N2JEU's Internet Remote Base software for the Kachina 505DSP transceiver Documentation version 0.9beta - 4 September 2000 Software version 0.9beta - 3 September 2000 About the Software and Documentation - This documentation is not meant as a complete manual for operating a web server or writing HTML code or any of the other things that are required to set up a successful Internet Remote Base using this software. If you are unfamiliar with setting up and running a web server, keeping your Internet connection up full time or writing HTML pages then please seek some local help in setting up this software on your system. This software is released as FREEWARE. It is however a fully copyrighted work and may not be sold or re-distributed as part of a CD software collection or web site or other means without the permission of the Author (Robert Arnold N2JEU). Links to the Author's web site (http://www.ralabs.com/remote) are encouraged. Please link to the URL given since the software and the pages that support it are likely to change from time to time. The URL given should always be available however. Because this is released as freeware the Author is NOT responsible for ANY damages to the users computer or operating system from the use of this software. The Author is only responsible for answering support questions VIA EMAIL ONLY specifically relating to THIS SOFTWARE. I can not help with web server setup, HTML page creation or other support issues on a free basis. Help may be available on a PAID BASIS from the Author for things not related directly to this software. Please contact the Author for additional information at the address given later in this documentation. System Requirements - This software is a program that controls a Kachina 505DSP transceiver from a web based form on the Internet or other TCP/IP based network. It REQUIRES: 1) Widows 98, 98SE, NT4 (with service pack 3), or Win2000 (Note that the software has not been tested with NT4 or Win2000 - I think it should run fine but you are on your own right now on those operating systems. 2) A PC using an Intel or compatible CPU running at 200 Mhz or better with 64 MB of RAM and at least 2 GB of hard drive space. 3) An Internet connection. Full time recommended of at least ISDN speed (128KB/sec) or better for the server. 4) Web server software supporting standard CGI applications. (see tested software later in the docs) 5) A Kachina 505DSP transceiver on COM port 2 6) A Kachina rotor controller on Com port 1 (to use rotor and relay functions) both internal and external models are supported. 7) A program capable of supporting two way Internet audio. Microsoft's NetMeeting software is recommended I will state one more time for the record - This document does NOT cover how to set up and run your own web services over a full time Internet connection from your home/remote base location. It only covers the setup and operation of this specific CGI-based application. If you do NOT know how to set up a web server or maintain a full time Internet connection then please seek LOCAL HELP for those tasks. I can NOT support you in those tasks since this is being released as a freeware product. Unpacking the software: The software is distributed as a self installing .EXE file. The files will be installed to a directory in your PROGRAM FILES folder on your C drive unless you tell the installation utility to place the files somewhere else. The files must then be moved to the CGI-BIN directory of your web server to function. This software WILL NOT RUN from the installation directory. If your web server has a CGI-WIN folder DO NOT PLACE THE FILES THERE as they will not run in that folder. Put the files in the CGI-BIN or equivalent folder of your web server. Please keep a copy of the files in the installation directory should you need to replace any of the files in your web server's CGI-BIN folder. Configuring the software: The main configuration file is the setup.cfg file. It MUST be in the CGI- BIN folder (the same folder where the .EXE file resides) to be read whenever the program is started by the web server software. It looks like this: --------------------------------------------------------------------- ; this is the configuration file for the control