Copyright: Sergei Podstrigailo, DXsoft


UA9OV CwType 1.55

The terminal program for CW-operators is offered to your attention.

You can transmit both from the keyboard and/or a paddle connected to a joystick port (or to LPT, COM...).

Iambic mode is supported with a paddle.

Keying of the transceiver (PTT and CW keying) is made through one of the COM,  LPT or USB ports.

CwType works with Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP.

           Connecting computer with a transceiver

           The program overview

           Macrosequences

           User licence


Connecting computer with transceiver
Connecting a computer with a transceiver and program setup

The program controls a transceiver via a simple circuit connected to either a COM or LPT port or via an interface connected to a USB-port.

Port type and operation are defined by options on the  "Setup/Interface" page .

The "Key/Ptt port type" is used to define the hardware port type being used for transmitter control.

Available values are:

   NONE - interface is not used.

   COM-Port (direct control) - COM-port with direct program control is used. This is not a recommended option.

   COM-Port (via Windows API) -  COM-port with control via the Windows API. A USB/COM converter

                                                    can be used with this option.

   LPT Port - LPT-port with an interface similar to the one shown below.

   LPT Port (N6TR or W1GEE interface) - LPT-port with N6TR-compatible or W1GEE interface.

   OmniRig - the same COM port which is used for CAT-control is used for keying.

                    OmniRig ActiveX control is used in this case. For example, Hamport software uses this Activex.

   RigExpert - The RigExpert USB interface is used (not the RigExpert Tiny).

   RigExpert without PTT - The RigExpert is used, but PTT output is not used to permit transceiver fast MOX using.

The"Key/Ptt port number" list defines the port number.

The "Key/Ptt port pins" area includes controls to define the connector pins used for PTT, CW-key and interface power supply (Power and Power2).

The "Use extended parameters (from ini-file)" option is used if more complicated pins manipulation is necessary.

In the above configuration example, DTR signal (pin 20 of the 25-pin plug or pin 4 of nine-pin plug) is used for CW keying, CTS signal (pin 4 or pin 7 respectively) - for TX/RX switching. The ground line is pin 7 or pin 5 .In another words, the transceiver control circuit is the same as the HAMCOMM interface. The simplest circuit diagram available is shown below.

 Rigblaster Plus, MFJ-1279M and RigExpert Tiny interfaces can be used with such configuration also.

The simplest circuit diagram for LPT-port is shown below.

The "Paddle Port" list defines how the paddle is connected.

Available values are:

  NONE - paddle is not used.

  Game port at 200h - a paddle is connected to  a game port with standard  address

                                   ("dot" - pin 2 of plug, "dash" - pin 7, "common" - pin 5).

  Game port at 208h - a paddle is connected to a game port with base address 208h.

  LPT1, LPT2, LPT3  - a paddle is connected to LPT-port as shown at schematics above.

  User defined port  -  hardware ports and bits defined in the "Paddle Details" area are used.

                                   In this case the "dots" paddle is considered pressed, if the expression

                                  (inp(Dot port) ^Dot Xor mask)&Dot AND mask is not equal to zero.

                                  Similarly the "dash" paddle is considered pressed, if the expression

                                  (inp(Dash port) ^Dash XOR Mask)&Dash AND Mask is not equal to zero.

The "Exchange DLL channel" value doesn't relate to hardware interface, it is used during data exchange between CwType and another software.


Program overview

The "TX" button switches the transmitter on. The program transmits characters entered into the bottom window. During transmission, sent symbols change their color and are copied into the Sent window (top window). Chars sent by paddle are shown in upper window also. Transmitted text is deleted from the Input window if the "Line Feed" character is found (it is transmitted as space) or after switching transmitter off.

The "Pause" button stops sending pre-typed symbols. Transmitter is left on and you can send symbols via paddle.

In top left-hand corner are speed, dash/dot ratio and inter-letter space adjustments.

If inter-letter space value is below the dash length, then the inter-letter space is defined by dash/dot value. Resultant transmitting speed is shown in the status line in LPM (letters per minute) and WPM (words per minute). Speed is calculated by the "PARIS" method. Hotkeys for speed adjustments are

Alt/- or Ctrl/- and Alt/+ or Ctrl/+ .

There is a sound on/off button in the top right hand corner. Sound can be produced from the internal computer speaker or a sound cord. Sound source is selected in the "Setup/Sound" page.

Sound frequency is defined at the same page. A soundcard generated signal has a sine waveform and a smooth envelope, so it can be used to form a CW signal from a SSB transmitter. The rise and decay time of soundcard generated CW-signals is defined by "Rise/Decay time". It is the time for a signal to rise from a 0 to 100% level in milliseconds. A rise time from 10% to 90% level is about 0.6 of a value defined by this control.

