RIGCTLCOM(1)

🎀 NAME 🎀

okay so bestie, this is rigctlcom(1), one of the Hamlib Utilities — and what it does is COM port passthru as TS-2000 emulator to your rig. periodt. 💅

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

rigctlcom [-hlLuV] [-m id] [-r device] [-R device] [-p device]
          [-d device] [-P type] [-D type] [-s baud] [-S baud] [-c id]
          [-C parm=val] [-B] [-v[-Z]]

like, that's the whole vibe. 🦋

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so here's the tea: this lets programs that can connect to a TS-2000 via COM port use Hamlib or FLRig radios instead. and not just one program — multiple programs can connect to the radio via FLRig or rigctld. iconic behavior, honestly. 👑

okay but before any of that slays, you HAVE to set up virtual serial/COM ports first. On POSIX systems (BSD, Linux, OS/X) you do it with socat(1) or something similar. On Microsoft Windows, the utilities you can use are com0com, Free Virtual Serial Ports, or VPSD. no skipping this step bestie, it's giving prerequisites. 🚧

also!! please report bugs and send feedback to the e-mail address in the BUGS section below. patches and code enhancements sent to that same address are very welcome — we love a contributor moment. 🫶

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💖 OPTIONS 💖

this program follows the usual GNU command line syntax. short options that take an argument may have the value follow immediately or be separated by a space. long options starting with two dashes (-) require an = between the option and any argument. iykyk. ✨

here's the whole summary of supported options, no skips:

• -m, --model=id — select the radio model number. see the model list (just run rigctlcom -l). 📻

Note: rigctlcom (or third party software using the C API) will use radio model 2 for NET rigctl (communicating with rigctld).

• -r, --rig-file=device — use device as the file name of the port connected to the radio. often a serial port, but could be a USB to serial adapter. typically /dev/ttyS0, /dev/ttyS1, /dev/ttyUSB0, etc. on Linux, COM1, COM2, etc. on MS Windows. the BSD flavors and Mac OS/X have their own designations — check your system's documentation. 📚 the special string uh-rig may be given to enable micro-ham device support.
• -R, --rig-file2=device — use device as the file name of one of the virtual com ports — your program will connect to the other com port of the virtual pair. 🧚 virtual serial ports on POSIX systems can be done with socat(1):

$ socat -d -d pty,raw,echo=0 pty,raw,echo=0

see this Stackoverflow answer for using socat. on Microsoft Windows the available utilities are com0com, Free Virtual Serial Ports, or VPSD (see DESCRIPTION above for WWW links).

• -p, --ptt-file=device — use device as the file name of the Push-To-Talk device using a device file as described above. 🎙️
• -d, --dcd-file=device — use device as the file name of the Data Carrier Detect device using a device file as described above.
• -P, --ptt-type=type — use type of Push-To-Talk device. supported types are RIG (CAT command), DTR, RTS, PARALLEL, NONE, overriding the PTT type defined in the rig's backend.

some side effects of this command: when type is set to DTR, read PTT state comes from the Hamlib frontend, not read from the radio. and when set to NONE, PTT state cannot be read or set — even if the rig backend supports reading/setting PTT status from the rig. so like, be aware. 😭

• -D, --dcd-type=type — use type of Data Carrier Detect device. supported types are RIG (CAT command), DSR, CTS, CD, PARALLEL, NONE.
• -s, --serial-speed=baud — set serial speed to baud rate. uses the maximum serial speed from radio backend capabilities (set by -m above) as the default.
• -S, --serial-speed2=baud — set serial speed to baud rate for the virtual com port (see -R). uses the maximum serial speed from radio backend capabilities (set by -m above) as the default.
• -c, --civaddr=id — use id as the CI-V address to communicate with the rig. only useful for Icom and some Ten-Tec rigs.

Note: the id is in decimal notation, unless prefixed by 0x, in which case it is hexadecimal.

