Radio Panel

The radio panel displays and controls the VFO of the connected radio.

• Check box shows/controls the connection status.
• VFO popup displays the currently selected VFO.
• Mode popup shows the selected radio mode, native modes available on your radio are shown in Bold.
• VFO frequency text edit field will display the frequency in MHz and can be edited directly to change the VFO frequency.
• Split popup shows the current split.
• To the right of the VFO frequency text field, the VFO stepper up/down arrows will change the radio VFO 100 Hz up or down.
    If the stepper control is in focus, the keyboard up/down arrows will also work.
• With the Caps Lock key down the frequency will change 1 Hz up or down.
• With the Shift key pressed the frequency will change 10 Hz up or down.
• With the Control key pressed the frequency will change 1 KHz up or down.
• With the Option key pressed the frequency will change 10 KHz up or down.
• With the Command key pressed the frequency will change 100 KHz up or down.
  

If you hold the mouse pointer over the VFO Stepper and scrub the scroll pad up and down the VFO frequency will be tuned.

The VFO slider will change the frequency continuously as well.

Just below the VFO stepper is the polling light. It flashes green when the radio is polled, yellow when there is an error and red when the radio is in transmit.
Clicking this button will toggle PTT based on the PTT method selected in the Radio prefs.

This can also be activated by a Shortcuts menu “MOX” menu item.

By default this has a 15 second timeout to stop users from accidentally leaving their radios in transmit.

If you want to remove the timeout, enter this line in the Terminal application:
     defaults write com.dogparksoftware.MacLoggerDX mox_timeout_seconds -int 0

If you want to restore the 15 second timeout (or enter a different value) enter this line in the Terminal application:
     defaults write com.dogparksoftware.MacLoggerDX mox_timeout_seconds -int 15

To check the value enter this line in the Terminal application:
    defaults read com.dogparksoftware.MacLoggerDX mox_timeout_seconds

To activate a specific control like the VFO stepper you will have to Tab the control into focus first. Make sure your System Preferences / Keyboard / Shortcuts settings allow you to tab through all the controls (Full Keyboard Access).

Radio Prefs

Connecting the Computer to your Radio for CAT (Computer Aided Tuning / Rig Control)

• Select Port Type:
  
  microHAM Virtual Port for microKEYER, digiKEYER, CW KEYER devices
  FlexRadio SmartSDR for FlexRadio 6000 series radios
  SunSDR TCI for SunSDR TCI radios
  Hamlib NET rigctl for connecting to a rigctld server
  Serial Port for all others (including radios with internal UARTs and microHAM USB I, II, III and DXP interfaces)
  
  If you are using a microKEYER, digiKEYER, or CW KEYER make sure you get the latest version of uH Router for Mac.
  Note: uH Router is not supported by microHAM and does not work with newer microHAM devices or macOS versions.
  
  
  
• If you chose FlexRadio SmartSDR, the Radio and MacLoggerDX must be on the same Local Area Network subnet i.e. 192.168.2.x.
  Choose the radio in the Port and Radio popups. If your radio is multiFLEX capable (v3.0+) you should bind to a multiFLEX GUI client (SmartSDR, Maestro, dogparkSDR etc.) by selecting it in the popup beneath the Port Type popup once the radio is connected so that MacLoggerDX can tell which slices you want it to access. For remote Flex radios, use the dogparkSDR Tune MLDX setting and MacLoggerDX will log the frequency and mode sent to it by dogparkSDR.
  
  
• If you chose SunSDR TCI, the Radio and MacLoggerDX must be on the same Local Area Network subnet i.e.192.168.2.x.
  Choose the same TCI WebSocket port in both the ExpertSDR software TCI Options and the MacLoggerDX Port popup.
  The popup is loaded by the tci_ports.dat file and the IP address refers to the computer running ExpertSDR. If ExpertSDR TCI and MacLoggerDX are running on the same Mac, use localhost.
  
