Changing Frequency

Commander Online Help Contents

 

Using Commander, you can change your transceiver's frequency via

If you have configured Commander to support automatic switching between multiple transceivers, then the above actions may trigger a switch from one transceiver to another when a new amateur band frequency is specified.

If you have configured one or more frequency-dependent device, the settings for these devices will be continuously updated as a function of frequency. The panels displaying these settings reside on the left side of Commander's Main window, along with the secondary VFO,  Filter, , and PTT panels. This part of the Main window  is shared with the Memory Bank panel. If the Memory Bank panel is visible, click the Filters & Devices button and the device panels will appear.

The primary VFO panel on Commander's Main window displays the frequency last reported by your radio in blue font, unless a transverter is active; if you have configured Commander to support one or more transverters on the 6m, 4m, 2m, or 70cm bands, your transceiver will automatically be set to drive the transverter to the frequency specified by Commander's VFO. The primary VFO panel's caption indicates whether the radio is displaying VFO A, VFO B, the Main VFO, or the Sub VFO. For most Elecraft, Kenwood, TenTec, and Yaesu radios, this VFO identification will always be accurate; for Icom and TenTec Omni radios, however, the VFO identification will only be correct if VFO selection is accomplished via the controls on Commander's Main window, rather than via controls on the radio's front panel. You can define up to two sub-bands per band; when the primary VFO frequency does not lie within a defined sub-band, the frequency is displayed in yellow font.

Commander also displays a secondary VFO panel whose caption indicates whether its contents are those of VFO A, VFO B, the Main VFO, or the Sub VFO; the panel's caption and its contents will only be valid for Icom and TenTec Omni radios if VFO selection and modification is accomplished via Commander, rather than via the radio's front panel. If the secondary VFO panel is not visible, click the Filters & Devices button as described above.

Changing frequency via the primary VFO panel

Control Keys Change
  10 Hz.
Shift 100 Hz.
Ctrl 1 KHz.
Alt 10 KHz.
Ctrl + Alt 100 KHz.

If you click and hold these buttons, they will autorepeat at a rate governed by the VFO Autorepeat Rate slider.

Control Keys Change
  1 KHz.
Shift 5 KHz.
Ctrl 10 KHz.
Alt 50 KHz.
Ctrl + Alt 100 KHz.

If you click and hold these buttons, they will autorepeat at a rate governed by the VFO Autorepeat Rate slider.

A selects VFO A
B selects VFO B
A = B sets VFO B to VFO A's frequency
A X B simultaneously sets VFO A to VFO B's frequency and VFO B to VFO A's frequency
Main selects the Main VFO
Sub selects the Sub-receiver VFO
M = S sets the Main VFO to the Sub-receiver VFO's frequency
M X S simultaneously sets the Main VFO to the Sub-receiver VFO's frequency and the Sub-receiver VFO to the Main VFO's frequency
XFC  momentarily exchanges the A and B (or Main and Sub-receiver) VFOs
Split box selects split frequency operation
  • selects VFO B or Sub-receiver VFO on entry
  • selects VFO A or Main VFO on exit
Dual receive box selects dual receive or dual watch operation
  • selects VFO B or Sub-receiver VFO on entry
  • selects VFO A or Main VFO on exit

 

Changing frequency via the secondary VFO panel

Modifying the frequency display contents and striking the Enter key will radio's secondary VFO to the specified frequency.

Changing frequency via mouse wheel

If you have a wheeled mouse, you can QSY your transceiver by rotating the mouse's wheel whenever Commander's Main window is active; to activate the Main window, simply click somewhere within its borders.

When you first rotate the wheel after starting Commander, a cyan-colored horizontal bar will appear over the right-most digit in the primary VFO panel's frequency display; this indicates the rotating the mouse wheel will adjust the transceiver frequency in units of 10 Hz. Clicking the mouse on any other digit position in the VFO panel's frequency will shift the cyan horizontal bar to that digit position, indicating that subsequent mouse wheel rotation will adjust the transceiver frequency in the units of that digit position.

Note: if the minimum adjustment you can achieve by rotating the mouse wheel is larger than one unit, check to see if you are running the most recent driver for your wheeled mouse.

 

Changing frequency via the keyboard

Control Keys Change
  10 Hz.
Shift 100 Hz.
Ctrl 1 KHz.
Alt 10 KHz.
Ctrl + Alt 100 KHz.

 

 

Changing frequency via the Bandspread window

Clicking the Main window's Bandspread button displays Commander's Bandspread window, which provides a vertical slide rule dial showing range of frequencies around your radio's current frequency, and a Band panel containing an array of buttons corresponding to the 160m through 2m amateur bands. You can resize the Bandspread window both vertically and horizontally.

The Range panel determines the range of frequencies depicted on the slide rule dial. You can vary this range from 1 kHz to 100 kHz in six steps; your radio's current frequency will always appear centered in the dial.

Clicking on the dial will QSY your radio to the associated frequency. Double-clicking the dial will QSY your radio to the associated frequency and then reduce the range by one step, unless the range is already 1 kHz. Allowing the mouse cursor to hover over the dial will produce a small popup showing the associated frequency to which your radio would be QSY'd if you were to click or double-click.

You can also QSY via the PageUp nad PageDown keys.

Commander remembers the last 5 frequencies you visited on each band, and the mode in use for each such visit; this information is stored in a Band Stack associated with each band. If you QSY the radio, and then let it remain on a frequency for longer than the dwell time setting, the new frequency and mode will be saved on the appropriate Band Stack. The Bandspread window's Band panel contains a button for each band between 160m and 2m. Clicking a band button sets the radio's frequency to the most recent frequency used on that band, and sets its mode to the mode in use at that time; the Band Stack is then advanced, so that clicking the same band button a second time sets the frequency/mode to the next-most-recent frequency/mode used on that band. Using this mechanism, you can QSY to the most recent 5 frequencies.

The memory used to provide the slide rule dial and Band Stack are freed when the Bandspread window is closed.

Viewing and Selecting DX Spots

If SpotCollector (version 2.7.4 or later) is running and Commander's Bandspread window is open, then SpotCollector will automatically send to Commander spots of DX stations operating on the transceiver's current band that meet SpotCollector's current filter criteria (with the exception that wildcard characters in the Call and DXCC filters are not handled). Commander displays each DX spot on the Bandspread window's slide rule dial unless its age exceeds the specified lifetime. The size of the font used to display DX spots can be specified as a function of the slide rule dial range, making it possible to use larger font sizes with smaller ranges. DX Spots that are close together in frequency are separated horizontally to form a list of up to 8 spots; for busy frequencies and a long lifetime, it may be necessary to expand the Bandspread window horizontally to see all of the spots; alternatively, zooming in to a smaller dial range may separate the spots, or a smaller spot font size can be specified.

When the radio QSYs from one band to another with the Bandspread window open, Commander clears the DX spots from the slide rule dial, and SpotCollector sends Commander each Spot Database entry on the new band that meet its current filter criteria (subject to the above-mentioned wildcard character limitation). Thus Commander always displays that subset of SpotCollector's filtered Spot Database entries that are operating in the range of frequencies shown on the Bandspread window's slide rule dial

Commander displays a rectangular indicator in the lower-left corner of the Bandspread window. This rectangle's color indicates the maximum degree of need for any DX spot received by SpotCollector but not visible on the Bandspread window's slide rule dial.

Clicking the SpotCollector button activates SpotCollector's Main window, if SpotCollector is running.

The memory used to maintain and display DX Spots are freed when the Bandspread window is closed.