software. (SETUP.CFG) ; lines starting with a semi-colon (;) are comment lines and are ignored ; blank lines are also ignored ; the format of each line is a key word followed by an equals sign then the ; appropriate value. ; NO SPACES BETWEEN THE KEY WORD AND THE EQUALS ; SIGN! ; VOX sensitivity level (a number from 1 to 255) ; a 0 here disables the TX function!) set 128 ; be sure to set this properly for the VOX function to work! voxlvl= 0 ; VOX delay level (number from 0 (short) to 255 (long)) voxdel= 128 ; microphone input gain control ; (number from 0 (minimum) to 255 (maximum)) micgain= 128 ; RX volume (number from 0 (minimum) to 255 (maximum)) rxvol= 170 ; name or IP address of the web server this is ; running on It's used in the other files in ; several places. Entering it here makes it ; easier to get up and running server= your.server.here ; server operator's email address email= your.email.address.here ; minimum transmit priv level (number from 1 to 9) ; this is the number after the password in the passwds.cdl file in ; each users's account setup txpriv= 2 ; minimum TX power level for external amplifier operation ; (number in WATTS) txampmin= 25 ; maximum TX power level for external amplifier operation ; (number in WATTS) txampmax= 75 ; antenna 1 description ant1= Antenna 1 Description ; antenna 2 description ant2= Antenna 2 Description ; force the external amp ON values are ; 0 (no amp) or 1 or 2 for the proper antenna port ; users CAN NOT OVERRIDE this setting forceamp= 0 ; force the 505DSP to a specific power level for the external amp ; number is power level in watts - used in connection with FORCEAMP ; above. ; users CAN NOT OVERRIDE THIS SETTING ; also overrides tcampmin and txampmax above forcepwr= 30 ; external relay control for the Kachina rotor controller ; these variables are used in the freqpage.txt file to make re-defining relay ; functions easier. rl1on= ON rl1off= OFF rl2on= Phased Aray - EAST rl2off= Phased Array - WEST rl3on= ON rl3off= OFF rl4on= ON rl4off= OFF rl5on= ON rl5off= OFF While most of the items in the setup file are easy to change it's important to remember that the software uses the concept of KEYWORDS in the HTML files sent to the user. Some of the variables in the setup.cfg file define the text returned by keywords used in the HTML files. Things like the antenna descriptions and relay functions can be defined here and inserted into the HTML files by using the right keyword in the HTML file. This is done so the software can be customized for your particular application to a limited degree. When editing this file please remember that there are NO SPACES between the variable name and the "=" sign. Spaces there render the variable unreadable to the software. Remember to set the VOX LEVEL variable. Try 128 as a first try and adjust it up or down to get reliable operation. A setting of "0" (ZERO) will force the software to turn the transmitting function off. If your system won't transmit but there is an audio stream available then check this variable FIRST! The mic gain and vox functions interact so you'll need to adjust these values to match your input levels. You also need to set the server and email variables to values proper for your own operation. The server name can be the actual name (like phantom.ralabs.com) of your computer or it can be the TCP/IP address of the computer (like 192.168.12.124). This information is inserted into the various places in the support files as they are read to the user. The same is true of the email variable. It's inserted as needed into the various files as they are read out to the user. The login file: The file first displayed to a user accessing the system is the login.txt file. It looks like this "out of the box": Please note that some of the lines below are all on a single line in the actual file. They may appear on two lines due to format problems in the word processor used to prepare the documentation. ; this is the LOGIN.txt file. EDIT AS NEEDED. NOTE DO NOT CHANGE THE FORM VARIABLES BELOW! ; lines starting with a semi-colon are comments and are NOT sent to the user. ; note- DO NOT USE ANY OTHER FORM VARIABLES IN THIS FILE. ; THEY ARE ALL BLANK AT THIS POINT IN THE LOGIN PROCESS! N2JEU's Internet Remote Base Software - Kachina KC505DSP

