tk2 - Experimental Software for
the ICOM IC-R2 Receiver

Overview

tk2 is open source software designed for the ICOM IC-R2 receiver. Though tk2 is intended chiefly for Linux, MacOS X, and BSD users, it will work on Microsoft Windows (95 and later), too.

The current, experimental version of tk2 works with IC-R2 models which employ 10 kHz or 9 kHz spacing in the AM Broadcast Band (e.g., USA, Japanese, European, and other models). It permits expanded .005 - 1599.995 MHz frequency coverage (except cellular bands) for memory channels and can:

Read a memory image from an IC-R2 receiver or a disk file. tk2 can read a native tr2 file, an IC2 file created by Butel's ARC2, or an R2 file created by Goran Vlaski's IC-R2 Programming Utility.
Using a graphical interface, display data from a memory image and let a user change various settings.
Add descriptive labels to memory channels and banks. (The labels are stored in a file, not in the radio.)
Sort memory channels by frequency or label.
Swap pairs of memory banks.
Import memory channel data from a csv (comma-separated values) file or from an ICF file downloaded from the Percon web database.
Export memory channel data to a csv file.
Write the results back to the radio.

I implemented tk2 in the Tcl/Tk scripting language which enables it to run on a variety of operating systems, including Linux, MacOS X, BSD, Microsoft Windows (95 and later), etc. The free Tcl/Tk interpreter software must be installed on your computer prior to using tk2.

tk2 is distributed free of charge, but it is neither shareware nor in the public domain. tk2 is a copyrighted work released under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. tk2 is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

Memory Channel Files

tk2 can export memory channel data to a file. The memory channel data file is formated in csv (comma-separated values) format. The first line of the file is this heading:

	Bank,Ch,MHz,Mode,Step,Offset,Duplex,TSQL,CTCSS,Skip,Label

All the other lines will contain these fields:


	Bank number (0 - 7)
	Channel number (0 - 49)
	Frequency in MHz (.005 - 1599.995)
	Mode, case insensitive (optional: am, nfm, wfm)
	Step in kHz (optional)
	Offset in MHz (optional: 0.000 - 159.995)
	Duplex (optional: + or -) 
	Tone Squelch (optional: t or tsql)
	CTCSS in kHz (optional: e.g., 141.3)
	Skip (optional: skip or pskip)
	Channel Label (optional: up to 20 characters)

This is a sample memory data .csv file:

	Bank,Ch,MHz,Mode,Step,Offset,Duplex,TSQL,CTCSS,Skip,Label
	0,1,460.5250,NFM,12.5,5.000,+,tsql,127.3,,"Kencom P1 - Sheriff"
	0,2,460.5750,NFM,12.5,5.000,+,tsql,127.3,,"Kencom F1 - Fire 1"
	0,3,460.3750,NFM,12.5,5.000,+,tsql,127.3,,"Kencom P2 - Sheriff"
	0,4,462.9750,NFM,12.5,5.000,+,tsql,127.3,,"Kencom F2 - Fire 2"
	0,5,155.4750,NFM,5,,,,88.5,skip,"ISPERN"
	0,7,145.1700,NFM,5,0.600,-,,88.5,,"IHARC"
	0,10,154.9500,NFM,5,,,,88.5,,"CPAT surveillance"
	0,11,155.4600,NFM,5,,,,88.5,
	0,12,453.1000,NFM,12.5,5.000,+,tsql,127.3,skip,"Kendall Road"
	1,0,151.6250,NFM,5,0.600,,,88.5,,
	1,1,151.7000,NFM,5,,,,67.0
	1,2,151.7600,NFM,5,,,,67.0
	1,3,151.8200,NFM,5,,,,67.0
	4,0,151.3700,NFM,5,,,,67.0,,"GrndyFireNor"
	4,1,151.3850,NFM,5,,,,67.0,,"Lisle/WR FPD"
	4,2,154.0550,NFM,5,,,,67.0,,"GrndyFirePg"
	4,3,154.8750,NFM,5,,,,67.0,,"Plainfield"
		...

You can use a separate text editor or spreadsheet program to create, edit, and print memory channel files.

Computer Interface Adaptor

You will need a suitable TTL-to-RS232 level adaptor to connect the radio to your computer serial port. A direct cable connection won't work and could damage the radio and/or computer serial port hardware. I have tested tk2 with two different cables:

RT Systems CT29A cable, sold for the VR-500. RT Systems sales staff may be contacted at sales@cloningsoftware.com. (Note: I am not affiliated with RT Systems).
Purple Computing PCL35S cloning cable (3 conductor plug), available from the manufacturer and from BlackBag Software.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to BlakkeKatte@yahoo.co.uk for publishing detailed information about the IC-R2 protocol and file layout on the web. Thanks also to Les Butler, Thor Heglund, Dan Jacobson and others for testing this software.

tk2 is undergoing development. To download a beta test version, including source code, click on the appropriate link to the left.

Revised April 6, 2004

tk2 - Experimental Software for the ICOM IC-R2 Receiver

Overview

Memory Channel Files

Computer Interface Adaptor

Acknowledgments

tk2 - Experimental Software for
the ICOM IC-R2 Receiver