Qpcr1k Documentation

Introduction (raison d'etre)

Basically Javaman and I came up with an idea to create the PCR-1000 API and command line interface at Mogel's house party. We were piss drunk at the time and decided what a better way to contribute to both our hobbies at once.

Of course we were stupid. After all, we were drunk. We didnt know how much work it was really going to be. And all it would have been was a passing thought. But now we have finally (four months later) finished up the first usable version (one that won't erase your harddrive ;) ehhe.

We started from the ground up. The first file that I started writing was the PCRDEF.H file. This file is the definitions of the most of the known radio control codes. Check out the documentation that we have on that file. We are sure you will find it interesting. The second layer that we started writing was the Primitive Communications Object. This is the low level layer that actually communicates with the radio. And finally, what the GUI/CLI actually uses the PCP object.

Mad About The Styles

This section specifically describes the compile time options for the GUI.

1. Styles
   Basically, you have several different styles you can impliment when compiling the GUI. Depending on your current platform, you can compile it to fit right in with whatever navtive windowing system you are using. So if, for example, you are compiling it to run on a Windows 95 machine, you can give the command line option at configure time to win95.

• cde
  With the CDE style, you can set the GUI to mimic a CDE widget set. This will complement your Sun Solaris box and seamlessly fit right in.

• motif
  Running MWM as your window manager? Well, worry not! For setting the style to motif will automagically blend the GUI right in with the rest of your applications.

• win95
  So you are fortunate enough to be running this on an X-Windows server on your Windows 95 box. Well, if you can scare away the BSOD's long enough to play with this application on your win95 box, setting this style will make it look like it was just made natively for your Windows machine.

• sgi
  And of course, you are indeed lucky (*cough* rich *cough*) enough to own an Irix box, then worry no more! For setting the GUI style to this will make your QPCR1k application blend right in with the rest of your system. Although, for those of you whom have never seen SGI forms widgets, this style might also be confused with the FLTK, or MacOS widgets.

• none
  Lest not be forgotten the apathetic. This sets it to the default widget set in use by the Trolls at Qt.

Getting Started

Did it compile? YAY! Ok, well, now let's get started really quickly. When you did a make install the binaries were installed into the /usr/local/bin (by default, it could have been changed by you to a different prefix) Three binaries were installed into this directory, and were stripped of all debug code before the install (this is a good thing, it makes the binaries smaller.) Now what's left is to check out the GUI. You can run the GUI by issueing the command /usr/local/bin/qpcr1k after a short second you will notice the radio click and the GUI come up.

If you have never run this program before you will notice that the frequency is tuned to 146.000.000 MHz. The volume and squelch is all the way down, the CTCSS is off, the filter is set to 15 kHz, step size is set to 1 kHz, and Mode set to NFM.

I am not going to go into a whole scanning lesson, but two way communications in the VHF/UHF/SHF band are mainly 15kHz, NFM. While broadcast channels are set to 230 kHz, WFM. Let's start by quickly tuning in a broadcast band frequency.

1. Set the filter to 230 kilohertz.
   Click on the filter drop down list box, and select 230 from the list of available filters.

2. Set the mode to wide FM.
   Click on the mode drop down list box, and select WFM from the list of available modes.

3. Enter the frequency of 100.3 MHz.
   Click on the digits [1][0][0][.][3] then click on [ENTER]. Alternatively, you can click in the text box underneath the digits in the Direct Key Entry pad. Then type in the frequency 100.3 and press enter (or return) on your keyboard. (note: select a different frequency if a) you live in NYC or Philadelphia and have no musical taste or b) you dont have a cool radio station on that frequency and do not live in NYC or Philadelphia)

4. Set the volume to a comfortable level.
   Click on the volume slider, and while pressing down on the mouse button, move the slider up until you hear audio from the radio.

Stepping

To step up select a step size and press the step up (^) button. This should increment the frequency by exactly one step size. Repeat the operatoin with the step down (v) button for the identical operation in the opposite direction.

Channeling

To select the next programmed channel press the channel up button (>>). This will go to the next stored channel in memory. Repeat the operation with the channel down (<<) button for the identical operation in the opposite direction.

Advanced Functions

Ok, so you want to do more with your radio? Let's go over some more cool stuff.

Scanning

To scan select a frequency and press the scan button. It will flicker with your available options. It will also dim the unavailable buttons during scan mode. Your four available options are step up scanning (^), step down scanning (v), channel up scanning (>>) and channel down scanning (<<).

During scanning, the CTCSS squelch is unused. The radio will stop for five seconds at the next frequency which opens its squelch regardless of the CTCSS setting. After the five seconds, the radio will continue to scan in the selected scan mode until another mode is selected or the scan button is depressed.

Memory Channels

To add a memory channel, navigate channel up or down until you get to the VFO (channel 0). Select a frequency, ctcss, mode, and filter. Then press the channel add (+) button. In the radio display section, you will see that the channel will change to the next free channel, and your settings for that frequency will be stored in the channel indicated.

To edit a memory channel, navigate to the channel who's information will be altered. Alter the ctcss, mode, filter or frequency, then press the channel add button. Your settings are now altered (saved) for that particular channel.

To remove a channel, navigate to the channel which you want to remove. Then press the channel remove (-) button. Your channel setting will be downshifted by one, and your maximum number of channels will be decremented.

Profile Management

Click on the gear icon on the top, or select Edit->Profile from the menu. This should actuate the Profile Editor. In the profile editor, you can edit your personal profile for the radio. Here you can edit channels, baudrate, and device name(s).

To edit any of the above settings, double click on the child item of the tree for which you are editing. For example, if you are editing channel 1 information double click on channel 1. This should actuate an edit channel information dialog box. Here you can set a channel description, frequency, filter, ctcss, or mode. When complete, press the commit button of this dialog box to commit the information in the view. Lastly, when done editing items press the commit button of the profile editor to save the information globally.

To export a profile (should you be moving your radio to a new computer). Click on File->Export Profile... Select a file name in the ``Save as'' dialog box and press Ok (or enter.)

To import a profile, select Load->Profile... from the menu, or click on the Load icon in the tool bar. Select a profile to import and press Ok (or enter.)

That's All Folks

To close the application (which will automagically save the state of your radio between sessions) select the Quit button in the toolbar, or close it via your window manager's close button.

We hope you enjoy using this as much as we did writing it. Send us any bug reports polywog@ghetto.org or javaman@ghetto.org.