Ham Radio Deluxe supports 3rd-party programs such as logbooks via a virtual serial port. See also DDE Support.
Examples of a virtual serial port software are "com0com" and VSPE.
Virtual serial port software can be used to create a pair of virtual COM ports (virtual because there is no hardware associated with a virtual COM port). The ports are effectively connected back-to-back – just like a normal serial cable.
In the description that follows two ports are created during the installation, COM7 (used by Ham Radio Deluxe) and COM8 (used by the 3rd-party program).
- Ham Radio Deluxe opens and listens on COM7 port for incoming requests.
- The other program opens COM8 in exactly the same way it would connect to a radio using a hardware serial port.
The connection parameters used by the 3rd-party program to connect with COM8 are:
- Speed – any (9600 by default but this really doesn't matter),
- Stop bits – 2,
- Parity – none.
The protocol supported is Kenwood, the command set current supported is:
- FA – Get / set VFO-A.
- FB – Get / set VFO-B.
- MD – Get / set mode.
- IF – Read status, currently frequency, TX status, and mode are supported,
- SM – Read the S-Meter.
To use this option Ham Radio Deluxe must be connected to a radio, otherwise the standard Kenwood error response?; will be returned. The radio does not have to support the Kenwood protocol as Ham Radio Deluxe makes the necessary conversions.
Configuring
Select 3rd-Party Serial Port from the Tools menu.
- 1. Enable opens the connection on the selected port – in this case COM7.
- 2. Check Connect to automatically open the connected everything Ham Radio Deluxe starts.
- 3. In the Port dropdown you select the COM port to use
- 4. The Mode dropdown is reserved for future use. The only option is Default.
- 5. Press OK
And that‟s all there is to it.
Testing
To test the connection:
- 1. Use a free terminal emulation software like "Putty"
- 2. Connect to COM8 (the virtual serial port used by the 3rd party programs).
- 3. Enter FA; you will see a value such as FA00050100000; returned (50.1 MHz).
Command Detail
FA Reads and sets the VFO A frequency in Hz
- Set FA<11 digit frequency>;
- Read FA;
- Answer FA<11 digit frequency>;
FB Reads and sets the VFO B frequency in Hz
- Set FB<11 digit frequency>;
- Read FB;
- Answer FB<11 digit frequency>;
IF Retrieves the transceiver status
- Read IF;
- Answer IFP1P2P3P4p5P6P7P8P9P10P11P12P13P14P15;
- Where:
- P1 = 11 digits, frequency in Hz
- P2 = 5 digits, not used
- P3 = 5 digits, not used
- P4 = 1 digit, not used
- P5 = 1 digit, not used
- P6 = 1 digit, not used
- P7 = 2 digits, not used
- P8 = 1 digit, 0: RX, 1: TX
- P9 = 1 digit, see MD above
- P10 = 1 digit, not used
- P11 = 1 digit, not used
- P12 = 1 digit, not used
- P13 = 1 digit, not used
- P14 = 2 digits, not used
- P15 = 1 digit, not used
MD Recalls or reads the operating mode status
- Set MD<mode>;
- Read MD;
- Answer MD<mode>;
- Where mode is one of:
- 0: None
- 1: LSB
- 2: USB
- 3: CW
- 4: FM
- 5: AM
- 6: FSK
- 7: CWR (CW Reverse)
- 8: Tune
- 9: FSR (FSK Reverse)
SM Retrieves the S-Meter value
- Read SM;
- Answer IF<4 digit value>;
- Where the returned value range is from 0000 to 0030. Each unit is 1/2 an S-unit. S5 is 0010, S9 is 0018.