ALT-512 transceiver and CQRLog

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f5mog
ALT-512 transceiver and CQRLog

I purchased a new Transceiver ALT-512 (https://www.aerial-51.com/alt-512/), The ALT-512 transceiver has a claimed compatibility only with Windows :-( with claimed TS-2000 compatibility,

My computer is a Mintbox, using Linux Mint 19, so I had to battle a bit, to succesfully read the frequency of this transceiver, directly in CQRLOG,

The purpose of this note is to share my experience, in case it help others,
Please note that I am not using digi modes, so I cannot say if the ALT-512 is woking with linux programs,

The ALT-512 transceiver is supplied with a USB cable,
I connected directly this cable on the transceiver, and on one of the USB port of my mintbox computer,

My reference document is
http://www.saunalahti.fi/~sakny/bin/cqrlog2/setting_rigctld_for_all_prog...
and I used this method,

On my computer, I created the file rigctld_start,sh

Below is the content of my file

#!/bin/bash
#
sleep 2
#
# Nothing to do if it is already running.
#
a=$(/usr/bin/pidof rigctld)
if [ "$a" != "" ]; then
/usr/bin/date >> /tmp/start.log
echo "Already running." >> /tmp/start.log
else
/usr/bin/date >> /tmp/start.log
/usr/bin/rigctld -m 214 -r /dev/ttyUSB0 -t 4532 -s 9600 --set-conf=data_bits=8,stop_bits=1,serial_parity=None,serial_handshake=None,dtr_state=OFF,rts_state=OFF &
echo "Started." >> /tmp/start.log
fi
echo "-----------------------" >> /tmp/start.log

--Copy correctly my text, when creating rigctld_start,sh. Beware the syntax, spaces, etc. the text in the above pdf document is not fully correct,
--Check with command: whereis pidof, and whereis date and fix paths in script to follow your linux folders (my paths were different, I had to fix this)
--Make sure you are a member of the dialout (linux command groups your_username ), Your username should show, ( If not, linux command sudo addgroup your_username dialout),
--change permissions for run this file with command: chmod a+x ~/rigctld_start.sh
--set up user crontab that will start and keep rigctld running. Command is: crontab -e At the end of the file, leave an empty line, then add

* * * * * /home/pf/rigctld_start.sh > /dev/null 2>&1
Note: “pf” should be replaced with the username you are using!
Save all,

Since rigctld is starting alone, the set-up of CQRLOG is not that important,
Here below, in case you are interested, what I am using
File/preferences /TRX Control
Path to rigctld binary, /usr/bin/rigctld
Radio Description ALT-512
Host localhost
Rig Model 2 Hamlib NET rigctl
Device /dev/ttyUSB0
Poll rate 2000
Port number 4532
The box Run rigctld when program starts is kept UNchecked
Serial parameters are all set to default
check the box Show communication with TRX in console ,,,,it helps for debugging,

Save all, stop your computer, restart, wait a minute, to allow rigctld to start,
Start your ALT-512 rig, start CQRLOG,
the frequency of the transceiver should now appear in the TRX control window, and in the frequency box of the New QSO window,

Good luck,

Pierre F5MOG

oh1kh
ALT-512 transceiver and CQRLog

HI Pierre!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge with this rig.
Starting rigctld separately simplifies cqrlog (and other programs) setup as they all can have rig model 2 always.

When change to another rig only the separately started rigctld parameters need change, no changes to any other programs.

--
Saku
OH1KH