K0LR "quick reference" for the W4MQ Web Transceiver software

Important Notice: The software has been tested on Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 32 and 64 bit. It does not run on any other operating system.

To start with, download the web transceiver client software and install it on your computer. 

Next, you need to download and install the latest web transceiver client update.

Then run the web transceiver application and under the Setup menu, go to select Sound Type and select either IP Sound or SKYPE. 

Here is how you should choose:

• If you are using the newest version of SKYPE, simply select SKYPE as your audio choice.
  
• In SKYPE, you may elect to go to the TOOLS > OPTIONS > ADVANCED > Manage other programs access to SKYPE and then choose the Web Transceiver (webxcvr.exe). This will allow the W4MQ software to automatically call the remote base on SKYPE without you having to first log on with the W4MQ interface and then manually call the remote base via SKYPE. 
  
  
  
• If you experience runtime errors when set up as advised above, you may need to choose IP Sound. Ignore the IP Sound dialog box that warns you need to forward a port.  You will not actually be using IP Sound, you will still really be using SKYPE. For more information, see Known Issues.

Then go to the Setup menu again and select Enter Logon Info. It will show the default entries for W4MQ and VK3UR. Click on the blank label under VK3UR and enter the information as shown in the attached screen. 

If you cannot see the graphic, here is the information to enter in the form fields:

• YOUR LABEL: W0EQO
• IRB STATION: W0EQO
• IP/URL: 206.144.43.253
• USERCALL: Your own callsign
• PASSWD: The password you were assigned
• After that, in the Select Remote pull-down, choose W0EQO. 
• Enter your callsign in the callsign field. 
• Then enter your password in the password field.
• Choose or click "LOGIN".

In the username and password fields, enter the your call sign and the password that you will receive in a separate e-mail. After entering the required information, save and close the logon info window. W0EQO should now be in the dropdown station list, and when you select it, the display should indicate that it is available. Click Login. 

When the login process goes normally, you should hear the call being answered when you hear the TS-480's audio from your computer speakers. At this point, you may want to change the frequency of the radio by entering digits.  If you try to do that, you will probably just hear tones, because the computer is no longer focused on the W4MQ software interface.  When it connected to the remote base via SKYPE, the computer then focused on SKYPE, which thinks you want to send DTMF tones with your keyboard. So first, before you start typing in a frequency, you need to make sure the computer has regained focus on the W4MQ interface. You might want to use the ALT-TAB procedure to just go through Windows until you locate the right one. Or, if you can see the screen, click your mouse cursor on the W4MQ application to regain focus. Now, when you enter a number, such as 3925 and press the ENTER key, the radio will respond by changing the frequency to 3.925 MHz LSB and it will speak the frequency so that blind users will know what happened.

I haven't found an easy way to perform the above setup and login operations via keyboard commands. Getting to the Enter Logon info under the Setup menu is easy -- after that it gets problematic. One way that might work, using the JAWS cursor, is to find and overwrite the W4MQ "label" with W0EQO. This label is on the top of a list on the left hand side of the screen, directly above VK3UR. Then move the cursor to the right into the area where the other information is entered. Find a box called IRB Station, and again replace W4MQ with W0EQO. From there, move again to the right (I think shift tab will work here) to the IP address box and enter 206.144.43.253, then shift tab or move down and to the left to the Username box and enter your username. Shift tab again should bring you to the password entry box. Both username and password are case insensitive. Below the logon information area are four buttons labeled Delete Entry, Save, Update IP/URLs and Close. The buttons are arranged horizontally and can be reached by using the tab key multiple times, but they do not come up in any logical order. After activating Save, find and activate the Close button. Now if you tab around you will find a dropdown list called Select Remote. W0EQO should be one of the choices if the logon info entry process was successful. After selecting W0EQO, tab once and you should see your username in the callsign box. Just above and slightly to the left of the callsign box is a Login button. Activate this button and it should connect you to the remote. If you are blind, Ctrl-L logs you on; Ctrl-D logs you off, so it isn't necessary for blind users to go searching for the Login button.

A list of keyboard shortcuts in tabular form is available by selecting Keyboard Commands under the Info menu in the Web Transceiver software.

Examples of shortcuts are spacebar to toggle between transmit and receive (not listed in the command table), direct frequency entry simply by using the number keys and hitting Enter, mode change by typing in L, U, C, or A, control F to reduce filter bandwidth and shift F to increase the bandwidth.

There is no specific keyboard command to activate the radio's voice readout, but any frequency change (by means of direct entry or by using the up/down arrows) results in a voice announcement.

When no control operator is logged onto the W4MQ software, you should be able to connect to W0EQO-L on EchoLink and control the receiver. If it's working correctly, a text message will come up in the EchoLink chat window telling you that the control functions are available. All you have to do is type in the desired frequency in the chat window. Mode changes can be made by typing in the letters L, U, C or A.

A couple of quirks that I have discovered in the W4MQ software: When the TS-480 is being controlled via the Internet, there are periodic beeps in the received audio. I believe the beeps are also present on transmit. To get rid of the beeps, the beep function on the TS-480 (menu item 12) had to be disabled, which means that there will be no CW confirmation of mode changes.

Sometimes the W4MQ software will crash with a "runtime error 6: overflow".

Thanks and 73

Lyle, K0LR

Version 030912