HamGadgets News

(Updated 1/1/10)

I’m working on the next minor release now.  A few very minor bug fixes, and few new features and improvements:

• Improved keyboard mode to allow the use of a USB keyboard or the computer.  When selecting keyboard mode (buttons 3 & 6), the USB keyboard will be checked first and will be used if it’s present.  If there is no USB keyboard but a PC host is attached, then the PC will be used.
• A USB numeric keypad is supported.  With NUM LOCK on, it works as a regular keypad.  With NUM LOCK off, it lets you quickly switch memory banks and send messages.  These keypads are available for well under $10 on eBay – I think I paid about $5 for mine shipped from Hong Kong.
• I am adding an auto-start option for beacon use.  You can have message #1 of the current bank auto-start when power is applied.  The command is the same as the PicoKeyer – /A as the first two characters of the message.
• Text sent from the paddles will include spaces when it is echoed back to the PC host.  So far this has not been an issue, but this change will more closely emulate the behavior of  the K1EL Winkeyer.
• I’m working on a couple more new features I’m not ready to discuss at the moment.
• If you are an MK-1 user who also owns a K3, please contact me.  I need one or more K3 owners who would be willing to do a little testing for a potential new feature.

I don’t have a firm schedule as yet, but I hope to be able to make the new version available for testing in the next few weeks.

I recently added the ability to ship Priority Mail International and Express Mail International to locations outside the USA.  Unfortunately, the shipping portion of the web site is not quite as well developed as I would like.  For small orders, I can ship in a small flat-rate box for around $13.45.  That option doesn’t show up in the selection list, unfortunately; I’ll try to remedy that, but can’t say when it will be fixed.

If you pay with PayPal, it’s quite simple for me to adjust the shipping amount and issue a partial refund for the excess shipping charges.  Otherwise, if you see shipping charges you think might be too high, please contact me.  I am trying to get the shipping charges to accurately reflect the shipping cost and not penalize DX hams with extra costs.

There’s always room for one more feature, one more bug fix.  I’m already working on the next MK-1 firmware release.  So far it includes a couple of minor bug fixes, and a few new features.  No release date yet, of course.  New features will include some USB keyboard enhancements and the ability to use the keyboard in setup mode.  I’m also exploring the possibility of making the MK-1 work together with the Elecraft K3′s CW-to-data capabilities to enable computer-free RTTY and PSK31 modes from the keyboard.  I don’t know how well (or even if) that can be made to work, but it should be interesting to try.

I’ve discovered and isolated a bug in the PK-RM chip.  This bug was reported by Milan, OK1IF.  In straight key mode, the frequency offset doesn’t work.  I have a fix for this, and will be shipping all new PK-RM chips with the new firmware.  If you have one that has this problem (any PK-RM purchased prior to 12/12/09), I will re-program it at no cost other than postage.  If you have a PIC programmer contact me for a new HEX file.

There are a couple of new projects in the works also, no announcements yet but hopefully I’ll have some news during the first quarter of 2010.

As of this afternoon, I am officially releasing firmware version 1.20 for the MasterKeyer.  The new firmware and operator manual are available here.  I would recommend upgrading to V1.20 at your earliest convenience; it really is a major step up from V1.10 and earlier versions.  Please note that you may need to set your sidetone monitor (M),  precomp/first element (D) and amp lead/trail (J) delays after upgrading, but the rest of your settings should be fine.  If you are running an ALPHA or BETA test version of the firmware, please update to the new release version to make sure you have the latest bug fixes.

Below is a list of new features, improvements and bug fixes in V1.20:

NEW FEATURES:

• Emulation mode for K1EL Winkeyer commands has been added.  The MK-1 now works with a wide range of logging and contest software.  If it supports the Winkeyer, the MK-1 should work fine.
• Message pause will now wait input from the paddle OR from the USB keyboard, and will automatically resume sending after a word space, button push or ENTER key.
• The beacon /B command now supports optional numeric parameter to override the beacon delay setting.  Now any message can have its own repeat delay.
• In USB keyboard mode, ESC will terminate a message playing and clear the message queue.  END will still clear only the keyboard buffer.
• Sidetone choices are now: Always, Never, Paddle only.
• The demo/lamp test mode exits if you tap either paddle or any button.
• A new /M (Merge) embedded command allows you to merge two characters into one for non- International Morse characters and prosigns.
• The new /Snn embedded command sets a specific speed within a message (instead of just incrementing/decrementing the speed).

BUGFIXES / ENHANCEMENTS:

• Sidetone is now always on while in tune mode.
• Fixed a bug in message calls.  A message calling a lower numbered msg would terminate early and/or send FF (7 dashes) as a Morse character.
• Fixed a bug that caused problems backspacing (8 dits) while recording Message 1 from the paddles.
• Better treatment of precomp.  Now lengthens each element,  and shortens inter-element spaces by the same amount.   V1.10 only lengthened elements.
• Fixed a bug in message calls where last_word was not being set for the new message.
• Fixed a bug where loading settings from USB drive could turn off sidetone in command mode.
• Fixed a bug that could result in no sidetone for QSO number decrement (buttons 1&2)
• Improved sensitivity/timing of TUNE mode paddle sensing.
• Fixed sidetone issue while recording from USB keyboard
• Fixed an issue with multiple button presses sometimes not being detected (if they were within 5ms or so)
• Fixed potential buffer overflow with most_recent_word[]
• Fixed problem with weight adjustment being reversed for speeds of 25 WPM or higher
• USB keyboard Num Lock can be turned off.  For full size keyboards, this will have no effect.