N4PY Pegasus Plus Recommendation

Tom W3FRG

This was the procedure 5 yrs ago, what is todays procedure to use the P+ pgm with the 6600M?

Tnx  Tom W3FRG

Carl Moreschi

Here's a new overview of the functions for the Flex 6000 for Pegasus Plus.  Also note the RFKit amp is now fully supported byt the LAN UDP interface.


  "Flex 6000"

      This selection is for using the Flex 6000 series radios.
      The program connects directly to the Flex 6000 radio and operates
      as a control extension for SmartSDR.  Both the Flex 6000 and
      SmartSDR must be running when the N4PY program is started.  Also
      slice A should be already created before starting Pegasus Plus.
      Please note SmartSDR CAT is no longer required or used at all.

      You must be using SmartSDR version 1.3.0 or later.

      This will allow simple control for frequency, mode and filter.
      Also if you want the FlexKnob to be controlled by Pegasus Plus
      (highly desirable), turn off the FlexKnob setting in SmartSDR.
      To activate the FlexKnob in Pegasus Plus, go to the "Aux Single"
      menu in Settings and select "Using FlexControl Knob".

      In the Interface settings window, the setting "Direct IP Address Connect"
      is used when the program has difficulty finding the radio. When you
      turn on this setting, it will give you an edit box to enter the IP address
      of the radio directly.  You will also have to select the correct model.

      Also in the Interface settings window, if you have multiple Flex radios,
      turn on "Multiple Flex Radios".  This will allow you to enter the serial
      number of the radio you want to connect to.  This is very valuable with
      multiple Flex radios and you want to run multiple copies of Pegasus Plus
      with each copy dedicated to one of the Flex radios.

      Pegasus Plus now will set the Flex radio receive ant to RX A
      and set the transmit ant to XVTR for transverter use.  When you leave
      the transverter band, these antenna settings will be restored to
      ANT 1.  There is also a selection on each transverter setting for
      which TX OUT connection to use for transmit control for each
      transverter.

      In the transmitter settings windows, HF TxOut is used to select
      TX1, TX2, or TX3 for HF operation.  For SO2R, when you need a different
      TxOut setting for slice B, use the HF TxOut B selection.  If you want
      the TxOut selection to always be the same for slice A or slice B, set
      HF TxOut B to "Use A".

      There are two new buttons on the Pegasus Plus radio panel for the
      Flex 6000.  They are as follows:

      VFOA=A
        Clicking this button will give you a list of all possible slices
        in the 6000.  You can reassign the Pegasus Plus VFO A to any
        availble slice shown on SmartSDR.  In order to reassign a slice
        to VFO A, the slice must exist and not be assigned to VFO B.
        Also, "split" must be off when this assignment is done.

      VFOB=B
        Clicking this button will give you a list of all possible slices
        in the 6000.  You can reassign the Pegasus Plus VFO B to any
        availble slice shown on SmartSDR.  In order to reassign a slice
        to VFO B, the slice must exist and not be assigned to VFO A.
        Also, "split" must be off when this assignment is done.

        When you click "Split", if the VFO B slice does not exist,
        it will be create automatically.

        The "RF" slider actually controls the AGC threshold for the slice
        associated with VFO A.

        The "rf" slider actually controls the AGC threshold for the slice
        associated with VFO B.

        The "NB" slider controls the noise blanker for the slice
        associated with VFO A.

        The "WN" slider controls the wide noise blanker.

        The "VA" slider controls the volume for the slice associated with
        VFO A and the "VB" slider controls the volume for the slice
        associated with VFO B.

      Swap AB Asn
        This button will swap the vfo assignment between Slice A and Slice B.
        Both slice A and slice B must exist when it is clicked.

      PreAm0
        This button will send the preamp value to the Flex 6000.  It will
        remember this setting by band.  Left clicking this button will reduce
        the preamp value and right clicking will increase the value.  For
        the 6300, the values are 0 and 20 db.  For the 6500, the values are
        -10, 0, 10, and 20 db.  The 6700 has all the 6500 values plus a 30 db
        value.  For the 6700, the preamp value is only changed for the receiver
        assigned to slice A.

      MPreA0
        This button will send the preamp value for the monitor panadapters to
        the Flex 6000. Left clicking this button will reduce the preamp value
        and right clicking will increase the value.  For the 6300, the values
        are 0 and 20 db.  For the 6500, the values are -10, 0, 10, and 20 db.
        The 6700 has all the 6500 values plus a 30 db value.  For the 6700,
        the preamp value is only changed for the receiver assigned to slice A.

      Fix Pans
        This button is used when the panadpaters start out with their settings
        all changed from normal at SmartSDR startup.  This button will send
        the following 4 settings to all panadapters according to what you
        have set in the pegasus.ini configuration settings file.

