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Fldigi "QSY" button won't work w/Log4OM

Posted: 03 Jul 2018, 02:58
by kd7mw
Fldigi has a very nice feature where you can click on a signal anywhere in the audio passband, and then click a "QSY" button. This retunes the radio so that the selected signal is now centered in sweet spot of the radio's passband, and moves the selection to that audio frequency. On my Icom 7300, this is 1500 Hz. Then one can narrow or widen the filter as needed, etc. So in the example below, if I clicked on the QSY button (green arrow), the radio would shift frequency so that the selected signal (in red) would move to 1500 Hz, and the selection would also jump to 1500. This is very fast and convenient, and avoids losing "lock" on the signal and dropping characters.
FldigiQSYButton.jpg
FldigiQSYButton.jpg (108.27 KiB) Viewed 10963 times
I've had rig control with fldigi working properly "standalone" using RigCat for over a year. And I've successfully integrated fldigi with Log4OM (using OmniRig and XML-RPC as per the Log4OM manual). In the latter case, most things work as expected. But the QSY button is grayed out and does not function.

So it seems I can have Log4OM/Fldigi integration, or the "QSY to center" feature, but not both at the same time. Does anyone know if there's a way to make the QSY button work when Log4OM and fldigi are integrated?

Thanks and 73
--Peter, KD7MW
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Re: Fldigi "QSY" button won't work w/Log4OM

Posted: 04 Jul 2018, 19:43
by IZ3XNJ
The QSY function should be in the XML/RPC protocol provided by Fldigi, as the N2AMG's Fldigi-DXLabs Gateway support it via XML/RPC.

Re: Fldigi "QSY" button won't work w/Log4OM

Posted: 12 Jul 2018, 02:01
by kd7mw
This sounds like a chicken-or-egg problem, or "Is it your phone or your cell provider?" :D I realize that we have two programs written by two different people attempting to talk to each other by an interface layer and protocols that may have been written by yet more people.

Some thoughts, possibly relevant: The QSY button grays out the moment I check XML-RPC and click "Initialize" in Fldigi's rig control configuration. It returns to normal function as soon as I recheck RigCAT and "Initialize."

This occurs whether Log4OM or my radio is running or not. So my initial guess is that Fldigi is programmed to disable the QSY button when XML-RPC rig control is activated. Unless there is some initial handshake that occurs, and Log4OM isn't confirming something Fldigi needs to have confirmed before it will allow the QSY button to work. Which it can't, because as stated in the Log4OM manual, we have to start Fldigi first.

The Log4OM manual (p. 187) states that changing frequency (and mode) in Fldigi will not change the frequency of the rig or in Log4OM sees. this implies that the communication for mode and frequency is one-way. I don't know if this is because it can't be any other way, or if it was decided to make it that way to prevent something from breaking.

IZ3XNJ says that the QSY button works with DXLab using XML-RPC. But the Fldigi manual seems to say that the QSY button only works with Hamlib, Rigcat or flrig. Here's what it says:

The QSY button is very specific to transceivers interfaced with either hamlib, rigcat or when fldigi is used with flrig. Each transceiver has a sweet spot associated with its bandwidth controller. For the FT950 is 1500 when the transceiver is set to PKT-U. As the transceivers bandwidth is changed the changes occur centered at this frequency. Set the "Sweet spot" frequency (Config / Misc / Sweet Spot) to 1500. Let's say that I just started copying a rare dx at 1758 Hz and I wanted to put the signal at the sweet spot so I could easily narrow the receiver bandwidth. Click on the signal on the waterfall. Let the AFC capture and then press the QSY button. The tranceiver frequency will be shifted and the fldigi audio tracking point shifted in unison such that the signal is now at the receivers sweet spot. Very fast and very convenient! The QSY button will be dimmed and not activated if you do not have a method of transceiver control enabled for your transceiver. Right click on the QSY button to undo the action.

Re: Fldigi "QSY" button won't work w/Log4OM

Posted: 12 Jul 2018, 11:59
by IW3HMH
Hamlib is an option you can test with Log4OM.

Re: Fldigi "QSY" button won't work w/Log4OM

Posted: 16 Jul 2018, 03:45
by kd7mw
I played with HamLib on fldigi, but it doesn't support my IC-7300. I used the IC-7410 file, which worked once and then started crashing fldigi. So I put things back the way they were. My problem is that I use Olivia, modes like Domino, MFSK. These really benefit from that QSY button, as they take time to lock onto a signal after manually retuning. And retuning can be difficult if you don't see the pilot tones at the beginning or end of a transmission.

My guess is that the QSY button won't work because when the two programs are linked, the radio talks to Log4OM, which relays the radio's state to fldigi. But fldigi can't change mode or frequency, only read it from Log4OM. Since the QSY button shifts both the radio tuning and the signal's position on the waterfall, it can't work. I don't know why this is, and whether this is deliberate (for "traffic safety," or just how XML-RPC works.

--Peter, KD7MW

Re: Fldigi "QSY" button won't work w/Log4OM

Posted: 18 Jul 2018, 03:42
by kd7mw
Hi, Lele. I asked about this on the fldigi groups.io group. Here's what Mike, WB9MDB suggested. What do you think of this?

"Have FLDigi use FLRig, and you can set up Log4OM to use rigctld which, in the latest version (not the one in Log4OM) can also talk to FLDigi simultaneously.

"Log4OM can autostart the newer rigctld from WSJTX.

C:\WSJT\wsjtx\bin\rigctld-wsjtx.exe
With parameters
-m 4
And "Start before" checked.
And in Log4OM CAT control you check "Connect to active daemon".

"de Mike W9MDB"

Re: Fldigi "QSY" button won't work w/Log4OM

Posted: 19 Aug 2018, 20:53
by IZ3XNJ
Hi,
I've tried Mike WB9MDB's solution and it works :D .
You just have to manually check "Connect to active daemon" in Log4OM CAT control everytime you start, as I think there is no way to have this done automatically, but it works.
And of course, you can setup WSJT-X to use FlRig, so this solution is working also with FT8....
In my humble opinion, the slight inconvenience of the manual connection is largely rewarded by the FlDigi QSY button functionality working :)

Re: Fldigi "QSY" button won't work w/Log4OM

Posted: 23 Aug 2018, 21:03
by IZ3XNJ
Hi all,
I have an update about the Mike WB9MDB's solution to use FlDigy QSY button.

As he said to use latest rigctld, I've take a look at the versions:
  • the one in LOG4OM is version 3.2 and support to FlRig is 0.1 Alpha
  • the one in WSJTX 1.9.1 is version 3.3~git and support to FlRig is 1.1 Beta
  • latest at https://sourceforge.net/projects/hamlib/ (it was released 2 days ago) is version 3.3 but support to FlRig is 1.4 Stable
So I've made a backup copy of hamlib directory in Log4OM files, dowloaded latest version and copyied hamlib\bin files overwriting the original Log4om version, and then using the latest version instead of the wsjtx one.

The solution now is working better :D

Re: Fldigi "QSY" button won't work w/Log4OM

Posted: 24 Aug 2018, 07:46
by G4POP
Did you mean FLrig 1.3.4 only cant find a 1.4?

Re: Fldigi "QSY" button won't work w/Log4OM

Posted: 24 Aug 2018, 09:38
by IZ3XNJ
As usual my English is really too bad :-)
the 1.4 was not related to the FlRig version, it was the version of the FlRig integration in the rigctrld daemon.
the rigctrld in the Log4OM install was an alpha version, so Mike said to use the version in wsjtx which was a beta, but the latest released version of hamlib rigctrld daemon have a Stable integration with FlRig