[WT-support] Feature request: WinKey PTT should remain ON for the entire CW message

[Bob Wilson, N6TV]

Ken,

First, be sure to use WKSETUP [Enter] and check the "Short Spaces (CT
Space)" box to set the WinKey for 6-dit word-space instead of 7-dit word
space.  But this may not help.

Win-Test sends one ASCII character at a time, not one "word" at a time, to
the WinKey hardware.  This allows the operator to correct typing errors
before that letter has been transmitted.  For example, you can type N 6 T
[Insert to start sending] X W  [backspace] [backspace] V <space> 5 N N,
Win-Test will transmit N6TV 5NN if you were fast enough to backspace before
the "T" was sent.  That is why the PTT drops between words if PTT Tail is
too short.  I don't think this code in Win-Test can be changed without
causing unwanted side effects.

If you are using a modern transceiver that supports CW Keying via DTR and
PTT via RTS, you do not need to use a WinKey any more.  Keying works over
the same USB cable used for rig control.  Just plug paddles directly into
the transceiver, and key Win-Test CW via radio Virtual Serial Port DTR and
RTS pins.   Then Win-Test will hold PTT closed during word spaces, because
now Win-Test is in control of every dot and dash and every character in the
TX buffer including word spaces, instead of sending ASCII characters to
external hardware.  Some of my Win-Test LUA scripts (see
https://bit.ly/wtscripts) can keep the internal keyer speed in sync (or set
a little slower) than the Win-Test keying speed.  The only extra step is
that you have to press ESCape to halt Win-Test generated CW instead of just
hitting the paddles.

Please see this presentation linked from my QRZ.com page
<https://www.qrz.com/db/N6TV> which explains how to do CW keying without
WinKey for many modern transceivers.  There are no CW timing issues if the
Windows Power Plan is set correctly to High Performance mode.  Winkey
"keying compensation" (lengthening of each dot or dash by a fixed amount of
ms) is fully supported by Win-Test DTR keying if needed.

   - Everything You Need to Know About USB and Serial Interfaces
   <https://bit.ly/USBserial2025>, updated for 2025, presented at Dayton
   Contest University (CTU), May 15th, 2025

One exception seems to be the modern Yaesu rigs like the FTdx101 and
others.  Yaesu *does* support a menu setting PC KEYING via DTR, but the
left out the RPTT SELECT via RTS option for CW mode, something that Yaesu
could improve with a firmware update.  Meanwhile, an external keying
circuit could be used to provide PTT input for CW mode in the FTdx101D, or
you can try to adjust CW VOX delay (hang time) manually.

Older transceivers (or Yaesu rigs) that do not support CW via DTR and PTT
via RTS may use the legacy NPN keying circuit in the Win-Test manual or
Serial Box (https://bit.ly/S-BOX) for both CW keying and PTT.

https://docs.win-test.com/wiki/Interfaces#COM-port_CW_keying

73,
Bob, N6TV


On Thu, Sep 3, 2026 at 1:29 AM Kenji Koishi <microvert-7388 at hera.eonet.ne.jp>
wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I would like to suggest an improvement to Win-Test's WinKey PTT handling.
>
> I am using a K1EL WKmini Rev B with Win-Test. I have confirmed the
> following behavior:
>
> Win-Test:
> WinKey PTT Lead = 100 ms
> WinKey PTT Tail = 10 ms
>
> When an F-key CW message containing spaces is sent, PTT can drop during
> the spaces inside the message
> and then turn on again for the next part of the message.
>
> Increasing PTT Tail to around 100 ms prevents this, but this is only a
> workaround because it also
> unnecessarily delays PTT release after the complete message.
>
> WK3demo 4.2 behaves differently with the same WKmini.
> With WK3demo, PTT remains continuously ON throughout the complete CW
> message, including
> character/word spaces, and is released only after the message has finished.
>
> I found the previous WT-support discussion "K1EL WinKey switches PTT
> during CQ" from November 2024,
> where DL8NAS reported essentially the same behavior.
>
> Would it be possible for Win-Test to keep WinKey PTT asserted for the
> entire F-key CW message, rather
> than allowing the PTT Tail timer to expire during spaces within the
> message?
>
> Ideally the sequence would be:
>
> PTT ON → PTT Lead → complete F-key CW message → PTT Tail → PTT OFF
>
> In other words, PTT Tail should start only after the end of the complete
> Win-Test CW message, not during
> spaces inside that message.
>
> This would allow a short PTT Tail (for example 10?20 ms) while still
> keeping PTT continuously asserted
> throughout the complete message.
>
> This is especially useful when PTT is used for external PA/LNA sequencing.
>
> 73,
> JH3AIU Ken Koishi
>
> ----------------
> Kenji Koishi
> microvert-7388 at hera.eonet.ne.jp
>
> --
> support mailing list
> support at win-test.com
> https://lists.win-test.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/support
>
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