The "Real output sampling rate" value means the real sampling frequency of a sound card.

The "Enable MOX" option on the "Setup/MOX & Paddle" page switches on MOX mode (automatic TX on/off). MOX details are configured in the "MOX Setup" area.

When the "Pause On at paddle press" option is checked, pressing a paddle switches on the "Pause" mode.

When the "Pause Off at Tx Off" option is checked, the "Pause" mode is switched off after the transmitter is off.

The "Paddle in Iambic mode" option switch on the "Iambic" mode (the memory of a unit of a symbol) for paddle handling.

The "Weighting" value is used to eliminate morse elements clipping by some transmitters with QSK. For example, if your transceiver shortens each element by 6 ms, you should use the "6" value. In this case the program sends elements 6 ms longer than normal, and subtracts 6 ms from the spaces between them. If your transceiver extends morse elements, you should use negative weighting, for example "-5".

The "F1"..."F12" buttons (and "F1"..."F12" keyboard keys) are used to transmit previously defined macros. You can also use the "Esc" key and Ctrl-F1...Ctrl-F12, Alt-F1...Alt-F12 combinations. The Alt-F6 combination is available only via mouse. Macros are inserted into the Input window in a place indicated by the cursor. A number of macro buttons can be increased or these buttons can be hidden  by the "Numbers of macros buttons row" control on the "Setup/View" page. Moreover, arrangement and size of these buttons can be changed by the  "Numbers of macros buttons columns" and "Height of macros buttons" controls.

To open the Edit Macros window, click to the "Edit macros" menu item. You can also edit text on macros buttons there. In turn, keyboard macros may contain special character sequences or macrosequences.

The "Fast Macros Edit" window is shown after right mouse button click at macro button also.

In particular, macrosequences can point to edit fields "Call", "Name", "RST" and "Other" located above the Sent Symbols window. The "Clear" button sets those fields to their default values. The default values are defined by parameters "CallOnClear", "RSTOnClear", "NameOnClear", "OtherOnClear" of the CWTYPE.INI file.

Edit fields can be hidden by unchecking the "Show edit fields" option on the "Setup/View" page .

The "Use 'Other' field as" option assigns an alternative meaning to the "Other" edit field. This new meaning is used to capture words from the CwGet software and to transfer data to a logger.

The  "Always on top" option puts CwType in front of all windows.

The "Beacon" button switches on the beacon mode. In this mode the Alt-F12 macro is executed periodically. The period in seconds is defined on the left of the "Beacon" button. The shortcuts for "Beacon" button are Alt-B and Ctrl-B.

If the "Beacon Off at paddle press" option is checked on the "Setup/MOX & Paddle" page, then beacon mode is switched off when a paddle is pressed. Special macrosequences can be used to switch the beacon mode on and off also.

The "File->Send Text File" puts text from selected file into the Input window. That text can also contain macrosequences.

The "File->Open Capture File" menu opens a capture-file for sent symbols. New sent symbols are written into that file. If the file exists, new symbols are appended to it. The "File->Close Capture File" command closes a capture-file. The capture-file state is shown in the status line. The hotkey for capture on/off commands is Alt-L. You can use the command line arguments "/c Filename" to open the capture file at the program startup. "Filename" is name of the file to be opened.

The options "English charset", "Russian charset","Swedish charset" and "User-defined charset" select the alphabet. The "user-defined charset" is setup as a simple  text file - see the  SAMPLE.CWT file for example.

Fonts and colors are selected by controls on the "Setup/Fonts & colors" page.

The program can transfer data to AALog logger (V1.0.3 and later). Data are transferred from the edit field after exiting from it. In turn, "Call",  "Name" and "Other" edit fields can receive data from the CwGet program.

The  "Setup/Other" page includes "Send Mode to logger when CwType starts" and "Send Mode to logger together with callsign" options. If the first option is checked, CwType transfers information about mode (CW) to the logger at the program start. If the second option is checked, CwType transfers information about mode together with information from the "Call" edit field.

The "ExportIniFile" and "ExportIniSection" parameters of the CWTYPE.INI file define another ini-file that is used to transfer data between edit fields and another programs.

The "Tune" menu command sends a continuous key down to tune the transmitter. Hotkey for this command is Alt-U.

Selected options of the program are saved via the "Setup->Save Setup" menu. Options are written into the file CWTYPE.INI . The program looks for this file in the working directory. You can have several variants of the ini-file for different situations (for example, one for ordinary QSO's, and another for contests). Just create several shortcuts to CWTYPE.EXE each with a different working directory.

