Tim's Remote CW Station - Session Setup Procedure

Open Control Terminals

On the operating station PC, open separate Bash terminals for the following tasks (80x25 is adequate size). Set the title string of each terminal otherwise it will get confusing:

Remote PC (SSH) rigctld and audio sender (title audio send)

Operating PC audio receiver (title audio rx)

Remote PC (SSH) CW listener (title cw listener)

Operating PC CW sender (title cw sender)

Operating PC rigctl window (title rigctl)

Also on the operating PC, you might do well to have a PulseAudio Volume Control window open to allow adjustment of the received audio level. An optional FlDigi window can also be open to help catch any CW that you may miss, plus a web browser etc...

Start the Receive Audio Path

In the audio send window (SSH), first run ts450s_rigctld (this starts rigctld in the background)

In the audio send window (SSH), run stream_alaw_audio_rtp (this starts the RTP audio sender)

In the audio rx window (local), run receive_alaw_audio_rtp (this starts the RTP audio receiver)

You should now hear remote audio with a latency of ~200ms

Start the Remote CW Keyer Path

If your sending station keyer only has one serial port: In the CW sender window (local), first run minicom to configure the local CW keyer (set the keyer speed, sidetone volume and enable network keying mode), then exit minicom.

If your sending station keyer has 2 serial ports (the V1.0 PCB version): Open a keyer command console using minicom in its own window and leave the terminal session open.

In the CW listener window (SSH), run cw_keyer_listen (this prepares to receive keyer data from the local keyer)

In the CW sender window (local), run cw_keyer_sender (this makes the connection to the remore receiver)

You should now be able to key the remote radio. Note that the remote keyer begins reconstructing your CW exactly as you send it but after the configurable network pre-buffer delay (typically 0.3s).

Start the Remote Rig Control Path

In the rigctl window (local), run rigctl_connect (this gives console access to remote rigctld)

You can now type rigctl commands to change VFO freq, mode etc. See list of rigctl commands below:

Useful rigctl commands:

You can type directly into rigctld as described here, or you can use a GUI such as grig to provide remote control (though I find that grig gets grumpy pretty regularly, the polling of S-meter data might have something to do with this?) The following commands have been tested with a TS450. Note that rigctl takes care of the radio-specific commands and protocol and the commands you enter into this terminal window should be the same for all radios. For a full list of rigctl commands see this page

Set mode and bandwidth (examples):

M USB 2400

M CW 500

M FM 12000

(m will show the current mode)

Set current VFO frequency (must be 12 digits):

F000014015000

(f will show the current freq)

Enable/disable AIP (low/high RF gain given that TS450 does not provide remote RF gain):

U AIP 1

U AIP 0