Rig control

When set up properly, Pat is able to automatically dial the correct frequency for your rig(s). Rig control may also be required to key your transmitter when using ARDOP.

This document will walk you through the required steps in order to get rig control working:

• Setting up hamlib's rigctld
• Configuration

Setting up hamlib's rigctld

Pat relies on the excellent hamlib to do the heavy lifting. The recommended setup is to use rigctld, which allows multiple user programs to share one radio. Refer to Hamlib wiki for details on how to configure this.

Pat can use the conventional hamlib via serial/usb, but you'll need to recompile Pat with -tags libhamlib.

Installation

Ubuntu/Debian/Mint:

sudo apt-get install libhamlib-utils

Apple OS X (Homebrew):

brew install hamlib

Windows: https://sourceforge.net/p/hamlib/wiki/Download/

Running rigctld

Let's assume for a minute that you're going to control a Yeasu FT-857nd connected via usb on /dev/ttyUSB0, 4800 baud.

Get a list of radio identifiers:

rigctl -l

The ft-857 is listed with id 122.

Start the daemon:

rigctld -m 122 -r /dev/ttyUSB0 -s 4800

That's it, just leave the daemon running :)

Configuration

Now that rigctld is ready to accept connections on it's default port (4532), you'll need to configure Pat.

To make Pat aware of your rig, open up the config (~/.wl2k/config.json or use pat help to find the config directory) and add a new rig under the hamlib_rigs-section:

  "hamlib_rigs": {
    "my_precious_rig": {"address": "localhost:4532", "network": "tcp"}
  },
  ...

The next step is to configure each transport this rig is utilized for. This is done by setting the rig variable under ardop/pactor/ax25/winmor to the name of your rig:

  "ardop": {
    "rig": "my_precious_rig",
    "ptt_ctrl": false,
    "addr": "localhost:8515",
    "arq_bandwidth": {
      "Forced":false,
      "Max":500
    },
    "beacon_interval": 0,
    "cwid_enabled": true
  },
  ...

If you need PTT control, simply set "ptt_ctrl": true.

You should now be able to read your rig's current frequency. Try it out:

$ pat interactive
> freq ardop
14108.900
> _

To connect to LA5NTA on 5347KHz via ardop:

pat connect ardop:///LA5NTA?freq=5347

Good luck!