  
• If you chose Hamlib NET rigctl, enter the host and port of the rigctld server (default 127.0.0.1:4532). You must also choose Hamlib NET rigctl from the Radio popup. The MacLoggerDX rigctld client has been tested against the Hamlib v4.5.4 rigctld server and the wfview rigctld server. MacLoggerDX requires polling (Transceive OFF) and the Extended Response Protocol for asynchronous message decoding.
  
  
• If you chose Serial Port, select the radio USB Serial adapter (UART) from the Port popup.
  
  Most radios will require a USB/Serial adapter, cables and possibly a level converter - check your radio manual for specifics. Newer Radios like the TS-590, FT-991, IC-7300 etc. have a built in USB/Serial adapter and you will only need a USB cable and a driver (see below).
  
  Make sure that when the radio is powered up and plugged into the Mac you can see it in the Apple menu About This Mac / System Report / Hardware / USB bus. If the radio appears here it means that the Mac hardware has detected it, not that the necessary driver (kernel extension) has been loaded for it.
  
  Dog Park Software Ltd. does not sell, support or recommend any hardware but here are some of the devices our customers are using:
  http://dogparksoftware.com/DogParkLinks.html.
  Note: If a manufacturer doesn't advertise Mac support on their web site - they probably won't be able to support the device when you have a problem.
  
  Install the correct driver (kernel extension) from the manufacturer of your USB/Serial adapter (or radio built-in UART). If the port doesn't show up in the Port popup in the MacLoggerDX Radio Prefs Panel - it won't work with MacLoggerDX or any other macOS program. USB/Serial adapters/cables that work on a PC will not work on a Mac unless the manufacturer provides the appropriate signed Mac OS X driver for it.
  Note: Starting with macOS Big Sur kernel extensions have been replaced by DriverKit Extensions (dexts). Many of the UARTs commonly used are automatically supported by Big Sur without you having to load a driver.
  
  If you start MacLoggerDX with an internal UART radio like the IC-7300 powered down - MacLoggerDX will be unable to see the radio port and will choose another port like the Bluetooth port - this won't work. You will need to re-select the dp_sym_ic_7300 port. Likewise make sure you quit MacLoggerDX before you power down the radio or MacLoggerDX won't be able to save the radio port name in the prefs.
  
  
  
  Remember to power up the radio and any interfaces before running MacLoggerDX so that they can be found in the Port popup - and quit MacLoggerDX before powering down your radio so that the port prefs can be saved.
  
  If your USB/Serial adapter does not show up in the Port popup there is something wrong with the device, it's cable, it's driver is not loaded or the radio is not powered up.
  If you have Parallels running on your Mac - make sure it hasn't "stolen" the port.
  You may also need to reboot (and sometimes power cycle) your Mac after the install.
  macOS High Sierra 10.13 introduces a new feature that requires user approval before loading new third-party kernel extensions.
  
  
  • You can tell which chip set is being used in your adapter (and if it is seen by the hardware) by selecting About This Mac / System Report / Hardware / USB under the Apple menu.
    
    
  • Before macOS Big Sur,  you can tell which driver is installed and loaded by selecting About This Mac / System Report /  Software / Extensions under the Apple menu.
    
    
  • With Big Sur and later, you can tell which DriverKit extensions are loaded with the Terminal command $ systemextensionsctl list com.apple.system_extension.driver_extension
    
  
  Symbolic links to Silicon Labs CAT ports may also show up in the Port popup in italics and can be selected.
  Silicon Labs UARTS are built into many newer Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu radios.
  These links or aliases will point to the radio CAT port and unlike the dev/cu names will not be renamed when the radio is power cycled and will be remembered in your prefs.
  
  If the port Serial Number identifies a known radio (Icom) then a symlink will be created for that radio (i.e. tmp/dp_sym_ic_7300),
  otherwise (Kenwood and Yaesu) a symlink based on the port Serial Number will be created (i.e. /tmp/dp_sym_AH057M4N020648),
  if the port Serial Number is blank then MacLoggerDX will create a generic symlink for that CAT port (i.e. tmp/dp_sym_cp_2105).
  
