Hercules MIDI with 6300

W4WHL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6g8AbS69Kg

W4WHL

Sorry about the rambling and use of "OH" and "UM" a lot   And of course once I said ACG Threshold when I meant AGC.  Anyway it does show how the device works.

William

David

The demo video is good. It shows what the device can do. I'm guessing it would be possible to make the ATU a Tune for those with an external tuner. Is it possible to the filter variable as well?

Does anyone have the Flex Control as well to provide a comparison?

W4WHL

David,

There is a file in the data directory that you can edit if you use an external ATU.  So the ATU button does a tune if you have an external ATU.  So yes that has already been accounted for.

William

Sergey R5AU

Fantastic job William, IMHO better it will be exchange RF function with HeadPhone volume, I think this knob a bit more popular in daily operations :-)

DH2ID

William, David,

concerning FlexControl: I have one and have used it for my Flex-3000 and now
for my Flex-6500 (until William wrote his program for the CM micro, of course ;-))

The CMD micro tunes just as smooth as the FlexControl knob, which is a bit
more weighted, but has only 5 functions (3 buttons, the knob, which can also
be pressed short or long)

Another issue with the FlexControl was, that some of the knobs failed
after heavy use because of problems with the center axis. The CMD micro
should stand up to a lot of tuning and pressure, because it was designed
for youthful DJs ... 8-)

To cut it short: The CMD micro with your excellent program is much more
versatile and usable especially for split DX work, for CW, for tuning and
fast frequency changes than the FlexControl knob.

I must of course say for FRS, that the FlexControl knob was never designed to
do more than tuning and a bit more and added just a fast tuning device to an otherwise clickable GUI like PowerSDR. 

W4WHL

One thing to note with my software is the way the balance behaves when operating splits.  When Two slices are open, sliding the balance all the way to the left puts slice A in the left speaker and slice B in the right speaker.  Balance all the way to the right is the opposite.  This is useful if you want to hear the mob and the OP.

Sergy,

I'm happy to change the RF knob to a Headphone knob.  Maybe I can make that a user configurable item.


William

W4WHL

Ken,

Just for your info!

I total revamped the parsing of data received from the radio.  Its much cleaner I think.  Initial data from the radio when you issue a "sub slice all" is formatted differently than followup messages.  So I had to create separate routines for "initial" and "followup".  The use of index and substring functions is much cleaner IMO. 

I will have a new version out soon using this new method. 

  if (c.available() > 0) {
    inBuffer = c.readString();
    //Get Initial Frequencies
    int s0=inBuffer.indexOf("slice 0 in_use=1 RF_frequency=");
    int s1=inBuffer.indexOf("rit_on=", s0);
    if ((s0 > 0) && (s1 > s0)){   FreqAstring = inBuffer.substring(s0+30, s1); FreqAstring = FreqAstring.replaceAll(" ", "");FreqA = new Float(FreqAstring);}
    int t0=inBuffer.indexOf("slice 1 in_use=1 RF_frequency=");
    int t1=inBuffer.indexOf("rit_on=", t0);
    if ((t0 > 0) && (t1 > t0)){   FreqBstring = inBuffer.substring(t0+30, t1); FreqBstring = FreqBstring.replaceAll(" ", "");FreqB = new Float(FreqBstring);}
    //Get Frequencies if changed in smartSDR
    int u0=inBuffer.indexOf("slice 0 RF_frequency=");
    int u1=inBuffer.indexOf("wide=", u0);
    if ((u0 > 0) && (u1 > u0)){   FreqAstring = inBuffer.substring(u0+21, u1); FreqAstring = FreqAstring.replaceAll(" ", "");FreqA = new Float(FreqAstring);}
    int v0=inBuffer.indexOf("slice 1 RF_frequency=");
    int v1=inBuffer.indexOf("wide=", v0);
    if ((v0 > 0) && (v1 > v0)){   FreqBstring = inBuffer.substring(v0+21, v1); FreqBstring = FreqBstring.replaceAll(" ", "");FreqB = new Float(FreqBstring);}
    //Get Initial Modes  
    int ma0=inBuffer.indexOf("mode=", s0);
    int ma1=inBuffer.indexOf("wide=", ma0);
    if ((ma0 > 0) && (ma1 > ma0)){   modeA = inBuffer.substring(ma0+5, ma1); modeA = modeA.replaceAll(" ", "");}
    int mb0=inBuffer.indexOf("mode=", t0);
    int mb1=inBuffer.indexOf("wide=", mb0);
    if ((mb0 > 0) && (mb1 > mb0)){   modeB = inBuffer.substring(mb0+5, mb1); modeB = modeB.replaceAll(" ", "");}
    //Get Modes if changed in smartSDR
    int na0=inBuffer.indexOf("slice 0 mode=");
    int na1=inBuffer.indexOf(" filter_lo=", na0);
    if ((na0 > 0) && (na1 > na0)){   modeA = inBuffer.substring(na0+13, na1); modeA = modeA.replaceAll(" ", "");}
    int nb0=inBuffer.indexOf("slice 1 mode=");
    int nb1=inBuffer.indexOf(" filter_lo=", nb0);
    if ((nb0 > 0) && (nb1 > nb0)){   modeB = inBuffer.substring(nb0+13, nb1); modeB = modeB.replaceAll(" ", "");}
   }

W4WHL

Here is v1.5 for the CMD Micro.  Few small changes
  1. displays Flex model in app window
  2. displays Mode in app window.
  3. Updated parsing of received data from radio (UDP and TCP )



https://www.dropbox.com/s/unv30jzn96j42dy/CMDMicroFlex6k_v1_5.zip?dl=0

William

Sergey R5AU

William, my one is arrived :-), just small comments:

1. apps not supporting High Screen resolution, I am using iMac 5K with Parallels for Win

sorry too small for my eyes :-)

2. Strange behavior with Balance A-B: moving slider from the left end to the right end change positions of the slice in the headphones? as it planned?

