MODE override

[VK7XX]

I have recently installed Log4OM Version 1.11.4.0 and I have a problem. I have had this particular problem for several versions but, none of my friends are experiencing this so, it is time to ask here...

My problem is, if I change the drop down 'Mode' box to any other mode, within one or two seconds, it changes itself back to SSB. This makes it very very difficult to log JT65 contacts (a mode I use very very frequently) and RTTY / PSK contacts. When the radio switched to CW mode or AM or FM, the Log4OM mode follows correctly, however when the radio is switched to RTTY or PSK it remains on SSB and, if I manually change the mode, within a very short time it changes itself back to SSB.

The radio is an Icom 7800 and the CAT connection is made with Omni-Rig. I have tried with COM-8 through the com port on the back of the radio and also COM-1 through my CT-17 (my preferred method as this is also connected to an IC-910) but that makes no difference. The computer is running Windows XP SP3 with all current updates applied.

Is there some way I can properly override this auto mode selection ???

John
VK7XX

[G4POP]

Hi John,
LOG4OM is obtaining the mode from Omnirig and this is why the mode reverts to the rig mode after a second or so because LOG4OM has polled Onirig for the mode.

The IC7800.ini in Omnirig is just a text file so you can edit it.

Looking at the ini file I see that the modes are as follows....

[pmCW_U]
Command=FEFE6AE0.06.03.FD
ReplyLength=13
Validate=FEFE6AE00603FD.FEFEE06AFBFD

[pmCW_L]
Command=FEFE6AE0.06.07.FD
ReplyLength=13
Validate=FEFE6AE00607FD.FEFEE06AFBFD

[pmSSB_U]
Command=FEFE6AE0.06.01.FD
ReplyLength=13
Validate=FEFE6AE00601FD.FEFEE06AFBFD

[pmSSB_L]
Command=FEFE6AE0.06.00.FD
ReplyLength=13
Validate=FEFE6AE00600FD.FEFEE06AFBFD

[pmDIG_U]
Command=FEFE6AE0.06.08.FD
ReplyLength=13
Validate=FEFE6AE00608FD.FEFEE06AFBFD

[pmDIG_L]
Command=FEFE6AE0.06.04.FD
ReplyLength=13
Validate=FEFE6AE00604FD.FEFEE06AFBFD.

[pmAM]
Command=FEFE6AE0.06.02.FD
ReplyLength=13
Validate=FEFE6AE00602FD.FEFEE06AFBFD

[pmFM]
Command=FEFE6AE0.06.05.FD
ReplyLength=13
Validate=FEFE6AE00605FD.FEFEE06AFBFD

You will notice that RTTY (FEFE6AE0.06.04.FD) and RTTY-R (FEFE6AE0.06.08.FD) are not listed and this is why you have the issue with RTTY/FSK, you can add those if you want to.

JT65 is a digital mode so SSB is correctly being returned as the rigs mode, if you want to deviate from that then you need to dissable the rig control and without CAT the mode that you select manually will be retained.

This does however seem to indicate that we should have some sort of manual overide for the mode so that the frequency is still available but the mode can be changd by the operator, so perhaps a choice to not track mode by having a check box alongside the mode drop down?

I am sure that daniele will have an idea for this.

73

[VK7XX]

Thanks for the information and those codes Terry. I'll have a go at putting them in to the .INI later (& see if I can muck that up...)

I forgot to mention in my first post that I also have Logger32, N1MM & HRDlogbook installed and none of those have my particular issue. I hope that Daniel does come up with an easy solution

Meanwhile, I have tried various things and discovered that if I change the CAT management over to HamLib, it is even worse... HamLib tells me it can't connect, then it connects & says I am out of band, then it disconnects. And if I click the HamLib 'Connect' button all gets repeated.......

73
John

PS... just tried adding the modes / codes to the INI file.. It looks like I need "validate" codes too. Will do a search, however, if you have a link to these and other codes for the 7800, I would appreciate the info.

