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HamHead - Remote Head For Your CAT Rig
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By: Jay Moore/NQ4T - nq4tango@gmail.com
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# History
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```
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8-Feb-2020: Repository Creation, Intitial Commit, Alpha Versions
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31-Aug-2020: Name Change, More Alpha Code, Actually Control Radio
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````
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# About
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HamHead (formerally ArFO) is an Arduino-based program that interfaces with an external display, external controls, and your ham rig;
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to allow you the convenience of a remote head for rigs that do not feature one. It is written in Arduino and
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commands your rig using it's CAT/CI-V connection. HamHead is a continuation/reboot of PiFO; a previous project
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that sought to do the same thing.
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In addition to being able to control your operating mode, VFO, and a few other select options; HamHead also provides
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"advanced logic" for an otherwise older rig. When possible, it uses it's own programming rather than rely on the
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rig's internal functions. Planned features include a memory function, similar to what the proof-of-concept PiFO
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was; that will allow you to expand on the memory preset functions of older rigs as well as the ability to carry
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your memory presets with you between rigs. HamHead stores the frequency information and sends it to the radio as
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a frequency for the VFO.
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HamHead will use it's own internal logic when necessary, meaning older rigs will get some new features. This means
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some limitations (like CI-V WARC band data) are irrelevant to HamHead as we can calculate and process things
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ourselves.
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# Why The Change To Arduino
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When I originally came up with the idea for PiFO; the Raspberry Pi seemed like the easest development solution. With
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existing software in it's repositories the original idea was just a basic python script to interface with these.
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However as I began developing it I found a lot of limitations in the existing solutions that did not perform the way
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I thought they should, or wanted it to.
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The other problem with the RPi is the amount of time it takes to boot. Even with a basic installation of Rasbian;
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20 seconds was how long it took to become active without getting in to the OS and really stripping things down.
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When I created [HiFiLOGIX](https://gitlab.com/dewdude/hifilogix) I decided to go with the Arduino platform due to
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almost negligable boot-up time; the goal was to have it booted and ready to go within the 4.5 seconds it took for
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the stereo to activate it's speaker output relay.
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The (relative) success of getting HiFoLOGIX to work and armed with new knowledge of Arduino; I decided it should be
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possible to build PiFO in a way that works entirely on a microcontroller. We don't need a full OS; and this means
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no long boot times.
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# Hardware
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Though I have not gotten to the full design of a "reference" remote head; I am shooting for the following:
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* easy-to-read seven-segment LED displays with a minimal amount of information
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* one (or more) rotary encoders for spinning the VFO/channels
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* dedicated buttons for functions that don't require you to navigate a menu
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* onboard level converters for your rig's communication protocol
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* two cables to the head; power and communications
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Currently development is occuring on an Arduino Mega2560 and a simple 7404 based level converter for CI-V. This is
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actually the same converter used in the RPi version. If the code allows; the final product may contain an ATMega328.
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All hardware is planned to be integrated in to the head, meaning you should only need a power and communication
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cable going to your radio.
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I will post full pictures and a schematic as I get further along in the development.
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Usage of onboard USB controllers in newer rigs will depend on how difficult it is to implement. Unlike the RPi;
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the AVR based ATMegas do not feature native USB support and only offer serial communications. So plugging a rig's
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USB in to the thing won't work. The chip that handles serial-to-USB on the board would have to be reprogrammed to
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act as a USB host and understand all the various serial-to-USB adapters on the market. While USB controllers are
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available as an external module; the goal of this project is to keep costs to a minimum. No one wants to spend
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$300 on a remote head accessory!
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Development for iCom stuff is being done primarily on an IC-7100, with a IC-706MKII and IC-725 to check compatibility.
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I won't mention the irony of developing a remote head on a rig with a remote head....or the fact I came up with the
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thing when I had no rigs with remote heads and now own two.
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Additional display types may be supported depending on demand or user-submitted code. The project is open-source; you
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are welcome to contribute code.
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# Software
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All sketches are currently in the "alpha" folder.
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This software currently uses two libraries:
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LEDMatrixDriver by Bartosz Bielawski - Installable in the ArduinoIDE or from https://github.com/bartoszbielawski/LEDMatrixDriver
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Rotary by Ben Buxton - https://github.com/buxtronix/arduino/tree/master/libraries
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A copy of the Rotary library has been included as it is not available in the ArduinoIDE.
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I have also changed from my ususal BSD 2-Clause license to GPL v3 for better compatibility with any libraries.
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# Current DEV Status
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Development offically started on 5-FEB-2020 with working out the physical interface betweent he rig and the radio.
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This has been fully tested and I'm able to send and receieve bytes.
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Current development is extremely early alpha and is largely working on not just getting iCom CI-V communication
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working, but making sure I can actually get everything working the way I want. It's not considered ready for
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prime-time and the code will likely undergo reorganization to make customizations to physical UI and radio
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drivers easier.
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*Current Development Version*
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Development was dorment from early 2020 until late summer 2021 when it was restarted. The current alpha is now capable
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of actually controlling a radio and displaying it's frequency.
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[Video Showing Current Protptype] (https://youtu.be/GGRZIbIPLOM)
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# License
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HamHead - Remote Head For Ham Radios
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Copyright (C) 2021 Jay Moore - nq4tango@gmail.com
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This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
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it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
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the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
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(at your option) any later version.
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This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
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but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
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MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
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GNU General Public License for more details.
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You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
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along with this program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
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Rotary encoder handler for arduino. v1.1
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Copyright 2011 Ben Buxton. Licenced under the GNU GPL Version 3. Contact: bb@cactii.net
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