N2JEU's Internet Remote Base Software

for the Kachina KC505DSP transceiver.

Please use the login name GUEST with a password of guest for receive only access.

Please Enter Your:
Call Sign : Password : Click To send
You may edit the page as needed but PLEASE LEAVE THE FORM INTACT. The variable names are critical to the proper operation of the program. You'll note that server name in the form line is represented by the keyword ^server^. The keywords used in the various support files always begin and end with the "^" (carat) symbol. When the page is read by the program all of the keywords are translated into their respective information and sent to the user as HTML code by the program. When the user enters a login name and password not in the password file the program returns the NOACCESS.TXT file as a reply. It looks like this: ; this is the noaccess file. EDIT AS NEEDED. NOTE DO NOT CHANGE THE FORM VARIABLES BELOW! ; lines starting with a semi-colon are comments and are NOT sent to the user. N2JEU's Internet Remote Base

N2JEU's Internet Remote Base

Sorry, login name (^lname^) and password (^lpasswd^) you entered were not accepted by the system.
Please contact the system operator at ^lemail^ to resolve this problem if you are sure this is your assigned login name and password.
Please include the login name and password you were using to try to access the system.


This file may be edited as needed. Note the use of more keywords to represent the login name and password the user entered and the keyword used to represent the system operator's email address. If the user enters a login name and password recognized by the system then they see the freqpage.txt file next. Here's what it may look like: ; this is the freqpage.txt file. EDIT AS NEEDED. NOTE DO NOT CHANGE THE FORM VARIABLES BELOW! ; lines starting with a semi-colon are comments and are NOT sent to the user. N2JEU's Internet Remote Base Software - TEST SITE

N2JEU's Internet Remote Base Software

for the Kachina 505DSP transceiver

Thanks to Kachina Communications for the loan of the 505DSP transceiver to make this software possible.

This is the freqpage.txt file. Edit it as needed for your system. Please see the system documentation for extra information about this file BEFORE you edit it!

; lines below MUST REMAIN UNALTERED to store password and name between changes Transmitter Status: ^ltxstat^
System Information: ^lerror^

Note: select AUTO mode to have the system select the proper SSB mode depending on the frequency.
Leave the Frequency entry blank to update the page without changing the frequency or other parameters.

Enter the Frequency(kHz): Fine Tune(+/-Hz):
Select mode and bandwidth: RX Preamp: RX Atten:
AGC Speed: Noise reduction: Noise Reduction Level:
Antenna port: Antenna bearing:
Enter TX Power (1 to 100 watts): External Amplifier:
External relay 1: Phased array direction:
External relay 3: External relay 4: External relay 5:


The effective frequency range is 500 Khz to 29999.999 Khz. FM mode is not available.
Some examples of how you can use the form variables.

Logged in: ^lname^ - Last User: ^lastuser^
From IP Address: ^lipaddr^
Last frequency change on: ^loldtime^
Current date and time: ^ldtime^

The frequency currently is: ^lfreq^ kilohertz with a mode setting of ^lmode^.
The receiver preamp is ^lrxpre^. The receiver attenuator is ^lrxatt^.
The AGC speed is set at ^lagcspd^. The receiver noise reduction is ^lnrmode^ and is set at ^lnrlevel^.
The current antenna is ^lantport^. The transmitter is set for ^ltxwatts^ watts.

Did you have any problems? Send email to: ^lemail^.