  Silicon Labs Icom Radio symlinks:
  • tmp/dp_sym_ic_705
  • tmp/dp_sym_ic_7100
  • tmp/dp_sym_ic_7300
  • tmp/dp_sym_ic_7610
  • tmp/dp_sym_ic_9100
  • tmp/dp_sym_ic_9700
    
    
• Pseudo-terminal support - to add a pseudo-terminal (pty) serial port name to the Port popup, enter the pseudo-terminal port name in the Text Edit box just below the DTR and RTS check boxes. You may enter more than one, separated by commas.
  
  
• Radio Specific Settings.
  
  
• Set the baud rate in the MacLoggerDX Radio Prefs to be the same as the baud rate in the radio. Stop Bits are set to 1 except for 4800 baud - 2 stop bits. Usually, the highest baud rate supported by the radio is best.
  
  
• If VoiceOver is disconnecting the USB/Serial radio connection make sure you leave the VoiceOver Utility window open (even if it is in the background).
  
  
• If you are using an Icom make sure that the CI-V Icom Address (2 hex characters only, i.e. A2) in the MacLoggerDX Radio Prefs agrees with the one set in the radio, turn "Transceive mode" off and use the actual baud rate rather than "AutoBaud".  If the Send Icom Filter Width check box is enabled then the mode commands will send the filter width last read for that mode.
  
  
• If you are using DTR and RTS to key the radio - un-check the DTR and RTS check boxes in the MacLoggerDX Radio Prefs - otherwise leave them checked.
  
  If you have DTR/RTS keying selected in your radio interface then RTS is set for PTT and DTR is set for CW on the Keyer serial port. Note: This is not always the same internal UART as the CAT port. With a hardware DTR/RTS interface like the microHAM USB Interface II you can see the corresponding LED’s light when the DTR or RTS check boxes are selected. MacLoggerDX will set the DTR/RTS lines on the Keyer serial port but we cannot guarantee what any particular radio/interface or driver will do with them depending on radio model, firmware, cabling etc. you may have to set different parameters in the Radio’s menus.
  
  
• A separate Keyer popup is provided for setting the DTR/RTS Keying to the same serial port as the radio or a different port, or selecting a port for the Winkeyer USB.
  
  
• Bonjour Sharing is provided for sharing the radio with MacLoggerDX for iPad.
  
  
• Some radios support Power Standby on Quit, if selected, when you quit MacLoggerDX it will put your radio into power standby mode and when you run MacLoggerDX again it will wake up your radio, this keeps the UART in your radio powered up even though the radio appears to be off.
  
  Make sure no other program has this radio port open or you will get an Unable to Open Radio Port, resource busy error alert. You may have to unplug and replug that USB device to free it up. Only one program can connect to a radio serial port at a time - however some radios like the Icom IC-9700 allow 2 connections - one through the USB cable and one through the CI-V Remote jack.
  
  Enable the Radio panel check box. The check box title - Radio Not Connected will change to YourRadioName (the radio driver you have selected).
  
  If instead, you hear the disconnect sound - there is a communications problem.
  
  If the radio connects at first but then later disconnects, errors or behaves erratically shortly after you transmit - you likely have a problem with common mode currents getting into the interface and should add chokes to your USB cable. This is a common problem where there is poor grounding or poorly matched antennas. Reduce your transmit power to the minimum and/or use a dummy load to test for this. If your debug log shows a lot of disconnects and ports removed/added you may have a bad or loose cable.
  
  Please enable the Debug Log check box in the Radio prefs panel, try to connect to the radio with the Radio panel check box and then select Email Debug Log from the File menu to send it to us.
  
  Please include a screen shot of your Radio prefs in the email.
  
