Flex Repeater Spots Utility
I find myself using my Flex 6400 more and more with FM repeaters. It is sooo much better to see what is happening on the band instead of tuning around or scanning. It is also way cool to be able to listen to a repeater input and output simultaneously (or alternately using the slice mute buttons). This is really nice for net control stations. You can often hear stations that can't hit the repeater, but are close enough to relay in from the input frequency (handheld in a basement syndrome). You can also spot off-frequency stations with the panadapter.
The only drawback is that when you tune to a repeater, you may not hit the exact frequency, and all of the FM options will be for whatever you did last. The memories in the radio work great to overcome this, but you have to read through them to find the one you want. Not terrible, but not great when you want to click and go.
A partial solution is to add "permanent" spots (i.e. they don't time out like DX spots). I did this with my TeensyMaestro which gets me to the right frequency and tells me the name of the repeater, but it does not set the options (offset, tone, etc.).
Here is a view of the utility that you start and forget once you have the repeater entries in the config file:
https://us.v-cdn.net/6032377/uploads/YF12SQMFIA47/image.png
This utility uses a Config file to set spot frequency, spot name and all of the FM options. Click a repeater spot and the active slice goes to that frequency and all of the FM options are set automagically. As I find more repeaters, I just add them to the config file. I also add them to the memory screen, but that is not necessary for the utility to operate.
Here is a sample line from the file:
Spot: freq=53.090 name=W0TX_DRC_090 offset=1.00 repeater=down tone_mode=CTCSS_TX tone_val=107.2 squelch=ON squelch_lvl=40To get the utility, go to the GitHub link below and select the latest release (FlexRepeaterSpots V1.0 as of this post). Extract all from the zip file and execute setup.exe. The utility will start, create the necessary folder and populate it with a fresh Config.ini file with a sample spot in it. Anytime the utility starts without a config file, it will create a new one and open it in notepad.
I also put the config file that I am currently using on GitHub so that you can get an idea of what you can do. You can build your own entries into the file or copy mine in and use it as a starting point.
The utility also has the ability to optionally warn you of out of band operation. I won't get into that in this post, but if you load my Config.ini file, the entries are there to make it work. Go to File, Options, and click Out Of Band Indicator.
https://us.v-cdn.net/6032377/uploads/OQFTZOHRB2YB/image.png
I have a user manual under way and hope to have it ready for GitHub in the next week or so (timing will depend on skiing conditions... ) . 😁
Give it a try and let me know what you think.
