Hi

I bought the original Lowe IF-150 computer interface.
The seller never mentioned it uses an outdated 25 pin connection and is most
likely useless in todays world.. I bought a 25 pin to 9 pin adapter for it.
I started up the software in Win XP but it will not work. It opens up but
doesn't control the radio. I then tried using a DOS boot disk and tried it
in DOS. No good. Radio doesn't respond.

Does anyone have a solution for this? Is anyone using the IF-150 interface
on their computer?

Thanks
Lucky

luckydaze schrieb:

Hi

I bought the original Lowe IF-150 computer interface.
The seller never mentioned it uses an outdated 25 pin connection and is most
likely useless in todays world.. I bought a 25 pin to 9 pin adapter for it.

This 25-pin connector is standard on many items....

I started up the software in Win XP but it will not work. It opens up but
doesn't control the radio. I then tried using a DOS boot disk and tried it
in DOS. No good. Radio doesn't respond.

Does anyone have a solution for this? Is anyone using the IF-150 interface
on their computer?

Do you use the *right* cable?
There are 2 different types of cable.
One is a straight modem connector cable, the other is a "null-modem"
cable with some wires crossed....
Check out what you need and take the right cable.

"Volker Tonn" wrote in message
...
luckydaze schrieb:

Hi

I bought the original Lowe IF-150 computer interface.
The seller never mentioned it uses an outdated 25 pin connection and is
most likely useless in todays world.. I bought a 25 pin to 9 pin adapter
for it.
This 25-pin connector is standard on many items....

I started up the software in Win XP but it will not work. It opens up but
doesn't control the radio. I then tried using a DOS boot disk and tried it
in DOS. No good. Radio doesn't respond.

Does anyone have a solution for this? Is anyone using the IF-150 interface
on their computer?

Do you use the *right* cable?
There are 2 different types of cable.
One is a straight modem connector cable, the other is a "null-modem" cable
with some wires crossed....
Check out what you need and take the right cable.


Hi Volker,

how have you been?

I bought a modem cable. OK, I got it working so far. Not the way it was
intended to work but it does the trick for now. This is what happened.

It seems the original Lowe 150 software defaults to the Com port 1 setting.
I use com port 3.

When I try to change the setting to 3, I get a "bad address in the radio
module" from the radio software.
I reinstalled the program numerous times but it won't let me change it. The
Asus P4P800 motherboard I bought only has one serial port on the back of the
computer and it's port 3. Why it's assigned port 3 and not 1, I don't know.

So, I tried various free software for other receivers but none would control
the 150.
Then, I tried Shortwave Log. It has choices for the Lowe 250 and a beta
choice for the Lowe 235. The 235 choice seems to work. Not the best, but it
shows the connection is there. I can change frequencies in AM well, but SSB
is a little off.

So, I'm going to contact my coding buddy in Canada. He'll write up a little
control program for me. Is there any other computer software that works on
the Lowe 150 that anyone knows about??

Thanks Volker. You're a good guy!

Lucky

Lucky schrieb:

"Volker Tonn" wrote in message
...


luckydaze schrieb:



Hi

I bought the original Lowe IF-150 computer interface.
The seller never mentioned it uses an outdated 25 pin connection and is
most likely useless in todays world.. I bought a 25 pin to 9 pin adapter
for it.


This 25-pin connector is standard on many items....



I started up the software in Win XP but it will not work. It opens up but
doesn't control the radio. I then tried using a DOS boot disk and tried it
in DOS. No good. Radio doesn't respond.

Does anyone have a solution for this? Is anyone using the IF-150 interface
on their computer?



Do you use the *right* cable?
There are 2 different types of cable.
One is a straight modem connector cable, the other is a "null-modem" cable
with some wires crossed....
Check out what you need and take the right cable.




Hi Volker,

how have you been?

I bought a modem cable. OK, I got it working so far. Not the way it was
intended to work but it does the trick for now. This is what happened.

It seems the original Lowe 150 software defaults to the Com port 1 setting.
I use com port 3.

When I try to change the setting to 3, I get a "bad address in the radio
module" from the radio software.
I reinstalled the program numerous times but it won't let me change it. The
Asus P4P800 motherboard I bought only has one serial port on the back of the
computer and it's port 3. Why it's assigned port 3 and not 1, I don't know.


Hi again.
The only difference between COM1 and COM3 is the adress configuration.
You can not use COM1 and COM3 at the same time. They are using the same
physical resources on the I/O-circuit. You can have attached differnt
things (i.e. modems) to the ports but you can only connect with one of
them at a time.
Modern motherboards are somewhat tricky to handle. Maybe some internal
source has captured the COM1...
Do you have an internal modem or infrared-connector?
First I woud have a look into the setup of the mainboard and
lock/disable the COM1 for any use. In most cases you can find the
COM-port preferences in the peripherals menue. Then restart the system.
After WIN XP is up again, shut down the comp and start MB-setup again,
unlock/enable COM1, then restart...
Look if it works.
Otherwise you might check the system preferences in the hardware setup
menue...
If there is no COM1 you might install it manually...
Have a look on the preferences for your modem or infrared connections.
Maybe you can change them to COM2 there.
As I do not use WIN XP (I use W2K) I can't help there further.
At least it is a big disadvantage that the radio's software does not let
you chose the COM-port...