  Note: <command> <shift> 4 then drag the mouse across the corners of the screen area you are interested in will create a screen shot on your desktop.
  
  

The Radio Setting popup allows you to store 16 different radio configurations.

To add a new radio:

• Select one of the unused Radio settings slots in the Radio Setting popup.
• Configure the new radio and connect to it.
• To switch to a different radio: double-click on the radio in the Show Settings Radio Table, or choose the radio from the Radio prefs Radio Setting popup or from the Shortcuts menu.

The Show Settings button displays a table of all your radio configurations. The table has a delete button to clear individual settings. You can also edit the Custom Name of the radio setting which will be logged in the My Radio QSO field and displayed in the main window Radio panel. If you delete the Custom Name it will default to the Driver Name eg. Yaesu FT-991.

The Split Delay text field specifies the number of milliseconds delay between Mode and Band changes for Auto Tune, Split and double-clicking on a DXCluster spot. This delay is required between mode and band changes to give the radio some time to settle. Some radios cannot respond to commands immediately after a band or mode change. For most modern radios Split Delay can be set to 10 ms (the default and minimum). The K3 and FT-897 require 100, 200 ms or more to allow relays to settle. If the number is too low the mode may be set incorrectly.

The Show Hz check box will display the Hz digit in the Radio panel frequency display.

AutoTune Mode First check box - when double-clicking on a DXCluster spot to tune your radio to the spot's frequency and mode, you may want to tune the frequency first since some radios will lose the mode when the band is changed. Un-check the Auto Tune Mode First check box to tune the frequency (band) first. The Split Delay will determine what duration to pause between split VFO settings and between the frequency and mode commands.

The Cluster QSX tuning check box will set split for dxcluster spots where MacLoggerDX can parse comment fields with QSX 14100.0, UP 3, DWN 2, DOWN 5 etc. Split spot frequencies will show in italics in the Spot panel. The parser is reasonably accurate and handles the majority of cases but the syntax for reporting QSX in the comments field of a dxcluster spot is far from standardised so some false positives/negatives or bad QSX values may occur.

The TX Param popup supplies an optional audio routing parameter for radio PTT.

TS-590S, TS-890S, TS-990S 0-Mic, 1-Data

The Speech popup is used by the Keyer window for pre-recorded audio files or text-to-speech keying. the Speech popup should be set to your radio sound card (USB Audio Codec) not the Built-in-Output since you want the audio to go to the radio not the Mac speakers. This popup can also select Loopback audio for xDAX transmission to your Flex. You may also have to configure the radio menus so that the radio will take it’s modulation audio from the internal sound card instead of the microphone jack.

The Echo port popup chooses the USB/Serial port to output amplifier/SteppIR etc. tuning frequency data at the baud rate selected from the Baud Rate popup, while the Format popup chooses Kenwood/Icom format. The Icom Format also requires the CI-V address to be specified. The Echo port requires it's own serial port separate from the radio, rotor and keyer ports. You may need a null-modem adapter to reverse the data lines depending on your configuration. The commands to the echo port >> and the commands returning from the echo port << are captured in the Debug Log if the Radio prefs Debug Log check box is enabled. Reports are sent at least once a second or when the VFO changes no more than 10 times per second.

>>[38] IF00018100000 000500002020001130;

RS-232 Cables

This will change the cable end from male to female or vice versa.

Gender Changer, Thin, DB9 M/M  $4.99

Gender Changer, Thin, DB9 F/F  $3.98

This will change a null modem cable to straight through or a straight through cable to null modem.

DB9 F/F Null Modem Adapter $1.10

Keyer Window

The PTT and CW popups in the Radio Prefs will determine how the radio is set to transmit and how CW is generated.

