diff --git a/trunk/daemon/core/emane/commeffect.py b/trunk/daemon/core/emane/commeffect.py
index 3b1bc140..6244681b 100755
--- a/trunk/daemon/core/emane/commeffect.py
+++ b/trunk/daemon/core/emane/commeffect.py
@@ -23,13 +23,6 @@ try:
 except Exception, e:
     pass 
 
-def z(x):
-    ''' Helper to use 0 for None values. '''
-    if x is None:
-        return 0
-    else:
-        return x
-
 class EmaneCommEffectModel(EmaneModel):
     def __init__(self, session, objid = None, verbose = False):
         EmaneModel.__init__(self, session, objid, verbose)
@@ -96,7 +89,16 @@ class EmaneCommEffectModel(EmaneModel):
                 loss = None, duplicate = None, jitter = None, netif2 = None):
         ''' Generate CommEffect events when a Link Message is received having
         link parameters.
-        '''
+        '''        
+        def z(x):
+            ''' Helper to use 0 for None values. '''
+            if type(x) is str:
+                x = float(x)
+            if x is None:
+                return 0
+            else:
+                return int(x)
+        
         service = self.session.emane.service
         if service is None:
             self.session.warn("%s: EMANE event service unavailable" % \
@@ -106,6 +108,7 @@ class EmaneCommEffectModel(EmaneModel):
             self.session.warn("%s: missing NEM information" % self._name)
             return
         # TODO: batch these into multiple events per transmission
+        # TODO: may want to split out seconds portion of delay and jitter
         event = emaneeventcommeffect.EventCommEffect(1)
         index = 0
         e = self.session.obj(self.objid)