Changing a Commslot in WriteLog

There may be times when you want to use a serial COM port other than 1, 2, 3 or 4 for CW or Radio Control.  In order to use a COM port numbered 5 or higher, you must change one of the default Commslots that show up in the Port Setup screen.

The first column in the Port Setup screen shows COM1, COM2, COM3 and COM4.  Each row across for each COM port is called a Commslot in WriteLog.  If you want to use a COM port higher than COM 4, you must make one of the existing four Commslots show the COM port you want to use.  The important thing to remember here is that these COM ports are the ones used for CW and radio control only.  So if you use COM 1, 2, 3 or 4 for FSK in Rttyrite, you can change that corresponding Commslot in the Port Setup screen if that port is not going to be used for CW as well.  For instance, in the PC used for these examples, COM1 is used on a HAL DXP-38 in a cloned Rttyrite window and will never be used for CW.  And COM2 does not exist in this PC.  So in the example below, I decided to change Commslot 2 to show as COM5.  I did this when I was beta testing the microHAM USB micro KEYER and created virtual port COM5.  To change a Commslot, you must edit the writelog.ini file.

  1. Close WriteLog if you have it opened.  To change Commslot 2 to become COM5, open the writelog.ini file by going to the Start menu, select Run and typing in writelog.ini in the Run dialog box (Note:  the writelog.ini file is located in the C:\Windows subdirectory on your hard drive).

  1. When the writelog.ini file opens up in Notepad, scroll down to the [PORTS] section and add the line:  Commslot2=5  (Note:  It doesn't matter where you place this entry under the [PORTS] section but it must be exactly as typed.)  Save your changes and close Notepad.

  1. Open WriteLog, and go to the Setup menu and select Ports to open the Port Setup screen.  COM5 should now be showing in the 2nd Commslot position and is now available to use for CW or radio control.