Most of the screen buttons have keyboard shortcuts.

CwType interfaces with logger software via ini-files and Windows messages.  CwType can also get symbols to transmit from other software by DXSOFTEX.DLL library. See http://www.dxsoft.com/dxs-exch.zip for details about programs co-operation.

Responses and suggestions are most welcome.


Macrosequences overview

Macrosequences start with a character string "~[" or "`[" and are ended by the character "]". Macrosequences starting with the characters "~[" are expanded at once. Macrosequences starting with the characters  "`[" are expanded immediately before of transmission. Nested macrosequences are possible.

Here is list of macrosequences:

      ~[mNN] or `[mNN] - to insert keyboard macro with number NN.

      ~[fFilename] or `[fFilename] - to insert contents of the file Filename.

      ~[iField] or `[iField] - to insert value of a field Field from the

                      additional ini-file. A filename and section of ini-file

                      are defined by parameters ExternIniFile and

                      ExternIniSection in the file CWTYPE.INI . By default

                      the section QSO of AALOG.INI file (in Windows directory)

                      is used. These macrosequences can be used with great

                      AALog HAM logger by Alexander Anipkin, RZ4AG

                      (see http://www.dxsoft.com/ru/products/aalog/)

                      and some another loggers (f.e. XLog, SwissLog).

   ~[ec]  or `[ec]  - to insert value of the "Call" edit field.

   ~[er]  or `[er]  - to insert value of the "RST" edit field.

   ~[en]  or `[en]  - to insert value of the "Name" edit field.

   ~[eo]  or `[eo]  - to insert value of the "Other" edit field.

   ~[esr] or `[esr] - to insert value of the "RST" edit field

                                          with replacing "9" by "n" and  "0" by "t" .

                                          Analogous macrosequences are available for the other edit

                                          fields also:

                     ~[esc], `[esc], ~[esn], `[esn], ~[eso], `[eso].

   ~[lf]  or  `[lf] - to insert new line (CR+LF), it is transmitted as space.

   ~[cl]   or `[cl]   - to clear the input window.

   ~[csnt] or `[csnt] - to clear the Sent Symbols window.

   ~[ce]   or `[ce]      - to clear edit fields and fill them with default values.

   ~[nic] or `[nic] - to increment a number in the "Call" edit field.

   ~[nir] or `[nir] - to increment a number in the "RST" edit field.

   ~[nin] or `[nin] - to increment a number in the "Name" edit field.

   ~[nio] or `[nio] - to increment a number in the "Other" edit field.

      ~[tx]  - to switch TX on and to switch "pause" off.

   `[rx] - to switch TX off. Instead of this sequence it is possible

                    to use the character "}" also.

   `[pa] - to switch "pause" on.

   ~[bon]  or `[bon]  - to switch beacon mode on.

   ~[boff] or `[boff] - to switch beacon mode off.

   ~[lsN]   or `[lsN]     - to set inter-letter space to N dots. N is number in range from 3 to 99.

   ~[su]    or `[su]       - to increase speed at one step.

   ~[sd]    or `[sd]       - to decrease speed at one step.

   ~[spNNN] or `[spNNN] - to set speed of NNN LPM.

   ~[ss]    or `[ss]       - to save current speed to memory.

   ~[sr]    or `[sr]       - to restore speed from memory.

Please, think twice before using ~[s...] macrosequences! It is usually too hard to receive morse code with variable speed.

You can use Alt-] or Ctr-] keystrokes to immediately place the `[rx] sequence in the input window.

Here is a list of macrosequences for logger control:

   ~[lgc]  or `[glc]   -  to clear all fields, except "Date", "Band" and "Mode"

                                              in the "New QSO" window of the AALog.

   ~[lgt]  or `[glt]   -  to set current time and date in the "New QSO" logger window.

   ~[lgs]  or `[lgs]   -  to save QSO into the log.

   ~[lgts] or `[lgts] -  to set current time and date and save QSO.

Here is a list of macrosequences to control the CwGet sound buffer:

   ~[rpNN]  - to replay (re-decode) last NN seconds.

   ~[svNN]   - to save last NN seconds to a wave file.

   ~[svpNN] - to save last NN seconds to a wave file and replay it.


User Licence
Conditions of distribution and use of the CwType program

The program is distributed as freeware. You may use it free-of-charge for any purposes.

You may distribute copies of the program observing the following two conditions:

    1. You do it free-of-charge.

    2. You distribute the original archive unmodified.