Date
1 - 20 of 37
N1MM+ CAT control with QCX+
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Thomas Valenti
Using the TS-480 selection with the parameters suggested in the QCX+ manual failed. Very unstable and loses connection quickly. I saw old old posts suggesting that choosing Kenwood Slow will work. But I can't get that to connect at all. I guess I have some settings wrong. Can someone who has gotten this to work please share their N1MM+ Configurer settings for this option? Thanks. Tom K3AJ
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Steve W6WU
What version of firmware do you use? I found it to be stable with the latest version 1.07a. Steve W6WU |
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g4edg
The QCX runs at 38400...make sure that's set in the N1MM+ port config. Just use the regular Kenwood setting.
Steve G4EDG |
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Thomas Valenti
Thank you Steve and Steve - W6WU and G4EDG. Sounds like you are both using the TS-480 setting. I have a brand new QCX with 1.07a. I did set the speed at 38400. I was pretty sure I was using the correct settings beyond that. The QCX+ manual gives a few of the settings, but not all. And I left the others set for the TS-480 defaults in N1MM+. I wonder if one of you would be kind enough to open up N1MM and send me all the configuration settings you are using? I want to eliminate as many variables a possible and start with a known good configuration.
Also, if someone out there has been more successful with the Kenwood Slow option, I would be interested in hearing about that as well. 73 Tom K3AJ |
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Bruce K1FFX
Hi, Thomas -
I was the OP for the Kenwood Slow solution. It continues to work reliably for me. The port configuration I'm using is 38400,N,8,1,DTR=Always off, RTS=Always off and I have Radio Polling Rate set to 100% Slower. Cheers - Bruce K1FFX |
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Hi Tom ,
These settings work with my QCX+. 73, Malcolm |
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Steve W6WU
What Bruce said - take note of the radio polling rate reduction. Steve W6WU On Fri, Feb 5, 2021, 12:01 PM Bruce K1FFX <rosen.bruce@...> wrote: Hi, Thomas - |
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Bruce K1FFX
It occurred to me that I ought to mention that I'm running N1MM+ on Windows/XP platform.
Conceivably, the QCX+ CAT connection works fine with TS-480 configuration on later versions of the Window platform, but I have not tested this. [And for the OS geeky among us, I'm actually running Windows/XP in a virtual machine hosted by VirtualBox on a Linux Mint host. I have Windows 7 running in a second VM for running AVRDUDESS. I don't think it's running Windows in a VM which makes a difference in the QCX+ CAT connection, though ... I tested about a half dozen other logging programs with my QCX+ and they all worked fine.]] - Bruce K1FFX |
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Thomas Valenti
Thank you Bruce and Malcolm. I have it set up with all Malcolm's settings (which agree with Bruce except fopr polling rate) as shown on the screen grab he sent. I have tried the polling rate either way, but have it set on 100% slower as Bruce (and Steve, W6WU) has recommended. It seems to be working. Time will tell. N1MM follows the tuning of the radio well, albeit a little slowly, and the radio follows N1MM when I use the mouse wheel to tune the radio or type a frequency into the entry window. The operation clicking a frequency on the band map or a spotted station is a little inconsistent. Sometimes the radio follows, sometimes it reverts back to the last frequency. But I recognize that the CAT control capability of the QCX+ is by design quite limited and inherently a little on the slow side. So if it works fairly reliably this way, I will be happy. I'll provide a report after some weekend operation to see how it goes.
Thanks and 73 Tom K3AJ |
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Bruce K1FFX
Hi, Tom -
Just an FYI ... I see the same behavior ... occasionally, if I set frequency from the N1MM+ side, it looks like the QCX+ doesn't see it, and so the next time N1MM+ polls, its frequency is reset to the QCX+ current (i.e., unchanged) frequency setting. It seems to be a pretty rare event though, and, for my purposes, I am quite satisfied with how it works. - Bruce K1FFX |
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KEN G4APB
Hi guys, I did ask Hans this but received no response so maybe it was a stupid question! Have any of you figured out how to send multiple commands in a single line for example I try FA0000703000;QM6.010; to set VFO A to 7.030mhz AND disable beacon mode but I get strange effects so clearly this is not the correct way.
