Virtual Legacy Radio
Tune your rig to the DX-spot
with a single mouse click!
Virtual Legacy Radio
(VLR) is an application that communicates with
radioamateur transceivers, such as Yaesu or Icom via a serial
line. It enables to control the transceiver from a PC in a
convenient way. It displays the current transceiver settings
(frequency, mode, and others) on the PC in an old-fashioned way
that corresponds to the look of receivers in 70's.
PC Platforms: Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista
Supported transceivers: FT-817, FT-847, FT-857, FT-897
Download Virtual Legacy Radio Now (latest version, installer/uninstaller, about 1MB to download)
This is how the scale of VLR
looked like at the end of the Field Day 2009 (using Field Day
Logger):
Version history (last entry first) |
|||||
| VLR Version |
DCW Version |
WC Version |
Date of Release | Changes | Remark |
| - | - | - | November
20th 2015 |
Removed the
"obsolete application" nag screen. Now the
application is without any limitation. Removed DCW and WC applications from the installer. Only VLR is in use and maintained. |
On the request of Thomas, DF8JK |
| - | - | - | August 24th, 2009 |
Added a new application, Field Day Logger. | Currently as a beta version, but has been very successfully used during Field Day 2009. |
| - | 1.0.3.0 | - | July 8th, 2008 |
VLR: Added the new band PMR with new fq markers DCW: It is possible to set the filter to more bands at a time It is possible to set the filter to "referees only..." It is possible to triger a specified action when a desired spot occurs. www.dxsummit.fi fixed (they have changed the web layout) |
|
| 1.0.9.0 | - | - | November 1, 2007 | VLR: Fix in the data-integrity check (caused COM link to drop). Optional captions for mode color strips. CTCSS tones for Frequency Markers. |
This time my thanks belong to Fred, N4CLA, for useful discussion about CTCSS and the tests he made. |
| 1.0.8.0 | 1.0.2.0 | 1.0.0.0 | March 27, 2007 | VLR: It is possible to scroll the scale horizontally. Hint windows for band buttons. Scale can show mode ranges. Extended and improved possibilities of the scale zooming. Scan can optionally run only within the analog scale selection. New application, Web Connector. This enables the other VLR users to see you as a freq marker. Bugfixes: It was not possible to start VLR on Win95/98. This is fixed now (missing MS Script Control) Some reported empty list of COM ports in the combo box (Win 98 only). It is fixed now. VLR crashed when COM button clicked (Win 98 only). This is now fixed. |
|
| 1.0.7.0 | 1.0.1.0 | - | March 4, 2007 | VLR: Digital scale, which is also "editable" to enter a new frequency numerically from the keyboard. Analog scale shows hint windows for freq markers. DCW can be started and closed automatically along with VLR New buttons [A/B], [A=B] and [Split]. Combo box for COM selection shows also a user friendly description (similar to what can be seen in Windows Device Manager). VLR now "learns" length of responses during CAT connection. This enables to optimize communication speed. User definable keystrokes (tuning step) and mouse behaviour (double click, wheel). Search for frequency marker feature. Three programmable buttons (VBScript). DCW: Filter menu shows number of spots for this or that band. Application button caption shows progress (convenient when DCW is minimized). Command line -m to start DCW minimized. Installer: When installing over an existing installation the user is prompted whether to overwrite files Bands.tsv and FqMarkers.tsv. Bug fixes: Corrected handling of port COM10 and higher. |
Some problems with FT-847 persist. It looks that even that FT-847 uses (almost) the same CAT commands as FT-817/857/897, it behaves differenly in some details. Users of FT-847 please try out version 1.0.8.0 as soon as it is released. |
| 1.0.6.0 | 1.0.0.0 | - | Feb 1, 2007 | Added
support for FT-847. A new tool bar added. Visibility of the tool bar and the spectrograph is optional. The main window is freely resizable now. More band buttons, right-click on band buttons for selection of an 'invisible' band. Fix in fq markers scan (change of mode). |
FT-847 needs an extra command (CAT-ON) to be sent prior any other communication is commenced. My thanks to Emil, OK2WD for tests he made. |
| 1.0.5.0 | 1.0.0.0 | - | Jan 28, 2007 | First client for VLR, DX-Cluster Watch. It inserts spots into the scale as frequency markers. | |
| 1.0.4.0 | - | - | Jan 22, 2007 | New options
for Spectrograph. Fix in simulated connection. CAT communication re-written (changed from anynchronous to synchronous). Data integrity check added (CAT communication). |
It seems
that firmwares differ. Some FT's return exactly 1 byte as
a response to all commands except 03, E7 and F7, some ot
them return 2 characters. This versions takes this into account. This way it fixes erratic behaviour of GUI that some users experienced. My big thanks to Jeff, N7YG for his useful hints about CAT communication. |
| 1.0.2.0 | - | - | Jan 11, 2007 | Reliability of connection to TCVR enhanced significantly. | |
| 1.0.1.0 | - | - | Jan 8, 2007 | Added DTR/RTS control. | |
| 1.0.0.0 | - | - | Dec 26, 2006 | New virgin release. | |