WJJT‐X with AC Log - K7MDL2/IC-705-BLE-Serial-Example GitHub Wiki

16 April 2025

I have isolated a few issues between AC Log (and VHF Contest, same engine) around rig control, mostly when used with WSJT-X. This impacts the IC-905 mostly, but also my 705 with Xvtr translation and likely the IC-9700 on 23cm.

With just the radio and AC Log, USB rig control works OK unless Scope wave output data is turned, or left on from a previous program like wfView, and the scope data (spectrum and waterfall) is active on the radio, the CI-V data pipe over USB is clogged up and AC Log stops processing frequency and mode data, or can be slow.

You can use the AC log Rig Interface Setup page to enter FE FE A4 E0 27 11 00 FD in the frequency field and hit test to shut data off. If you look in the received data window just below, you should see the stream of x27 spectrum data messages stop and only see Frequency and Mode responses. AC Log prefers Echo Back turned on also. Icom or Icom2 rigs both worked, adjust the radio address from 64 to AC for the Icom rig choice.

WSJT-X

Assuming you have the WSJT-X UDP interface in AC Log enabled, Start WSJT-X. With WSJT-X Rig set to 'None', you can set the radio frequency from the WSJT_X drop down box OK. TX even works. It will NOT receive frequency info from the radio/AC Log this way.

In WSJT-X Settings->Rig tab, choose 'N3FLP AC Log' for the rig definition and it works OK on bands below 1.0GHz. Above 999Mhz the frequency is processed wrong, and you get 1.0MHz for 23cm, 2.0MHz for 13cm, and 5.0Mhz for 6cm. Likely 10.0MHz for 10G band. 10Ghz will also need 6 bytes for frequency on 10G and higher, vs 5 bytes for normal bands.

I have submitted bug reports for these and a few other small things along with logs. Once this is sorted out, the 705 with my transverter enabled decoder and the 905 should start working well together.

Some last bits - allowing for smooth non digital mode log entries while WSJT-X is running. Generally, I hit WSJT-X Monitor OFF in WSJT-X to prevent it forcing FT-8 mode int the log every 3 seconds (from the UDP heartbeat message). Another way is to update the BandPlan.txt file. This helps, at least on 2M. When on 144.174 it switches to DIG mode in the logger. Tune away from 144.174 and goes back to PH mode. It only worked up to the 2M band since the default file only has entries up to 2M.

In the folder D:\OneDrive\Documents\Affirmatech\N3FJP Software\Shared is a file called BandPlan.txt. It contains the mapped modes. You can add FT-8 and other desired mode's common frequencies to it for bands > 144 and it will auto switch between PH and DIG based on the band map. Here is what I added to my BandPlan.txt file, updating the existing 2M text. We use 903 vs 902 here in the PNW area for FT8 and SSB/CW.

"2","S","FT4",144.170,144.172
"2","S","FT8",144.174,144.178
"2","S","JT65",144.12,144.122
"1.25","S","FT8",222.080,222.084
"1.25","S","JT65",222.065,222.069
"70","S","FT8",432.174,432.178
"70","S","JT65",432.065,432.069
"33","S","FT8",903.174,903.178
"33","S","JT65",902.065,902.065
"23","S","FT8",1296.174,1296.178
"23","S","JT65",1296.065,1296.069
"13","S","FT8",2304.174,2304.178
"13","S","JT65",2304.065,2304.069
"6cm","S","FT8",5760.174,5760.178
"6cm","S","JT65",5760.065,5760.069

In my 705 M5Stack decoder, AC log rig interface works best with 'icom2' rig interface, change the radio address from 00 to A4 for the IC-705. 00 seems to work fine for the 905. I also set the Baud rate to 115200. I set WSJTX mode to None and Split to Fake-it. The WSJT-X rig interface for AC Log received PKTUSB mode and does not know what that means causing WSJT-X to hang and often crash.

One other thing I do. AC Log TCP server default port is 1100. I enabled VHF Contest's TCP Server and set it to port 1101. I also enable the client checkbox so it can talk to the AC Log database on port 1100. I set WSJT-X to use port 1101 for VHF Contest, otherwise to port 1100 for non-contest work.

Hopefully these issues can be resolved, for now using the above tips, bands < 23cm seem to work OK. I will be trying a few other loggers. Already have N1MM+ but that is a bit heavy for my taste. I like VHF Contest so investing time to make it work well.

To make TX work I set WSJT-X PTT method to VOX. here Mode = None and Split = Fake It. Port is 1100 for AC Log, 1101 for VHF Contest.

In AC Log these are my settings using A4 for the 705, AC for the 905.

Another solution is to use Cntl^X in AC Log to switch rigs. At least you can switch AC Log to rig=None and free up the com port for WSJT-X, but you have to startup and shut down WSJTX when flipping between Dig and non-Dig operation.

As mentioned in many other pages on my decoder projects, you can use WiFi for the 705 and LAN for the 9700 and 905 in parallel with the USB. For the 705 with my transverter-aware band decoder (this project), the Decoder talks to the 705 via BT, a PC connects to the decoder via USB for a complete CAT control chain. Audio from the 705 is via either radio USB or WiFI. This setup is required since audio is not available on the decoder BT/USB bridge and the decoder has to be in the middle to swap out Xvtr frequencies to the PC.