DDUtil Online Help

A Data Decoding Utility for Flex Radios

(Steve Nance - K5FR)

• Send transmit frequency data to RS-232 passive listener devices such as SteppIR antenna controllers, linear amplifiers, antenna tuners and other similar devices. This data is provided on the pc's serial communication port commonly known as COMx.
• Send Binary Coded Data (BCD) to frequency sensitive devices based on the PowerSDR transmit frequency. These devices can be, linear amplifiers, antenna switches or any other similar device. This data is provided on the pc's parallel port commonly known as LPTx.
• Build and maintain the BCD data file used by the parallel port without having to use a separate program for creation/editing.
• Use the program by itself or with another radio control program such as Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD), DXLab Commander, MixW if desired.

Introduction

Install

Setup

Usage

How it Works

Legal

Introduction

This program provides the automation required to decode and present transmit frequency data to select frequency sensitive devices such as linear amplifiers, antenna controllers (SteppIR), antenna tuners, antenna band switchers, etc. DDUtil may be used in a stand-alone mode or with a radio control program such as DXLab Commander, Ham Radio Deluxe, Mix2W or any other radio control program that can use standard Kenwood CAT commands for communication with PowerSDR.

DDUtil automatically senses when a radio control program is trying to communicate with PowerSDR and modifies it's mode of operation requiring no user intervention. See the "How it Works" section for a more detailed description of program design.

An XML file is used to provide the reference data needed for the BCD output data. A sample file is included with the distribution files to serve as a guide. This file may be created from scratch or modified from the sample provided and then saved with an appropriate user name. All file modification may be accomplished within the program or may be done in any XML file editor of the users choice. But, unless the user is familiar with XML file editing it is recommended that XML file modification be confined to DDUtil until proficiency is obtained. Please note that this file requires a specific format see the 'BCD Data File Format' topic in Other Topics for details.

The initial release is designed for the Flex family of radios including the SDR-1000 and Flex5000 series, but may well be extended to other radios in the future.

Installation

• Prerequisites:    DDUtil requires Microsoft .NET 2.0 in order to load and function. The setup file will automatically guide you through this installation if your pc doesn't have it. Just follow the prompts and select x86 when it asks you which one you want to download.
• Execute the file 'DDUtil_Setup.msi', follow the prompts, accept the defaults and you should get a Icon on your desktop like this one.
• Additionally, there is an entry in your pc's Programs group for DDUtil should the desktop icon be lost This can be reached by selecting Start/All Programs/DDUtil
• Be advised that DDUtil must be uninstalled before updating to a newer version. The installer will tell you also.

Setup

• Open the utility and the following form will be displayed.
  
       

• Ports Setup Tab

  • Serial Ports

    • In the Serial Ports group select the CAT Port you will use to talk to your radio. This will be one of a virtual port pair like N8VB's VCOM utility provides. In this illustration PowerSDR is set to port 11 and DDUtil is set to port 10. See this Flex Knowledge Base article for how to setup virtual serial ports.

    • Optionally, select from the drop down box the Passive Listener Port you will use. Usually COM1, but may be any RS-232 compliant hardware serial port connected to your pc including add-on cards or USB to serial adapters.

    • Optionally, select from the drop down box the Radio Control Port you will use. This will be one of a virtual serial port pair like N8VB's VCOM utility provides. In the example above the Radio Control program (HRD, etc.) port is set to COM4 and DDUtil is set to COM5.

    Serial Port Notes:
    
    A typical VCOM ports setup for DDUtil could be:
    
    Pair 10 <-> 11    DDUtil CAT (10), PowerSDR CAT (11)
    
    Pair   4 <-> 5      HRD CAT (4), DDUtil Radio Control (5)
     

    • In the setup section of the Radio Control Program set the radio type to Kenwood, the speed parity and stop bits don't matter on virtual serial ports.

    • Set the Cat Polling Interval. This defaults to 1000 which equates to 1 second. Lower numbers speed up the polling time, but increase CPU utilization so caution should be exercised when setting this number. 1000 has proven to be a satisfactory interval.

  • Parallel Port

    • In the Parallel Port group, optionally, select the parallel port you will use. Usually LPT1, but may be any parallel port including add-on cards or USB to parallel port adapters.

    • If your not sure what your port numbers are you can get help here finding out if you have any parallel ports and what their numbers are.

    • If you are using an add-on board or USB to Parallel adapter for your parallel port the port address will have to be entered manually. Click here for a guide on how-to find the address for your non-standard parallel port and enter it into DDUtil.

  • Data Signals

    • In the Data Signals group, select the device you want to use as a file source for the BCD data. In order to make this selection you will have to go to one or more of the device tabs and setup a source. See the following section for advice on this.