Again, you can edit this as needed to personalize it for your needs. BE CAREFUL when making changes to the form however. The various names and keywords are critical to the program's operation and changes in this area can cause things to mis-function. If you do not have the Kachina rotor controller you can remove the items dealing with the rotor and relay functions without effecting the program's operation. Other items can be "removed" by turning them into hidden data fields. If you look you'll see two examples that store the login name and password so the system will recognize the user again when they submit the form for processing. The password file: The password file is a comma delimited ASCII file that can edited with the NOTEPAD program that comes with all 32 bit versions of Windows. The file name is passwds.cdl and it looks like this: N2JEU,wizard,2,g,1 GUEST,"guest",1,x,0 The first item on a line is the login name (user's call sign). The next iten is their password enclosed in quote signs. The number is an access level from 0 to 9. A 0 (ZERO) access level means the user is locked out of the system. Levels between 1 and 9 may be assigned as needed. Remember that there is a variable in the setup.cfg file that defines the minimum access level required to transmit. It's set at 2 in the distributed version of the setup.cfg file. The letter is the user's LICENSE CLASS. (See the license.cdl file description that follows). The final number is a 1 (ONE) or a 0 (ZERO) to indicate that the user can use an external amp if available. A 1 indicated that the amp can be used if allowed by the user's license class and antenna restrictions. A 0 indicates that no access to the amp is allowed under ANY circumstances. A note: Please make sure that this file DOES NOT CONTAIN BLANK LINES AT THE END. If you get errors from the program on execution by the web server software check this FIRST. The LICENSE.CDL file: This file sets up the various license classes available and provides frequency and power amp restrictions for the software to meet FCC regulations. It looks like this: n,28300,28500,0 g,1800,2000,1 g,3850,4000,1 g,7225,7300,1 g,14225,14350,1 g,18110,18168,1 g,21300,21450,1 g,24930,24990,1 g,28300,29700,1 a,1800,2000,1 a,3775,4000,1 a,7150,7300,1 a,14175,14350,1 a,18110,18168,1 a,21225,21450,1 a,24930,24990,1 a,28300,29700,1 e,1800,2000,1 e,3750,4000,1 e,7150,7300,1 e,14150,14350,1 e,18110,18168,1 e,21200,21450,1 e,24930,24990,1 e,28300,29700,1 x,0,0,0 0,0,0,0 ; the line above MUST NOT BE ALTERED. It serves as an end of file marker. ; That's why you can't use 0 (zero) as one of the class indicators. ; ; this is the user rights file for the control software ; the format is: ; ; n,lower_freq,upper_freq,extamp ; : where - ; N = license class (letters from A to Z, numbers from 1 to 9 (case not inportant) ; lower_freq = lower frequency limit for the band in kilohertz ; upper_freq = upper frequency limit for the band in kilohertz ; extamp = 0 for no external amp, 1 to allow external amp (for FCC power level limits) ; suggested US allocations are in the standard file above ; N=Novice/Tech Plus ; G=General ; A=Advanced ; E=Extra ; ; note the line that starts with x is for a NO TRANSMIT ANYWHERE type account Again, this file can be edited for various needs. It currently contains the SSB frequencies for all FCC license classes having HF access as part of the license. Please see the comments in the file for format information. The ANTPORT.CDL file: We need a way to let the software know what bands each antenna covers and if it can handle the power of an extermal amp. This file defines all of that for the system. It looks like this: 1,3500,4000,1 1,7000,7300,1 1,14000,14350,1 1,21000,21450,1 1,28000,29700,1 2,0,0,0 0,0,0,0 ; the line above (0,0,0,0) MUST BE THERE as an end of table marker ; the format is: ; ; port number, lower freq limit, upper freq limit, external amp available (0=no or 1=yes) ; ; the frequencies are in kilohertz ; ; a zero on both frequency fields when a port has a single entry means that ; transmitting is disabled on that port. It is possible to configure this file so that there are multiple entries per band for an antenna. For example, you can set it up so the external amp may be used only be used on parts of a band where the SWR is low enough to permit proper operation of the amp. If a user attempts to tune to a band where the antenna can't handle the transmitter the software will disable the transmitter to prevent damage to the radio or the antenna. BE SURE TO CONFIGURE THIS FILE FOR YOUR ANTENNAS. IT'S CRITICAL! The lockout.cdl file: You can use this file to lock out frequencies or frequency ranges from the system. The file looks like this: 29998,29999 -1,-1 The first line locks out the range 29998 to 29999 KHZ. ALL FREQIENCIES IN THIS FILE ARE IN KILOHERTZ. The last line serves as an end of file marker and should be left in place. Ad any new entries BEFORE this line. There is a limit of 40 lines in this file. If a user enters a frequency in this file the locked.txt file is sent back to them. It looks like this: Frequency Lockout

Frequency Lockout

The frequency you have selected has been locked out either due to mis-use by users or because someone complained about offensive material on the frequency. The lockout may or may not be permanent.

Please direct any comments concerning this to: ^lemail^

Please hit your browser's BACK button to re-enter a different frequency.

This file can be edited as needed and should explain to the user why the frequency may be locked out. A link to email the system owner is included. Additional support files - Rotor.cdl and lastfreq.log are files maintained by the software to retain the last known settings for the radio and rotor. THEY MUST BE PRESENT FOR THE SOFTWARE TO FUNCTION. You do NOT need to edit or change these files. Webradio.log is a comma delimited ASCII file that maintains a list of the tuning done by users of the system. It can get rather large so you'll need to delete the file from time to time or use something like WINZIP to archive the file. This file is created by the software the first time it is run and entries are added to it each time the frequency or other paramaters are changed. The file DOES NOT need to be present for the software to work. It will be created or added to as needed. Starting the software: Use the following URL in the web browser after all of the files have been modified to fit your operation. http://your.server.here/cgi-bin/webradio.exe You may need to change the cgi-bin section to point to whatever directory is used by your server software to support standard CGI type programs. If you need help - Help is only available for questions relating DIRECTLY TO THIS SOFTWARE. If you are looking for help in configuring a web server, internet connection or writing HTML code then please seek local help. If you have questions about this software of it's configuration then here's how to get it: The best course is to send email with SPECIFIC INFORMATION to: n2jeu@ralabs.com I'll respond with return email with as much information and suggestions as I can provide. Please DO NOT CALL VIA TELEPHONE. If I need to turn to that type of help I'll arrange to get in touch with you through an email message. The meager documentation will certainly be changed and expanded over the next few weeks as users send in questions concerning the software. It will always be available on the web site in a download directory. Point your browser at: http://www.ralabs.com/remote/download/ to see what is available.