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Hi,
I am not able till today to propagate CAT to both WSJTx and linear amplifier Expert 1.5K.

I created a pair of virtual COM ports with com0com (COM 15 and COM 16)
I connected DB15 of Expert to a RS-232<--USB converter (COM6).

Case 1) If I configure Thetis to use CAT on COM15, WSJTx is working perfectly, configuring CAT on COM16, that is paired virtually with COM15.
I can set frequency both on Thetis and on WSJTx. Every CAT command issued on COM15 is transferred automatically on COM16 and vice-versa. Unfortunately Expert is not receiving any CAT info on COM6 and it does'nt change band automatically, when I change it on Thetis or WSJTx.

Case 2) If I configure Thetis to use CAT on COM6, Expert changes automatically band when I change band on Thetis, but WSJTx is not aware what is the frequency on Thetis and it does'nt work.

My question is: how to transfer CAT commands issued and received by Thetis on both WSJTx and Expert 1.5K?

I hope I have explained rather clearly my situation.
Anyone can help?

Hi,

I can answer your questions, but I am using Eterlogic VSPE...
For the Expert you would need a "Splitter". "Physical" COM6 => COM15 (virtual). In Thetis activate COM15.
For wsjtx you would need a "Pair". Virtual COM16 to virtual COM17. In Thetis activate COM16, in wsjtx use COM17.

73 de Ernst

You do not need any splitters.

Since you've gotten connections to WSJT-X and the SPE amp working separately there appears to be no problem with your cables or your understanding of serial port settings.

Therefore I'm guessing that you do not realize that there are four (4) separate CAT instances available in Thetis that can be used simultaneously: the main CAT instance in Setup > CAT Control > CAT, and the three additional instances in Setup > CAT Control > CAT+.

Merely assign your WSJT-X connection to one of the four instances, and the amp connection to one of the remaining three instances, and everything should work at the same time. And you still have two more instances to connect additional things like loggers, etc.

Thanks for replies.
I tried the way suggested of CAT+, but as soon as I launch WSJTx, the output of COM6 at frequency changes stops.

I tried 2 configurations:

1) CAT to COM6 and CAT+ to COM15: I see bits flowing from the hardware of COM6 but as soon as I launch WSJTx, COM6 stops sending bits on frequency changes. WSJTx get and send CAT commands from/to Thetis.
2) CAT to COM15 and CAT+ to COM6: without opening WSJTx there is no hardware bits flow from COM6 at frequency changes. WSJTx is working normally.

It seems that WSJTx catches completely any CAT flow from every Thetis istance.

The only thing that remains is to use the BCD logic to identify bands, setting a 5 poles cable from DB9 of Anan to DB15 of SPE linear amplifier.

If someone has other ideas, please tell me.

oe3ide wrote:Hi,

I can answer your questions, but I am using Eterlogic VSPE...
For the Expert you would need a "Splitter". "Physical" COM6 => COM15 (virtual). In Thetis activate COM15.
For wsjtx you would need a "Pair". Virtual COM16 to virtual COM17. In Thetis activate COM16, in wsjtx use COM17.

73 de Ernst

I have downloaded Eterlogic VSPE and I will try tomorrow to use this tool, instead of free com0com.
I hope it will work.

There is no difference between CAT and CAT+ instances, as your experiments showed.

That is a very strange problem.

There must be some incompatibility with the way the amp and WSJT-X implement the Kenwood CAT protocol.

You might try connecting to the amp via DDUtil. So that would have another virtual serial port pair connecting Thetis and DDUtil, then DDUtil connecting to COM6. See this topic in order to download the correct version: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3040

Finally I was able to find a solution!

Eterlogic VSPE used by Ernst did the same as com0com: as soon as I launch WSJTx, th CAT flow to real COM port connected to linear stops.

So:

- I switched Thetis CAT emulation to powersdr.
- primary Thetis CAT set to COM6 (real com port connected to Expert linear)
- CAT+ second to COM15, paired with com0com to COM16
- WSJTx CAT set to Flexradio/Anan
- WSJTx COM port set to COM16
- Expert CAT leaved as Kenwood

Now it works!