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Rig Control Feature of BPQ32 switch.



BPQ32.dll included a Rig Control feature, which allows applications to control the frequency and operating mode of your tranceivers. It has support for ICOM , Kenwood and Yaesu rigs, but not all models are supported.

It also provides a PTT interface for use by the Winmor Module

Several ICOM radios can be connected to a single CI-V interface (just connect the leads to the radios in parallel, and make sure you set Tranceive off in the CI-V menu).

Supports Scanning, including time-based scanning.
Only supported at the moment for Pactor, Winmor and SCS Tracker.
Supports selecting signal bandwidth for modes such as WINMOR and Pactor III.
Supports an Antenna Switching facility.
Supports selecting Repeater Shift and Data Mode for some ICOM Tranceivers.

Commands can be entered to the node command interpreter, or after an ATTACH command.

Available Commands are: 

RADIO n SCANSTART (n)			// n is an optional delay before starting (in seconds)
RADIO n SCANSTOP

ICOM rigs allow selection of Mode and IF Filter:

RADIO n Freq Mode Filter [Options] eg RADIO 5 14.112 USB 2 W, where 5 is the port with the TNC attached.

Yeasu and Kenwood rigs don't allow selection of IF filter:

RADIO n Freq Mode  eg RADIO 5 14.112 USB [Options], where 5 is the port with the TNC attached.

Note frequency is specified in MHz with a single decimal point - ie 14.1125, not 14.112.5.

Valid Options are:

    N - Select Narrow Bandwidth Mode (eg Winmor 500 Hz, Pactor I/II), or Normal Packet on SCS Tracker
    W - Select Wide Bandwidth Mode (eg Winmor 1600 Hz, Pactor III)
    R - Select Robust Packet on SCS Tracker
    D - Select Data Mode for ICOM 746
    + - S - Select Repeater Shift or Simplex
    A1 A2 A3 A4 - Select Antennas. These switch the DTR and RTS control lines as follows:
      A1  RTS LOW  DTR LOW
      A2  RTS LOW  DTR HIGH
      A3  RTS HIGH DTR LOW
      A4  RTS HIGH DRT HIGH

If you need more than one, combine into a single string, eg RADIO 5 14.112 USB 2 WA1D

After an attach, the port number should not be specified - it is taken from the ATTACH command. Also it would not normally be sensible to issue SCANSTART or SCANSTOP commands when attached to a port. The code does an automatic SCANSTOP when a port is attached, and a SCANSTART 15 when it disconnects.

So the only useful command is the set frequency: 

RADIO Freq Mode Filter eg RADIO 14.112 USB 2 (ICOM)

RADIO Freq Mode eg RADIO 14.112 USB (Yaesu)

So a Mail Forwarding script could have: 

ATTACH 5
RADIO 14.110 USB 2
C CALLSIGN

If you call different stations on different frequencies, but want to return to listening on a single frequency after making a call, enter just that frequency in the scan list.

The driver configuration is specified in the configuration for the corresponding WINMOR/Pactor/SCS Tracker Port.

Configuration.

For a Port that just provides PTT control via the serial port RTS or DTR Lines, use TYPE of PTTONLY

RIGCONTROL COM2 19200 PTTONLY

For ICOM radios specify Port, Speed, Make, Model, CI-V Address, Optional Frequencies/Modes to scan

For Yaesu and Kenwood radios, the format is similar, except for not having a CI-V address.

Each Frequency/Mode entry consists of a comma separated list with the following format: 

   Dwell Time  (Time before changing frequncy in seconds, decimals allowed, resolution 100ms)
   Frequency   (Mhz)
   Mode        (can normally be abbreviated to first char, but handles modes such as PKT-L, FSK-R, PKT-FM.
   One or more options, separated by commas. Options are:
      A1-A4    - Antenna Switching via DTR/RTS
      F1-F3    - IF Filter for ICOM Rigs
      H1 H2    - HF Packet 300 or 1200       (SCS Tracker only)
      P1 P12 P123 P1234 P2 P23 P234 P3 P34 P4 - Pactor Modes. 
      R1 R2    - Robust Packet 300 or 600    (SCS Tracker only)
      W1 W2    - WINMOR 500 or 1600 (WN and WW are also accepted)
      X        - Don't Report to WL2K
      + - S    - Repeater Shift/Simplex (only on ICOM rigs)
      D        - Set Data Mode on IC746

    You can't have any spaces within each entry.

There is no hard limit on the number of freqencies to scan.
If you want the radio to return to a fixed listening frequency after making calls on another, you can have a single entry in the list
If you want to scan different frequencies at different times of day, put a time (Format hh:ss) between sets of Frequencies. There is an implied 00:00 before the first frequency. Times are UTC.


Although all the information can be entered on a single line, the string can be pretty long, so I recommend using the multiline format: 

  RIGCONTROL
  COM6 9600 ICOM IC718 5E
  4,3.5855,USB,F1,P23,W2
  4,7.1,USB,F1,P23,W2
  6,7.0815,USB,F1,P12,W1,R2
  6,10.1455,USB,F1,P23,W2,R2
  14:00
  4,7.1,USB,F1,P23,W2
  6,7.0815,USB,F1,P12,W1,R2
  6,10.1455,USB,F1,P23,W2,R2
  4,10.1405,USB,F1,P23,W2
  ****

If you are using RTS and/or DTR PTT for WINMOR, you can use a different COM port for scanning and for PTT. Add PTTCOMn after the speed param, eg

RIGCONTROL COM2 19200 PTTCOM3 ICOM IC706 5e .. .. ****

Appendix 1. Supported Modes

ICOM:
   LSB, USB, AM, CW, RTTY, FM, WFM

Kenwood:
   LSB, USB, CW, FM, AM, FSK
   
Most supported Yeasu Rigs: 
   LSB, USB, CW, CWR, AM, FM, "DIG", PKT, FM

FT100:
   LSB, USB, CW, CWR, AM, DIG, FM, WFM

FT2000:
   LSB, USB, CW, FM, FM-N, AM, FSK, FSK-R, PKT-L, PKT-U, PKT-FM

John Wiseman GM8BPQ/G8BPQ
Updated January 2012