PTT

• Radio Command PTT
  Supported on: TenTec Orion, Eagle, Argonaut VI, TS-480, TS-50, TS-60, TS-440S, TS-450, TS-570, TS-590S, DZKit Sienna, TS-670, TS-690, TS-790, TS-850, TS-870, TS-940S, TS-950S ,TS-990S, TS-2000, KIO2, K3, KX3, IC-703, IC-746, IC-751, IC-756Pro, IC-746Pro, IC-756ProII, IC-756ProIII, IC-737, IC-775, IC-781, IC-970, IC-910, IC-7000, IC-7100, IC-7200, IC-7300, IC-705, IC-905, IC-7400, IC-7410, IC-7600, IC-7610, IC-7700, IC-7800, IC-7850, IC-7851, IC-9100, IC-9700, FT-2000, FTdx10, FTdx101, FTdx1200, FTdx3000, FTdx5000, FTdx9000, FT-950, FT-450, FT1000MP, FT-1000D, FT-991, FT-990, FT-920, FT-900, FT-890, FT-840, FT-100, FT-897, FT-857, FT-847, FT-817, FlexRadio, Expert Electronics SunSDR2 Pro, QRP, MB1.

• DTR/RTS PTT
  Supported where the DTR and RTS lines in the RS-232 interface are connected to the radios PTT and CW lines.

• uH Router PTT
  Supported where uH Router is used with a microHAM device.

• WKUSB
  Supported when a K1EL Winkeyer USB Device is plugged into a USB Port.
  
  

CW

• Radio Generated CW
  Many radios can activate CW Macros through CAT control, but these radios support text-to-cw generation in MacLoggerDX:
  TS-480, TS-570, TS-590S, TS-990S, DZKit Sienna, TS-870, TS-2000, KIO2, K3, KX3, TenTec Orion, Argonaut V, Icom IC-7100, IC-7300, IC-705, IC-7410, IC-7610, IC-9700, Expert Electronics SunSDR2 Pro, QRP, MB1.

• DTR/RTS CW
  Supported where the DTR and RTS lines in the RS-232 interface are connected to the radios PTT and CW lines.

• uH Router CW
  Supported where uH Router is used with a microHAM device that includes a K1EL keyer chip.

• WKUSB
  Supported when a K1EL Winkeyer USB Device is plugged into a USB Port.

The Keyer Window is activated with the Keyer button in the VFO Panel or with the Shortcuts menu Keyer menu item. This will open a WKUSB keyer device and take it out of standalone mode.

The Type Ahead check box will send the CW as you type instead of waiting for you to press the return key or the CW button.

The Type Ahead Filter value will apply a small pacing filter (0 - 1000 ms) giving the transmission a smoother rhythm. A value of 0 removes the filter completely.

The Speed text edit area allows you change the send speed for both Radio generated CW and DTR/RTS CW (with USB Keyers this field is not editable but shows the setting of the Keyer Speed pot).

The Dit Interval: text edit area allows you change the 'dit' intervals between words in DTR/RTS CW.

The Macro popup will place the selected Macro in the text input are and expand any variables in the macro.

You can define keyboard shortcuts for the Keyer Macros because the Keyer Macros menu is duplicated in the Shortcuts menu. The Keyer Panel should not be foremost for the keyboard shortcut to work.

The Repeat every n seconds check box will cause the CW, Speech or Sound file to be retransmitted every n seconds.

The Sound file popup will select a pre-recorded sound file (~/Documents/MLDX_Logs/recorded_sound_files) to play.

The Play button will send the selected pre-recorded audio file. The audio files are loaded from ~/Documents/MLDX_Logs/recorded_voice_files/

The Speak button cause the text in the text edit area to be converted to speech and sent.

The Clear button will clear the text input area.

The Cancel button will stop CW or speech transmission immediately (you can also use the escape key for this).

The Record button will allow you to record voice announcements to play back over the air (requires Mac OS X 10.7 or later). The files will be stored in ~/Documents/MLDX_Logs/recorded_voice_files/.

Pressing return will activate the CW button and send the CW. The escape key or the Cancel button will cancel it.

The CW button causes the CW in the text edit area to be sent by toggling the DTR, RTS or both lines on the radio serial port or by sending the text to the radio or Keyer.

