BPQ32 includes a Rig Control feature, which allows applications to control the frequency and operating mode
of your transceivers.
It has support for Flex, ICOM , Kenwood and Yaesu rigs, but not all models are supported.
It provides a PTT interface for use by ARDOP, WINMOR, VARA or other soundcard modems.
Rig Control can also use Hamlib's rigctld or FLRIG to control the radio instead of
controlling it directly. Control via Hamlib or FLRIG is limited to setting frequency, operating mode and filter width and keying PTT .
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 Transceive off in the CI-V menu). An ICOM radio with a built in USB CI-V interface, such as the IC7100 can also drive the CI-V port on other ICOM radios.
Features supported include:
Frequency Scanning, including time-based scanning.
Mode Selection
Selecting signal bandwidth for modes such as WINMOR and Pactor III.
Antenna Switching using RTS and DTR lines.
Antenna Switching for some ICOM and Kenwood radios (eg IC746 and TS-480).
Selecting Repeater Shift and Data Mode for some ICOM Tranceivers.
Power setting and Tune functions for some ICOM and Kenwood radios.
Routing calls to specified application (only with Pactor controllers)
With SCS Pactor controllers it is also possible to route calls to different applications on a single frequency. See here for details.
PTT via Serial Port RTS/DTR, CAT/CI-V commands or a GPIO pin on a CM108 based sound card interface
Emulation of the basic facilities (setting frequency, mode, and PTT) of Hamlib/rigctrld. This allows some applications which support Hamlib to use BPQ's ports.
Conversion of changes of RTS on either a BPQ or com0com virtual COM Port to CAT PTT commands.
This describes the new way of configuration. The old way, using RIGCONTROL within a PORT definition is still supported for backward compatibility.
Rigcontrol is configured using RADIO configuration blocks, in the main section of bpq32.cfg. I find this is clearer that the old method of using RIGCONTROL blocks in a PORT config if you have more than one BPQ Port associated with a transceiver. If you only have one you may find the old way simpler
The general format is ([....] indicates optional parameters):
RADIO NUMBER [DEBUG] [AUTH Passcode] PORT SPEED MAKE MODEL [CI-V Addr] [PTTMUX COMn] [PTT_SETS_INPUT] [DATAPTT] [HAMLIB=PORT] [Scan Paramters] [Scan Paramters] ... **** If you don't have any Scan lines, you can use a simpler format with all information on one line, eg RADIO 1 COM8 19200 ICOM IC7100 88
NUMBER is used to link a RADIO definition with one or more PORT definitions. I suggest you start with 1 for your first radio and increment if you have more than one. Set the RADIO parameter in a PORT definition CONFIG section to the RADIO number. It is possible to use separate radios for transmit and receive - in this case use TXRADIO and RXRADIO to link the two radios to a port.
DEBUG enables logging of Rigcontrol actions to the system debug log, and shouldn't normally be used.
AUTH Passcode enables authenticated access to the Rigcontrol module over the network. Normally only applications on the same machine can use rigcontrol.
PORT and SPEED are normally Serial Port Name and Baud Rate for Serial Interfaces. See here for info on defining a CM108 PTT interface.
To use HAMLIB's rigctld replace PORT SPEED MAKE MODEL with HAMLIB HostIPAddr:Port, eg HAMLIB 127.0.0.1:4532
To use FLRIG replace PORT SPEED MAKE MODEL with FLRIG HostIPAddr:Port, eg FLRIG 127.0.0.1:12345
PTTMUX enables the facility to convert RTS on a serial port to CAT PTT commands. To use create either a BPQ Virtual COM Port or a com0com virtual com port pair
. Then add PTTMUX COMn (where n is the port you have just created) to your RADIO Configuration. eg
RADIO 1 COM8 19200 ICOM IC7100 88 PTTMUX COM5.
If you are using more than one modem that needs RTS PTT, you can add more com ports - eg PTTMUX COM5 COM6.
PTT_SETS_INPUT or DATAPTT are used with radios that have a built in soundcard. See here for more details on using these features.
