1. DXLab@groups.io
   Date   
Re: transitioning from Windows 7 to Windows 10

Michael Adams
 

Thanks, Mike! The propensity of Windows 10 Updates to trash serial port assignments and soundcard settings is a recurring theme. Is anyone aware of an application that can reliably save these settings to a file (that can be backed up) prior to a Windows 10 update and then if necessary restore them afterwards?
Unfortunately, I never found such a utility.  During the first year or so of W10 availaibility (when I had made the mistake of getting frequent updates through the Windows Insider program), I just made a habit of checking the settings after a update.   With a cheat sheet and some practice, it just became a 2-minute chore, annoying but not terribly difficult.

However, it's a chore that I have not had to repeat in a couple of years.  The last time I needed to consult my notes on which COM ports are supposed to have which numbers, for example, was when I put a new shack PC into service.

I don't doubt that COM port renumbering and audio settings changes isn't still a problem on some W10 PCs, but those and a few other annoyances have been significantly reduced since W10 first came out.

I will observe that if a user is sensitive to such headaches, and if that user has Windows 10 Pro (a $99 upgrade from W10 home that adds this capability, remote desktop access, and a few other features you probably don't need if you don't already know about them), you can reduce the frequency of these headaches by either opting for the semiannual channel for updates (prior to the 1903 update), or by pushing the "delay feature updates" setting to the maximum of 120 days (1903 and later) under Settings | Windows Update | Advanced, placing that machine on a trajectory that will cause most bugs/issues to have been worked out before the now-annual updates hit.   

(I do not use that setting on my shack PC, but I do use it on the machine hosting my DX cluster node, and on my wife's and father's PCs.)

-- Michael/ N1EN
Re: Thank you Dave!

Gilbert Baron W0MN
 

All true but then you have to reinstall all of your applications which can be a pain and in some case not even possible because you no longer have the installation media. ACRONIS claims it can install  to different hardware because it automatically gets the correct drivers. Not sure, have not had the bad luck to have to do it but it is something you can try.

 

You still  will have to get the W10 activated on the new system and the telephone route is probably going to be required to do that.

 

Outlook Laptop Gil W0MN

Hierro Candente Batir de Repente

44.08226N 92.51265 W en34rb

 

 

From: DXLab@groups.io <DXLab@groups.io> On Behalf Of Ronald Wolenski via Groups.Io
Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2019 22:41
To: DXLab@groups.io
Subject: Re: [DXLab] Thank you Dave!

 

 


The reason you can't take an image from one computer and restore it to the same computer but a different motherboard is is not because the it's "married" even though the SID has changed, it's because the drivers for a different motherboard are different.?? When installing Windows it will install drivers for what's on the motherboard.???? You can, and I have done this, is to replace the motherboard with an identical model of the motherboard with no issues.?? If you do an repair or reinstall, you can then reregister the license with Microsoft and get another avtivation code, just use the phone in option and make sure to tell them it's not being used on any other computer.

BTW I've been doing Windows upgrades from Windows 3.1 up to Windows 10 with no issues at all.?? Maybe it's because I've been doing system admin for 30 years now, but never had a problem unless I caused it myself.?? I've done restores using Paragon Backup and Restore but like I said it's only because I did something stupid myself, not with an upgrade.?? Don't use Windows 7 start, never could stand the W7 start menu, I like W10 much better.

--
-All knowledge is for good. Only the use to which you put it can be good or evil.


--

W0MN EN34rb 44.08226 N 92.51265 W

Hierro candente, batir de repente

HP Laptop
Re: Thank you Dave!

Ronald Wolenski
 



The reason you can't take an image from one computer and restore it to the same computer but a different motherboard is is not because the it's "married" even though the SID has changed, it's because the drivers for a different motherboard are different.?? When installing Windows it will install drivers for what's on the motherboard.???? You can, and I have done this, is to replace the motherboard with an identical model of the motherboard with no issues.?? If you do an repair or reinstall, you can then reregister the license with Microsoft and get another avtivation code, just use the phone in option and make sure to tell them it's not being used on any other computer.

BTW I've been doing Windows upgrades from Windows 3.1 up to Windows 10 with no issues at all.?? Maybe it's because I've been doing system admin for 30 years now, but never had a problem unless I caused it myself.?? I've done restores using Paragon Backup and Restore but like I said it's only because I did something stupid myself, not with an upgrade.?? Don't use Windows 7 start, never could stand the W7 start menu, I like W10 much better.
--
-All knowledge is for good. Only the use to which you put it can be good or evil.

