
RA1792Control(1)              Linux User's Manual             RA1792Control(1)

NAME
       RA1792Control  -  a  program  to control the RACAL RA1792 receiver with
       look & feel similar to the receiver itself, with some enhancements.

SYNOPSIS
       RA1792Control

DESCRIPTION
       A full manual has been not written yet. Briefly and with apologies  for
       the bad English:

                    -------------------------------------------
                                     WARNING
                       THIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN WRITTEN FOR THE
                          PROLOGIX USB-to-GPIB INTERFACE
                     SEEN BY THE SYSTEM AS A VIRTUAL COM PORT!
                    -------------------------------------------

       In  version  0.4  all TButtons have been replaced by TJButtons from the
       jujibo package by Julio Jiménez Borreguero. These are customizable but‐
       tons that can have more than one line of text, a user-selectable colour
       regardless of system and window manager used, themed or  not,  and  the
       ability  to  resize the image, if any. So, if you want to recompile the
       sources, install first in Lazarus that library using the Online Package
       Manager available in Lazarus. These changes, while purely cosmetic, re‐
       quired an extensive overhaul of the source  code  of  the  program,  so
       please report any wrong behaviour. The main window resize code has been
       also revised and now the program should behave correctly,  resuming  at
       start the size and the position with which it was closed.

       The  "REM"  button  starts  program  execution  and connection with the
       RA1792.  Before clicking on it, be sure to select in the "Options" menu
       the correct receiver address. Actual address is shown in brackets after
       the menu entry "Receiver address". The  chosen  configuration  will  be
       saved  automatically.   For  serial  ports other than the first two, or
       USB, select the "Custom" serial port option and write the name  of  the
       port.  Please note that with the Prologix USB-to-GPIB interface the se‐
       rial speed does not matter.

       Don't forget to set the same address  on  the  receiver  with  the  dip
       switches  on the back. Check also that your user has serial port access
       privileges; under Linux usually it must be a member  of  the  "dialout"
       group  and the virtual serial port created by the Prologix interface is
       no exception.

       When you start the program, the RX  state  (frequency,  mode,  filters,
       etc)  will  be  read from RX itself. The state can also be saved to and
       restored from a file. Default file name is <frequency>-<mode>.dat, e.g.
       10100.800-CW.dat.

       Option "Enable S-meter" starts polling the received signal level (using
       the TR command) every 0.3s and display a  bar-meter  for  the  received
       signal  strenght. During the command duration, other keys are disabled,
       so selecting this option slows down somewhat operations. Note that  not
       all RA1792 have the TR command (e. g. mine, an old non-backlit version,
       has not).

       Frequency can be changed by clicking on the RX display, with the  mouse
       wheel,  by writing the desired frequency in the spinedit at lower right
       of the main window or by turning the tuning "knob", moving the mouse on
       it.   To enable tuning (indicator TUNE lit), press the "TUNE" button or
       click on the tuning knob. Clicking a second time disables tuning.

       The tuning knob rate can be fixed (0.5, 1, 10 or 100 kHz per  turn)  or
       timed,  as  in  the  real receiver tuning knob: turning it slowly makes
       small frequency increments, downto 1 Hz, turning it faster makes bigger
       increments.  Since  it  is  difficult to maintain a well-defined tuning
       speed using the mouse, in the author's opinion it is wise to use one of
       the  fixed  tuning  rates,  so the initial default is fixed at 1kHz per
       turn. Try and see yourself.

       Left-clicking on a figure in the RX frequency display  decrements  that
       figure  by one, right-clicking increments that figure by one. This only
       happens if the final frequency is in the range of the RX.  Clicking  on
       the  decimal  point the displayed frequency will be rewritten. Smallest
       increment/decrement available is 1 Hz.

       If the mouse wheel is rotated with the pointer over one of the  figures
       of  the  RX  frequency, that figure is incremented or decremented. This
       now works also under Windows.

       If the mouse wheel is rotated  with  the  pointer  over  the  frequency
       spinedit, the frequency is incremented/decremented by 1 Hz.

