Re: [chirp_devel] Leixen VV-898

7 Dec 2014

      On Sun, Dec 7, 2014 at 4:58 PM, Jim Unroe rock.unroe@gmail.com wrote:
...
Tom,
I got a good deal on a Leixen VV-898 mobile transceiver so I purchased
one. I thought I would map out the memory and either forward to you
what I determined or take on the project of adding some of the
settings to the driver myself (whichever is OK with you).
If I knew you wanted one I could have shipped you mine. I'm not using it.
It's okay with me if you want to take over this driver.
...
Anyway I have some initial problems that I thought you and I should
discuss and attempt to resolve before going any further.
The first issue is with the CTCSS tones. My radio shipped with 2
channels that have CTCSS tones that are in the WTFTONES list (63.0
Hz). I get this exception:
Exception running RadioJob: `63.0' is not in valid list: [67.0, 69.3, 71.9, 74.4
, 77.0, 79.7, 82.5, 85.4, 88.5, 91.5, 94.8, 97.4, 100.0, 103.5, 107.2, 110.9, 11
4.8, 118.8, 123.0, 127.3, 131.8, 136.5, 141.3, 146.2, 151.4, 156.7, 159.8, 162.2
, 165.5, 167.9, 171.3, 173.8, 177.3, 179.9, 183.5, 186.2, 189.9, 192.8, 196.6, 1
99.5, 203.5, 206.5, 210.7, 218.1, 225.7, 229.1, 233.6, 241.8, 250.3, 254.1, 62.5
]
Obviously "63.0" must be in some list or how else would CHIRP know
that 0x08 equaly 63.0? I'm going to ponder this a little longer,
hoping I can figure this out on my own, but currently I am stumped.
I added 63.0 to my WTFTONES list so that it would index properly when
reading from the VV-898. This doesn't actually add support for 63.0 hz
because, as you found, Chirp doesn't support it. It's not a standard
CTCSS tone. I didn't look into what it would take to support this in
the UI, as I figured no one would ever need it. If it's a non-standard
tone, it's probably not required by any repeaters. So that's as far as
I went with it.
...
The second issue is with detection of the data file when it is loaded.
My "factory" data file has lots of \xff bytes in it so, unfortunately,
it is detected as a Wouxun KG-816.
@classmethod
def match_model(cls, filedata, filename):
    if len(filedata) == 8192 and \
            filedata[0x60:0x64] != "2009" and \
            filedata[0x1f77:0x1f7d] == "\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff" and \
            filedata[0x0d70:0x0d80] != "\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff" \
                                       "\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff":
        return True
    return False

I think the solution here is to add another area that can't possibly
be the same as on the Leixen VV-898 or Jetstream JT270M.
This looks to me like an obvious shortcoming in the KG-816 driver. If
all we had was a big blank file, it would identify as a KG-816.
There's got to be something more definitive in the memory image to
identify.
...
The third issue is that the the bytes that are to detect the model
(see below) are the Custom Display message.
@classmethod
def match_model(cls, filedata, filename):
    model = filedata[0x900:0x906]
    return model == cls.MODEL

If the user edits this message to something other than "VV-898" or
"JT270M", then the data file won't be detected when it is loaded into
CHIRP.
I think the image had more than location with the text "VV-898". Maybe
we can switch to one of the others.
...
My thought here is to write "VV-898" or "JT270M" to some other unused
area when the data is first downloaded from the radio and then use it
to detect the data file.
I don't think it's a good idea to write to unknown portions of memory.
...
The fourth issue appears to be a bug in the OEM software that misleads
us into thinking that there are 3 default channels and 199 memory
channels. This isn't the case according to the data file output by the
OEM software. It provides 3 default channels (1-3) and 196 memory
channels (4-199) for a total of 199 memory channels.
I don't recall how I handled this in Chirp. I don't think I
differentiated the default channels from the normal channels. I think
I just did one big block of 199.
...
I am going to look into this further but my fifth issue is I can't
upload to my radio using CHIRP. I get "Radio refused program mode". My
radio is a new v1.03 and it requires the new v1.03 OEM software. The
v1.02 OEM software won't work with it. I will monitor the port and see
what is different.
Definitely snoop on the data from the new software. I'm sure we can
find a way to support both version in Chirp.
Tom KD7LXL

Re: [chirp_devel] Leixen VV-898

Tom Hayward