73 Ken g4apb. |
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Wolfgang OE1MWW
Ken,
don't forget that this is a $100 rig driven by a ATmega328P, which handles the display too. Hans did pack a lot of features in this chip, therefore each CAT command needs its time to be analyzed and acted according. If you chain commands, they need extra time for lexical analysis and more stack buffer, which is beyond the capability of the ATmega328P. I did extensive CAT experiments for control & sending CW via CAT and ran into similar problems. Once again, the QCX is a fantastic rig for that price, but apparently we demand more than the 328P can handle. 73's de OE1MWW Wolfgang |
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Hans Summers
Hello Ken It's not a stupid question at all, I'm just overloaded. It needs a bit of investigation from me. Theoretically what you proposed should work. QCX is capable of accepting a limited quantity of commands concatenated together. So it should have been OK. What sort of strange effects did you see? My QCX-mini test jig is coming along well, so I'm hoping to finish it in a day or two, and then my colleagues will start testing and shipping, and I'll have a bit of time to check this CAT (and other) things such as the VFO firmware request. Remarkably the 54 pins of the pogo pin test jig do all make reliable electrical contact. I just need to do some more work on more test cases and determination of appropriate pass/fail criteria. 73 Hans G0UPL Hi guys, I did ask Hans this but received no response so maybe it was a stupid question! Have any of you figured out how to send multiple commands in a single line for example I try FA0000703000;QM6.010; to set VFO A to 7.030mhz AND disable beacon mode but I get strange effects so clearly this is not the correct way. |
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KEN G4APB
Hi Hans, I did not want to give you extra work, I just wanted to know the correct syntax for stringing commands together. I appreciate I may be pushing the limitations of the qcx, but sometimes a simple idea (on my part) proves no so.
The ‘simple idea’ was to run the qcx-mini using TS-480 CAT commands controlled from wsjt-x (now v2.3.0) switching the qcx between wspr beacon mode and normal rx mode (VFO A) and back, controlled by a bandhopping feature in wsjt-x that calls a batch file to run a command line. Then weird effect is that if I try to enable beacon mode AND preset the VFO A to a particular frequency all in one command line as I showed, I seem to get an odd combination of both. On wspr beacon ‘waiting’ screen, instead of displaying the preset beacon frequency, it shows vfo A and its (rx) frequency, and when it actually starts to transmit , it is not on the beacon preset frequency, and the display starts the call sign with an underscore as if in editing mode, and I get no ‘spots’ as a result. Without CAT control, beacon mode works fine, but as i said previously, during the beacon ‘waiting’ time, ( say if I set FRAME to 10 minutes), the qcx is not in receive mode, hence my attempts to switch it to rx during this wait time. 73 Ken G4apb |
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Arv Evans <arvid.evans@...>
Ken Hans is very, very busy right now. Quick guess answer...software parsing of input commands can be easy or very difficult, depending on whether one wants to use simple commands or wants to separate long multiple commands out of a long string of text. My guess is that the software may not support variable length command strings that include multiple commands of variable length on a single input string. If this is the case then one has to decide if the problem is in the control software for sending too much in one command or if the problem is a limitation of the destination command parser. Ideally it seems that the control systems should have options to send single-command-at-a-time or to bunch up multiple commands in one send action. Also, it seems that the command system should have options for what is used as the delimiter character(s) between each individual command. Just my 2 cents! Arv _._ On Sat, Feb 6, 2021 at 12:20 AM KEN G4APB via groups.io <lfoofui.nbz42=ntlworld.com@groups.io> wrote: Hi guys, I did ask Hans this but received no response so maybe it was a stupid question! Have any of you figured out how to send multiple commands in a single line for example I try FA0000703000;QM6.010; to set VFO A to 7.030mhz AND disable beacon mode but I get strange effects so clearly this is not the correct way. |
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Bruce K1FFX
Hi, Ken -
I don't know if you are limited to sending just a single command string from WSJT-X. If you are not limited, then try breaking up your command into two individual commands. My experience with N1MM+ uncovered that the main visible difference between the TS-480 setting and the KENWOOD SLOW setting (the former of which didn't work well, while the latter works fine) is that the TS-480 setting sends a bundle of 4 commands, semi-colon delimited, while the KENWOOD SLOW setting sends only a single command at a time. Cheers - Bruce K1FFX |
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Hans Summers
Hi Arv I already stated that the QCX CAT code does support multiple commands in one string. I need to investigate Ken's particular problem, when I have some time next week. 73 Hans G0UPL On Sun, Feb 7, 2021, 01:06 Arv Evans <arvid.evans@...> wrote:
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KEN G4APB
Hi Bruce/Arv,
wsjt-x calls a batch file when it band hops. I created the batch file ( by an awful lot of trial and error) that uses a programme called SerialSend to send the qcx commands. I only know how to send them as a single line. I did wonder if the qcx ‘replies’ to each command thus corrupting the immediately following one, but if you say the ‘kenwood slow’ method works better, I need to find out how to break them up and send them individually with maybe a small delay between each one. I did try setting each command line, one after the other, but that did not work, as you can guess, I am not a programmer. all good learning experience, but so time consuming! 73 Ken G4APB |
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Wolfgang OE1MWW
Ken, 73's de OE1MWW |
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KEN G4APB
Thanks Wolfgang,
but I have ‘else and if ‘ lines that seem to jump the second command line if I do as you say. BTW, this may be relevant too; if I run wsjt-x (v3.2.0), with radio TS-480 selected, and NO batch file call, I get constant failures everytime the radio is polled with ‘Hamlin error -can’t read vfo’, or when it band hops, with my qcx sitting in normal mode. Strangely, ‘Test CAT’ works ok, and sometimes it does seem to set the qcx on the correct frequency. I think there are timing issues here out of my league to go further. 73 Ken g4apb |
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