Jim Reisert : DX4WIN | MMTTY |
Here are some hints to setting up DX4WIN to work with MMTTY. This only applies to DX4WIN 7.01 and later which added native MMTTY support.
First, make sure that MMTTY is working properly by itself (i.e. stand-alone) before trying to make it work from within DX4WIN. That will ensure your AFSK/FSK/PTT interface is working correctly.
Here is what the RTTY preferences screen should look like in DX4WIN. Note that the RTTY interface at the top must be set to "None". Other than that, nothing else in this section matters at all! Make sure to enter the full path to mmtty.exe in the last line.
Now launch the DX4WIN MMTTY window (from the Window Menu). Then press ALT-S to bring up the MMTTY keying setup dialog:
Be sure to set it to PTT CONTROL and either DTR or RTS depending on which line you are using for PTT. Do not set this to the COM port as it will conflict with the one you have set in MMTTY and result in a port already in use error.
Tom, W2EQ adds this reminder: "DX4WIN CW keying and MMTTY cannot share the same COM port line for PTT. If you set it up like that you can wind up in the situation where DX4WIN\MMTTY will key the transmitter but not send data."
A while back there was a post from someone who was having trouble launching RTTY from within DX4WIN. I'm not sure that question was ever answered, but I seem to remember the individual said that the MMTTY control panel would appear then disappear after about 10 seconds or so.
I think I have the solution for this problem. I also ran into this same problem with a user of my software who has a Win2K machine. The problem was the users Firewall, Zone Alarm in this case.
The method used to launch MMTTY is called the remote mode and is launched via a Windows API called CreateProcess. Zone Alarm and other firewalls along with some Anti-Virus software have an option to prevent these types of calls unless the user specifically allows the program to do so.
If you are experiencing this problem, I recommend you shutdown all firewalls including the Windows firewall and your anti-virus software. Once you get MMTTY running you can experiment to discoverer which program is causing the problem then enable the option to allow these calls. Since I am not a Zone Alarm user, I do not know the exact place to enable this function, but it is clearly defined in the users help manual.
The macro definitions for CW, PSK31, and RTTY modes are all contained within your save\DX4WIN.CFG file, which cannot be edited off-line (well, not unless someone has written an editor to read/write the CFG file).
However, there is a work-around for editable macros. Aside from the short, non-changing macros like "MyCall", "ReplyCQ" and "EndQSO" (which I never change), I created a subdirectory named dx4w804\macros, and within that subdirectory I placed text files with long or often-edited macros - names like FK_CW_bragsheet.txt and FK_RTTY_intro.txt and FK_PSK_callcq.txt. Then, in the CFG macro definitions, I call those text files with the corresponding macro string: i.e. Intro|%f..\macros\FK_RTTY_Intro%
It's a bit of a kludge, but has worked for me for many years. I suppose if you really wanted to, you could divert EVERY function key as FK_RTTY_F1.txt and FK_RTTY_F2.txt and direct every macro to an external file.