[linrad] Linrad for Windows FT1000 addon

[w3sz <comcast.net; w3sz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello, All!

I hope you are all having a good summer.  Below describes some slightly  
silly programming I did to slightly enhance my use of Linrad for Windows.   
Delete now if you tend to be bored or annoyed by my long and rambling  
emails.

Read on if you like to criticize / comment or have lots of free time ;)

When Linrad for Windows became available, I wanted to extend it so that it  
would work with my [Linrad for Linux] addon that allowed Linrad to control  
the frequency of my FT1000MP.  Not being a computer-literate person, I was  
not able to get a Windows XP COMport solution to work with the mingw32  
compiler that Leif uses to compile Linrad for Windows, and I was not able  
to rewrite the makefile so that Linrad could be compiled with one of the  
free C compilers that works with one of the various COMport solutions for  
Windows XP.

So I 'solved' the problem in a brute-force way by having my addon to  
Linrad for Windows write to a file the frequency that is to be sent to the  
FT1000MP whenever 'Q' is typed in Linrad, and then having a Visual Basic  
program read this file and send the frequency to the FT1000MP via the  
COMport.  This works well for controlling the FT1000MP frequency via a  
COMport from my main Linrad for Windows computer.

For the June ARRL VHF contest I set up 4 instances of Linrad running  
simultaneously on an auxiliary computer so that I could at all times  
monitor the 50, 144, 222 and 432 MHz bands with Linrad, so that if there  
was a band opening for example on 50 MHz while I was on 144 MHz, I could  
see it quickly and QSY to the appropriate band.

During the contest, I discovered that it would be really nice if I could  
use the 'Qsy' function in the add-on I wrote to Linrad to 'Qsy' the  
FT1000MP to whatever frequency I was seeing on any one of the auxiliary  
Linrad bandscopes, rather than having to tune the 1000MP manually each  
time I wanted to 'hunt and pounce' in this manner.  Translated, I mean it  
was VERY annoying to NOT have this function during the contest ;)

It turns out that because of the 'brute force' method I am using to get  
data from Linrad to the FT1000, adding this is trivial, and with a  
keystroke the FT1000MP can be put on frequency in the blink of an eye from  
any of the auxiliary bandscopes as well as from the main instance of  
Linrad running on the main Linrad computer.  I merely have each of the  
four Linrad bandscopes write to a common "frequency file" which is located  
on the auxiliary computer that is running the bandscopes. This computer  
runs a Visual Basic program that, when this frequency file is changed as a  
result of typing "Q" from any of the 4 Linrad bandscopes, reads this file  
and writes the frequency information to another frequency file on the main  
Linrad computer that, when modified, causes a Visual Basic program on that  
computer to send the new frequency value to the FT1000MP via the COMport.   
This file on the main Linrad computer is also written to by the main  
Linrad bandscope running on this main Linrad bandscope computer.  Thus  
typing "Q" from any one of the five instances of Linrad [one of the four  
bandscopes on the auxiliary computer or the main bandscope on the main  
computer] places the FT1000MP on the desired IF frequency in a fraction of  
a second.  Another click of the keyboard then switches the correct  
transverter online via the 'RoverLog' software bandswitch, and I am ready  
to pounce with the FT1000MP on the frequency spotted on the Linrad  
bandscope on the auxiliary computer.  It takes much longer to describe  
than to actually do this.

The chain of events is as follows:

Linrad.exe runs in four separate instances on the auxiliary computer.   
Each instance has its own directory of arbitrary name.

\lin2ft\ft1000file exists on the auxiliary computer and is written to by  
any of the instances of Linrad for Windows running on the auxiliary  
computer.  It stores the frequency being received by Linrad at the moment  
that "Q" was typed from within Linrad.

network-lin2ft.exe is a Visual Basic program that exists in an arbitrary  
directory on the auxiliary computer.  It reads the file \lin2ft\ft1000file  
generated by Linrad.exe and when that file contains new frequency  
information it sends it to the file \lin2ft\ft1000file on the main Linrad  
bandscope computer.

