Interfacing with Flex Radios
John, K1JSM, provided the information below. Please contact John if you have issues.
Using a Flex radio with SkookumLogger requires communication between SkookumLogger and third-party software, instead of communicating with real hardware. SkookumLogger assumes the third-party software is SmartSDR for MacOS, available on the App Store and that SmartSDR is running on the same computer as SkookumLogger. To configure the connection:
- In the SkookumLogger Radios window, choose Flex > TS-2000 TCP in the Type dropdown list.
- In the SkookumLogger Radios window, click the Settings… button, enter 127.0.0.1 for the IP and 5001 for the port.
- In the SmartSDR CAT Control window, choose Kenwood TS-2000 CAT in the Type dropdown list, and set Port to 5001.
- Enable the connection in each application.
Radio 1 in SkookumLogger corresponds to CAT Control 1 in SmartSDR, and similarly for Radio 2. Each radio should use a different port.
See Section 4 in the SmartSDR for Mac manual for more information.
Using xCat
As of SmartSDR version 2.3.06, there is a significant lag between changing frequency in SmartSDR and having the new frequency show in SkookumLogger. A workaround is to use the xCat application from Tom, DL3LSM. To configure this connection:
- In the SmartSDR Radio ▶︎ CAT Control window, uncheck enabled.
- Open the xCat application, version 2.0 as of 1/1/2023, and add Slice A data:
- Click the Edit… button and set the properties in the Edit CAT Port window:
- Open the SkookumLogger Radios window and set or confirm that the Radio 1 type is TS-2000, that the IP address is 127.0.0.1 and that the Port is 5002, to match the corresponding properties in xCat.
Test by changing frequencies in SmartSDR. SkookumLogger entry window should follow frequency changes almost instantly. Another test: open an activity window in Skookum, select a band, click on a spot and the radio should be immediately tuned to that spot’s frequency and mode.