RA3701Control(1)              Linux User's Manual             RA3701Control(1)

NAME
       RA3701Control  -  a  program  to control the RACAL RA3701 receiver with
       look & feel similar to the receiver itself, with some enhancements.

SYNOPSIS
       RA3701Control [ --lang=<language code>  |  -l <language code> ]

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

       The  "POWER"  switch  starts  program execution and connection with the
       RA3701.  Before starting the program, make sure to  have  selected  the
       correct  port  and baud rate in the Options>Communication parameters...
       menu option. It is advisable to select the maximum possible speed, i.e.
       9600 baud. The chosen configuration will be  saved  automatically.  For
       serial  ports  other  than  those listed, or USB, write the name of the
       port. The prefix /dev under Linux and \\.\ under Windows are  optional.
       If  not  present,  they  are automatically added.  Check also that your
       user has serial port access privileges; under Linux usually it must  be
       a  member  of  the "dialout" group. In the current basic implementation
       the receiver serial port must be configured in the CTR  mode  with  ad‐
       dress, Link control character and CRC disabled, 1 to 1 operation.  This
       is the serial configuration string returned by the author's receiver:

       CTR,9600,9600,EVEN,NOLCC,,NOCRC,0,0

       The  serial port, speed and parity are so far the only configurable pa‐
       rameters; since the other are not handled yet, their  controls  in  the
       configuration window are disabled.

       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  QRFL amd QAFL commands) every 0.5s 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.

       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
       can be local to the program or those stored in the receiver itself, de‐
       pending on whether the menu "Use program channels" is checked or not.

       It  is  also  possible  to synchronize the program channels and the re‐
       ceiver channels using the "Update channel list" menu  item.  Given  the
       time  needed  to  read all 100 channels, this function is not automati‐
       cally invoked at program start like others (i. e. reading the available
       bandwidths) but only if explicitly requested.

       In the STORE, CHAN e CHAN SCAN functions the channel number can be  se‐
       lected  using  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 figure) or anywhere else (increment/decrement  channel  number  by
       1), or finally using the keyboard.

       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, 1000 Hz and LOCK)
            *: Set receive frequency
            .: Enable/disable squelch
         0..9: Insert the chosen digit
        ENTER: 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 imodule 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.

NOTE ON CONFIGURATION AND STATE FILES.
       All  configuration files are kept under Linux in the .RA3701Control di‐
       rectory of your home directory, under Windows in the RA3701Control  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.xml" file and the program at next start will recreate it  using
       the default configuration.

       The  channels  stored  with the STORE in the "Use program channel" mode
       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.

       • Complete the "MENU", "M1", "M2","M3" and "M4" buttons implementation.
         At present only the "MENU" key is handled,  not  the  submenus.  Some
         commonly used functions have been duplicated in the "Other functions"
         menu  item,  but if in a more or less distant future that implementa‐
         tion will be completed, this will be no longer necessary.

       • Manage other interfacing modes (LCC, CRC, receiver address).

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

       • Write a full-blown manual.

0.21                              22/08/2025                  RA3701Control(1)
