Big Bay Technologies

Weather fax 2000 has been modified to use the following radio receivers:

ICOM IC-PCR1000
LOWE HF150

In our software we have set the frequency offset to -2000 Hz which when the
central carrier frequency (published frequency) is selected you should be on
the upper sideband of that frequency.

To configure Weather Fax software for Radio interface:

On the weather fax properties screen (Configuration menu) check the
box "Internal radio".

You will then be prompted to enter a COM port and the model radio.

You will be prompted to exit the program.

Before restarting Weather Fax , please ensure that any other software which uses
the Radio is NOT running.

When Weather Fax is restarted, you should hear the radio card being turned on
and the radio tools will appear on the right and bottom areas of the screen.

The initial settings are: 30,000 kHz, Single sideband - BFO -2000 Hz

Internal radio toolbar:

The internal radio toolbar allows easy access to fine tune the radio.

Down 1 kHz - Lowers the frequency in 1 kHz steps.
Down .1 kHz - Lowers the frequency in 100 Hz steps.
Up .1 kHz - Raises the frequency in 100 Hz steps.
Up 1 kHz - Raises the frequency in 1 kHz steps.
Power off - turns off the power to the radio card and allows
other programs to access it.
Attenuate Decreases the sensitivity of the receiver to blank
excess noise
Volume down Decrease the audio gain.
Volume up Increase the audio gain.

These commands are also available via the Configuration menu - Internal radio
options sub menu.

Frequency and signal readout.

The status bar at the bottom of the screen will have 2 extra windows, The frequency
in kilohertz and the signal strength represented by vertical bars. A weak signal
will display as one bar and a strong signal as up to 8 bars.

Radio Control panel: (Configure menu - Internal radio options)
this dialog can also be accessed by pressing CTRL+R from the main screen.

This dialog allows control of the radio.

The frequency is set in megahertz and can be anything from .5 to 1300.

Power on toggles the power setting of the card.

Mode is for future expansion. Here it will always be USB.

Attenuator will cut out excess noise by decreasing the sensitivity of the set.

SSB Offset will set the audio offset of the signal from the central carrier
frequency. For upper sideband this should be about -1750 to -2300. You can
fine tune via the step up and down 100 Hz buttons on the toolbar.

Automatic Scheduling: Frequency selection has only been added to both the
Schedulers, however the old scheduler gives you more control on frequency
selection. Scheduler 95 has the frequencies fixed in the database.

See old scheduler documentation for full details. If a radio card is present,
then the radio will tune to the frequency specified in the schedule line in
kilohertz.

It is strongly recommended that the fax is started a minute early and the tuning
checked. It the drift is more than 100 Hz then the fax will not self start.

When the scheduler kicks off the Autostart, the software will fine tune the
signal, assuming a clear tuning signal is available. The software can detect
a tuning signal + or - 900 Hz off frequency and will fine tune within 15 seconds.
The tuning signal will appear a little lower than normal, but when a start tone
is detected, it will self calibrate.

A frequency can be entered either directly from a dialog or from the scheduler
component.

When scheduling a fax for reception, the frequency is specified and the radio
will attempt to tune to that frequency before starting to receive a fax.

From the weather fax program - select Configuration configure reception. Check
the box "Internal radio" and press ok. You will be prompted for a Com port and
radio type. Select The com port where the radio is found and radio select:
IC-PCR1000 or LOWE HF150.

Exit and restart weather fax.

The set radio dialog:

The radio can be controlled by pressing CTRL+R or selecting Set Radio from
the configuration menu - sub menu: radio options.

Only the frequency and SSB offset can be set for the LOWE radio. USB mode will
always be assumed. The SSB offset should be -2000. We find this setting gives
the right offset for weatherfax on both radios. The other options on the dialog
are for controlling other radios.

The toolbar which appears on the right side of the screen can be used to tune
the radio in 100 or 1000 Hz increments although because it takes about a second
and a half to set the frequency this is not considered a desirable way of tuning
the radio.

STATION.EXE

The station browser has been modified to allow the user to send frequencies from
the program to the radio. The radio settings (com port type etc) are set in the
weather fax program.

To send the frequency in the top combo box press CTRL+T or select Tune top from
the radio dialog.

To send the frequency in the bottom combo box press CTRL+B or select Tune bottom
from the radio dialog.

IC-PCR1000 Notes:

The Protocols for the PCR1000 have been hacked as ICOM would not release the
commands to the radio. As far as we know, the radio has got to be permanently
hooked up to an open COM port otherwise the radio turns itself off. For this
reason the scheduler interface and the Weather fax interface must be run
exclusively. If you want to tune the radio via the scheduler rather than with
the weather fax controls, you must first turn off the radio from the weather
fax program. To get control back, you must terminate the scheduler. This problem
will be addressed shortly as the ICOM user groups work out more of the protocols
for the radio.

LOWE Notes.

The Keyboard/Serial interface is not totally stable and on some computers,
mis-programming of the frequency occasionally happens.