<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html><head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type"><title>TransceiverControl</title></head><body style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);" alink="#000099" link="#000099" vlink="#990099">
<h1 style="text-align: center;">Rig Control</h1>
<br>
<table style="text-align: left; width: 100%;" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"><img style="width: 197px; height: 76px;" alt="" src="images/init-rig-setup.png"><br>
CAT not enabled<br>
</td>
<td style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"><img style="width: 502px; height: 82px;" alt="" src="images/docked-rig-control.png"><br>
CAT not enabled, Manual Entry of transceiver frequency<br>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Note: </span>The same
control is also used for both manual entry of the transceiver frequency
or with full CAT control.
When no CAT is available the control is simply a convenient way
of keeping track of the transceiver USB/LSB suppressed carrier
frequency, the mode and the
audio tracking point. If fldigi is being used with an FM
transceiver you probably should enter the simplex frequency or the
input frequency of a repeater being used. This frequency value is
used with the waterfall audio frequency to compute the logged
frequency. The logged frequency value will only be correct for
LSB and USB operation. <br>
<br>
The frequency/mode pick list is displayed when the book button is
pressed. Pressing the book button a second time will restore the
original logging panel.<br><br>The pick list buttons control selecting, adding and deleting entries in the frequency/mode list.<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><ul>
<li>add the current frequency / mode / audio track point to the list</li><li>select the current list entry</li><li>delete the highlighted entry from the list</li>
<li>delete all entries from the list (a warning prompt will appear)</li><li>show active frequencies based on either the entry field to the right or the stations locator, see <a href="Spotter.html">pskreporter/spotter.</a></li><li>entry field for active frequencies search, for example "EM."</li>
</ul>
The browser list contains frequency, sideband, modem
type and audio frequency. The list is saved when fldigi is shut
down.<br>
<br>
The combo box on the left will allow the selection and control of the operating mode of the transceiver.<br>
<br>
The combo box on the right will allow the selection and control of the transceiver bandwidth.<br>
<br>
The frequency display is in fact a set of special buttons. Each
digit may be left-clicked to increment in frequency by that digit
value, or right clicked to decrement by that digit value. The
leading
digits will follow suit if a decade
rollover occurs. You can also place the mouse cursor on a digit
and then use the mouse wheel to roll the frequency up and down.<br><br>Manual
entry of frequency can be accomplished by clicking on any digit and
then entering the numeric value in KHz. Don't forget the decimal
point if you are entering a fractional KHz value.<br>
<br>
The mode combobox, the bandwidth combobox and the frequency display
also annunciate the current transceiver status. If you change
operating mode on the transceiver, that will be annunciated in the
respective combobox and fldigi will adjust any internal parameters
accordingly. Fldigi queries the transceiver 10 times per second
to maintain a lock step with the transceiver. <br><h1 style="text-align: center;">Rig Configuration</h1><h4>Hardware PTT control</h4><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 510px; height: 429px;" alt="" src="images/config-rig-hardware.png" vspace="5"></div><span style="font-weight: bold;">Right Channel VOX Signal</span><br><br>Fldigi
can generate a 1000 Hz tone for the duration of the PTT keydown period.
A simple tone detector/filter and transistor switch can be used
to generate a PTT signal from this sound card output. The circuit
will be similar to that used for <a href="CWkeying.html">QSK control</a>.
This might be a convenient way to create a PTT signal for a small
notebook or netbook computer that does not have a serial or a parallel
port.<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Serial Port using DTR or RTS<br><br></span>The
simplest rig control is just being able to control the push to talk via
an external transistor switch. You set this type of control on
the first configuration tab for rig control.<br><br>You
select this operation by checking the "Use serial port PTT".
Select the serial port from the list (fldigi will have searched
for available ports). Then specify whether the h/w uses RTS or
DTR and whether a + or - voltage is required to toggle PTT on.
You can use a serial port for control with the RTS and DTR pins
configured for you particular interface.