HAMLIB=PORT enables the Hamlib/rigctld emulation, listening on TCP port PORT
For a Port that just provides PTT control via the serial port RTS or DTR Lines, use MAKE of PTTONLY
RADIO 1 COM2 19200 PTTONLY
The ICOM IC-M710 should be specified with Make NMEA Model M710, eg RADIO 1 COM1 19200 NMEA IC710 70 ...
For other ICOM radios specify Port, Speed, ICOM, Model, CI-V Address, Optional Paramters
For Flex, Yaesu and Kenwood radios, the format is similar, except for not having a CI-V address.
Each Scan Paramters entry consists of a comma separated list with the following format:
Dwell Time (Time before changing frequency 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 A5-A6 - Antenna Switching for some Icom and Kenwood Radios. A200F A500F A1000F A2000F A200M A500M A1000M A2000M - ARDOP Modes, You can use A0 to disable ARDOP on this frequency. 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. You can also use P0 to disable Pactor on this frequency. R1 R2 - Robust Packet 300 or 600 (SCS Tracker only) VN VW VT - VARA Narrow (500) Wide (2300) pr Tactical (2750) You can also use V0 or VS to disable VARA on this frequency. W1 W2 - WINMOR 500 or 1600 . WN and WW are also accepted. You can also use W0 to disable WINMOR on this frequency. + - S - Repeater Shift/Simplex (only on ICOM rigs) D - Set Data Mode on some ICOM radios APPL=XXX - Connect to Application XXX for connects on this frequency You can't have any spaces within each entry. With some ICOM Multimode radios you can scan memory channels. Specify Chanxx or Chanb/xx, where xx is the channel number and b an (optional) channel bank, instead of Frequency, Mode and Filter. eg ChanA/20, or Chan10
There is no hard limit on the number of frequencies 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. For example:
RADIO 1 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 for PTT you can use different COM ports for scanning and for PTT. Add PTTCOMn after the speed param, eg
RADIO 1 COM2 19200 PTTCOM3 ICOM IC706 5e .. .. ****
A typical configuration for using HAMLIB could be
RADIO 1 HAMLIB 127.0.0.1:4532 5,3.594,USB,2400 5,7.1035,USB,2700 ****
Commands can be entered to the node command interpreter, or after an ATTACH command.
Available Commands are:
RADIO AUTH Passcode.
This allows remote users to access RIGCONTROL Passcode must be generated using BPQAUTH. Use the Passcode specified in the AUTH param as password in BPQAUTH.
RADIO PTT asserts PTT for one second for testing
RADIO p SCANSTART n p is Port, n an optional delay before starting (in seconds)
RADIO p SCANSTOP
RADIO p FREQ displays current frequency
ICOM rigs allow selection of Mode and IF Filter:
RADIO p Frequency 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 p Frequency 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 or 14112.5.
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 A5 A6- Select Antennas. A1=A4 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
A5, A6 CAT control of certain ICOM and Kenwood radios
If you need more than one, combine into a single string, eg RADIO 5 14.112 USB 2 WA1D
In most cases, eg in forwarding scripts, frequency setting command should be used after ATTACHing the port. Then 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.
RADIO Freq Mode Filter eg RADIO 14.112 USB 2 (ICOM) RADIO Freq Mode eg RADIO 14.112 USB (Kenwood or 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.
You can send arbitrary command strings to ICOM and Kenwood radios, and some Yaesu Models. This requires a detailed knowledge of the CAT protocol for your radio.
Format is
CMD xx xx xx xx xx (Hex values for ICOM and Yaesu) or
CMD Commandstring; (Text String for Kenwood radios)
With some ICOM and Kenwood radios you can initiate a Tune operation or set output power level. For tune use the command RADIO TUNE, for power setting RADIO POWER nnn. For ICOM the value is relative power in the range 0 to 255. For Kenwood it sets the actual power level and the values depend on the radio and mode.
FLEX: LSB, USB, DSB, CWL, CWU, FM, AM, DIGU, SPEC, DIGL, SAM, DRM 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-FMJohn Wiseman GM8BPQ/G8BPQ