Ham Radio Deluxe News: Ham Radio Deluxe Version 6.4.0.659 Released

That's probably not the case......in WSJT-X Settings, the dropdown for selecting your rig has "Ham Radio Deluxe" as an option. Choose that and all of the connection settings will be taken from HRD and the 2 programs will run together like clockwork.

 

Laurie, if you are listening, HRD and I have mended fences. I believe they have cut the head off the snake, brought in the right people to turn things around, and they've (as far as I know) compensated those that were wronged in the past. Their website and their software show tremendous progress since the beginning of the year, and it looks like they are headed in a positive direction.

I'm a developer too, but I believe in rebuilding burnt bridges when the trust has been regained.

 

I'll take a deeper look at that. To be honest, I've not really dug a lot deeper between the two since I set up WSJT-X (HRD was my first digital software that I tried) and I've been working the JT modes. But I've downloaded the latest version of HRD and will take a closer look as I think using HRD for rig control (it controls everything I need in my Icoms) along with WSJT-X for the modes I like right now and Teamviewer is a great combination for remote control of the radio. With digital I don't have to worry about audio for SSB, although Teamviewer does a good job of passing audio as well, I don't do a lot of SSB anymore. Thanks for the suggestion.

Mike

 

Mike,

Personally, for me, this is my biggest sticking point with DM780/HRD: the lack of mode development over the past few years --.well, over the past decade or so. It is packed with the same modes (and many of the same bugs with those modes) it had back in 2009 when I first used it. Now, that may cover a lot of the digital modes in common usage, but it doesn't include all and it doesn't include the newest stuff. For a "paid" piece of software, which should be on the front lines, it is a hard selling point for the digital enthusiast. Integration is not enough of a selling point either: I can get integration from Fldigi / Log4OM / WSJT-X and get ALL of the latest modes for no cost.

I think the challenge you're going to face as a paid-product is the open-source model behind most of the digital mode development going on now. It is difficult, but not impossible, to include those new open-source modes into a product that is sold. Personally, I'm still not sure how you can legally sell DM780 at all with all of the open-source modes and code behind it, but I'm not a lawyer (you are!) and I know you've already addressed and dealt with that so I'm not questioning it. I just think it is going to be the biggest challenge you'll face going forward, but I could be wrong.

Although I don't use HRD on a daily (or even a monthly) basis, I am a supporter and I pay for a support license as I like to see hams doing good work to support hams. Please don't take my comments as criticism: these are simply my observations and thoughts and really have no bearing on anything. Keep up the good work.

73

 

I don't know anything about what's in HRD but it depends on the open source license. In general there is no problem including open source libraries in a closed source product provided that the open source library has a license that permits it such as BSD or MIT and you comply with whatever terms that implies.

The big problem if you're building a closed source product is GPL code. If you include any code licensed as GPL then you need to release your product as GPL which means releasing the source.

 

Exactly. LIke I said, I'm not a lawyer, but I know that DM780 does (did?) include some code for some of the modes from Fldigi, which IS under the GPL, so . . . ?

WSJT-X is also GPL, thus JT65/JT9/FT8/etc are all under the GPL, which likely is one of the obstacles to its incorporation into HRD. .

I'm not trying to raise old arguments: these have been discussed a long time ago when HRD went commercial. I just think that it will hinder future development as more and more of the mode development is being done under open source (usually GPL) licenses.

 

Microsoft owns most of the code that HRD uses.

 

Mike - I struggled with it for a while and then found a 3 minutes Youtube video that gave me the trick. Once you select HRD from the dropdown, rig control comes to life in WSJT-X. If you have multiple rigs you will not have to mess with the settings in WSJT-X when you choose a different one in HRD. Have fun:

 

I found it and tried it out on my IC-746Pro that I run digital on 2 meters, which leaves my IC-7600 for HF and 6 meter digital. At first it looked really good. I could control my radio and change frequency in small steps like I was looking to do remotely. I run this radio off of a laptop with a 27" monitor connected. As long as I don't need to type anything, I keep the lid closed so it doesn't block the monitor and I also get higher resolution than I do on the laptop. I went to save something and had to open the lid so I could type, which changed the monitor's resolution to match the laptops. When I closed the laptop and HRD came back up all of the lower 2/3rds was blank. I only had the digital freq readout and the sliders just to the right of that. Everything else was blank. I could still click and change things but I couldn't see what I was clicking and I couldn't figure out how to refresh the screen. I finally had to exit out of HRD and WSJT-X and start it back up to bring the screen back.

I thought I'd just keep that in mind since if I'm running remote I won't be opening and closing the laptop lid. Next I was changing the View settings to remove some of the task bars to give me more of a full screen without stuff I don't use that often. I removed one task bar and the lower area when blank again. Same problem, I could click in the blank area and it would change frequency and other things but I couldn't see what I was clicking. I did find that if I right clicked and selected Change Size that if I selected one of the sizes it brought the screen back. I figured that I'd just do this if it happened again, but then I found that I had lost connectivity with WSJT-X and once again I had to close it all down and restart them for it all to work again. I put it back to radio control from WSJT-X after that.

I may not have the fine control of frequency and other things that I would with HRD, but working remote I can't take the chance I lose control of my radio while it's transmitting. It can probably be worked out or I can find ways to minimize it but since I know I won't be doing remote control that often, it's not worth spending the time on right now. It looked good there for a bit though, so thanks for the suggestion, James.

Mike

 

Well, here's a fun new twist. After the upgrade, if I open the satellite part of HRD it locks down everything in the program, logging, rig control, DM780, etc. The other great thing is that, if my screen saver happens to come on while I step away for a moment, it also locks everything up. I have to force close the HRD suites and restart them all

 

James, the sat module sucks on HRD...I have submitted several support requests...over a YEAR ago...and zero fixes. I use PstRotator for everything having to do with the sats. Right now, I am trying to get the new version of WSJT-X 1.8 to work with my FT-991 and it is completely intermittent. The only way to get it to work is to use RTS and not VOX or CAT. I guess I have to do another support request. The approach shown by N2SUB does not work for me...perhaps due to the fact that I have two FT-991s hooked up to HRD. Based on other issues I have submitted to them, there are bugs galore in HRD when it comes to twin rigs!

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73 de Robert K3RRR
K3RRR.com
@K3TripleR
YouTube.com/user/K3RRR
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