[Elecraft] K2 commands - software guru help needed

[Brendan Minish]

On Sun, 2004-06-20 at 07:55, Stewart Baker wrote:
> There seems to be a problem with K2 mode selection when using a number of 
> different logging programs. I have received mails from other K2 users with the 
> same problem. These logging programs assume that the K2 responds exactly as a 
> Kenwood rig when it comes to setting frequency and mode via the RS232.
> The order in which commands to select frequency and mode appear to be crucial. 
> It would appear that logger programs when selected to Kenwood, output :-
> VFOx;MODE;FREQxxxx.  
> The end result is that the mode selection is somewhat unpredictable.
> My experiments with Hyperterminal show that :-
> VFOx;FREQxxxx;MODE works everytime.

I too came across this one when doing the K2 support for Dxbase, Happily
due to the way in which Dxbase does radio support I was able to find a
complete workaround and Dxbase now supports the k2 perfectly.

I think the k2 behaves exactly as it should. In my opinion commands
should happen in the order they are sent so sending a mode change
followed by a band change is going to cause problems under certain
circumstances.

It appears that all modern Kenwoods can handle the information in either
order so I would love to find out which legacy kenwood radios absolutely
requires the mode change first. Hacking up the K2 software to hold onto
the mode change until after the frequency has also been set would be a
bad idea and probably just slow things down. The K2 is pretty quick to
respond to commands compared with some radios. 
Far better to contact the authors of your favourite logging package and
explain the problem. 

Elecraft's choice of kenwood protocol for rig control was in my opinion
the best choice out of a bad bunch of protocols and elecraft have added
a significant number of useful improvements / extensions to the
protocol. 

Anyone know of any open source Linux logging packages that do radio
support?

73
Brendan EI6IZ