Sam, I had similar problems and have partially resolved them.
With paddles and the internal keyer I had problems much as you describe. This was resolved by using an external keyer, in my case either a K1EL WKUSB or a little PicoKeyer. Cabling from the external keyer is set up as with a straight key or bug. When wiring up a straight key or external keyer it's very important to connect either the ring or tip of the plug (but NOT both) and leave the other unconnected. I'd say it's also important with a bug except that, regardless of wiring, neither of my bugs are usable with the 5000A giving results exactly as you describe. I like to use a straight key and I've found that I can get consistently good results with my Junker key but not with my other straight key. As with you, all my keys/bugs/paddles work fine with my other rigs. Here's my guess at what's going on. Per Eric, each transition on either the ring or the sleeve of the keying input generates an interrupt (presumably to the uP in the 5000A). Wiring both the ring and tip to one side of a straight key/external keyer and the sleeve to the other generates two simultaneous interrupts that cause problems for the 5000A. I originally had both ring and tip wired (the manual seems to say you should do this) and could not get a straight key or external keyer to work reliably until I disconnected the ring at Eric's suggestion. If the dual interrupts caused by wiring both ring and tip cause problems then my guess is that any kind of "scratchy", bouncy keying source causes the same kind of problems by generating a series of high-frequency interrupts during the period while the key closure is settling down. That's why the Junker, which is a very precise key with a wide contact area works fine but my other, sloppier straight key has problems and the always scratchy bugs drive it nuts. To put it another way, sounds like a classic switch bounce problem to me -- the key input needs some debouncing, either via software or hardware. That's why the external keyers work perfectly even at the highest speeds they will run. They effectively debounce the input to the 5000A. That's also why the problems associated with running paddles to the internal keyer occur infrequently -- the paddles have a little bit of bounce but are not nearly as scratchy as my sloppy straight key or especially a bug. I've been thinking seriously about adding some simple hardware debouncing to one of the bugs to see if it helps or solves the problem. Maybe one of the Flex guys can jump in and let me know if I'm off-base and/or whether the bug debounce experiment would be worth trying. 73, Mike - ke5akl _______________________________________________ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kb.flex-radio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flex-radio.com/
