ICR7000
                    Icom IC-R7000 Receiver Control Program

                             THIS IS FREEWARE!

                                   by
                               Bart Wolther
                                  N2PXJ
                            437 Railroad Avenue
                            Westbury, NY  11590



IMPORTANT:
  To greatly improve the functionality of this program, be sure to use the
  Squelch-detect Cable described in this documentation. You can build one from
  common, Radio-Shack-available parts.

HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS:
  Icom R7000 Radio Receiver (or other CI-V compatible radio), CT-17 or
  compatible radio interface, PC-compatible computer with serial port, cables

OPTIONAL HARDWARE:
  Squelch-detect Cable (I tell you below how to make one) and parallel port

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THIS PROGRAM:
  This is an Icom IC-R7000 receiver control program. I designed it to work
  with the CT-17 computer interface. It allows you to maintain, on your PC,
  databases of frequencies, and to download them to your radio.

TO START THE PROGRAM:
  Start the program by typing:

                                 ICR7000

CONFIGURING THE SOFTWARE:
  The program has a SETU<P> option which allows you to specify several
  parameters.  Be sure to run SETU<P> the first time you run the program.

  SETUP PARAMETERS:

     COMPORT: the serial port your radio interface is connected to. This
     should be 1 (COM1) or 2 (COM2).

     BAUD RATE: the baud rate at which your radio interface is set. This
     should be 1200 or 9600.

     LPT: the parallel port to which you have a Squelch-detect Cable, if any,
     attached. This should be 1 (LPT1), 2 (LPT2), or 3 (LPT3). Instructions
     for building your own Squelch-detect Cable are given below.

     DATABASE FILE NAME: the name of a text file which will serve as a
     frequency database. You can use any path/file name. See below for how to
     build a frequency database.

     EDITOR NAME: the name of a text editor which you will use to modify the
     database. You can specify the name of your favorite editor, e.g. EDLIN,
     EDIT, etc.

HOW TO BUILD A FREQUENCY DATABASE:
  A frequency database is actually a simple text file. You build the file
  using your favorite text editor, such as EDIT or EDLIN. Each line of the
  file contains a frequency, mode and, optionally, a description of the
  channel, separated by commas. For example:

         145.0100, FMN, 2 Meter Packet Radio BBS

  The line above specifies a frequency of 145.01 MHz, a transmission mode of
  narrow FM, and a description: "2 Meter Packet Radio BBS".

  The recognized mode designators are AM, FM, FMN, and SSB.

  You can use the <E>DIT command to invoke your text editor (specified in the
  SETU<P> command) with your database file (also in SETU<P>), and thereby edit
  your database. You must use the <G>ET command (see below) to download your
  database into the radio.

DOWNLOADING FREQUENCIES FROM A DATABASE TO THE RADIO'S MEMORY CHANNELS:
  There is a memory channel <G>ET option which allows you to load frequencies
  from the database file into the R7000. It asks you to specify a search
  string, and then loads frequencies from all lines in your database file that
  contain your search string. You may optionally specify two or more search
  strings separated by commas, in which case an AND search will be performed
  in which all frequencies containing all of the search strings will be
  loaded.

  Once channels are loaded from the database, you can use the PageUp and
  PageDown keys to switch through memory channels, and the program will
  display the corresponding channel descriptions as you switch.

THE SQUELCH-DETECT CABLE:
  This program has the ability to recognize the R7000's squelch status which
  allows the program to know if the radio is tuned to a coherent transmission.
  To enable this capability, you must hook up a special "Squelch-detect
  Cable". This cable is a quick and dirty solution to a major shortcoming in
  the R7000's computer interface: an inability to detect the radio's squelch
  status. The cable works by connecting your radio's REMOTE jack to your
  computer's parallel port.

BUILDING A SQUELCH-DETECT CABLE:
  To build the cable, you go (if necessary) to Radio Shack and buy three
  things:

    - a length of computer cable with 2 or more conductors R.S.#278-777

    - a male, two-conductor, 1/8" mini-plug (i.e. an earphone plug)
      R.S.#274-286

    - a male DB-25 connector (25-pin D-Sub), crimp-type, R.S.#276-1429

  Using the computer cable, connect the tip of the mini-plug to pin # 2 of the
  DB-25 and the base of the mini plug to pin # 23 of the DB-25. Then plug the
  mini plug into the REMOTE jack of your R7000, and plug the DB-25 to the
  parallel port on your computer. That's all there is to it.