Q. How do I get the latest information about NuMorse Professional?

A. Go to my website at http://www.Nu-Ware.com. If you have installed NuMorse Professional then there will be a link to this website in your Nu-Ware Start Menu group. You will also see a Start Menu link to an online version of this FAQ which is at http://www.nu-ware.com/NuMorseP/nmpFAQ.htm.


Q. After I have been using NuMorse Professional for a while the sound cuts off. I have to restart the program to get sound again. Why is this?

A. This only occurs in the unlicensed version and is a gentle reminder that you haven't yet paid for the program. The licensed version does not time out.


Q. The "First Steps for Beginners" window won't open.

A. See the answer to the next question.


Q. Some menu items are grayed out (disabled) and so I can't access certain program features. What is going on?

A. There are two reasons for disabled menu items:
1) The associated form is currently docked to the keyboard form and can be accessed via page tabs on the right hand side of the keyboard form. Undock the form to make it accessible via the main menu.
2) Certain program features are mutually exclusive. For example, the First Steps for beginners feature cannot be used at the same time as the Play Morse code feature. To open it you need to close the Play Morse code form. 


Q. I installed the keycode that you sent but the program still starts up as the unlicensed version. I also saw an error message during the keycode install. What has gone wrong?

A. Did you purchase a NuMorse Pro license? The keycode systems for NuMorse Standard and NuMorse Pro are not interchangeable.


Q. I get a floating point error message when the program starts up but then everything appears to work OK. Suggestions?

A. Some early versions of NuMorse pro were shipped with a corrupt file. The file is LogFile.dat. To cure the problem go to View\Performance (or press Ctrl+P) and click on the clear logfile button. This is at top right of the performance form.


Q. I have selected QSO\File\Callsigns but the code output is all jumbled up and random. How do I cure this?

A. You probably have the Source randomize feature switched on. Go to View\File Window options (or press Shift+Ctrl+F2)  and check the Sequential read option.


Q. There seem to be some missing characters in the code output. I need the [SK] prosign symbol and NuMorse Pro refuses to play it.

A. Check that the current filter allows this symbol. The filters form is accessed from Play\Character Filters (or Ctrl+F9). In the US most people will find the F.C.C. filter most useful. If you cannot find a combination of filters that fits your needs then set up a custom filter.


Q. Some of the words in  QSOs appear to be joined up as if a word space is missing. Eg.  WX SNOWINGICY. How can I fix this?

A. You have probably filtered out punctuation, see above answer and turn on the F.C.C. filter.


Q. I'm getting all sorts of strange nonsense characters played as code. What gives?

A. You may have the "Allow all" character filter selected. Normally you would select one of the other filters. In the U.S. the F.C.C. filter is probably the most useful.


Q. I'm in Norway and need to use the "dah-dah-dah-dit" character. Can NuMorse Pro do this?

A. Yes. You have two options. The simplest method is to customize an existing character that is not used in Norway. All of the lower case keyboard characters are available for customization via the Code Properties form. Using this method, the original character symbol cannot be changed, just the code sound.

There is also an advanced feature called character mapping that allows you to completely reassign a keyboard character, including the character symbol. In NuMorse Pro all of the characters above ANSII code 128 are available for mapping. 

The special NuMorse font includes many extra prosigns and other useful symbols. The help topic explains the mapping feature in more detail.


Q. I'm in a mess! I did some experimenting and have changed so many settings that the program no longer works at all. Help!

A. Select Help\Restore settings. This should get NuMorse Pro back to the settings when you installed it. Only the current profile is affected by this feature.


Q. I'm hearing clicks and thumps in the sound output.

A. There are many possible reasons for this problem which only occurs on a small percentage of systems.  Other users have found the following suggestions sometimes help to find the problem. 

Close down as many other programs as possible. In a multi-threading system such as Windows other processes can periodically access the sound card and cause clicks even though that software is not specifically designed to produce sounds.

Consult your system documentation to find out how to check for and resolve  possible IRQ conflicts between the Sound Board card and other system devices.

Do you have the most up-to-date Sound Board drivers? If you have an internet connection available, consult the Sound Board manufacturers web site, and look for the latest version driver. You can also check with your computer supplier for the latest driver.

Have you tried the built-in Windows Trouble Shooter? 

If not, here is how you do that.

Windows 95 Users:
There is no specific troubleshooter for sounds. 
Click Help in the Windows Start menu.
When the Help window opens, select the index tab and enter "sound".
Now select a topic from the list.

Windows 98 and ME Users: 
Click Help in the Windows Start menu. When the Help window opens, pick 
Troubleshooting in the Contents Tab. 
Next choose Windows 98 or ME  Troubleshooters, and select Sound when this entry expands. Then follow the on-screen instructions.

Windows 2000 Users:
Click Help in the Windows Start menu, when the Help window opens, click 
Troubleshooting and Maintenance on the Contents Tab, then click the Windows 2000 troubleshooters entry.
Finally select the blue sound link that appears in the right hand pane, and follow the on-screen instructions.


Video drivers are often a major source of apparently unrelated problems. Video card manufacturers are constantly revising drivers, check the manufacturer's web site to see if a new driver release is available.

The Creative SoundBlaster newsgroups have had some postings concerning a crackling noise problem in the past. You can search archived newsgroup articles by going to this site:

http://groups.google.com/

When prompted for  search keywords enter the three words "sound card problem"  and you will get back pages and pages of links that refer to these words.  You
can then refine your search words to find something that might relate to your particular situation.

NuMorse Pro works by sending a series of short sound samples to the Sound card and so the output quality relies on the sound card hardware/software stitching these samples together seamlessly. Most sound cards do this fine but a few cards miss the first few milliseconds of each sample. This can give rise to clicking at the start of each code character. This effect is most noticeable when the "Real Morse code" feature is sending noise. You may hear regular breaks in the noise if your system is struggling to correctly join the individual samples. To fix this problem please consult your sound card manufacturer.


Q. I'm having trouble setting the speed with the slider control. It seems too coarse and I can't get exactly 20.0 WPM. 

A. After setting the speed approximately using the mouse you can use the keyboard up/down arrow keys for fine control.


Q. I've noticed some inaccuracies in the generated callsigns. Some of them would never be issued by the FCC. Why is this? In any case, I am from Italy and would prefer European callsigns for practice.

A. Well spotted! I have set up the callsign generator to use the U.S.  FCC rules as I understand them. As a UK license holder these rules seem rather complex to me and I may have made a few errors. The callsign generator is customizable so you are free to change the rules, or even completely replace them.

An Acrobat pdf file is available from my website that contains a comprehensive tutorial on customizing the callsign generator. Use your Start Menu link to go to the the online FAQ page at http://www.nu-ware.com/NuMorseP/nmpFAQ.htm and then look for the link to the Callsigns Tutorial file.


Q. The QSOs are all U.S. based. How about a version for us in the UK?

A. If I had time I could do a version for every region! The QSO generator rules can be altered to cater for any location and could even be rewritten for other languages. The files Topics.txt and Phrases.txt contain data for the QSO generator and some hints for changing them are given in the help topics.


Q. What does NuMorse Pro do if I uncheck the "Always ask when file changed." box in the form that sometimes appears when exiting?

A. With this box unchecked NuMorse Pro will always silently write any changes out to the selected code source file.


Q. In the "First Steps" options there is a warning that "Global changes cannot be undone". What does this mean? I seem to be able to reverse changes just fine.

A. It means that there is no simple "Undo" button. You can, of course, undo changes by selecting appropriate options and doing a second global change to get back to your starting point.