Re: Webhook Support

Russ Ravella
 

Dang, and I had that page up and would have told you I’d read it top to bottom.  I obviously missed those notes.

Ok, “it’s a BS warning, just disable it” approach executed.  All is well.

Thanks as always Dave!
Russ, KR6W



On Oct 13, 2019, at 5:47 PM, Dave AA6YQ <aa6yq@...> wrote:

+ AA6YQ comments below

On Sun, Oct 13, 2019 at 05:12 PM, Russ Ravella wrote:
I’d very much like to use SpotCollector’s email alert system described in the support documentation you targeted in this post.  I always use a gmail account similar to the first example in the documentation for ham radio related things.  I tried this many months ago but the test message was blocked and I received a “Less secure app blocked” warning from the gmail system saying, “Google blocked the app you were trying to use because it doesn’t meet our security standards” (I can forward the email to you if that would be helpful).  Looking into it, gmail gives me a choice to “...turn on access to these apps…” but warns it will create a security risk if I do.  It does not provide an option to allow access for just one user qualified app.  Things being what they are, I decided to heed the warning and didn’t turn off their block.  At the time I didn’t want to bother you with the whole thing (since I bother you enough with other things already) but since the subject came up anyway ...
 
When I saw this post, I decided to try again because I’d really like to use this function but got the same message.  I receive alerts from the HRDlog.net system without this problem somehow.  I’ve carefully followed your SC>Config>email settings instructions as far as I can see.  Could I still have something set up incorrectly?  Is this just a BS message I should ignore and turn off their block?

+ See notes a and b in step 1 of

<https://www.dxlabsuite.com/dxlabwiki/eMailAnnouncements>

          73,

                Dave, AA6YQ
Re: Webhook Support

Dave AA6YQ
 

+ AA6YQ comments below

On Sun, Oct 13, 2019 at 05:12 PM, Russ Ravella wrote:
I’d very much like to use SpotCollector’s email alert system described in the support documentation you targeted in this post.  I always use a gmail account similar to the first example in the documentation for ham radio related things.  I tried this many months ago but the test message was blocked and I received a “Less secure app blocked” warning from the gmail system saying, “Google blocked the app you were trying to use because it doesn’t meet our security standards” (I can forward the email to you if that would be helpful).  Looking into it, gmail gives me a choice to “...turn on access to these apps…” but warns it will create a security risk if I do.  It does not provide an option to allow access for just one user qualified app.  Things being what they are, I decided to heed the warning and didn’t turn off their block.  At the time I didn’t want to bother you with the whole thing (since I bother you enough with other things already) but since the subject came up anyway ...
 
When I saw this post, I decided to try again because I’d really like to use this function but got the same message.  I receive alerts from the HRDlog.net system without this problem somehow.  I’ve carefully followed your SC>Config>email settings instructions as far as I can see.  Could I still have something set up incorrectly?  Is this just a BS message I should ignore and turn off their block?

+ See notes a and b in step 1 of

<https://www.dxlabsuite.com/dxlabwiki/eMailAnnouncements>

          73,

                Dave, AA6YQ
Re: Webhook Support

Russ Ravella
 

Hi Dave,

I’d very much like to use SpotCollector’s email alert system described in the support documentation you targeted in this post.  I always use a gmail account similar to the first example in the documentation for ham radio related things.  I tried this many months ago but the test message was blocked and I received a “Less secure app blocked” warning from the gmail system saying, “Google blocked the app you were trying to use because it doesn’t meet our security standards” (I can forward the email to you if that would be helpful).  Looking into it, gmail gives me a choice to “...turn on access to these apps…” but warns it will create a security risk if I do.  It does not provide an option to allow access for just one user qualified app.  Things being what they are, I decided to heed the warning and didn’t turn off their block.  At the time I didn’t want to bother you with the whole thing (since I bother you enough with other things already) but since the subject came up anyway ...

When I saw this post, I decided to try again because I’d really like to use this function but got the same message.  I receive alerts from the HRDlog.net system without this problem somehow.  I’ve carefully followed your SC>Config>email settings instructions as far as I can see.  Could I still have something set up incorrectly?  Is this just a BS message I should ignore and turn off their block?

Thanks As Always,
Russ, KR6W




On Oct 13, 2019, at 10:34 AM, Dave AA6YQ <aa6yq@...> wrote:

+ AA6YQ comments below

On Sun, Oct 13, 2019 at 10:23 AM, Jon KM8V wrote:

Just a thought.. it'd be cool if SpotCollector had support to post to a web API like Pushover for "needed" alerts / alarm push notifications to mobile devices..

