KComm

KComm is an open source GPL amateur radio communication and logging program designed specifically for Elecraft K2 and K3 transceivers. KComm has been developed using the cross platform development tool Lazarus so that it is possible to create versions for Windows and Linux (and perhaps also Mac OS.)

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Description

KComm is a logging program that has been written specifically for use with the Elecraft K2 and K3 transceivers. No attempt has been or will be made to enable it to work with other makes of radio.

KComm is aimed at the average operator and casual contester who is interested in operating CW, PSK31 and phone and wants a nice, easy to use program to keep the log with.

KComm is meant to be a logging program, not a transceiver control program like HRD. Tuning the radio and adjusting the filtering must be accomplished using the radio front panel. KComm is designed to complement rather than replace the controls on the radio itself.

Design objectives

The initial reason for developing KComm was to have a logging program that could take advantage of the built-in DSP decoding of Morse, RTTY and PSK31 in the Elecraft K3, with no need for a sound card. This has not yet proved to be possible, due to the fact that the command protocol support necessary to allow computer software to read the decoded text from the K3 has not yet been implemented by Elecraft.

Because it was not possible for me to implement sound card DSP modems for data modes not supported by the K3, KComm was designed to be used interchangeably with the MixW multimode software. Consequently, KComm uses the same log file format as MixW and can write to the same file that MixW uses.

Because I do not like the attitude of Microsoft and the direction of Windows development (and particularly the awful Windows Vista) I would prefer to use Linux for my hobby computing (I have already switched to it in our business.) Therefore KComm as been developed using a cross-platform development tool that allows native binaries to be created for both Windows and Linux.

Unfortunately it has become clear that the Linux platform is less refined than Windows and presents greater obstacles to the developer; also, there is a much richer choice of tools and applications for Windows which makes the latter a more attractive environment for the ham radio hobbyist. Consequently I am still using Windows XP for the moment and current releases of KComm will be for Windows only, unless a Linux (or Mac) enthusiast volunteers their services to compile and test KComm on those platforms.

Sound card modems

To provide similar functionality to the K3 when the K2 is used (and when using the K3 until such time as Elecraft adds the necessary support to the K3 firmware), sound card decoding of CW and PSK31 are supported. Unfortunately, I do not have the expertise to develop DSP code, and under Linux the available source code is written in C or C++ which is more or less incomprehensible to me as a Pascal programmer. Under Windows DLLs are available that can simply be called from another program with no requirement to understand how they work. Therefore sound card support in KComm is mostly only in Windows.

In version 1.3 an internal CW decoder is available. In addition, support is provided in the Windows version for CW Skimmer.

The Windows version of KComm also supports PSK31 and PSK63 operation using the PSK31 Core DLL by AE4JY.

Terms and Conditions

This software is made available as-is, without any warranty or support.

Downloads

If you wish to provide a link to these programs from your own web pages please link to this page, not directly to the download file.

Software

KComm 1.3 Setup (800Kb) for Windows

This is an installer which will install or upgrade KComm on your Windows computer.

KComm 1.2 archive (995Kb) for Linux

This is a .tar.gz archive which you must extract and install yourself. The best way is to unpack the archive in your home folder. This will create a folder ($HOME/kcomm) containing all the files. The large file kcomm is the executable. You can double-click it in your graphical file manager, or create an entry for it in your KDE or Gnome desktop launch menu.

This precompiled binary distribution is made available as an experiment. It has been compiled on my Linux system running Xandros Desktop 4.1. It may well not be compatible with the libraries present on your Linux system, in which case you will have to download the source code, install Lazarus and compile it yourself.

Shortcuts

Shortcuts are lists of frequencies or sequences of radio control commands that can be activated with a double-click. Please send useful shortcuts you have created so that they can be shared with others.

To download these, right-click the link and select Save Link As...

Source code

Download KComm 1.3 Lazarus Source Code

KComm is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2. The source code may be used to build versions for Linux and possibly even Mac OS. However, please note that KComm is not a C/C++ program, it has been developed using the Lazarus/Free Pascal development system. You will need to install it, and all of its dependencies, first. Lazarus is not included in the repositories of many Linux distributions (and if it is included, the version may be quite out of date), so this is not a trivial undertaking.

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