The Status light/button and text will tell you which CW, PTT methods and Audio output device you have chosen in the radio prefs and if the keyer device has been opened successfully. Pressing this button will toggle the Keyer port open (WKUSB Host mode) and closed (WKUSB Standalone mode) if needed. Opening and closing the Keyer window will also open and close the keyer device. Unlike Standalone Mode, Host mode settings are not persistent, they are reset each time MacLoggerDX opens the keyer.

Text enclosed by square brackets will be elided as a prosign by the K1EL and DTR/RTS keyers. [AA] will be sent as .-.-

See the K1EL WinKeyer manual for predefined Prosign Key Assignments eg. use "=" to send BT.
 

CW and Text-To-Speech Macros

To customize the keyer macros, edit cwmacros.dat In the downloaded Sample Files folder, place it in ~/Documents/MLDX_Logs/ and reopen the Keyer window. Make sure you save the file as Plain Text not Rich Text. Blank lines in the file will generate separator lines in the menus.

If you want the @STX Macro to expand to TN CUT numbers, enter this command in a Terminal window…

defaults write com.dogparksoftware.MacLoggerDX keyer_use_cut_numbers -bool YES

Rotor Panel

The Rotor check box displays/controls the connection status of the rotor controller. The circular slider allows you to manually control the rotor heading. Normally you would use the Beam button or the Log Menu Goto Beam Heading and Goto Reverse Heading menu items to rotate the beam to the calculated heading of the last station lookup. You may also type in a beam heading and press return. The actual Bearing is displayed as well (Not supported by all rotor controllers).

To configure the rotor controller you must select the serial port it is connected on, the baud rate and number of stop bits that it is expecting (check the controller manual for this information), the controller type (ie hy-gain DCU-1 Pathfinder) Note: If a manufacturer doesn't advertise Mac support on their web site - they probably won't support the device when you have a problem.

If you chose Hamlib NET rotctld, enter the host and port of the rotctld server (default 127.0.0.1:4533). The MacLoggerDX rotctld client has been tested against the Hamlib v4.5.4 rotctld server. MacLoggerDX requires the Extended Response Protocol for asynchronous message decoding.

A number of third party rotor controllers use the DCU-1 protocol for communication, check your controller's user manual for the driver, baud rate and stop bit settings.

The Auto Rotate Beam check box will rotate the beam automatically, short path to the location of the lookup station when you double-click on a spot in the DXClusters/Spots panel, click on a Bands panel spot or perform any manual look up. The bearing calculation accuracy depends on the accuracy of your latitude and longitude entered in the Station Prefs and the accuracy of the geo-location data returned by your look up.

The Auto Rotate Short Path check box will auto rotate short path if checked or long path if un-checked.

The Band Bearing offset text boxes will apply bearing offsets in decimal degrees for specific bands and were implemented for rotor stacks where one band antenna is mounted 90 degrees out of alignment with another (for example). Offset values are not applied to the rotor read back values or display.

The Auto Rotate Band check boxes will enable or disable auto rotate for specific bands.

The Bearing Menu item under the MacLoggerDX Menu activates a Bearing Display HUD which will display the lookup bearing (white) as well as the actual rotor bearing (green) if your rotor controller supports read-back. The rotor read-back bearing (if available) will also display as a green line on the 2D and 3D maps. Clicking on the Bearing display will rotate the beam to that bearing.

Rotor Controllers supporting read-back:

• Yaesu GS-232
• Alfa Spid ROT1
• M2 RC2800 (Version 2.5+ firmware)
• Prosistel
• hy-gain YRC-3
  
• MDS RC1
• Green Heron RT-21
• Idiom Press Rotor-EZ

The DCU-1 Pathfinder, MDS RC1, Green Heron RT-21 and Rotor EZ drivers all support the core DCU-1 goto commands but the DCU-1 driver does not support the AI1; read back command extension.