+ SpotCollector has long provided the ability to send email and SMS notifications to mobile devices. See

<https://www.dxlabsuite.com/dxlabwiki/eMailAnnouncements>

 

+ The Pushover API you suggest can only convey notifications to mobile devices running the Pushover application.          

       73,

                Dave, AA6YQ
Re: Rig control not working

Bill - AA4M
 

Definitely!  I've set the Launcher up to open all my DXLab applications, open JTAlert, then WSJT-X is opened by JTAlert.  It is all working together great!

73, Bill  AA4M

On 10/13/2019 16:31:34, Dave AA6YQ wrote:
+ AA6YQ comments below

For the last 2 days I've been studying documentation until I'm cross-eyed, but somehow I overlooked this most important part (described
below) of the setup. FT8 is now working fine on my PC - through COM3!

+ Is Commander able to control your IC-7610?

73,

Dave, AA6YQ
Re: Rig control not working

Dave AA6YQ
 

+ AA6YQ comments below

For the last 2 days I've been studying documentation until I'm cross-eyed, but somehow I overlooked this most important part (described
below) of the setup. FT8 is now working fine on my PC - through COM3!

+ Is Commander able to control your IC-7610?

73,

Dave, AA6YQ
Re: Rig control not working

Bill - AA4M
 

Actually, after sending you my last message I completely uninstalled and reinstalled the device drivers.  Now the Device Manager is only showing the drivers on COM3 & COM4.

For the last 2 days I've been studying documentation until I'm cross-eyed, but somehow I overlooked this most important part (described below) of the setup.  FT8 is now working fine on my PC - through COM3!

Thanks very much for the great support Dave and for the great software!

73, Bill  AA4M

On 10/13/2019 13:28:10, Dave AA6YQ wrote:
Serial ports created by the IC-7610's device driver will be labeled "Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge".

Thus your 7610's CAT port is COM3, COM4, or COM7 - not COM1 as your Commander screen shot shows you have configured.

Powering down your 7610 will make two of those ports disappear. Note them. Then power your 7610 back on, and try Commander with each of the two ports that disappeared when your 7610 was powered down.

73,

Dave, AA6YQ
Re: How did I mess up Import QSOs

Dave AA6YQ
 

+ AA6YQ comments below

On Sun, Oct 13, 2019 at 01:44 PM, Wes Cosand wrote:

read https://www.dxlabsuite.com/dxkeeper/Help/Import.htm but I still messed up.  Here is how I had the import options set:
 
 
 
And here is a sample of my log

 
 
Obviously, I don't understand the duplicate checking process.  What did I do wrong
+ This Group is configured to not convey attachments. Please send your screen shot and log sample to me via

aa6yq (at) ambersoft.com

       73,

            Dave, AA6YQ
How did I mess up Import QSOs

Wes Cosand
 

Hi Dave:

After ten years of CW Skimmer receive-only operation, I have become fascinated by the sensitivity I'm observing with FT8 and so I've been making QSOs again with Wsjt-X and the DX Lab Suite as described in  http://www.dxlabsuite.com/dxlabwiki/GettingStartedwithK1JTModesDirect 

I've been using a Ten Tec Orion controlled by Commander but that hasn't been robust enough so I've switched to having WSJT-X control the transmitter but still using the UDP communications and for some reason that is working better.  But in learning how to operate I've failed to get all my QSOs into DXKeeper.  So I tried to import the ADIF version of the WSJT-X log.   I read https://www.dxlabsuite.com/dxkeeper/Help/Import.htm but I still messed up.  Here is how I had the import options set:



And here is a sample of my log



Obviously, I don't understand the duplicate checking process.  What did I do wrong?

Sorry to take your time, Dave

Wes WZ7I
Re: Rig control not working

Dave AA6YQ
 

+ AA6YQ comments below

I just bought a new 7610 and have all the same issues. I have Commander running a Elecraft K3s and a ICOM 9100 but now replaced the K3s with the 7610 and its a go no. Dave please share what you find with Bill

+ There are several DXLab ops using IC-7610's without difficulty.

+ As is noted in

<https://www.dxlabsuite.com/dxlabwiki/ConnectingIcom72007600>

+ when connected to your computer via USB, your IC-7610 creates two COM ports: one port for transceiver control, and the other for RTTY FSK generation.