3. No reaction in SSDR Volume A or Volume B sliders in case moving Vol A or Vol B sliders on CMD?

4. Selectable steps are 10Hz or 100Hz only 

this is report with ver 1_3

i guess my report helpful

W4WHL

Sergey,

The app size unfortunately set in stone.  Placement of objects is pixel for pixel x by y.  Making this scaleable would be more complicated than the entire program itself.  Once its loaded it is really useless anyway.

Also please download newest version.  V1_3 has the small prompts.  This is done away with on newer versions.  One less small thing you need to read.

The balance is working as designed.  I did it this way so when running 2 slices I can switch which ear which slice is in. 

The volume A/B sliders not updating is a bug in smartSDR which has been acknowledged by Flex.

Steps are designed with only 10 & 100.  I can add more if people want.  I just found that these were all I needed.  100 to go fast to the area and 10 to fine tune.  I found having to cycle through more than 2 step sizes slowed me down exponentially.  But a single button push from fast to slow was the most useful.

I'm open for suggestions for changes, and will change things if most users agree.  So make your suggestions and lets get feedback from others. 

William

W4WHL

Here is a new version that incorporates Sergeys's suggestion to swap RF dial to Headphone dial.  This is now selectable in the var.txt file in the /DATA directory.

From var.txt

external atu =false;
RF<>Headphone =false;

To swap ATU for Tune if you have external ATU.  Just edit this file as follows:

external atu =true;
RF<>Headphone =false;

To swap RF Power for Headphone vol, Just edit this file as follows:

external atu =false;
RF<>Headphone =true;

https://www.dropbox.com/s/300fxm08weza0ve/CMDMicroFlex6k_v1_6.zip?dl=0


William

Sergey R5AU

Got it William, generally size is not a issue, Apps alway in tray, however step really reasonable, may be set up an options 10Hz+100Hz or 1Hz-10Hz like with knob  RF Power - Volume Head Phones

W4WHL

Sure that is a good suggestion, I can do that.  If you do really fine tuning and would like a 1hz-10hz option, I can add that to the var.txt file.

Maybe a second option would be to get rid of the CWX3 button and make it so you could toggle between steps of (10hz / 100hz) or (1hz /10 hz).

Opinions?

William

Sergey R5AU

You know CW1-CW3 are serious
CW1- callsign
CW2 - 599 BK
CW3 - TU or ?
better to make selectable in the var.txt

W4WHL

ok I will do this for you later today or tonight

Sergey R5AU

Vol Headphones - OK with True, TKS !

W4WHL

Your welcome

W4WHL

Here is another point release.  This one adds the option for finer steps if you so desire.

In var.txt edit the following line to "true" if you would like step sizes of (1hz/10hz vs 10hz/100hz);

external atu =false;
RF<>Headphone =false;
steps1-10=true;

Just for your Sergey !!!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tad0hdoe4h2czf0/CMDMicroFlex6k_v1_7.zip?dl=0

William

Sergey R5AU

William thank you! Will test it during weekend from remote location! Now works fine, will report.

MH_Flexer

William,

Great stuff, and what a super community this is.  I am not yet a programmer, however I am staring to go through the basic Visual Basic training. 

Can you please walk me through the macro level programs you are using to program in?

I would like to be able to dig deeper into this CMD source code.  I see a *.pde file in the Source folder but I don't know what to open this with?

Hope this is not too silly a request, I just need some help getting started.

Duane

MH_Flexer

William,

I started a Version History and Pending Updates for the program see below downloads:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y0u0hlghipo0orj/CMDMicroFlex6K%20Version%20Release%20Notes.docx?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wa3ut58iqp3cu6i/CMDMicroFlex6K%20Pending%20Updates.docx?dl=0

Hope you find this of value.  Let me know of any changes or broken links, etc. 

Duane

Javier, KC2QII

Wow, a new release between the time I loaded at the laptop and the desktop PC.

Love it!

If I might add to the user configurable list, a swap between AGC-T to Volume would be nice.

Thanks,

Javier

W4WHL

Duane,

The language is "processing"  its free

William

W4WHL

I made some changes I hope all will like.  I decided to ditch the var.txt and just use toggles on the app window itself.  

Defaults are red;
Internal ATU
Top Right dial = RF
Step toggles 10/100hz

Click on each in the App window and they turn blue, which means;

External ATU
Top Right dial = Headphones
Step toggles 1/10hz

These toggles replace the true/false entries in the var.txt file.

What do yall think?



Ill post the code later tonight. 

William

W4WHL

Javier,

What volume are you referring to?

William

Javier, KC2QII

The Volume A <> AGC-T  / Volume B <> AGC-T.  I find myself adjusting the AGC instead of the Slice Volume because is closer to the edge of the CMD Micro.  

Javier

W4WHL

Ah I get it now, you just want to swap them.

William

W4WHL

Here is an update adding Javier's suggestion.  I added a Toggle to swap Volume A <> AGC-T  / Volume B <> AGC-T.

Toggles in this version;

Swaps ATU <> TUNE
Swaps RF <> Headphone
Swaps Step - 1/10hz<>10/100hz
Swaps slice Volume  <> AGC-T

Red are default values/ Blue means new value

Give it a try



https://www.dropbox.com/s/ygxfs7br956next/CMDMicroFlex6k_v1_8.zip?dl=0

William

MH_Flexer

Updated Release Notes

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y0u0hlghipo0orj/CMDMicroFlex6K%20Version%20Release%20Notes.docx?dl=0

Duane