v6.88d "Find Com Port" is Missing

[Burt]

I just downloaded v6.88d. In the "Setup" menu I cannot find the, "Find Com Port" function. Has something changed that I missed out on?

Burt, K6OQK

[Bob]

Hi Burt,

The "Find Comm Port" function was not reliable with the latest versions of Windows, so I took it out.
If you were previously using a usb port, the comm port number is still the same with the new AIM program. Enter that value in the "Enter comm port" dialog box.

There is more information about setting up the usb port on this page:
www.w5big.com/FAQ.htm


73/Bob

[Burt]

Bob,

Thanks for the quick response. I'm loaning my Power AIM120 to a local Consulting Engineer. Earlier today we tried to load v6.88D onto his older Dell Latitude laptop runing XPpro. It has a USB spigot but we couldn't find drivers to work with the USB / serial adaptor I have, so we reverted back to using the serial port on the laptop. It turned out to be Comm Port 1 but we still had trouble getting it to be reliable. I suspect a problem with the laptop. He's going to bring another, newer HP computer and see if that works better. I'll let you know how it turns out. And, again, thanks.

Burt

[Bob]

Hi Burt,

I have run the AIM with an RS232 port on a 400MHz cpu with WIN 98. Even a relatively slow computer can keep up with the modest requirements of RS232 as long as it isn't trying to run a busy program in the background.

The i/o port starts out at 57.6K baud and then shifts up to 115K. Just in case this is too fast, there is a flag in the config file that keeps the port at 57.6K baud. Look for a comment about "bluetooth" operation.

Make sure some unsuspected program is not hogging the cpu.
A few months ago I was looking for info on a cute analog clock for the desktop. Some people noted that it took up a large percentage of the cpu time. I decided not to use it even on a fast computer.

-- 73/ Bob

[Burt]

We went through the computer and found several things that we hogging CPU time. They were removed and the computer is now working fine. The fellow who borrowed my Power AIM-120 is completely sold on it. He used it this past week to change frequencies on a Nautel ND-20, mainly for tuning the output network, which has the shunt branch double as the third harmonic trap.

Burt