HamGadgets News

I plan to release V1.20 around the end of this week or very early next week.  No more code changes will be made (barring new issues reported).  The last fix was to accommodate some compact mini-keyboards; NUMLOCK can now be turned off when in USB keyboard mode.  I also just fixed a problem working with Ham Radio Deluxe.  We’re working well with a number of different contest software packages, and everything is looking good.  As soon as I make a few final touch-ups to the documentation and finish one other task, we’re golden!

Just some quick news regarding some of the kits…

• The PicoKeyer-Plus kit is in stock, doing well, and I anticipate carrying it for some time to come.  I may make a couple of PCB refinements to make assembly even easier.
• The ID-O-Matic is in stock, with plenty left.  I hope to have a minor firmware update available in the next couple of months.  No big feature changes, mostly just a couple of new functions for otherwise unused pins on the PIC.  There are a couple of indicators people have asked for to make it easier to implement links and repeaters in some EU countries.
• The jury is out on the USB interface kit.  Right now I’m running low on PCBs and will be making the decision soon whether to have another run made, or discontinue the kit.  Watch this news blog for updates as I get closer to the decision.  I’ll for sure sell the remainder of what I have here, as soon as I get a chance to mount the SMT parts.

I had hoped to have V1.20 ready for release by now, but it will be another few days.  I’ve been working on fixes for some relatively minor bugs, but I want to make sure it’s as “right” as I can get it before releasing it.  A quick recap of the past couple of weeks:

• A couple of problems were found related to Winkeyer emulation mode when used with WinWarbler.  I’ve made a couple of firmware changes, and there will be a new version of WW as well.
• In the process of fixing the WinWarbler problems, I managed to introduce another bug when using N1MM.  I got that fixed this morning, so now emulation mode seems to be working quite well with all the software we’ve tried.
• I’m waiting on a keyboard to arrive.  One customer has a couple of USB keyboards that don’t seem to work right; hopefully it will be a short fix.  I have had no other reports of USB keyboard issues.  These keyboards are compact units with “embedded” keypads, similar to some laptops.

Once I get the keyboard issue sorted out, I’ll release V1.20 for general use.  It is by far the most thoroughly tested version to date, so I’m pretty confident people will like it.

Our very first print ad is in the December issue of QST.  There is also a nice picture and mention of the MasterKeyer in an article — look around Page 59, I think it is.  I didn’t even know that was going to be there!  We should see a product review in a couple of months as well.

Also, the first Eham.net review of the MasterKeyer has been posted.  As always, if you feel you can honestly give your MK-1 a “5 out of 5″ top rating, then by all means please post a review on Eham.  If you don’t feel you can honestly give it a perfect score, then please tell me, and we’ll work to get that fixed for you!  So far I think I’ve been doing fairly well getting new features added and old bugs fixed.  I plan to continue that trend.

As of today – Tuesday, Nov. 10 – I am promoting V1.20 of the MK-1 firmware to Beta Test.  Anyone who wishes to use the current build can contact me via email for their copy of the firmware and the draft of the operating manual.

At least two people used V1.20 during the weekend CW Sweepstakes, with good results.  I think we’ve gotten enough bugs worked out to let a wider audience play with it.  There may still be updates and bug fixes before the final release, so be prepared to update your firmware at least once more time!

I know it’s been quite a while since I updated this blog, but I’ll try to get better about keeping it up to date.

Version 1.20 of MasterKeyer MK-1 firmware is being tested now.  Several new features, including support for most contest software!  I will start the beta test phase in a week or so, and hope to release it some time in November.   Along with new features, this release will fix a few bugs found in V1.10 – many of them sidetone related.  The manual is being expanded and will include detailed instructions on how to set up and use terminal programs such as Putty and Hyperterminal.

The list of new features:

• Support for contest and logging software.  The Winkeyer command set is automatically emulated.
• Ability to merge two characters into one in messages (new /M command) – this allows you to build custom Morse characters for prosigns, non-English characters, etc.  So, for example, if you like to send KN as one character, you can use /MKN in a message to do that.
• The message pause command (/P) will now wait for you to send something from the paddle OR the USB keyboard, and will automatically resume after a word space or the ENTER key.
• The /B command now supports an optional numeric value to override the global beacon delay time setting.  So, if you want one message to repeat at 5 second intervals and another at 10 seconds intervals, you can do that.
• In USB keyboard mode, the ESC key will kill any messages playing and flush the keyboard buffer.  The END key will still clear only the keyboard buffer.
• An additional sidetone choice: PADDLE only (P) turns off sidetone for code sent from the computer, keyboard or memory but on for code sent from the paddle.
• A more useful lamp test mode.

Bug fixes in this release:

• Sidetone is now always on in TUNE mode.
• A bug in message calls would result in flaky behavior when calling lower numbered messages.
• A bug when backspacing near the beginning of Bank 1, Message 1 is fixed.
• Loading settings could turn off sidetone in SETUP mode; this is fixed.
• Under some conditions, the QSO decrement (buttons 1 & 2) would work, but not announce – this is fixed.
• Poor paddle response while in TUNE mode is fixed.
• Fixed a possible sidetone issue while recording messages from the USB keyboard.

Stay tuned!