+ Page 8 of this Icom manual

<http://www.icom.co.jp/world/support/download/manual/pdf/USB_Port_Setting_Ver.1.0_Eng.pdf>

+ explains how to determine which COM port supports transceiver control. That's the port you should specify in step 4.a of

<https://www.dxlabsuite.com/dxlabwiki/TranceiverControlIcom>

73,

Dave, AA6YQ
Re: Rig control not working

W8DSB
 

I just bought a new 7610 and have all the same issues. I have Commander running a Elecraft K3s and a ICOM 9100 but now replaced the K3s with the 7610 and its a go no. Dave please share what you find with Bill
Re: Rig control not working

Dave AA6YQ
 

On Sun, Oct 13, 2019 at 10:47 AM, Bill - AA4M wrote:

* more AA6YQ comments below

+ Randomly changing settings that once worked can only make things worse.
I know, whenever I think I may have made too many changes, I recover by loading the original config from my SD drive.

* Please do the following:

1. make a screen shot of the General tab of Commander's Configuration window, and attach it to an email message

2. make a screen shot of the Ports tab of Commander's Configuration window, and attach it to the email message created in step 1 above

3. send the email message to me via

aa6yq (at) ambersoft.com

         73,

               Dave, AA6YQ
Re: Rig control not working

Bill - AA4M
 

On 10/13/2019 07:59:56, Dave AA6YQ wrote:
+ AA6YQ comments below

Your suggestion was a good one! I found that I had 2 ports that were not needed and a 2nd port assigned to the same one as my IC-7610. I cleaned up things, then uninstalled the CODEC files which automatically went to COM3, my communications port. I reassigned my communications port to COM2, rebooted, and still show this problem in WSJT-X:

"Hamlib error: Communication bus error while getting current frequency"

+ I suspect that means WSJT-X is configured to directly control your IC-7610, as opposed Commander. If that's the case, any changes you make to Commander's settings would have no effect.
I knew that.  I've tried running Commander alone, WSJT-X alone, WSJT-X with Commander, WSJT-X started by JTalert, etc., I get the same result every time.

+ My advice: terminate WSJT-X, and start Commander. Can Commander control your 7610?
I have tried that many times, no luck.

I've been playing around with this problem for about 10 hours now but have not fixed it! Once things started working normally, but quit all by itself, I don't know why it started up much less why it quit. I've experimented with the DATA MOD commands until I'm blue in the face with no joy.

+ Randomly changing settings that once worked can only make things worse.
I know, whenever I think I may have made too many changes, I recover by loading the original config from my SD drive.

73, Bill - AA4M
Re: Webhook Support

Dave AA6YQ
 

+ AA6YQ comments below

On Sun, Oct 13, 2019 at 10:23 AM, Jon KM8V wrote:

Just a thought.. it'd be cool if SpotCollector had support to post to a web API like Pushover for "needed" alerts / alarm push notifications to mobile devices..

+ SpotCollector has long provided the ability to send email and SMS notifications to mobile devices. See

<https://www.dxlabsuite.com/dxlabwiki/eMailAnnouncements>

 

+ The Pushover API you suggest can only convey notifications to mobile devices running the Pushover application.          

       73,

                Dave, AA6YQ
Webhook Support

Jon KM8V
 

Dave,

Just a thought.. it'd be cool if SpotCollector had support to post to a web API like Pushover for "needed" alerts / alarm push notifications to mobile devices..

73 de KM8V
Re: Wrong import of '<MODE:4>MFSK <SUBMODE:3>FT4'

Dave AA6YQ
 

* more AA6YQ comments below

OK, Dave, it is Your child , it is perfect and I am in no position to argue with that.

However,

re:

+ The only "synchronizing" DXKeeper does is with LoTW and eQSL. Users

+ have been successfully employing this synchronization with FT4

QSOs for months, with no reports of failure. If you're seeing a problem with LoTW or eQSL synchronization of FT4 QSOs, please
describe it.

I have just got the eQSL synchronizing error record:

snip<
2019-10-13 08:51 R7KO 20M MFSK MFSK16 +02 no QSO matching callsign, band, and mode

2019-10-13 13:26 YC9ZGD 20M MFSK FT4 +03 no QSO matching callsign, band, and mode

2019-10-13 15:24 DF8RJ 40M MFSK FT4 12 no QSO matching callsign, band, and mode


All the above QSOs are logged in DXKeeper with mode FT4 and submode blank - whatever that may mean.

* eQSL is reporting that R7KO reported your QSO to be in MFSK16, not in FT4. "no QSO matching callsign, band, and mode" is correct.

* With respect to your logged QSO with YC9ZGD, what date, time, and band does it specify?

