What is wfview?
wfview is a program that allows one fully use modern Icom radios (such as the IC-7300, IC-9700, and IC-7610) on a computer. Functions include the waterfall spectrum visualizer, frequency, mode, band change, memory (on the computer), antenna tuner, and more. wfview also enables operation of the rig from a standard PC keyboard.
How much does wfview cost?
wfview is open source and available without cost. The last thing ham radio needs is more proprietary software! Download it today! The source code is available for tinkering or just viewing to see how it works.
What can wfview run on?
wfview had been tested on Linux, Windows, and macOS operating system using standard PC hardware. wfview also runs great on the Raspberry Pi. When a Pi is set up to run wfview full screen on boot, it makes the Pi into a perfect "display adapter" for demonstrations using large TVs or projectors. We are working on a way to provide a compiled download of wfview for windows and macOS.
How can I get it?
For installation directions, please see INSTALL.md in the repo. In the future, we will figure out a way to provide a proper .deb file. For now, just follow the directions and it will install.
Tell me about the keyboard operation.
wfview can be run entirely from a keyboard. Every operation has been made with a keystroke available. Most keystrokes, for common tasks, are single keys. For example, to enter a frequency, hit the "/" key (also available on most numberic keypads), type in the frequency desired in MHz, and then hit enter. For frequency, mode, and tuning, a numeric keypad works great and wfview was designed with this in mind. You can even use a wireless numeric keypad and tune around the bands from across the room.
How can wfview help blind hams?
Using the touch screen on the IC-7300 and other touch-screen rigs is a real chore for the visually impaired. After all, there is nothing to feel other than a smooth screen! wfview solves this problem entirely. A Raspberry Pi, set to run wfview full screen on boot (note, no real screen need be actually attached), enables a standard computer keyboard to fully control the rig. Commands are available to trigger the IC-7300's built-in speech synthesizer (see the keystrokes page). For example, the F5 through F9 keys switch between common modes, and the star key on the numeric keypad allows one to type in a frequency and hit enter. Future plans include a software speech synthesizer on the computer to speak more operations.
What about touch screens?
Just as wfview works great with a keyboard only, wfview is a real pleasure to use with a touch screen (or a mouse of course!). All the UI elements work great with a touch screen and most of them scale with screen resolution. A small 7" screen on a Raspberry Pi makes a great controller for these rigs.
Does wfview work with other radios?
wfview has been tested extensively with the following Icom radios: IC-7300, IC-7610, IC-7850/IC-7851, and IC-9700. We believe the code will work properly with the IC-705 and IC-R8600, but we have not tested this.
Work is proceeding to provide some level of support for the following additional radios: IC-706, IC-7000, IC-7600, IC-7700, IC-7800, and IC-9100.
We are doing our best to write code that will work with other models as well, and you may find that the code works with many Icom rigs made in the past decade or so. Of course, the supported features will vary among the radios (for example, the IC-7700 and IC-7600 do not provide spectrum data over the CIV bus).
If you have a radio you would like to see supported, or you find a bug, please contact the team. We would really like to hear from you if you have an IC-705 or IC-R8600!
Does wfview eat the serial port?
No. wfview is cool like that. It provides a pseudo terminal device that other programs, such as flrig and fldigi, can use to maintain control of the radio. wfview passes any commands from these other programs to the radio using a software CI-V bus. In the future, I would also like to add support for native TCP/IP control such as the XML RPC that fldigi and flrig support. The pseudo-terminal device created on startup is /tmp/rig, and can be addressed just like a normal serial port by any application that uses a serial port.
I want to use it remotely. How can I do that?
For rigs with built-in ethernet, wfview should work out of the box (if you encounter bugs, try one of our testing branches such as lan-alpha).
For rigs without ethernet, you have a few options. One is to run a VNC session on your computer, and remotely use the screen. Another is to forward the serial traffic using socat, to another computer running wfview. See here for more information.
If you want to hear the audio for a non-ethernet rig (and who wouldn't?), see the Audio Streaming wiki.
Why is the spectrum so slow on the IC-7300?
Unfortunately, Icom runs the spectrum data over the UART significantly slower than the USB port is capable of handling data. This results in about 10 updates per second. If it looks slow, it is. You can make the window larger to make it feel faster ;-). You can also drag the divider between the plot and the waterfall image for more flexibility.
Can wfview's appearance be customized?
Yes. wfview has a preference file (plain text) with many adjustments, including options for a custom qt widget stylesheet and colors for various UI elements and plot elements.
How can I contribute?
Simple. Use the program and let me know what you think about it. If you can code, clone the repository and see what you can add. If you want to add a new radio, send me one and I will add support for it (if possible of course).