Skip to content

Open Rig Programmer v1.2.0

Choose a tag to compare

@github-actions github-actions released this 30 Aug 20:38
· 393 commits to main since this release

Open Rig Programmer v1.2.0 — an open-source, cross-platform
memory-channel programmer for the Yaesu FT-710, built as a free
alternative to RT Systems' YPS-FT710, with nine further Yaesu and Icom
models registered for reading and for opt-in writes (see below).

What it does

  • Read every memory channel into a codeplug file you can keep,
    diff and re-send. On the Yaesu models this is the 99 regular
    memories plus the 9 PMS (Programmable Memory Scan) pairs, over CAT;
    each Icom model has its own CI-V memory-slot shape instead (a
    group-addressed space, or CALL channels alongside it, per model —
    see the per-model honesty rows in README.md).
  • Edit channels in a spreadsheet-style grid (GUI) with keyboard
    navigation, paste, per-column editors and drag copy/swap/move.
  • Send changes back safely (FT-710): read-before-write, a snapshot
    of the radio's existing contents taken before anything changes, a
    reviewed diff you confirm against a digest, and per-channel verify
    after each write. Anything that cannot be written is shown with the
    reason rather than attempted.
  • CSV and CHIRP import/export, with a report of anything a CHIRP
    file cannot express.
  • Read the radio's menu (EX) settings, on the Yaesu models, into
    the same file and view or export them — every documented menu
    address for the connected model (FT-710: 296; FTdx10: 197;
    FTdx101D/MP: 193). None of the six Icom drivers expose a settings
    surface.
  • Both a desktop GUI and a rigprog CLI, sharing one core.

Supported radios, and what "supported" means for each

Model Read channels Write channels Read menu settings Evidence
FT-710 Yes Yes Yes Proven against real hardware (docs/hardware-notes.md)
FTdx10 Yes ⚠️ Opt-in (unverified writes, off by default) Yes CAT manual + simulator only; no real radio has been connected
FTdx101D Yes ⚠️ Opt-in (unverified writes, off by default) Yes CAT manual + simulator only; no real radio has been connected
FTdx101MP Yes ⚠️ Opt-in (unverified writes, off by default) Yes CAT manual + simulator only; no real radio has been connected
IC-7610 Yes ⚠️ Opt-in (unverified writes, off by default) No CI-V guide + simulator only; no real radio has been connected
IC-7300 Yes ⚠️ Opt-in (unverified writes, off by default) No CI-V guide + simulator only; no real radio has been connected
IC-7300MK2 Yes ⚠️ Opt-in (unverified writes, off by default) No CI-V guide + simulator only; no real radio has been connected
IC-705 Yes* ⚠️ Opt-in (unverified writes, off by default) No CI-V guide + simulator only; no real radio has been connected
IC-9700 Yes ⚠️ Opt-in (unverified writes, off by default) No CI-V guide + simulator only; no real radio has been connected
IC-905 Yes* ⚠️ Opt-in (unverified writes, off by default) No CI-V guide + simulator only; no real radio has been connected

* IC-705 and IC-905 each discover their memory channels by a BOUNDED
default walk rather than a read of the whole address space (a
100x100-slot, group-addressed space on both). A channel stored outside
that walk's range is simply not read; its absence is not evidence the
channel is empty. See README.md's Icom models section for each
model's exact bound.

Writes to the nine manual-derived models are refused until you enable
unverified writes for that radio, one radio at a time — rigprog settings unverified-writes <model> on (say rigprog settings unverified-writes FTdx10 on, or rigprog settings unverified-writes IC-7610 on), or in the GUI the question it asks once just after you
first connect to such a radio, or its Unverified writes… button at
any time. Both faces read and write one settings file
(rigprog/settings.json under your user configuration directory), so
a decision made in either holds for both, and an "off" is stored
rather than forgotten. "Unverified" means documented in the
manufacturer's own CAT or CI-V reference and exercised against a
simulator here, not proven on a real radio. The FT-710 is unaffected:
its writes are hardware-verified, so it has nothing to consent to.
Consent changes what the tool is allowed to send, not how it sends it
— the read-before-write, the snapshot, the reviewed diff and the
per-channel verify all still run; README.md's Unverified writes
section has the full mechanism. Each of the nine drivers carries a
register of every assumption it makes and the specific capture from a
real radio that would verify it — if you own one of these radios and
want to help, open an issue.

What it deliberately does not do

  • It does not write menu settings, and will not. This is a settled
    design decision taken on evidence, not an unfinished feature — the
    FT-710 CAT manual's menu chart proved wrong in both of the two
    respects a read could check, and nothing in the read direction
    establishes what the radio accepts in the write direction. The
    reasoning, and what would have to change to revisit it, is in
    docs/menu-write-decision.md.
  • It cannot erase a channel over CAT. The four Yaesu models have
    no CAT erase command at all; the app says so, and tells you the
    front-panel procedure, rather than silently doing nothing. The six
    Icom models are different: their CI-V references print a clear form
    for a memory channel, but this project deliberately ships no erase
    builder for any of them — spec D1 admits exactly three builders per
    driver (ID read, memory read, memory set), and a clear/erase frame
    is not one of them (core/civ/doc.go:64).
  • It does not read per-channel CTCSS tone frequencies. The FT-710
    does not report them over CAT (established against real hardware —
    docs/hardware-notes.md), so the app preserves whatever is on the
    radio instead of guessing.

