Settings > Macros

The CommCat Mobile Tuner window has 8 rows of 4 macro buttons (32 total). The CW Keyer has 16 macros,shared with the first sixteen in the Tuner. You can use macros to send CW messages and remote commands. CW Macros, Tune, Radio Control, and Rotor control are not available for QSXer/HRD users, but are available if you are user native QSXer rig control..

Programming Macros

Macros and their associated button captions are entered in CommCat Mobile Settings in the Macros section.

The first character in a macro indicates the action to be taken.

$	Literal characters sent as CW
*	Radio Control described below
!	Special commands described below
none	CommCat macro having the same macro number as defined in CommCat CW settings is sent

For example,

$CQ CQ CQ DE W6HN

causes CommCat to send

CQ CQ CQ DE W6HN

in CW.

Radio '*' commands allow you to send custom control messages to your radio. Radio control macros can include functions such as power on/off, antenna tuner, or antenna select.

These commands are one-way. Radios often send a response to a command, and these return responses are ignored by QSXer. For example, it is not possible to request the frequency for VFO A through the use of a macro.

Many radios use hex numbers for commands. For these radios, enclose each hex number by greater than/less than symbols.

Icom Example

To tune the Icom IC-7800 Antenna Tuner, the command is 1C-01-03. Each 2-character pair is a hex number. The entire command is:

FE-FE-6A-E0-1C-01-03-FD

These are all hex numbers. You can see the Antenna Tuner command in there, which is taken from the IC-7800 manual. The entire string of hex digits must be sent to the radio.

CommCat Mobile has a special way to represent hex digits. FE should be entered <FE>, and so on. The entire string must be preceded by an asterisk. So the command to start the antenna tuner in the radio would be:

*<FE><FE><6A><E0><1C><01><03><FD>

Open the macro settings in CommCat Mobile and find an unused macro slot. Enter the name ‘A-Tune’ in the name box, and the command string into the macro box.

If you wish to add multiple commands in a single macro, simply append one macro to the previous one, without using an asterisk.

Elecraft K3 Examples

Mike, N6MQL, uses the following radio macros for his K3:

CQ (K3 memory 2)	*SWT31;
APF	*SWH29;
PRE	*SWT24;
ATT	*SWH24;
ANT 1/2	*SWT26;
RIT On/Off	*SWT45;SWT53;
RIT Up	*RU;
RIT Down	*RD;
XFL	*SWT29;
NR	*SWT34;
NB	*SWT33;
RF Gain 100%	*RG255;
ATU Tune	*SWT19;

Kenwood TS-2000

Dave, K5OZ, uses these macros for his Kenwood TS-2000:

Ant-1	*AN1;
Ant-2	*AN2;
Ant Tune	*AC111;
Rig On	*PS1;
Rig Off	*PS0;
100W	*PC100;
5W	*PC005;
147.270 MHz (see note)	*FA00147270000;MD4;CN16;
444.100 MHz (see note)	*FA00444100000;MD4;CN16;
444.425 MHz (see note)	*FA00444425000;MD4;CN16;

Note: The macro sets frequency, FM mode, and 114.8 PL tone. The radio is already set for automatic repeater offset.

Special '!' commands that can be sent using a macro key include the following:

!KEYER	Opens the iPhone keyboard so you can send CW manually
!ESC	Stops a CW message that is being transmitted
!T/R	Toggles Transmit/Receive (works with HRD)
!TUNE	Keys the transmitter while you hold your finger on the macro button
!ROTOR	Turn your station rotor to the DX bearing (not available with QSXer) Tap the ROTOR macro button to open a dialog giving you the opportunity to accept the bearing shown, or to enter a new bearing. You can also use the Maidenhead Grid Square in lieu of a bearing.
!RTR STOP	Stop rotor immediately (not available with QSXer)
!SKYPE	Starts Skype for 2-way audio. Enter the command with a Skype name or telephone number. !SKYPE:w6hnradio or !SKYPE:+17075551234. If you are using CommCat Live, or QSXer with CommCat VoIP, and have enabled VoIP, tap the Audio button to start and end the connection.

Special CommCat CW keying characters that can be used in a macro (prefaced by $):

Char	Result
'*	Your call sign (apostrophe + asterisk)
'X	DX call
@ or 'A	AR
+	AA
'B	BK (apostrophe + B)
- or _	BT ( dash or underscore)
'C	CL (apostrophe + C)
'E	"dit space dit" (as in "two bits")
# or 'K	KN (pound sign or apostrophe + K)
[ or 'S	SK (left bracket or apostrophe + S)
] or 'Z	AS (right bracket or apostrophe + Z)
%	Insert contest number. This number increments by one after every complete log entry. Set the starting point by using File, Settings, Station, Code in CommCat.

If you are using CommCat and CommCat Live, you can also send voice macros when operating phone.