  • Other

    • Follow SDR - Select this check box if you want to Slave another radio to PowerSDR in-lieu of a Passive Listener device. This feature allows another radio to follow PowerSDR's frequency, which is handy if your SDR is an old three (3) board stack or SoftRock. Be advised that in this mode receiver muting and antenna switching is required when transmitting from the slave radio or bad things will happen to your SDR.

    • Slave Radio Type - Select the radio type you wish to use as the slave.

      Note: Right-click on the form background to display a menu of options and select "Slave Radio Info" for the radio models in each radio type.

    • PL/Radio Comm - Selects serial communication parameters for the Passive Listener port. Consult your radio users manual for this if necessary.

    • CI-V Addr - Sets the appropriate CI-V Hex address if using an ICOM radio. Consult owner's manual for information on this.

• Device Tabs

        Selecting the first of the Device tabs at the top of the form will display the following form.
 

This page of the setup form is for configuring the BCD data file. This file is needed to set the parallel port BCD codes for your frequency dependent device and will vary according to the device's configuration and design criteria. The following is an example of the codes required for a Yaesu Quadra amplifier to automatically switch bands as PowerSDR changes frequency.

• 160 = 1    80 = 2    40 = 3    30 = 4    20 = 5    17 = 6    15 = 7    12 = 8    10 = 9    6 = 10

• You input a digital number for a specific frequency and the decoder converts it to BCD at the parallel port (i.e. 7 = 0111).

• This page is pretty self explanatory, here is a description of the controls functions.

  • Device Name = Give this device a suitable name to distinguish it in the device list on the Ports tab. This name will be transferred to the device tab name for easy recognition.

  • Enabled = indicates the device is available for selection by the Ports page Data Signals Device selector combo box.

  • Data Grid = Display and/or edit the Frequency / Data pairs. This is the data used by the BCD converter to output on the parallel port. See Other Topics for a discussion on BCD data file format.

  • File Name | Select = When pressed brings up a file dialog where a file may be selected for input into the data grid.

  • File Name | Re-Load = Will re-load the displayed file. This is intended to allow salvaging a file that has been edited and the user decides to abandon it due to errors or whatever.

  • File Name | Save = After creating or editing a file in the data grid pressing this button will save it to the file named in the File Name box.

    Note: This will overwrite whatever file is in the file name box. Be careful!

  • Help = This help file.

Usage

Using the DDUtil is straight forward and shouldn't require more than a minimal amount of familiarization for the user to be comfortable with it's use.

All control settings on the DDUtil forms are stored and remembered from session to session.

• Hardware Setup

  The following information is required to connect DDUtil  to your device.

  • What kind of device do you want to control (amplifier, antenna switch, etc.).
  • Is the device RS-232 or BCD driven.
  • If RS-232 driven, set the device receiving the data to a Kenwood or Yaesu model and speed to match 9600 8-N-1.
  • If BCD driven, you must:
    • Know the BCD scheme (what codes do what) See the manufactures user manual for this.
    • Build a cable configured to fit your hardware setup (DB25M to your device input port). See the cable drawing for example information.

• Program Operation - The following operations assume the proper setups have been performed on the Ports and Device tabs.
  • DDUtil as stand-alone.
    • Start PowerSDR, start DDUtil.
    • If all is setup correctly you should see the frequency and VFO A in the header bar as [7,033.83] (VFO A/B). If instead you see [not connected] there is a problem and some back tracking is in order. The most common problem will be wrong port setup for PowerSDR (CAT) port or the CAT Polling Interval is way off, try 1000 for this setting.
  • DDUtil used with a radio control/logging program.
    • Start PowerSDR, start DDUtil and you should now see connect data in the title bar that looks something like [7,033.83] (VFO A).
    • Start your radio control/logging program. If everything is working right you should see something like [RC] [7,033.83] (VFO A) in the title bar of DDUtil and your radio control/logging program should show it has control of PowerSDR.
    • Note: The [RC] stands for Radio Control program is in use. If the [RC] is not in the title bar the program is in Stand-Alone mode.
  • Tool Tips (description of control function) are available for all controls by hovering the mouse over the control momentarily.
  • Once setup, DDUtil can either be minimized or reduced to a minimal size for normal operation. Shrinking is accomplished by right clicking anywhere on the form (except the title bar)  where a menu will appear giving the options of Shrink & Restore. Additionally the borders of the form may be resized as desired.

