[1000mp] CAT Control

Fri May 4 15:19:02 EDT 2007

Yes, you could do all that. Instead of using a second computer, you could
alternatively write a virtual serial port driver that provides the described
functionality. If you're interested in this approach, let me know and I'll
introduce you to Phil N8VB.

There are no unusual handshaking requirements between the application the
the FT1000MP; you send it a command, and its sends you a response which you
then parse. Updating a table whose information you then make available to
other applications should be straightforward. Keep in mind, however, that my
definition of "unusual" in this context is probably a bit jaded; Commander
supports a large range of PC-controllable HF transceivers, and you'd be
amazed at the mechanisms that some of these employ. Yaesu is without
question the worst at this; their CAT instruction sets are awkward and
inconsistent, their implementations sometimes don't match the documentation,
and their documentation is notoriously incomplete. (Fortunately, the "radio"
parts work well; I have a Mark V).

The DXLab Suite solves this problem with a single transceiver control
application (Commander) that manages the serial port connected to the
transceiver. All of the other components -- logging, antenna rotation, spot
collection, propagation prediction, propagation monitoring -- accomplish
transceiver control by sending high-level directives to Commander (eg "QSY
to 14025 in CW"), which then sends the appropriate command to the current
transceiver. These directives are sent via an interprocess communciation
(IPC) mechanism, not via a serial port. Commander uses the same IPC
mechanism to inform applications when the current transceiver changes
frequency, mode, split, etc. Each DXLab application provides IPC interfaces
available through which its services can be invoked; DXView, for example,
can be commanded by any application to rotate the antennal it does for the
antenna rotator what Commander does for the transceiver. Thus when the user
double-clicks on a spot, SpotCollector directs Commander to QSY to the the
correct frequency and mode, and directs DXView to rotate the antenna to the
correct short-path heading. Similarly, when the user wishes to log a QSO
from information captured from a RTTY QSO in WinWarbler, clicking
WinWarbler's Log button results in a "log this QSO information" directives
being sent to DXKeeper.

All of these services are exposed for any application to use. This is what
enabled Rick N2AMG to build the logging and transceiver control "bridge"
between MixW and DXLab, what enabled Patrick F6CTE to have MultiPSK log
directly to DXKeeper and use Commander for transceiver control, and what
enable Oba-san JA7UDE to build the logging and transceiver control bridge
between MMSSTV and MMVARI and DXLab.

    73,

        Dave, AA6YQ

-----Original Message-----
From: 1000mp-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:1000mp-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Tod-ID
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 2:46 PM
To: 'All about Yaesu 1000mp'
Subject: RE: [1000mp] CAT Control

Thanks for the quick response Dave.

I think that I ran across your DXLab Suite at one time last year. I have
used Ham Radio Deluxe, but not with my FT1000MP yet. I don't know anything
about Logger32. I will look at these programs again. Thanks for that
information.

I wonder if you could comment on a different topic that is related to this
general topic:

I would like to run Trlog for some contests and control the radio with it.
TR log only reads and writes to the COM port by polling it. No interrupts
and I presume the only buffering is that which is in the hardware or Tree's
code.

I want to have a program that is able to read the FT1000MP data as it goes
by  <either direction> and makes it available to other programs. I wish to
use that data to control something on a different COM port than the one used
to control the FT1000MP.

I am thinking of having a separate computer [#2} running that has several
COM ports. COM1 would be a pseudo-FT1000MP and have TR connected to it. COM1
would look to TR as though it were the FT1000MP CAT port. COM2 would
actually be connected to the FT1000MP and computer #2 would send and receive
the FT1000MP data.

I can imagine a small, machine language program, that is resident as a
background task which simply reads the data sent by TR to COM1 and writes it
to COM2 as well as doing the reverse -- moving data from COM2 to COM1 when
the radio responds.

The small program would also populate a special table that has frequency,
mode, and other significant status information from the FT1000MP. This table
would be available to other programs running on computer #2. Programs
running on #2 could read the and know what band and mode and frequency is in
use at any moment.

My thought is to use computer #2 to select antennas and/or amplifiers and
perhaps the manage antenna rotators. The specifics are not yet defined, but
the would require knowledge of the FT1000MP state.

I see a couple of things that would need to be known to do this:

1. Is there any special handshaking that has to be considered between the
FT1000MP and the computer.

2. How is the location of the 'FT1000MP state data table' made available to
programs that are running on computer #2. I am guessing that those programs
would be written to operate under XP or Win98.

3. There may be some special timing considerations for the had off or pick
up of data on COM1. I would expect to run it at 4800 baud max so I don't
think that timing should be a serious problem.

Can you suggest places on the internet that might help with #2?
Do you have any warning thoughts about #1 or #3?
Do you know of anyone who has already done this? I really would prefer not
to reinvent this wheel.

Anything you care to suggest would be appreciated.

73, Tod

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave AA6YQ [mailto:aa6yq at ambersoft.com]
> Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 8:21 AM
> To: All about Yaesu 1000mp
> Subject: RE: [1000mp] CAT Control
>
> Logger32 handles transceiver control, logging, and digital
> modes simultaneously, as does Ham Radio Deluxe.
>
> The DXLab Suite also handles transceiver control, logging,
> and digital modes simultaneously. Like Logger 32, it includes
> built-in support for PSK31, PSK63, and RTTY. It also
> interoperates with MixW, MultiPSK, and MMSSTV.
>
> All of the above applications are free; Google will find them for you.
>
> I am the author of the DXLab Suite.
>
>     73,
>
>         Dave, AA6YQ

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