[WriteLog] Rotator Control Mystery

Sun Mar 17 19:11:50 EDT 2013

Gary,
I changed various settings in the ini file per your suggestion. No luck.
I finally got tired of messing around with it. I opened the DCU-2, and 
changed the jumper from USB to RS232, and broke out a COM to USB converter 
cable. I set up the COM Port as 1, and changed the baud rate to 4800. 
After setting the COM to 1 and DCU-1 protocol in Writelog, it works fine.
Thanks for your input.
Jim W4LC
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary AL9A" <al9a at mtaonline.net>
To: "Writelog" <writelog at contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2013 11:17 AM
Subject: Re: [WriteLog] Rotator Control Mystery
> Jim,
>> I just checked my writelog.ini file and find the following lines in the 
> [ENTRY] section:
>> LR=-1
> RotatorPort=6
> RotatorType=0
>> In looking at the Entry section in the Help manual it says "LR=1 -1 for 
> neither, 1 means Right, 0 means Left" I have no idea what "LR" stands for 
> and the manual doesn't specify it. Maybe you could play with this setting 
> and see if it changes anything. My rotator com port is 6, it must be 
> between 1 and 8, and my RotatorType=0. The manual says "RotatorType=1 
> DCU-1, Yaesu, etc.". My rotator is an old Create Design with a Green 
> Heron controller box. It uses a USB connection and the DCU-1 protocol. I 
> don't know why my ini file says RotatorType=0 and the manual says 
> RotatorType=1. Again, you might try playing with this setting in the ini 
> file to see if it makes a difference.
>> Do you happen to have another logger program that can control the rotator 
> via a port command? In my case I use DXBase and can control my rotator 
> from that software as well as WL. I think N1MM and others can do 
> likewise. If so, try setting up the rotator interface in the other logger 
> and see what happens there. If the problem repeats it probably isn't WL.
>> 73,
> Gary AL9A
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "JE Brown" <W4LC at fuse.net>
> To: <writelog at contesting.com>
> Cc: <CQ-contest at contesting.com>
> Sent: March 17, 2013 5:51 AM
> Subject: [WriteLog] Rotator Control Mystery
>>>> The DCU-2 control mystery continues. I have been trying to use my new 
>> Hy-Gain DCU-2 in the BARTG contest.
>>>> This has a built in chip, and only requires a USB cable to the PC. A 
>> virtual COM port was installed per the instructions and using the drivers 
>> called for. This port (COM8) shows in Device Mgr and reports to be 
>> working ok.
>>>> Writelog recognizes the port in "port setup", and the DCU-1 protocol is 
>> selected (same as DCU-2).
>>>> When a call or prefix is entered into the logging field, the bearing 
>> shows as it should in the Bearing box. Selecting RADIO>ANTENNA to XXX 
>> Azimuth from the top menu moves the rotator to the correct bearing as it 
>> should. But it will not do it again for any call or prefix. The correct 
>> bearing still shows in the RADIO>ANTENNA to XXX Azimuth for the next call 
>> or prefix, but the rotator does not get the command. Checking the Device 
>> Mgr, the COM8 still shows and reports to be working ok. The COM8 port 
>> and DCU-1 protocol still shows as being selected under "port setup".
>>>> Exiting Writelog, then restarting, Writelog remembers all settings, 
>> including COM8 and DCU-1 protocol. Again, the rotator will move to the 
>> correct bearing or prefix as entered in the logging box, but only once. 
>> Then not again.
>>>> I have reinstalled the drivers, but no luck.
>>>> The DCU-2 works just fine under manual control.
>>>> This must be something fairly simple, but I am out of ideas right now.
>>>> Any suggestions?
>>>> Jim W4LC
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