rigctlcom - Man Page

Allows programs which can connect to TS-2000 via COM port to use Hamlib or FLRig radios.  Multiple programs can connect to the radio via FLRig or rigctld.

Virtual serial/COM ports must be set up first using socat(1) or similar on POSIX systems (BSD, Linux, OS/X).  On Microsoft Windows available utilities are com0com, Free Virtual Serial Ports, or VPSD.

Please report bugs and provide feedback at the e-mail address given in the Bugs section below.  Patches and code enhancements sent to the same address are welcome.

This program follows the usual GNU command line syntax.  Short options that take an argument may have the value follow immediately or be separated by a space.  Long options starting with two dashes (‘-’) require an ‘=’ between the option and any argument.

Here is a summary of the supported options:

-m,  --model=id

Select radio model number.

See model list (use “rigctlcom -l”).

Note: rigctlcom (or third party software using the C API) will use radio model 2 for NET rigctl (communicating with rigctld).

-r,  --rig-file=device

Use device as the file name of the port connected to the radio.

Often a serial port, but could be a USB to serial adapter.  Typically /dev/ttyS0, /dev/ttyS1, /dev/ttyUSB0, etc. on Linux, COM1, COM2, etc. on MS Windows.  The BSD flavors and Mac OS/X have their own designations. See your system's documentation.

The special string “uh-rig” may be given to enable micro-ham device support.

-R,  --rig-file2=device

Use device as the file name of one of the virtual com ports -- your program will connect to the other com port of the virtual pair.

Virtual serial ports on POSIX systems can be done with socat(1):

$ socat -d -d pty,raw,echo=0 pty,raw,echo=0

See this Stackoverflow answer for using socat.

On Microsoft Windows available utilities are com0com, Free Virtual Serial Ports, or VPSD (see Description above for WWW links).

-p,  --ptt-file=device

Use device as the file name of the Push-To-Talk device using a device file as described above.

-d,  --dcd-file=device

Use device as the file name of the Data Carrier Detect device using a device file as described above.

-P,  --ptt-type=type

Use type of Push-To-Talk device.

Supported types are ‘RIG’ (CAT command), ‘DTR’, ‘RTS’, ‘PARALLEL’, ‘NONE’, overriding PTT type defined in the rig's backend.

Some side effects of this command are that when type is set to DTR, read PTT state comes from the Hamlib frontend, not read from the radio.  When set to NONE, PTT state cannot be read or set even if rig backend supports reading/setting PTT status from the rig.

-D,  --dcd-type=type

Use type of Data Carrier Detect device.

Supported types are ‘RIG’ (CAT command), ‘DSR’, ‘CTS’, ‘CD’, ‘PARALLEL’, ‘NONE’.

-s,  --serial-speed=baud

Set serial speed to baud rate.

Uses maximum serial speed from radio backend capabilities (set by -m above) as the default.

-S,  --serial-speed2=baud

Set serial speed to baud rate for virtual com port (see -R).

Uses maximum serial speed from radio backend capabilities (set by -m above) as the default.

-c,  --civaddr=id

Use id as the CI-V address to communicate with the rig.

Only useful for Icom and some Ten-Tec rigs.

Note: The id is in decimal notation, unless prefixed by 0x, in which case it is hexadecimal.

-L,  --show-conf

List all config parameters for the radio defined with -m above.

-C,  --set-conf=parm=val[,parm=val]

Set radio configuration parameter(s), e.g. stop_bits=2.

Use the -L option above for a list of configuration parameters for a given model number.

-u,  --dump-caps

Dump capabilities for the radio defined with -m above and exit.

-l,  --list

List all model numbers defined in Hamlib and exit.

The list is sorted by model number.

Note: In Linux the list can be scrolled back using Shift-PageUp/Shift-PageDown, or using the scrollbars of a virtual terminal in X or the cmd window in Windows.  The output can be piped to more(1) or less(1), e.g. “rigctl -l | more”.

-n,  --no-restore-ai

rigctl restores the state of auto information (AI) on the controlled rig.

If this is not desired, for example if you are using rigctl to turn AI mode on or off, pass this option.

-B,  --mapa2b

Maps set_freq on VFOA to VFOB instead. This allows using CW skimmer with the rig in split mode and clicking on a frequency in CW skimmer will set VFOB to the transmit frequency.

-v,  --verbose

Set verbose mode, cumulative (see Diagnostics below).

-Z,  --debug-time-stamps

Enable time stamps for the debug messages.

Use only in combination with the -v option as it generates no output on its own.

-h,  --help

Show a summary of these options and exit.

-V,  --version

Show version of rigctl and exit.

Note: Some options may not be implemented by a given backend and will return an error.  This is most likely to occur with the --set-conf and --show-conf options.

The -v, --verbose option allows different levels of diagnostics to be output to stderr and correspond to -v for BUG, -vv for ERR, -vvv for WARN, -vvvv for VERBOSE, or -vvvvv for TRACE.

A given verbose level is useful for providing needed debugging information to the email address below.  For example, TRACE output shows all of the values sent to and received from the radio which is very useful for radio backend library development and may be requested by the developers.

rigctlcom exits with:

0

if all operations completed normally;

1

if there was an invalid command line option or argument;

2

if an error was returned by Hamlib.

Start rigctlcom with FLRig as the Hamlib model and virtual com port pair COM9/COM10, e.g. N1MM Logger+ attaching to COM10 and using the TS-2000 emulator attached to COM9 (assumes virtual serial/COM ports pipe has been created with the proper utility as described above):

$ rigctlcom -m 4 -R COM9 -S 115200

The following diagram shows the communications flow that allows N1MM Logger+ to communicate with a radio connected to Flrig:

Flrig -><- rigctlcom -> COM9 <- virt_port_pipe -> COM10 <- N1MM

Report bugs to:

Hamlib Developer mailing list

This file is part of Hamlib, a project to develop a library that simplifies radio, rotator, and amplifier control functions for developers of software primarily of interest to radio amateurs and those interested in radio communications.

Copyright © 2000-2011 Stephane Fillod
Copyright © 2000-2018 the Hamlib Group (various contributors)
Copyright © 2010-2020 Nate Bargmann
Copyright © 2019 Michael Black W9MDB

This is free software; see the file COPYING for copying conditions.  There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

rigctld(1), rigctl(1), socat(1), hamlib(7)

Links to the Hamlib Wiki, Git repository, release archives, and daily snapshot archives are available via hamlib.org.