Article: 21995 of rec.radio.shortwave Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave Path: news.cs.tut.fi!news.funet.fi!funic!nic.funet.fi!lsncsc.enet.dec.com!meister From: Subject: software for JRC NRD-535 available! Message-ID: <9308161416.AA06234@vbormc.vbo.dec.com> Sender: root@nic.funet.fi (The FUnny NET guru) Organization: Finnish University & Research Network Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1993 18:16:50 +0300 Lines: 115 Hi Guys I'm currently in the final phase of the v1.0 of a software to control the JRC NRD-535 receiver. This software has several features which (I hope) you may find usefull. 1. The whole thing is built on a graphical interface, so you can activate all this stuff with mouse clicks, motions and double- clicks, whereas most functions also can be accessed from the keyboard. The user interface is some 'PseudoWindows' but very pseudo... 2. One window is to control all possible receiver functions from the computer, owners of the NRD535 know which one cannot be con- trolled via RS232. This window is not very usefull, controlling the receiver manually is much more conveinent. 3. Two more windows are for the managing of the 200 memory cannels. You may edit every channel individually (define, delete, change, etc.) and you may overlook these definitions in another window. Usefull is the fact that you can save the 200 memory channels in a diskfile, so you always can keep as much memory definitions as you want, in files of 200 channels. Channels are directly tuneable, and receiver settings may be dumped directly in a channel. 4. Exciting is the bandscan feature: You may draw a graph of the occupation of a band and then you may click in the graph, e.g. on a peek representing a transmitter, and the receiver will be tuned directly to this transmission. Mouse dragging is also allowed. These scan graphs may be saved in a file for later reloading, a previously interrupted and saved scan may be reloaded and resumed. The scanning can be most flexibly parametrized, and you may customize the thing to be able to select the most used and preferred band with just a mouseclick. 5. There is also window that allows you to do some unattended recording: the 535 has a timer relay on the back, which will be switched on at predefined times (8 / 24 hours) while the receiver will be tuned to a seleced memory channel. For long waiting periods (0 to 59 minutes) the receiver is switched off to save its lifetime and your A/C current. 6. A database exists to hold either a database with programs from a schedule or your 'would like to catch it' stations. in a line oriented display, you can click, scroll, etc around these entries, tuning the receiver directly to a selected entry. I would like to provide somewhen a kind of database compiler, to facilitate the data entry... the databse can be browsed following user defined search criteria, and you may have a unlimited number of databases, open one at a time. 7. The logbook is almost the same as the database, except that the fields in the database entry differ slightly to reflect their use. you can have either the databse or the logbook open, but not both at a time. 8. Browsing in the databases, you are able to print the found records, to load them directly to the receivers memory channels (starting where you want) and/or to load them in a file for later reloading to the receiver memory. 9. Colors may explicitly be customized, while the used preferred settings are saved for the next invocation of the program. 10.I develop this sftware on a IBM comatible 286 (verrrry old) and a VGA 640*480 screen. So this is the hardware requirement, I suppose most of you will have better. Now, I look for people willing to have a look at it for testing, maybe using? I would be very interessted in your comments, bugs found, etc. Also, I would like to know the RS232 commands of other JRC receivers, notably the NRD-525 and the JST-135 tranceiver. I suppose the commands will be similar, so adding support for other NRD's should not be a great deal? If someone would mail / fax / email me the manual pages for the RS232 interface of these RX's, I would be very glad. How to get the software? best is to send me a mail to 'meister@leman.enet.dec.com' and I will register you as a test user or whatever you will be. Since I work at digital, I cannot provide direct ftp access but I will mail out a uuencoded zip file. I still have to write the documentation, altought it is partly written. So I will not be able to send out the stuff this week. And even bader, not even this month. Look, I'm swiss. Swiss men need to join every year for 3 weeks the army. That's bad. And that what happens to me from 23 sep to 11 aug. So don't mind sending your requests, but don't get impatient if no answer arrives before week 37. The software is free, for testers anyway, and one day, If it works per- fectly, I maybe want to charge a small fee, but most important for the moment is your feedback. My home address is : Andreas Meister ch. des Brits 2 1040 Echallens SWITZERLAND Fax (business) is: 0041 21 6915344 (please specify my name) and email address: meister@leman.enet.dec.com Cheers, Andreas PS: non NRD-owners are (of course) also invited to ask for the software