Downloads

Platform What it is File
macOS (Intel + Apple Silicon, universal) GUI (.app, zipped) open-rig-programmer-v1.2.0-darwin-universal.app.zip
macOS (Intel + Apple Silicon, universal) CLI rigprog-v1.2.0-darwin-universal.tar.gz
Linux amd64 CLI rigprog-v1.2.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz
Linux arm64 CLI rigprog-v1.2.0-linux-arm64.tar.gz
Linux amd64 (Debian/Ubuntu/Mint) GUI + CLI (.deb) open-rig-programmer_1.2.0_amd64.deb
Linux arm64 (Debian/Ubuntu/Mint) GUI + CLI (.deb) open-rig-programmer_1.2.0_arm64.deb

Either Debian package installs the GUI, the rigprog CLI, a desktop
entry and the ModemManager udev rule; sudo apt install ./<file>
resolves libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0 and GTK 3 if they are missing. On a
stock Ubuntu 24.04 desktop both were already installed, so the install
fetched nothing extra; a minimal or server image, which would have to
pull the WebKit runtime in, has not been tried. That WebKit runtime
package exists on Ubuntu 22.04 and later, on Debian 12 and later, and
on the Mint releases built from those — not on anything older. On
other distributions, take the CLI tarball or build the GUI from source
(wails build -tags webkit2_41 in app/); either way,
docs/linux-setup.md covers the serial-port setup.

SHA256SUMS (attached below) covers every file above. Verify with:

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missing

Checking which version you have

rigprog version prints it; the GUI shows it at the right-hand end of
the status bar. Quote that string in any bug report. A build that
reports dev (unreleased build) did not come from this release page —
if you downloaded it here, please say so in the report, because that
would be a packaging fault.

Firmware requirement

Memory CAT (read and write) on the FT-710 requires firmware V01-10
or later
. There is no CAT query for the firmware version — check the
radio's front panel or SD-card version screen before connecting.

macOS: first launch

The .app is only ad-hoc signed (no Apple Developer ID), so Gatekeeper
will refuse to open it the ordinary way the first time. In Finder,
right-click (Control-click) the app and choose Open, then confirm
in the dialogue that appears. This is only needed once; after that it
opens normally.

Linux: serial port access

  • Add yourself to the dialout group and log out/in (or newgrp dialout) before either the GUI or the CLI can open the radio's
    serial port: sudo usermod -aG dialout "$USER".
  • ModemManager can probe a newly-plugged serial adapter and interfere
    with it; excluding the radio's USB-serial bridge from ModemManager
    via udev is recommended. The Debian packages install that rule for
    you; for the CLI tarball or a build from source, create it by hand —
    docs/linux-setup.md has the full instructions and a ready-to-use
    rule.

What the hardware evidence covers — read this

Every "works on the radio" claim in this project comes from recorded
sessions against one physical UK FT-710, on macOS, and
docs/hardware-notes.md is the record. Channel reads and writes were
proven on that radio; the menu-settings read was proven separately.
One radio, one region, one firmware version.

What this release has not been exercised against:

  • Linux with a real radio. The Linux CLI binaries are
    cross-compiled (the version stamp is asserted on the amd64 binary,
    which the build runner can execute; arm64 takes the same ldflags),
    and the serial stack is the same code on every platform. The Linux
    GUI is built from the same source on every push to main and every
    pull request, and launched under Xvfb on an amd64 CI runner to
    prove it starts; the release build packages it into the
    Debian packages above, whose contents the same release build then
    checks. The packaged GUI and CLI have since been installed from the
    Debian packages this project's release workflow built at the
    v1.1.0-rc.1 rehearsal tag, onto clean Ubuntu 24.04 desktop virtual
    machines (23/08/2026) on both architectures, and
    launched there — GUI started from its installed desktop entry,
    connected to the built-in Demo radio, and the version stamp read
    back from the running binaries on each. What none of that
    involved is a radio: no real-radio session has been run on Linux,
    so which serial node is the CAT port, and whether the packaged udev
    rule keeps ModemManager off it, are both unconfirmed.
    docs/linux-setup.md carries the port-setup instructions and the
    full status; treat the first Linux session as exploratory and
    read-only first.
  • Any FTdx10, FTdx101D or FTdx101MP. Everything about those three
    models is derived from the manufacturer's CAT reference manuals
    through a documented transcription-and-cross-check process, and
    exercised against simulators built independently from the same
    manuals. No real radio of any of the three has ever been connected.
    That is why their writes are opt-in rather than on by default,
    needing your explicit consent.
  • Any IC-7610, IC-7300, IC-7300MK2, IC-705, IC-9700 or IC-905.
    Everything about these six models is derived from Icom's published
    CI-V Reference Guides through the same kind of documented process,
    and exercised against simulators built independently from those
    guides. No real radio of any of the six has ever been connected.
    That is why their writes need your explicit opt-in consent too.

Anything the project has not observed is labelled as such in the code
and documentation rather than assumed. Reports from real hardware —
especially the nine manual-derived, opt-in-write models, and the
FT-710 on Linux — are the most valuable contribution this project can
receive right now.