Have fun with our hobby.
73 from Berlin/ Germany

So, I tried various free software for other receivers but none would control
the 150.
Then, I tried Shortwave Log. It has choices for the Lowe 250 and a beta
choice for the Lowe 235. The 235 choice seems to work. Not the best, but it
shows the connection is there. I can change frequencies in AM well, but SSB
is a little off.

So, I'm going to contact my coding buddy in Canada. He'll write up a little
control program for me. Is there any other computer software that works on
the Lowe 150 that anyone knows about??

Thanks Volker. You're a good guy!

Lucky

"Volker Tonn" wrote in message
...
Lucky schrieb:

"Volker Tonn" wrote in message
...

luckydaze schrieb:


Hi

I bought the original Lowe IF-150 computer interface.
The seller never mentioned it uses an outdated 25 pin connection and is
most likely useless in todays world.. I bought a 25 pin to 9 pin adapter
for it.

This 25-pin connector is standard on many items....


I started up the software in Win XP but it will not work. It opens up
but doesn't control the radio. I then tried using a DOS boot disk and
tried it in DOS. No good. Radio doesn't respond.

Does anyone have a solution for this? Is anyone using the IF-150
interface on their computer?


Do you use the *right* cable?
There are 2 different types of cable.
One is a straight modem connector cable, the other is a "null-modem"
cable with some wires crossed....
Check out what you need and take the right cable.



Hi Volker,

how have you been?

I bought a modem cable. OK, I got it working so far. Not the way it was
intended to work but it does the trick for now. This is what happened.

It seems the original Lowe 150 software defaults to the Com port 1
setting. I use com port 3.

When I try to change the setting to 3, I get a "bad address in the radio
module" from the radio software.
I reinstalled the program numerous times but it won't let me change it.
The Asus P4P800 motherboard I bought only has one serial port on the back
of the computer and it's port 3. Why it's assigned port 3 and not 1, I
don't know.


Hi again.
The only difference between COM1 and COM3 is the adress configuration. You
can not use COM1 and COM3 at the same time. They are using the same
physical resources on the I/O-circuit. You can have attached differnt
things (i.e. modems) to the ports but you can only connect with one of
them at a time.
Modern motherboards are somewhat tricky to handle. Maybe some internal
source has captured the COM1...
Do you have an internal modem or infrared-connector?
First I woud have a look into the setup of the mainboard and lock/disable
the COM1 for any use. In most cases you can find the COM-port preferences
in the peripherals menue. Then restart the system.
After WIN XP is up again, shut down the comp and start MB-setup again,
unlock/enable COM1, then restart...
Look if it works.
Otherwise you might check the system preferences in the hardware setup
menue...
If there is no COM1 you might install it manually...
Have a look on the preferences for your modem or infrared connections.
Maybe you can change them to COM2 there.
As I do not use WIN XP (I use W2K) I can't help there further.
At least it is a big disadvantage that the radio's software does not let
you chose the COM-port...

Have fun with our hobby.
73 from Berlin/ Germany

So, I tried various free software for other receivers but none would
control the 150.
Then, I tried Shortwave Log. It has choices for the Lowe 250 and a beta
choice for the Lowe 235. The 235 choice seems to work. Not the best, but
it shows the connection is there. I can change frequencies in AM well, but
SSB is a little off.

So, I'm going to contact my coding buddy in Canada. He'll write up a
little control program for me. Is there any other computer software that
works on the Lowe 150 that anyone knows about??

Thanks Volker. You're a good guy!

Lucky



Volker,

I fixed it. This is what I had to do.
In my mobo bios, serial port 1 is really com 3 and serial port 2 is really
com 1. So, I disabled serial port 2 so com 1 would be disabled. This left
com 3 in device manager. This was the only port that seemed work OK with
other radio software.

I then changed com port 3's setting to com port 1 in XP's device manager. It
warned me against it since it said com 1 was in use even though it was
disabled in the bios. I did it anyway.

The original Lowe software now works well like it should. It only looks for
com 1 and now the name of the port matched it with it. Strange.

Thanks again Volker!
Lucky

Lucky wrote:

I fixed it. This is what I had to do.
In my mobo bios, serial port 1 is really com 3 and serial port 2 is really
com 1. So, I disabled serial port 2 so com 1 would be disabled. This left
com 3 in device manager. This was the only port that seemed work OK with
other radio software.

I then changed com port 3's setting to com port 1 in XP's device manager. It
warned me against it since it said com 1 was in use even though it was
disabled in the bios. I did it anyway.

The original Lowe software now works well like it should. It only looks for
com 1 and now the name of the port matched it with it. Strange.


Can't you assign the serial ports in your motherboard's settings?
Then you don't have to force the OS to redirect everything.