        Here are the settings with their defaults:
          F6K PAN AVERAGE=50
          F6K PAN FPS=24
          F6K PAN GAIN=24
          F6K PAN RATE=80
        You can chnage these settings with the pegasus plus not running.

      F6K PERSISTENCE
         If you are plagued with filters and preamps changing values for no
         apparent reason on band changes, this option is in the pegasus.ini
         file and is called "F6K PERSISTENCE".  The default for this is 1
         but if you want Pegasus Plus to set everything with no surprises,
         set this to 0.  However, if you are using Flex Version 3, leave
         this setting at 1.

      Clear Spots
        This button will remove all spots sent to the radio from any source.

      QSK (Qsk or Semi button)

      There is a Qsk/Semi button.  Left clicking this button will change
      the CW QSK delay value.  It will alternate between a QSK value and
      a semi-breakin value each time you click this button.  If you want
      to change the values used by this button for semi and QSK delays
      then proceed as follows:

      To change the QSK button delay value for Qsk
       1) Set the button so it says "Qsk".
       2) Set the CW Qsk slider in the CW settings window to the desired
          value.
       3) Right click on the Qsk button.
          The button will change to highlighted indicating the Qsk value
          has been changed.  It will stay highlighted until the button
          is left clicked again.

      To change the QSK button delay value for semi-breakin
       1) Set the button so it says "Semi".
       2) Set the CW Qsk slider in the CW settings window to the desired
          value.
       3) Right click on the Semi button.
          The button will change to highlighted indicating the semi-breakin
          value has been changed.  It will stay highlighted until the button
          is left clicked again.

   The TxLoop button at the top of the program can be used to control the
   setting of TX1, TX2, or TX3 for amplifier keying.  First you decide
   which TX connection you want to use.  Then, in the "Transmitter" settings
   window, select None, TX1, TX2, or TX3.
   Now, when you turn on TxLoop (indicated by a little TxL in the black frequency
   area), the corresponding TX PTT output will get enabled.  This line will only
   be enabled when the operating frequency is below 144 mhz.  In this way you can
   easily control whether or not to key your amplifier.

   OTRSP commands are now supported for the Flex 6600, 6600M, and 6700 since these
   radios allow real SO2R with a single radio.  To enable OTRSP

    1) Create a virtual comport pair with MicroHam or VSPManager. Let's assume you
       create COM10 and COM11.

    2) If you do not have a comport assigned in Usr5 TranV, turn on
       "Tokyo HP Comport" and "Use THP Comport for EXT Logging Program".
       If you already have assigned a comport to the Tokyo HP Comport,
       then find the line THPx COMPORT=NONE where x is 2 to 5 in the pegasus.ini
       file and set this to THPx COMPORT=COM10 again where x is 2 to 5.

    3) In the pegasus.ini file, set OTRSP THP=x where x is 1 to 5 depending
       on which THP comport you have used for this.

    4) In your logging program, select OTRSP for audio usage and for this example
       use COM11.

   Fixed Panadapter Ranges

   There is a file called "f6kpan.txt".  This file is used to define fixed
   ranges for the panadapter display.  When any panadapter frequency is within
   any range defined in this file, the panadapter frequency limits are set to
   how you have this defined.  The file is an ASCII text file and the format
   is shown in the default settings.  You can add as many entries to this file
   as you need with a limit of 50 entries.  This feature is turned on and off
   by the setting "Pan Ranges" found in the "Preferences3" settings window.

   You can also set the ranges for panadapters that are mainly used for band
   monitoring.  In the "f6kpan.txt" file, if you add a panadapter number to
   the name of a line entry, that panadapter will have its range set to the
   range of the line.  For example, in you had a line

     PAN,21.0,21.100

   and wanted this line to go to panadapter 2, you would change it to

     PAN2,21.0,21.100

   The number defines the panadapter number from 1 to 8,  This is only set
   at program start and the monitor panadapters must exist before you start
   the program.  There is also a "Res PAN" button that will rerun the panadapter
   initial setting again if you want to reset your panadapters to the initial
   setup.                                                    

Tom W3FRG

Carl, Thank you for the quick and complete response for P+ and the 6K. Lot to digest.
I do have it working, now to do the fine touch ups.

73 Tom W3FRG

Andrew Thall

Does N4PY function as a substitute for SmartSDR or does it run as an enhancement to SmartSDR?  If it is a substitute, will it work on a Linux computer to control a 6500?
Andy, k2oo


Mark Erbaugh

The N4PY requires SmartSDR to be running.

Carl Moreschi

That's actually not true.  In Version 3 flex software, Pegasus Plus will run with a maestro of "M" model as the main GUI.

Carl Moreschi

Pegasus Plus is not a substitute for SmartSDR or Maestro.  But it will run on Linux under the "WINE" emulator.