     

   

• Important Notices Please Read
  • When connecting to a amplifier remember that Flex radios DO NOT have any ALC control circuitry, yet! It is up to the operator to make sure the drive power level is adjusted properly in PowerSDR or the amp may be over driven which could result in distortion and/or the amp being damaged.
  • Parallel ports can come up in any configuration when the pc is booted up. My pc defaults to 4 (00000100) which equates to 30 meters when it boots up. You could quite easily have your BCD device set to the wrong band if caution is not exercised. It is a good policy to not turn on your BCD device until after DDUtil is up and running as the program will configure the port based on what transmit frequency it receives from PowerSDR.
  • In it's current state PowerSDR has a timer that will not allow devices to connect to the CAT port if PowerSDR has been running for 10 minutes or more without a CAT connection. So if it fails to connect (displays [not connected] in the title bar) close PowerSDR and restart it. This will reset the CAT timer and DDUtil should now connect.
• Other Topics
  • BCD Data File Format
    • The BCD data file has a specific format that must be adhered to. The frequency must be in multiples of 100 kHz (7000, 7100, 7200) due to the way the BCD look up algorithm is constructed. The data itself can be any decimal number from 0 - 255. An example setting 14,100 would be freq = 14100, data= 5 which equates to binary 00000101.
  • BCD Data Port
    • Most BCD driven devices I have been associated with only use 3-5 control lines. My Quadra uses four (4). It is entirely conceivable that two (2) BCD devices could be run off of one (1) port. Hook device 1 to port pins 2-5 and device 2 to pins 6-9. Set up the data file for say 20 meters using (14100, 85) instead of (14100, 5) and it will produce 01010101 instead of 00000101 at the parallel port which is a binary 5 for each device.
  • Inter-Connecting Cables
    • Serial (RS-232) cables can be either purchased or fabricated by the user as dictated by the device to be controlled.
    • Parallel port cables will have to be fabricated by the user for the particular hardware setup. I have prepared a sample cable drawing as part of this package to serve as a guide.
    • If you would like to see how this concept works without setting up a binary device you can build a small LED array that can connect to your parallel port and show the binary code being sent.
    You can watch the LEDs change as the frequency changes.
  • Port Locator

    If you don't know what ports are installed on your pc the following procedure will tell you.

    • From the Start button select Control Panel
    • Select System
    • Select Hardware
    • Select Device Manager
    • Expand the Ports entry
    • If you are using a non-standard parallel port (non-motherboard port), this link will help you get the port address you will need.

    All your hardware ports will be listed there.

    

How it works

General

This software extends the users ability to control ancillary frequency sensitive devices such as:

• Linear Power amplifiers with automatic band switching capabilities.
• Antenna switches using RS-232 or BCD input.
• SteppIR antenna controllers.
• Antenna tuners with automatic band switching capabilities.

Philosophy / Design Criteria

• Provide a stand alone software program that will deliver transmit frequency data, from PowerSDR, in the form of RS-232 serial data and/or BCD parallel data to passive listener devices. DDUtil does not receive or acknowledge any communication from the down stream devices it services. It is a one way communication only. Hence, they are referred to as Passive Listeners.
• It was also desired to use DDUtil with other radio control programs simultaneously. Since most users run a logging program or other radio control program, this was considered to be a very high priority.
• Use all current technologies, if appropriate, in the software design. These include XML files, XPATH, Regular Expressions and Threading, to list a few. Development was accomplished in the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

Program Flow

Upon program opening the following events occur:

• Setup variables
• Restore saved values to form controls
• Initialize system polling timers for serial ports
• Open selected serial ports
• Show main form

The program is driven by events from either the serial ports receiving data or the polling timers counting down and firing. The following descriptions describe these events.

• Radio Port Data Received
  • This indicates CAT data has arrived from PowerSDR
  • Decode PowerSDR data to see if it is frequency data
  • If yes, send formatted frequency data to the selected passive listener serial port and call BCD decoding routine to process and output the BCD data on the selected parallel port
  • If logger is active (log flag = true) send radio data to logger port
  • Reset flags and return
• Logger Port Data Received
  • This indicates CAT data has arrived from the logger/radio control program
  • Forward the command on to PowerSDR CAT port
  • Disable the PowerSDR polling timer, which stops DDUtil querying the radio for frequency data as this is now done by the logger program
  • Set Log flag to true
• Logger Port Polling Timer Elapsed

  This indicates that logger port polling interval has expired which also means that NO CAT data has arrived from the logger/radio control program for 10 seconds

  • Set radio poll timer to enabled
  • Set the log flag to false
  • Reset the logger polling timer (10 seconds)
• Radio Port Polling Timer Elapsed

  This indicates the CAT port polling interval has expired which also means the logger is not active

  • Send CAT commands to PowerSDR for the VFO status and frequency
  • Check PowerSDR CAT port buffer for messages
  • Decode the buffer message data to see if it is frequency data
  • If yes, send formatted frequency data to the selected passive listener serial port and call BCD decoding routine to process and output the BCD data on the selected parallel port

Legal