Aeiral-51 does not (itself) support LINUX Apps with the ALT-512.

This is because we ourselves have no LINUX expertise.

However we have users who run LINUX and we will share their experience and feedback with you here on this page.

CQRLOG

CQRLOG is an advanced ham radio logger based on MySQL database.

 
It provides radio control based on hamlib libraries (currently support of 140+ radio types and models).

CQRLOG is intended for daily general logging of HF, CW & SSB contacts and strongly focused to easy operation and maintenance.

ALT-512 transceiver and CQRLog

by Pierre Fillinger, F5MOG

I purchased a new Transceiver ALT-512 (https://www.aerial-51.com/alt-512/). The ALT-512 transceiver has a claimed compatibility only with Windows :-( with claimed TS-2000 compatibility,

My computer is a Mintbox, using Linux Mint 19, so I had to battle a bit, to succesfully read the frequency of this transceiver, directly in CQRLOG.

The purpose of this note is to share my experience, in case it help others.

Please note that I am not using digi modes, so I cannot say if the ALT-512 is working with linux programs.

The ALT-512 transceiver is supplied with a USB cable.
I connected this cable directly bdtween the transceiver and one of the USB ports of my mintbox computer.

My reference document is:
http://www.saunalahti.fi/~sakny/bin/cqrlog2/setting_rigctld_for_all_prog...
and I used this method.

On my computer, I created the file rigctld_start,sh .

The content of my file is shown below:

#!/bin/bash
#
sleep 2
#
# Nothing to do if it is already running.
#
a=$(/usr/bin/pidof rigctld)
if [ "$a" != "" ]; then
/usr/bin/date >> /tmp/start.log
echo "Already running." >> /tmp/start.log
else
/usr/bin/date >> /tmp/start.log
/usr/bin/rigctld -m 214 -r /dev/ttyUSB0 -t 4532 -s 9600 --set-conf=data_bits=8,stop_bits=1,serial_parity=None,serial_handshake=None,dtr

_state=OFF,rts_state=OFF &
echo "Started." >> /tmp/start.log
fi
echo "-----------------------" >> /tmp/start.log

-- Copy my text correctly, when creating rigctld_start,sh.

Beware the syntax, spaces, etc. the text in the above pdf document is not fully correct.

-- Check with command: whereis pidof, and whereis date and fix paths in script to follow your linux folders (my paths were different, I had to fix this).

-- Make sure you are a member of the dialout (linux command groups your_username ), Your username should show, ( If not, linux command sudo addgroup your_username dialout).

-- change permissions for run this file with command: chmod a+x ~/rigctld_start.sh

-- set up user crontab that will start and keep rigctld running. Command is: crontab -e At the end of the file, leave an empty line, then add

* * * * * /home/pf/rigctld_start.sh > /dev/null 2>&1

Note: “pf” should be replaced with the username you are using!
Save all.

Since rigctld is starting alone, the set-up of CQRLOG is not that important.
 

Here below, in case you are interested, is what I am using:

• File/preferences /TRX Control
• Path to rigctld binary, /usr/bin/rigctld
• Radio Description ALT-512
• Host localhost
• Rig Model 2 Hamlib NET rigctl
• Device /dev/ttyUSB0
• Poll rate 2000
• Port number 4532

• The box Run rigctld when program starts is kept 'UNchecked'
• Serial parameters are all set to 'default'
• 'check' the box Show communication with TRX in console ,,,,it helps for debugging.

• Save all, stop your computer, restart, wait a minute, to allow rigctld to start.

• Start your ALT-512 rig, start CQRLOG.

• ​The frequency of the transceiver should now appear in the TRX control window, and in the frequency box of the New QSO window.

Good luck,

Pierre, F5MOG