[WriteLog] SteppIR interfacing

[Dick Green WC1M]

Dave,

I couldn't get my 4-el to work with a 1000D. SteppIR told me their
controller doesn't work well with Yaesu products because Yaesu doesn't send
characters to delimit the start and end of data packets. While it's true
that Yaesu's protocol is poorly designed and that it's difficult to write
code to monitor it, it's certainly not impossible. After all, lots of
logging programs do it and I've written code to do it. 

In other words, it's a bug in the SteppIR controller. I'm surprised there
hasn't been more of a flap about it.

I took the rather extreme step of programming a PIC microcontroller to
intercept the Yaesu protocol and convert it the SteppIR test protocol, which
is supported on the outgoing RS232 port. I wouldn't have done this just to
get around the protocol problem -- I also needed to share the controller
between two different radios (Orion and 1000D) in my SO2R setup. This
required monitoring two different protocols and converting them to a common
protocol. For details, see www.wc1m.com. 

I used the programming trick of reading the exact number of characters in
the packet with a timeout set to a value larger than the spacing between
characters. If the read completes, then my program knows it has a full
packet and can find the frequency where it's supposed to be. If the read
times out, then my program knows the packet is incomplete and waits for
another packet to arrive. This works nicely for a real-time interface, but
probably wouldn't work for a logging program running under Windows. I'm sure
there are other approaches to solving the problem of no packet delimiters.

73, Dick WC1M 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David J. Strout - W2YC [mailto:djsatty at comcast.net] 
> Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2005 3:39 PM
> To: WriteLog Reflector
> Subject: [WriteLog] SteppIR interfacing
> 
> Using Yaesu FT1000D, Writelog and TopTen antenna 
> switcher......attempting to interface
> the SteppIR controller to follow band changes.   No success following 
> instructions in SteppIR manual.  Has anyone successfully 
> interfaced the SteppIR controller with the FT1000D?
> Suggestions appreciated.  Either here or to 
> djsatty at comcast.net.   Many tnx 
> in advance.
> Dave, W2YC 
> 
> 
> 
>