\lin2ft\lin2ft.exe is a Visual Basic program that exists on the main  
Linrad bandscope computer that has the COMport that controls the FT1000MP  
frequency.  It reads the file \lin2ft\ft1000file that exists on the main  
Linrad bandscope computer and when it detects a change in that file sends  
the new frequency information out the COMport to the FT1000MP, putting it  
on the correct frequency.

\lin2ft\ft1000file is as just described in the paragraph above.

The linrad.exe programs running each of the 4 auxiliary bandscopes on the  
auxiliary computer and running the main bandscope on the main Linrad  
computer are identical, except that to minimize my confusion the Linrad  
screen is labeled with the band [50,144,222,432] for each of the auxiliary  
bandscopes so that in the heat of a contest when I am sleep deprived I  
don't have to remember that 50 comes before 144 comes before 222 comes  
before 432 and that the screen is read from left to right and top to  
bottom in order to figure out which band I am watching.  Each instance of  
Linrad runs in its own directory so that each can have separate parameter  
settings.

The Visual Basic file  lin2ft.exe that runs on the main computer must be  
contained in the directory [lin2ft] placed in the root directory on a hard  
drive on the main computer with the COMport that runs the FT1000MP.  As  
noted above, this is the directory to which the instance of Linrad running  
on the main computer writes the frequency file [ft1000file], and to which  
the auxiliary bandscope computer programs write the same information [to  
the same file].  This drive must be designated as the "Z" network drive on  
the auxiliary computer.

I have uploaded a zip file called linft1000.zip to www.nitehawk.com/w3sz  
that contains two directories; one called lin2ft that is to be placed on  
the main computer as noted above, and one called lin2comp2 that is to be  
placed on the auxiliary computer.  A directory called [lin2ft] needs to be  
created in addition on the auxiliary computer.  As noted above, the  
auxiliary Linrad bandscopes will write the file ft1000file to this  
directory, and network-lin2ft.exe will read this information and send it  
across the network to the other computer.  The directories in the zip file  
contain the linrad.exe file that contains the addon to make all of this  
possible as well as the Visual Basic files appropriate to the specific  
directories, and necessary support files as well as a copy of this rft  
file and a jpg file of the four bandscopes running during the June ARRL  
contest.  You should be able to extract the directories with the files  
they contain and put them in the appropriate locations as noted above and  
be off and running.  I forgot to include in the zip file my  
wuser_hwaredriver.c file, and since it is on the computer at my remote  
location I can't add it to the zip file now.  But I will try to get to the  
remote site later this week and will add it then.
http://www,nitehawk.com/w3sz/linft1000.zip

To use these files when you are using the SDR14 with Linrad you of course  
set the IF frequency to zero in the user-window I added to Linrad.

To use these files with the Softrock you set the IF in the user-window I  
added to Linrad to the negative of the IF frequency.  For example, if your  
Softrock is centered at 28.110 then you enter "-28.110" into the user  
window.  Linrad will then do the math and the appropriate frequency will  
be sent to the FT1000MP.  This assumes that Linrad and your Softrock are  
setup so that that the frequency progresses in the proper direction as you  
click from left to right on the Linrad bandscope ;)

This technique would work extremely well for use during an HF contest  
where you had a softrock set up to monitor each HF band.  Hitting "Q" in  
the appropriate Linrad bandscope would immediately bring the FT1000 to  
that band and frequency and you could just 'play the bandscopes' hunting  
and pouncing among all the HF bands with no more effort tnan it it were  
all just one big band ;)

That?s all for now.

Comments / suggestions /constructive criticism welcome!

73,

Roger Rehr
W3SZ


--
Roger Rehr
W3SZ
http://www.nitehawk.com/w3sz/

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