[G4POP]

Hi John,
You can see validate codes in the other modes in the ini so all that is required is to copy and modify one of them.

The CAT commands are detailed in your Icom manual.

The other program's that you mentioned don't use Omnirig they all have their own CAT control.

In HRD you would have to deselect Mode tracking to be able to select a mode other than the rig is returning by CAT. I am not sure but I would assume that you need to do something similar in NiMM and Logger32?

The only other method that I can think of is some sort of user definable table in the program where the user could decide that a particular mode should be recorded when on particular frequencies, instead of that returned by the rig, like on frequency 14.xxxxx MHz for USB show JT65.

Bit of a puzzle realy!

73

[IW3HMH]

You can get rid of that by selecting "Cat & Cluster" in the settings menu and deselecting "CAT will set MODE when following spot" and "CAT will switch to Digital (Omnirig only)" (try the second one as first)

In the meanwhile i will search for a bright idea... the main problem is Omnirig (and hamlib) aren't able to understand every single rig mode.
73
Daniele IW3HMH

[VK7XX]

Hello Daniele. Thankyou for the suggestion. I have never had either "CAT will set MODE when following spot" or "CAT will switch to Digital (Omnirig only)" enabled. The only item enabled has been "Open CAT on program start". So, I experimented with as many combinations as possible with ticking & unticking combinations of all 4 options however, the only changes I saw were that either the CAT worked or it did not & the cluster was displayed or was not. Whenever "Open CAT on program start" was included in one of the combinations, the mode always immediately changed back to SSB (yes, the radio is on SSB, but I want the mode JT65). I agree, the problem is OmniRig. What a shame there is no other decent rig control program available.

------------------------------------------

To Terry. All of the validate codes are different so copying them and modifying them sounds good, however I am not the brightest lightbulb in the chandelier and I do not know what to modify them too... for example, in the IC-7800 INI file, for SSB in upper sideband, the validate code is "Validate=FEFE6AE00601FD.FEFEE06AFBFD" but I cannot see any relationship to this code and the codes in my user manual. All the codes shown in the back of my user manual start with 0500 followed by 2 other numbers and I have no idea how they relate to the 'validate' codes

Maybe I am looking at the wrong codes in the manual, but these were all I could find.

thanks to you both for trying to help.
73
John
VK7XX

[VK7XX]

<in part, wrote>

This does however seem to indicate that we should have some sort of manual overide for the mode so that the frequency is still available but the mode can be changd by the operator, so perhaps a choice to not track mode by having a check box alongside the mode drop down?

Tick box is good. Thats what HRDlogbook uses and it is just fine

[IW3HMH]

I'm adding a lock function to this field.

[G3ZSS]

I have also been struggling with the IC-7800 Omnirig file. Terry's suggestion is basically to rename DIG_U to RTTY-R and DIG_L to RTTY. The actual codes themselves are the same (04 & 08). The alternative ICOM digital modes are PSK and PSK-R (codes 12 &13). After an email exchange with VE3NEA, I have been testing my modified rig file with the Omnirig Verify program. However I cannot get any ini to validate when I enter lines for RTTY. So I think we are going to have to wait until either Lele recognises DIG-U and DIG-L as RTTY modes by default, or Omnirig is scrapped in future for something better! 73 Peter G3ZSS

[IW3HMH]

Hi Peter,
actually there is not a big choice of CAT control softwares available.
The only workaround i've found at the date is to have a "lock" icon near the mode, to be used when you don't want the mode will be changed on rig mode change.
What you're working on the INI file is related to how omnirig recognize the rig mode. You can do whatever you want on this "frontend to the rig", but on the rear side (facing log4om) the informations are much less, and returns a generic "DIG_L" or "DIG_U" that say: the rig announced me that he's working on some kind of digital mode.

In this case i'm setting SSB for log because i cannot choose anything else (psk is wrong as rtty is wrong for other peoples).

hope to have a release very soon.

73
Daniele IW3HMH