* With respect to your logged QSO with DF8RJ, what date, time, and band does it specify?

73,

Dave, AA6YQ
Re: Wrong import of '<MODE:4>MFSK <SUBMODE:3>FT4'

Alec SP2EWQ
 

 

 

OK, Dave, it is Your child , it is perfect and I am in no position to argue with that.

However,

re:

+ The only "synchronizing" DXKeeper does is with LoTW and eQSL. Users

+ have been successfully employing this synchronization with FT4

QSOs for months, with no reports of failure. If you're seeing a problem with LoTW or eQSL synchronization of FT4 QSOs, please describe it.

 

I have just got the eQSL synchronizing error record:

 

--

 

ADIF 3 Export from eQSL.cc

Received eQSLs for SP2EWQ  QTH Nickname: Czersk-EWQ

for QSOs between 21-Jul-2008 and 01-Jan-2020 and uploaded on or after 13-Oct-2019 14:09Z

Generated on Sunday, October 13, 2019 at 15:25:51 PM UTC

<PROGRAMID:21>eQSL.cc DownloadInBox

<ADIF_Ver:5>3.1.0

 

 

 

 

        Date      Time           Call    Band      Mode           Submode           RST    Error

 

  2019-10-13  08:51              R7KO     20M      MFSK            MFSK16           +02    no QSO matching callsign, band, and mode

  2019-10-13  13:26            YC9ZGD     20M      MFSK               FT4           +03    no QSO matching callsign, band, and mode

  2019-10-13  15:24             DF8RJ     40M      MFSK               FT4            12    no QSO matching callsign, band, and mode

 

--

 

All the above QSOs are logged in DXKeeper with mode FT4 and submode blank – whatever that may mean…

I have no idea now – is that an error or it is still all working properly then,

please?

 

 

 

Best regards,

Alec

 

 

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: DXLab@groups.io <DXLab@groups.io> On Behalf Of Dave AA6YQ
Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2019 5:13 PM
To: DXLab@groups.io
Subject: Re: [DXLab] Wrong import of '<MODE:4>MFSK <SUBMODE:3>FT4'

 

+ AA6YQ comments below

 

OK, Dave,

so why the import-export dichotomy then, please?

 

+ There is no "import-export dichotomy". DXKeeper correctly imports and exports QSOs whose mode is FT4.

 

 

If I import  <MODE:4>MFSK I expect the mode to be shown in the DXKeeper as MFSK.

If the above is accompanied by <SUBMODE:3>FT4, I expect the DXKeeper Sub Mode field to show FT4 in there.

 

+ Your expectation is incorrect. ADIF uses

 

<MODE:4>MFSK <SUBMODE:3>FT4

 

+ to convey a QSO whose mode is FT4.

 

+ DXKeeper displays this QSO as having a mode of FT4, as users would expect.

 

+ ADIF could have decided to use

 

<MODE:3>FOO <SUBMODE:3>BAR

 

+ to convey a QSO whose mode is FT4. Would you want DXKeeper to display this QSO with a mode of FOO and a submode of BAR?

 

 

It seems simple and logical.

 

+ ADIF is an interchange specification; it specifies the character strings used to move information from one application to another.

It does not specify how those applications should display information to users. Users expect an FT4 QSO to be displayed with a mode of FT4.

 

+ 99.9% of the time, DXKeeper users need have no idea how a mode (or anything else) is represented in ADIF.

 

 

Especially that, while synchronizing, DXKeeper is NOT able to correctly match the incoming QSO record (MFSK-FT4) with the incorrectly imported record in DXKeeper (FT4-BLANK).

 

+ The only "synchronizing" DXKeeper does is with LoTW and eQSL. Users

+ have been successfully employing this synchronization with FT4

QSOs for months, with no reports of failure. If you're seeing a problem with LoTW or eQSL synchronization of FT4 QSOs, please describe it.

 

         73,

 

              Dave, AA6YQ

 

 

 
Re: Wrong import of '<MODE:4>MFSK <SUBMODE:3>FT4'

g4wjs
 

On 13/10/2019 16:22, Alec SP2EWQ wrote:
Bill,

OK, I understand Your point of view,
so what the Sub Mode field in DXKeeper is then for?
Let's go and dump it...

Best regards,
Alec
As far as I know it is a commentary field that has no bearing on the behaviour of DXKeeper, that doesn't mean it should be removed. Personally I use it to record QSOs using variations of modes that are not otherwise distinguished by other fields and are not covered by the main mode enumeration.



--
73

Bill

G4WJS.