[LOGic] Weird serial connection flakiness

Thu May 17 12:04:38 EDT 2007

The only thing that comes to mind is I read somewhere that some laptops do
not implement true RS232 signalling standards... i.e. voltages are actually
TTL instead of RS232 levels. Can't vouch for the accuracy of this
information though.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: logic-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
> [mailto:logic-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bill W5WVO
> Sent: Thursday, 17 May 2007 11:06 a.m.
> To: [LOGic]
> Subject: [LOGic] Weird serial connection flakiness
>>> I've been having this weird problem with the serial 
> connection between my new Dell laptop and my TS-B2000 via 
> LOGic7/8. (LOGic7 and LOGic8 both manifest this problem in 
> exactly the same way.) The symptoms are: (a) failure of the 
> LOGic-Radio serial connection to properly initialize on LOGic 
> start-up (99% of the time), and (b) losing serial 
> connectivity with the radio while using LOGic (at seemingly 
> random intervals measured in tens of minutes or hours). 
> Clicking "Reset radio and rotor interfaces" always 
> establishes or re-establishes connectivity -- for a while.
>> This issue seems to be specific to both LOGic and to this 
> computer or its OS. I didn't have the problem with the 
> desktop machine (now retired) and the same radio. The desktop 
> ran Windows 2000 Pro. The laptop runs Windows XP Home. And I 
> don't have the problem using other radio software on the same 
> laptop computer with the same radio at the same settings, 
> like the Kenwood TS-2000 control software, the 3rd-party 
> memory mapper software, or UIView APRS software. The serial 
> connection with all these programs is 100% reliable as far as 
> I can tell. 
>> I have no other radios to control with this serial port and 
> LOGic, so that's one variable I've been unable to characterize.
>> My engineering background tells me that something is right on 
> the margin of being able to work. Marginality can be either 
> in the voltage domain or in the time domain, and it sure 
> seems from these observations that this has to be timing, 
> since the hardware layer is the same in all configurations, 
> those that work reliably and the one (LOGic) that is flaky.
>> Two "obvious" things that this is not:
>> (a) It is NOT transmit RF getting into the radio's or 
> computer's serial logic and resetting it. I tested for this 
> extensively. In fact, failure of the serial connection almost 
> always occurs when the radio and LOGic have been idle for 
> some amount of time. (There must be a clue in that, but I 
> haven't yet figured out what it is.)
>> (b) It is NOT too fast a baud rate or too fast a polling 
> frequency. Changing the serial port interface settings both 
> on the radio and in LOGic have NO EFFECT on this problem. I 
> have changed baud rate, polling frequency, and stop bits. The 
> symptoms are always the same, regardless of how any of these 
> parameters are adjusted to slower speeds.
>> I'm getting sick of constantly reinitializing the serial 
> connection in LOGic. (Though it's really nice to have a way 
> to do this without relaunching the program!) I've talked with 
> Dennis, and he has no clue what could be causing this 
> behavior. Has anyone seen these symptoms before in any LOGic 
> configuration?
>> Bill / W5WVO
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