Troubleshooting Recorder

Is your Vail device misbehaving? This tool quietly records what it's doing behind the scenes so the messages can be sent in for help. Pick your device, connect it, recreate the problem, then save the file and send it over. Works for both the Vail Adapter and the Vail Summit. Requires Chrome, Edge, or Opera.

â„šī¸ Heads up: this tool can only record messages from a device that powers on and starts up. If your device has working firmware on it and boots — even if something isn't behaving right — you're in the right place. If it won't turn on at all, won't accept new firmware, or never finishes starting, there may be nothing here to record; reach out at ke9bos@pigletradio.org or in the Vail Adapter / Vail Summit Discord channel instead.

1. Which device needs help?

We'll set everything up for you based on your choice.

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Vail Adapter

The USB adapter that connects your paddles to your computer.

â›°ī¸

Vail Summit

The standalone trainer with its own screen and keyboard.

❓ Common questions

Nothing shows up in the box
  • Make sure you picked the right device at the top.
  • Click Restart Device, or press the small RESET button on the device.
  • Close any other program that might be using it (Arduino IDE, PuTTY, another monitor).
  • Some cables only charge — use one you know transfers data.
"Port in use" or it won't connect (Windows)

Close other programs that talk to the device. If it keeps happening, open Device Manager → Ports (COM & LPT), right-click the device → Disable, wait two seconds, then Enable, and try again.

The Connect button does nothing

This only works in Chrome, Edge, or Opera on a desktop computer. Firefox and Safari can't connect to devices.

Linux: Permission denied

Add your user to the dialout group: sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER then log out and back in.