• -L, --show-conf — list all config parameters for the radio defined with -m above. 👀
• -C, --set-conf=parm=val[,parm=val] — set radio configuration parameter(s), e.g. stop_bits=2. use the -L option above for a list of configuration parameters for a given model number.
• -u, --dump-caps — dump capabilities for the radio defined with -m above and exit. 🚪
• -l, --list — list all model numbers defined in Hamlib and exit. the list is sorted by model number.

Note: in Linux the list can be scrolled back using Shift-PageUp/Shift-PageDown, or using the scrollbars of a virtual terminal in X or the cmd window in Windows. the output can be piped to more(1) or less(1), e.g. rigctl -l | more.

• -n, --no-restore-ai — rigctl restores the state of auto information (AI) on the controlled rig. if this is not desired — for example if you are using rigctl to turn AI mode on or off — pass this option.
• -B, --mapa2b — maps set_freq on VFOA to VFOB instead. this allows using CW skimmer with the rig in split mode, and clicking on a frequency in CW skimmer will set VFOB to the transmit frequency. 🔥
• -v, --verbose — set verbose mode, cumulative (see DIAGNOSTICS below).
• -Z, --debug-time-stamps — enable time stamps for the debug messages. use only in combination with the -v option as it generates no output on its own. ⏰
• -h, --help — show a summary of these options and exit. 🫶
• -V, --version — show version of rigctl and exit.

Note: some options may not be implemented by a given backend and will return an error. this is most likely to occur with the --set-conf and --show-conf options. 💀

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🩺 DIAGNOSTICS 🩺

the -v, --verbose option allows different levels of diagnostics to be output to stderr, and they correspond like this:

• -v for BUG
• -vv for ERR
• -vvv for WARN
• -vvvv for VERBOSE
• -vvvvv for TRACE

a given verbose level is useful for providing needed debugging information to the email address below. for example, TRACE output shows all of the values sent to and received from the radio — which is very useful for radio backend library development and may be requested by the developers. so like, when they ask for TRACE, they mean it. 🌈

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🚦 EXIT STATUS 🚦

rigctlcom exits with:

• 0 — if all operations completed normally; ✅
• 1 — if there was an invalid command line option or argument; ❌
• 2 — if an error was returned by Hamlib. 😭

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🌟 EXAMPLE 🌟

start rigctlcom with FLRig as the Hamlib model and virtual com port pair COM9/COM10, e.g. N1MM Logger+ attaching to COM10 and using the TS-2000 emulator attached to COM9 (assumes the virtual serial/COM ports pipe has been created with the proper utility as described above):

$ rigctlcom -m 4 -R COM9 -S 115200

and here's the diagram showing the communications flow that lets N1MM Logger+ talk to a radio connected to Flrig:

Flrig -><- rigctlcom -> COM9 <- virt_port_pipe -> COM10 <- N1MM

look at that pipeline go. main character energy from every single arrow. 🎀

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🐛 BUGS 🐛

report bugs to:

Hamlib Developer mailing list

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📜 COPYING 📜

this file is part of Hamlib, a project to develop a library that simplifies radio, rotator, and amplifier control functions for developers of software primarily of interest to radio amateurs and those interested in radio communications. 📡

Copyright © 2000-2011 Stephane Fillod Copyright © 2000-2018 the Hamlib Group (various contributors) Copyright © 2010-2020 Nate Bargmann Copyright © 2019 Michael Black W9MDB

this is free software; see the file COPYING for copying conditions. there is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. 🫶

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🔗 SEE ALSO 🔗

rigctld(1), rigctl(1), socat(1), hamlib(7)

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🌈 COLOPHON 🌈

links to the Hamlib Wiki, Git repository, release archives, and daily snapshot archives are available via hamlib.org. ✨

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and that's the whole page, bestie — this was RIGCTLCOM(1) from the Hamlib crew, dated 2020-09-09. go forth and emulate that TS-2000, you absolute legend. 💖🌸🦋