== Controlling an External Device like an Antenna Switch via a Parallel Port ==

You can use one of Commander's Frequency-dependent Devices to control an external device via parallel port signals. The example described here is control of an Antenna Switch.

 1. Choose an unused '''Device''' tab on the '''Configuration''' window, and

  a. Set its '''Device Name''' to ''Antenna''

  a. Set '''# Controls''' to 1

  a. Set '''Tolerance''' to ''10'' (%)

  a. Set '''Control 1''' to ''Code''

  a. In the table, create entries for the frequency ranges of interest. The entries should be less than 10% apart in frequency. Each entry's '''Code''' item should be the numeric value need to make the antenna switch select the appropriate antenna for the frequency in question, as shown in the example below. The large tolerance reduces the number of entries required for each band; when using this approach to control an antenna tuner, choose a smaller tolerance and specify more entries.

  a. Check the '''Enabled''' box in the upper-left corner. As you QSY Commander to each band, the '''Antenna''' panel on Commander's Main window should display the proper band selection code.

 1. On the '''Configuration''' window's '''Ports''' tab,

  a. Set the '''Selector''' panel to select the appropriate parallel port 

  a. In the '''Data Signals''' sub-panel

   i. set the '''Device''' selector to ''Antenna''

   i. set the '''Control''' selector to ''Code''

   i. check the '''Enable''' box


=== Sample Table ===

(values shown are appropriate for use with [[http://www.qth.com/topten/bdecoder.htm|Top Ten]] and [[http://www.unifiedmicro.com/decoder.html|W9XT]] decoders, which use parallel port pins 9, 8, 7, and 2 to select a band using the scheme supported by [[http://www.writelog.com|WriteLog]] and [[http://www.n1mm.com|N1MM]])

||'''Freq'''||'''Code'''||
||1800||1||
||1900||1||
||2000||1||
||3500||32||
||3700||32||
||4000||32||
||7000||33||
||7300||33||
||10100||64||
||14200||65||
||18100||96||
||21300||97||
||24900||128||
||28500||129||
||29500||129||
||50000||160||
||51000||160||
||52000||160||
||53000||160||
||54000||160||

=== Parallel port data bit outputs generated from the above table ===

||Freq||Code||'''pin 9'''||'''pin 8'''||'''pin 7'''||'''pin 2'''||
||1800||1||0||0||0||1||
||1900||1||0||0||0||1||
||2000||1||0||0||0||1||
||3500||32||0||0||1||0||
||3700||32||0||0||1||0||
||4000||32||0||0||1||0||
||7000||33||0||0||1||1||
||7300||33||0||0||1||1||
||10100||64||0||1||0||0||
||14200||65||0||1||0||1||
||18100||96||0||1||1||0||
||21300||97||0||1||1||1||
||24900||128||1||0||0||0||
||28500||129||1||0||0||1||
||29500||129||1||0||0||1||
||50000||160||1||0||1||0||
||51000||160||1||0||1||0||
||52000||160||1||0||1||0||
||53000||160||1||0||1||0||
||54000||160||1||0||1||0||

=== Recommended Parallel Ports ===

 * Any PCI/PCIe serial/parallel cards based on the MOSchip integrated circuit will work correctly -- e.g. products from Rosewill, SIIG, or !StarTech; in the '''Windows Device Manager''', note the resources listed for the '''PCI Parallel Port''' device and use the '''Port Address''' specified there in the '''Parallel Port''' panel on the '''Ports''' tab of Commander's Configuration window.

 * One USB-to-parallel port adapter is known to work: the [[https://www.piexx.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=12|Piexx SO2Rxlat USB to LPT Translator]].


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