOEXEC.BAT file, disconnect mouse, connect CW interface and boot 
	the PC. 
	Restore mouse driver to AUTOEXEC.BAT when mouse is needed.

P.      I have no time nor skills to make the interface!

S.      I am sorry, but because of the low demand, I can not supply amymore keying
          units. As of now, I get only some 2 requests yearly and since I ran out of stock, I decided it is not
	wise to restart their production.

P.      I get a lot of interference from the computer to my receiver.

S.  1   Disconnect all the unnecessary cables from the computer, use ferrite
	materials close to the computer side of the cable on the ones left connected. 
	Special EMC shielded filtered D connectors are available, but they cost a little more.
	They typically provide 20...30 dB attenuation on VHF.
	Use short runs of shielded cable between COM port and the interface. 
    2   Connect the shield to pin 1 on the 25 pin D connector (chassis ground).
    3   Try to reposition the computer, place a wire, or a mesh between
	computer and antenna to act as a reflector (this helps only a little).
    4   Try another computer! 
    5   Find a clear sked frequency with the MS soft
	running on receive period. If the computer leaks noise like my
	486/33 did, removing all cables does not help any because the noise 
	leaks through the cabinet. You may use fingerstocking to create more
	ground contacts for the cover front edge and other leaking gaps.
	The newer computers sold in Europe must comply with EMC rules of the EU and
	therefore they have been designed to radiate less RF and have better shielding.

P.      The screen clock TSR (memory resident clock) messes up the screen 
	when I start Windows after using MS-Soft.

S.      It should not be there, if you have terminated the MS-Soft.
	MS-Soft uses a batch driven (ms.bat file) mark/release system that removes the
	clock TSR. If it bothers you, use some other clock routine and
	make the ms.bat to run some other kind of display clock instead of the one delivered.


P.      I remember vaguely someone complaining something about computer being
	jammed when quitting MS-Soft. I belive he used QUEMM or some
	 other memory manager.
	Some other newer DOS versions might suffer from this too.

S.     The problem is on the clock TSR/ mark /
	remove / ck_fix complex: Ck_fix forces one byte in the RAM to
	zero and that byte is likely in the wrong place because of
	QUEMM or some other memory manager has moved, or changed
	 the memory allocation in the base memory.
	
	 The same goes with all non-DOS operating systems: 
	never use the mark / remove / ck_fix complex, because the memory handling will be different from 
	DOS and might cause odd problems!
	
	If you have problems when quitting or the mark.com or remove.com
	gives you errors and halts software, you have two choises:
	
	 Start CMSH.EXE if you don't wish to run the TSR screen clock.
	 You may also run CK.COM then CMSH.EXE (using a batch file you make!)
	 and this should work OK, except the clock will not go away until
	 you boot the PC.

P.      The CW keying just does not work, or produces a continuous        
	key down state.
	
S.      If your TRX's key plug's ground is not the same GND as the
	power supply (like FT-757GX )where the +9...15V is taken from, the 
	keying system might not work and you have to use a standard 9V dry 
	cell, or a battery to bring the voltage for biasing the keying 
	transistor. To increase battery life, you may try to increase the 
	resistance of the 3.3 Kohm resistor in series with the battery 
	input + lead. This reduces the base current and you must remember 
	this will cause inability to key transmitters that require more 
	current through the keying transistor and may limit the usable 
	speed range!

P.      The CW keying is too slow and somewhat erratical at higher speeds.

S.      The hardware (or BIOS) is not compatible to send CW with the interrupt call used
	here to generate keying timing. This has occurred in Toshiba T3200SX.
	Use some other PC.

P.      No keying output with WIN-95/98, NT, OS2 or whatever non-DOS.        

S.      Other operating systems just do not allow to access directly the
	COM-registers, so you can not get keying with those.
	Make it a dual boot computer with DOS in it
	and run MS-Soft with the real DOS. I have tried WIN-95 booted to
	the DOS 7 mode and in that case it worked.