Here are the ports and IRQs

Name Address IRQ
COM 1 3F8 4
COM 2 2F8 3
COM 3 3E8 4
COM 4 2E8 3



--
Former professional electron wrangler.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
...
Lucky wrote:

I fixed it. This is what I had to do.
In my mobo bios, serial port 1 is really com 3 and serial port 2 is
really
com 1. So, I disabled serial port 2 so com 1 would be disabled. This left
com 3 in device manager. This was the only port that seemed work OK with
other radio software.

I then changed com port 3's setting to com port 1 in XP's device manager.
It
warned me against it since it said com 1 was in use even though it was
disabled in the bios. I did it anyway.

The original Lowe software now works well like it should. It only looks
for
com 1 and now the name of the port matched it with it. Strange.


Can't you assign the serial ports in your motherboard's settings?
Then you don't have to force the OS to redirect everything.

Here are the ports and IRQs

Name Address IRQ
COM 1 3F8 4
COM 2 2F8 3
COM 3 3E8 4
COM 4 2E8 3



--
Former professional electron wrangler.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Thanks
They could have made it plain to any person looking at it though.

Lucky

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
...
Lucky wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
...
Lucky wrote:

I fixed it. This is what I had to do.
In my mobo bios, serial port 1 is really com 3 and serial port 2 is
really
com 1. So, I disabled serial port 2 so com 1 would be disabled. This
left
com 3 in device manager. This was the only port that seemed work OK
with
other radio software.

I then changed com port 3's setting to com port 1 in XP's device
manager.
It
warned me against it since it said com 1 was in use even though it was
disabled in the bios. I did it anyway.

The original Lowe software now works well like it should. It only
looks
for
com 1 and now the name of the port matched it with it. Strange.


Can't you assign the serial ports in your motherboard's settings?
Then you don't have to force the OS to redirect everything.

Here are the ports and IRQs

Name Address IRQ
COM 1 3F8 4
COM 2 2F8 3
COM 3 3E8 4
COM 4 2E8 3



--
Former professional electron wrangler.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Thanks
They could have made it plain to any person looking at it though.

Lucky

Older motherboards did. :-(

--
Former professional electron wrangler.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Well it sure made life easier. I think the whole idea now is to confuse the
end user and make it hard for him/her to solve the problem yourself. This
way you have to have pay for tech support to get it "fixed" and it makes a
simple computer "hard"

Lucky

"Volker Tonn" wrote in message
...
Lucky schrieb:

Volker,

I fixed it. This is what I had to do.
In my mobo bios, serial port 1 is really com 3 and serial port 2 is really
com 1. So, I disabled serial port 2 so com 1 would be disabled. This left
com 3 in device manager. This was the only port that seemed work OK with
other radio software.

I then changed com port 3's setting to com port 1 in XP's device manager.
It warned me against it since it said com 1 was in use even though it was
disabled in the bios. I did it anyway.

The original Lowe software now works well like it should. It only looks
for com 1 and now the name of the port matched it with it. Strange.

Thanks again Volker!
Lucky

Hi Lucky,
glad to see you went lucky :-)

So I already was on the right trail to change some settings in the device
manager....
I liked the days when a user had total control over every setting in his
computer.
I went into IBM compatible PCs in 1992... Thousands of jumpers, no
DIP-switches... :-)
I had ISA-cards with 4 COM-ports and 3 LPT-ports on my machines back then.
My very first IBM-compatible was a 386 DX20 with 4MB RAM and 40MB(!) HDD.
Upgraded just a week later with a additional 120MB HDD and added another
4Megs of RAM and the optional coprocessor. Had the legendary TSENG ET4000
1MB graphics card installed and the NEC 3D monitor....
I knew all MS-DOS 5.0 to 6.22 commands back and forth and liked Windows
3.11 very much....
I still have a vintage 1993 Kontron industrial 19" rackmount backplane 386
16Mhz computer with integrated 9" green colour display and DOS 6.22 and
WIN 3.11 up and running to control my NRD-525 :-)

Volker


Yes you were on the right track for sure.
In fact, if these com ports were labled plainly instead of in cryptic
window's physical addresses, I would have got it working sooner. The Lowe
software works but is buggy and poorly written. It is version 1.0 and has
never been upgraded to the best of my knowledge.

Vokler my first computer was a Sinclair ZX81 that I built from scratch. You
needed to enter like 20 pages of code to get it to do something! Then I got
a Commodore 64 and all the goodies for it. I also used it for a very small
state to state internet connection called Q-Link.

I was spending like $88 a month for it. You were charged by the hour. They
got bought out by a company called "America online" when the stock wasn't
even listed yet.

Lucky

Lucky wrote:

Well it sure made life easier. I think the whole idea now is to confuse the
end user and make it hard for him/her to solve the problem yourself. This
way you have to have pay for tech support to get it "fixed" and it makes a
simple computer "hard"

Lucky


Those addresses and IRQs haven't changed from the first PC, but the
info used to come in the manulas for the serial cards or motherboards.
When was the last time you bought a computer and you got any
documentation on the hardware?

--
Former professional electron wrangler.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida