[SD-User] Rig Control

[Paul O'Kane]

Recently, some users have reported problems with
rig control.  I've updated SD in an attempt to
fix these problems, and I'd like to invite you
to try the new version and let me know the
results, whether god or bad,

The updated program SD.EXE (V15.59a) may be
downloaded from www.ei5di.com/sd/sdexe.zip

This should be unzipped, to SD.EXE, and it will
replace whatever SD.EXE you currently have in
your SD folder.  Before doing this, take a copy
of your present SD.EXE so that you can restore
it if necessary

Here are the details of the changes.

Rig Control:
     When enabled, the B40 (and other) band-change
     commands did not work if the rig had not
     previously been switched to the corresponding
     band.  Fixed.

     POLLTIME and LINKTIME settings:  These were
     set to fixed values, dependent upon your BPS
     setting, each time SD was started.  Now,
     user-selected values are preserved in SD.INI.

     If rig control is not working fully with your
     rig, here's what you should try - assuming the
     PORTS command has already been used to define
     the appropriate COM port and to identify your
     rig.

     1.  Set the BPS to the maximum supported by
     your rig - and ensure your rig is set to the
     same value (if variable).

     2.  Set POLLTIME to 1000 and LINKTIME to 800.
     Use the STATUS command to confirm the settings.

     3.  Confirm that rig control is working.  If
     not, reduce POLLTIME and LINKTIME to see if
     this helps.  When rig control does work,
     reduce LINKTIME until rig control fails.
     Then increase LINKTIME by 25% or so, and
     confirm that rig control is restored - and
     the frequency displays correctly even when
     continuously turning the VFO dial.

     4.  REDUCE POLLTIME until rig control fails,
     then increase it by 25% or so and confirm
     that rig control is restored.  Note that
     lower values of POLLTIME make rig-contol
     more responsive - in terms of time taken
     to update the frequency display.

NOTE:  You can use the PT and LT commands to
change the values of POLLTIME and LINKTIME.

Thanks & 73,
Paul EI5DI