       Last,  if the mouse wheel is rotated with the pointer anywhere else, RX
       frequency is incremented or decremented by the tuning step in effect.

       The channels stored or recalled with the STORE, CHAN and CHAN SCAN keys
       are  local  to  the program, which tries to mimic the RX behaviour, but
       have nothing to do with the channels stored in the receiver,  since  no
       remote command is available to read or set these.

       In  the CHAN and STORE functions the channel number can be selected us‐
       ing the simulated tuning knob, as in the real  receiver,  but  also  by
       clicking  with  the left and right mouse buttons on the channel figures
       or by rotating the mouse wheel as above (increment/decrement that  fig‐
       ure) or anywhere else (increment/decrement channel number by 1).

       There are also some keyboard shortcuts:

                +: Tune up by the default tuning step in effect
                -: Tune down by the default tuning step in effect
                /: Change tune rate (cycles between 1, 10, 100 and 1000 Hz)
                *: Set receive frequency
                .: Enable/disable TUNE mode
             0..9: same as corresponding key (number or function)
                ⏎: same as ENTER button

       allowing basic control of the receiver using only the numerical keypad.

       These keyboard shortcuts are also accepted:

                U: Set USB mode
                L: Set LSB mode
                C: Set CW mode
                A: Set AM mode
                F: Set FM mode
                I: Set ISB mode (if ISB option fitted)

       The  above  commands can be issued either upper or lower case. The fre‐
       quency value for command * can be entered either with the  keyboard  or
       with the on-screen numeric keys.

OTHER COMMANDS & CONTROLS
       The message display shows informations about the command being executed
       or status/info/error messages. Double-clicking on it clears display.

       RX parameters (frequency, step, AGC, etc.) can be set also by selecting
       the desired value with the controls at the lower right of the main win‐
       dow.

       The program tries to disable illegal keys for the actual state  (e.  g.
       pressing  the  "F"  key, only the numeric keys are active and all other
       function keys are disabled. If this behaviour is not wanted, then check
       the "Option>Enable all controls" menu entry.

       The message display shows informations about the command being executed
       or status/info/error messages. Double-clicking on it clears display.

       RX parameters (frequency, step, AGC, etc.) can be set also by selecting
       the desired value with the controls at the lower right of the main win‐
       dow.

       The program tries to disable illegal keys for the actual state,  e.  g.
       pressing  the  "F"  key, only the numeric keys are active and all other
       function keys are disabled. If this behaviour is not wanted, then check
       the "Option>Enable all controls" menu entry.

NOTE ON CONFIGURATION AND STATE FILES.
       All  configuration files are kept under Linux in the .RA1792Control di‐
       rectory of your home directory, under Windows in the RA1792Control  di‐
       rectory,  which now can be put in any location and renamed as you like,
       as long as the executable file is contained in it and run  from  there.
       In  case  the program configuration has messed up, delete (or move) the
       "Config.dat" files and the program at next start will recreate it using
       the default configuration.

       The channels stored with the STORE are kept in the RXChan.dat file.

       The  AUX  configuration  is kept in the file AUXconf.dat. To change it,
       set the wanted configuration (mode, bandwidth, AGC and BFO if  applica‐
       ble,  the  other  parameters are meaningless) and use the "File -> Save
       state..." menu entry to save it with the  name  given  above,  possibly
       overwriting the existing file.

       Files saved in the Channels subdirectory (using the "File>Save Channel"
       menu entry) will be read at program startup and shown in  the  Channels
       menu  entry and can be recalled using only one mouse click. To allow to
       rename and delete the saved state files from within the program, a very
       minimal file manager is built in (menu entries "File>Manage states" and
       "File>Manage channels").

TODO.
       • Check the correctness of the state machine dealing  with  the  memory
         channel functions against the RX behaviour.

       • Check if the received signal level reading code works. My RA1792 does
         not have this command so I was unable to test it.

       • Add a hamlib rigctld-compatible TCP server.

       • Write a full-blown manual.

0.4                               22/06/2022                  RA1792Control(1)
