There are some points to must remember. First, you must configure the rotor interface you are going to use. Basically you can use the ARSVCOM with:
- Prosistel “D” Series
- ARS on LPT (RCI-SE Board)
- ARS-USB
Associated to each option, you must configure the COM port or LPT Address where the device is attached. Once you have the ARSVCOM controlling it, for instance the ARS-USB, you can follow with the Virtual COM Port. The Virtual COM Port is an additional COM (or serial) that the ARSVCOM can create on your computer. With this Virtual COM, a 3rd part program can interface and send/receive commands from the ARSVCOM. Once those commands are received at the ARSVCOM, it will process them.
But the questions is: Which are the commands that are supported? Instead to design a proprietary list of commands, we have supported some of the more popular interfaces. In this way, it’s not required to modify each satellite tracker, Logger program, etc. to support the ARSVCOM. Some of the more popular interfaces are:
- Yaesu GS232A
- Prosistel “D”
- Orion M2
- EasyComm I/II
So, you must select at the ARSVCOM one of them, and the ARSVCOM will emulate that interface via the Virtual COM Port. The attached diagram shows the functional modules that include the ARSVCOM:
Setup example:
You wish to use Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) and an ARS-USB Unit. The ARS-USB uses COM5 (assigned by Windows), so you must configure at the ARSVCOM, you have use an ARS-USB Rotor @ COM5. Then, you must configure in the ARSVCOM an emulation, for instance Yaesu GS232A (one of the more popular and well-know API interface) and create a Virtual COM Port (i.e. COM8). Now you must configure in HRD you use a Yaesu GS232A Interface and attached into COM8.
You must run first the ARSVCOM and then HRD in order to have COM8 created before to load HRD.