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kappanhang

kappanhang remotely opens audio channels and a serial port to an Icom RS-BA1 server. The app is mainly developed for connecting to the Icom IC-705 transceiver, which has built-in Wi-Fi and RS-BA1 server. All features of the protocol are implemented including packet retransmission on packet loss.

kappanhang currently only supports Linux, but support for other platforms can be easily added if anyone is interested and has the skills (volunteers needed, as I'm only developing the Linux version).

You can find pre-built versions for Linux/x64 on the GitHub project page of kappanhang.

Compiling

You'll need Go installed on your computer.

go get https://github.com/nonoo/kappanhang
go install https://github.com/nonoo/kappanhang

Required settings on the RS-BA1 server (the transceiver)

  • Make sure network settings (on the Icom IC-705 in: Menu -> Set -> WLAN set -> Remote settings) are the following:
    • Network control is turned on.
    • Network user 1 username is beer and the password is beerbeer. These are fixed as the password encoding of the RS-BA1 protocol has not been decrypted yet. See passcode.txt for more information.
    • UDP ports are on their default values:
      • Control port: 50001
      • Serial port: 50002
      • Audio port: 50003
    • Internet access line is on the default FTTH value.
  • Make sure the following settings are set:
    • DATA MOD is set to WLAN (on the Icom IC-705 in: Menu -> Set -> Connectors -> MOD Input -> DATA MOD)
    • CI-V Address is on the default A4h value (on the Icom IC-705 in: Menu -> Set -> Connectors -> CI-V.

Running

You can get the available command line parameters with the -h command line argument.

If no command line arguments are set, then the app will try to connect to the host ic-705 (ic-705.local or ic-705.localdomain).

After it is connected and logged in:

  • Creates a virtual PulseAudio sound card (48kHz, s16le, mono). This can be used to record/play audio from/to the server (the radio). You can also set this sound card in WSJT-X.

    If you want to listen to the audio coming from this sound card in real time, then you can create a PulseAudio loopback between the kappanhang sound card and your real sound card. You can also create a loopback for your microphone using this tool, so you'll be able to transmit your voice.

  • Starts a TCP server on port 4533 for exposing the serial port. This can be used for controlling the server (the transceiver) with Hamlib (rigctld).

  • Runs the command rigctld -m 3085 -r :4533 which starts rigctld and connects it to kappanhang's TCP serial port server. You can specify a custom command with the -r command line argument. Running any command can be disabled with -r -. The command is only executed once, as the TCP serial port server will stay on even if the RS-BA1 server disconnects. If the TCP serial port client disconnects (rigctld hangs) then the command will be automatically restarted. This can be disabled with the -e.

    3085 is the model number of the Icom IC-705. rigctld will connect to kappanhang's TCP serial port server, and waits connections on it's default TCP port 4532.

    To use this with for example WSJT-X, open WSJT-X settings, go to the Radio tab, set the rig type to Hamlib NET rigctl, and the Network server to localhost.

If the -s command line argument is specified, then kappanhang will create a virtual serial port, so other apps which don't support Hamlib can access the transceiver directly. Look at the app log to find out the name of the virtual serial port. It will be something like /tmp/kappanhang-IC-705.pty (the server's name appended to the string kappanhang). After the virtual serial port is created, the command specified with -o will be ran, which is socat /tmp/kappanhang-IC-705.pty /tmp/vmware.pty by default. Running the command can be disabled with -o -. The command is only executed once, as the virtual serial port will stay opened even if the RS-BA1 server disconnects. I use this command to link a COM port in a Windows OS running in VMware to the virtual serial port, so I can use the original RS-BA1 software remote control GUI.

Icom IC-705 Wi-Fi notes

Note that the built-in Wi-Fi in the Icom IC-705 has very limited range, and sensitive to interference. If you see a lot of retransmits in the log, or packet loss, then:

  • Place the IC-705 close to your Wi-Fi AP/router, or use a Wi-Fi range extender device
  • Make sure the Wi-Fi bandwith is set to max. 20Mhz in the Wi-Fi router (see explanation here)
  • Try switching Wi-Fi channel on your Wi-Fi router. Only channels 1, 6 or 11 should be used (see explanation here)

Sometimes rebooting the transceiver helps, as the network stack in the IC-705 is not quite free of bugs. :)

Status bar

kappanhang displays a "realtime" status bar (when the audio/serial connection is up) with the following info:

  • First status bar line:

    • state: RX/TX/TUNE depending on the PTT status
    • freq: operating frequency in MHz, mode (LSB/USB/FM...), active filter
    • txpwr: current transmit power setting in percent
    • audiomon: current status of the audio monitor (see the Hotkeys section in this README for more information about this feature)

  • Second status bar line:

    • up: how long the audio/serial connection is active
    • rtt: roundtrip communication latency with the server
    • up/down: currently used upload/download bandwidth (only considering UDP payload to/from the server)
    • retx: audio/serial retransmit request count to/from the server
    • lost: lost audio/serial packet count from the server

Data for the first status bar line is acquired by monitoring CiV traffic in the serial stream.

retx and lost are displayed in a 1 minute window, which means they will be reset to 0 if they don't increase for 1 minute. A retx value other than 0 indicates issues with the connection (probably a poor Wi-Fi connection), but if loss stays 0 then the issues were fixed using packet retransmission. loss indicates failed retransmit sequences, so packet loss. This can cause audio and serial communication disruptions.

If status bar interval (can be changed with the -i command line argument) is equal to or above 1 second, then the realtime status bar will be disabled and the contents of the second line of the status bar will be written as new console log lines. This is also the case if a Unix/VT100 terminal is not available.

Hotkeys

  • q (quit): closes the app

  • l (listen): toggles audio stream playback to the default sound device

    This is useful for quickly listening into the audio stream coming from the server (the transceiver).

    Note that audio will be played to the previously created virtual sound card regardless of this setting.

  • space: toggles PTT and audio stream recording from the default sound device

    You can transmit your own voice using a mic attached to your computer for example.

Some basic CAT control hotkeys are also supported:

  • t: toggles the tune process
  • +: increases TX power
  • -: decreases TX power
  • <, >: decreases, increases frequency 1Hz
  • ,, .: decreases, increases frequency 10Hz
  • :, ": decreases, increases frequency 100Hz
  • ;, ': decreases, increases frequency 1kHz
  • {, }: decreases, increases frequency 10kHz
  • [, ]: decreases, increases frequency 100kHz
  • n, m: cycles through operating modes
  • d, f: cycles through filters
  • D: toggles data mode
  • v, b: cycles through bands

Authors

Donations

If you find this app useful then buy me a beer. :)