The program allows you to use RTS, DTR or BOTH for the PTT
signal. Press the Initialize button to start the serial port. <br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Parallel Port </span>(Linux and Free BSD only)<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br><br></span>Fldidi
sets and clears the parallel port pin, PARPORT_CONTROL_INIT, pin 16 on
the 25 pin parallel port connector. Keydown sets Pin 16 to +5
volts and keyup sets the voltage to zero.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br><br></span><h4>RigCAT control</h4><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 510px; height: 429px;" alt="" src="images/config-rig-rigcat.png"></div><br>RigCAT
is a rig control system similar to hamlib that was developed
specifically for fldigi. It uses command / response definitions that
are found in various <a href="rigxml.html">rig.xml</a>
files. You can use a rig.xml file specific for your transceiver or
write and test one yourself. The easiest way is to adapt an existing
rig xml file for a rig that is similar to your own. ICOM almost
identical command/response strings for all of its transceiver line.
Yaesu rigs have nearly all used unique command/response structures
until just recently. The TS-450, TS-950 and others share a similar set
of commands and responses. <br><br> RigCAT commands
and responses are defined in a rig specific xml file which contains all of the
required queries and responses in extended markup language format.
Please read the specification document <a href="rigxml.html">rigxml</a>
to learn more about this new way of building generic rig interface
definitions and how they are used with fldigi. fldigi will look
for a file in the $HOME/.fldigi/rigs directory for all files with
extension ".xml". These contain definitions for the
transceiver indicated by the file name, ie: FT-450.xml, IC-756PRO.xml,
etc.
You can download the appropriate xml files from the resource
directory
tree <a href="http://www.w1hkj.com/xmls">http://www.w1hkj.com/xmls</a> or from the archives <a href="http://www.w1hkj.com/xmlarchives.html">web page</a>. Place the file in your rigs directory and fldigi will find it.<br><br>
You will need to specify how your PTT will be triggered. This can be
using a CAT command, the RTS or DTR pins or none. None would be
appropriate if you are
using the rig's VOX or an outboard sound card interface such as the
SignalLink SL-1+ which produces its own VOX type of PTT. In that case
simply leave all of the PTT options unselected.<br><br>If
you are using a transceiver or a rig interface such as CI-V that echos
all serial data you check off the "Commands are echoed" box. That
will suppress fldigi trying to respond to a command it just sent to the
transceiver.<br>
<br>You may need to try various values of retries, retry interval, and command interval to achieve consistent rigcat control. <br><br>Press
the Initialize button after setting all of the parameters. If the
settings are all correct fldigi should start receiving frequency
information from the rig and annunciating them on the rig control
frequency display. <h4>Hamlib CAT control</h4>Hamlib
is a set of standard libraries for interfacing to a large number of
transceivers. The hamlib library system consists of a front end
which acts on behalf of all rigs and backends which are specific to
each rig. The fldigi implementation of hamlib differs on the
various OS for which it is targeted. On the Unix/Linux based
systems the hamlib is a shared library which the user must have
installed on his or her system. This is the standard way of
handling hamlib on Unix/Linux systems. On Windows the entire
hamlib library has been compiled and statically linked into the
application executable. No additional dynamic link libraries are
necessary. This approach simplifies the installation of fldigi on
Windows platforms.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 510px; height: 429px;" alt="" src="images/config-rig-hamlib.png"><br></div><br>Select
your transceiver from the list of supported units. Then select
the serial port and baud rate. If you are familiar with the
hamlib library you can send various startup sequences to the rig using
the advanced configuration. PTT control can be achieved using CAT
commands or via DTR / RTS on the same port as the control comms.
You might also need to specifiy whether RTS/CTS flow control is
uses (Kenwood rigs use this quite often) or if Xon/Xoff flow control is
used.<br><br>You may need to try various values of retries, retry interval, and command interval to achieve consistent hamlib control. <br><br>Press
the Initialize button after setting all of the parameters. If the
settings are all correct fldigi should start receiving frequency
information from the rig and annunciating them on the rig control
frequency display.<br><br><h4>Memory Mapped CAT & Xml-Rpc CAT</h4><br><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 510px; height: 429px;" alt="" src="images/config-rig-memmap.png"> <img style="width: 510px; height: 429px;" alt="" src="images/config-rig-xmlrpc.png"><br></div><br>Memory mapped control is selected if you are operating a Kachina 505DSP using the W1HKJ control software for that rig.<br><br>Xml-Rpc
allows third party software to control various aspects of fldigi
operation including but not limited to rig control. This is the data interface that is also used by the program <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">flrig</span>, a fldigi companion transceiver control program.<br>
<br>
If you are
using a third party interface such as DxKeeper Bridge you might be instructed to
select this method of CAT.
<h4 style="text-align: center;"><a href="index.html">Contents</a></h4>
</div>
</div>
</body></html>
