rf-bench-drivers-icom

Icom IC-7300 and IC-9700 radio drivers for bench automation. Part of the rf-bench-drivers family of packages.

Communicates with the IC-7300 via Hamlib rigctld over a plain TCP socket — no pyvisa, no direct CI-V, no external Python dependencies.

Radios supported

Class	Radio	Bands	Modes
IC7300	Icom IC-7300	HF + 6m (1.8–54 MHz)	USB, LSB, CW, CWR, AM, FM, RTTY
IC9700	Icom IC-9700	2m / 70cm / 23cm	USB, LSB, CW, CWR, AM, FM, DV (D-STAR)

Both classes share the same core API (get_frequency, set_frequency, get_mode, set_mode, get_strength, set_agc, set_rf_gain, close) for drop-in substitution in bench scripts.

The IC-9700 adds VFO A/B selection, split/duplex, PTT, TX-side frequency and mode control, and satellite operation helpers.

Related packages

Package	Namespace	Description
rf-bench-drivers-icom	rf_bench.icom	This package — Icom IC-7300 driver
rf-bench-drivers-yaesu	rf_bench.yaesu	Yaesu FT-891 driver
rf-bench-drivers-siglent	rf_bench.siglent	Siglent instrument drivers (SSA3000X, SDG1000X, SDS2000X, SDM3000X, SPD3303X)
rf-bench-drivers-utils	rf_bench.utils	RF math utilities (power conversions, noise, IP3, etc.)

Hardware requirements

• Icom IC-7300 or IC-9700 connected via USB-B cable to /dev/ttyUSB0 (or another serial port)
• Hamlib installed (sudo pacman -S hamlib / sudo apt install hamlib / brew install hamlib)
• rigctld running before instantiating the driver class

Starting rigctld

IC-7300 (USB):

rigctld -m 3073 -r /dev/ttyUSB0 -s 115200

IC-9700 (USB):

rigctld -m 3081 -r /dev/ttyUSB0 -s 115200

IC-9700 (LAN / built-in Ethernet, Hamlib ≥ 4.3):

rigctld -m 3081 -r 192.168.1.10      # replace with your IC-9700's IP

IC-9700 LAN setup: Menu → Set → Network → WLAN/LAN: ON, note the IP address. The IC-9700's CI-V-over-LAN uses UDP port 50001/50002; Hamlib ≥ 4.3 handles this automatically when an IP address is passed to --rig-file.

Use IC9700.rigctld_cmd() to generate the correct command from Python:

print(IC9700.rigctld_cmd("/dev/ttyUSB0"))       # USB
print(IC9700.rigctld_cmd("192.168.1.10"))        # LAN
print(IC9700.rigctld_cmd("/dev/ttyUSB1", rigctld_port=4533))  # second radio

Radio	Hamlib model	Notes
IC-7300	3073 (Hamlib 4.x) / 373 (Hamlib 3.x)	CI-V baud: Menu → Set → Connectors → CI-V Baud Rate
IC-9700	3081 (Hamlib 4.x)	USB or LAN; default CI-V address 0xA2

Default rigctld listen port is 4532 (TCP).

To run both radios simultaneously, start a second rigctld on a different port:

rigctld -m 3073 -r /dev/ttyUSB0 -s 115200 --port 4532 &   # IC-7300 (USB)
rigctld -m 3081 -r 192.168.1.10       --port 4533 &        # IC-9700 (LAN)

Install

pip install rf-bench-drivers-icom

Virtual front panel

A Tkinter virtual instrument panel is included:

# Start rigctld first:
rigctld -m 3073 -r /dev/ttyUSB0 -s 115200 &

# Then run the panel:
python ic7300_panel.py                  # default localhost:4532
python ic7300_panel.py --demo           # simulated data, no hardware
python ic7300_panel.py --interval 500   # UI refresh rate in ms

Features:

• Large frequency display (formatted as MHz/kHz)
• Mode, passband, S-meter, AGC status tiles
• Working controls:
  • Mode buttons (USB/LSB/CW/AM/FM/RTTY)
  • AGC buttons (OFF/FAST/MID/SLOW)
  • Frequency entry (accepts Hz, kHz, MHz)
  • Quick band buttons (160m–10m)
• Demo mode for UI testing without hardware
• Thread-safe command queue
• Status feedback for all operations

Usage

from rf_bench.icom import IC7300

# Connect (rigctld must already be running on localhost:4532)
rig = IC7300()

# Or specify host/port explicitly
rig = IC7300("localhost", 4532)

# Context manager form (auto-closes)
with IC7300() as rig:
    rig.set_mode("usb")
    rig.set_frequency(14_200_000)   # Hz
    rig.set_agc("off")
    strength = rig.get_strength()
    print(f"Signal: {strength:.1f} dB")

API

Constructor

IC7300(host="localhost", port=4532)

Methods

Method	Description
get_frequency()	Returns VFO-A frequency in Hz (float)
set_frequency(freq_hz)	Sets VFO-A frequency in Hz
get_mode()	Returns (mode_str, passband_hz) — e.g. ("USB", 2400)
set_mode(mode, passband_hz=0)	Sets mode; mode is 'usb', 'lsb', 'cw', 'cwr', 'am', 'fm', 'rtty'; passband_hz=0 uses radio default
get_strength()	Returns raw Hamlib STRENGTH float (dB re S9 for Hamlib 4.x; range approx -54 to +60)
get_strength_settled(settle_s=0.5, samples=3)	Waits settle_s seconds, then averages samples strength readings
set_agc(mode)	Sets AGC: 'off', 'fast', 'mid', 'slow' — 'off' is a true hardware bypass on IC-7300
get_agc()	Returns AGC value: 0=off, 1=fast, 2=mid, 3=slow
set_rf_gain(gain)	Sets RF gain, 0.0–1.0 (1.0 = maximum)
close()	Closes the rigctld TCP connection

The class also supports the context manager protocol (with IC7300() as rig:).

Default passband widths

Mode	Passband
USB / LSB	2400 Hz
CW / CWR	500 Hz
AM	6000 Hz
FM	15000 Hz
RTTY	500 Hz

---

IC-9700 (rf_bench.icom.IC9700)

Starting rigctld

rigctld -m 3081 -r /dev/ttyUSB0 -s 115200

Usage

from rf_bench.icom import IC9700, VFO_A, VFO_B

# Simple receive
with IC9700() as rig:
    rig.set_mode("fm")
    rig.set_frequency(145_500_000)
    print(rig.get_strength())

# Satellite cross-band operation (AO-91: 145.960 FM down / 435.250 FM up)
with IC9700() as rig:
    rig.set_satellite_mode(
        rx_freq_hz=145_960_000, rx_mode="FM",
        tx_freq_hz=435_250_000, tx_mode="FM",
    )
    rig.set_ptt(True)
    # ... transmit ...
    rig.set_ptt(False)
    rig.clear_satellite_mode()

Core methods (identical API to IC7300)

Method	Description
get_frequency()	Active VFO frequency in Hz
set_frequency(freq_hz)	Set active VFO frequency in Hz
get_mode()	(mode_str, passband_hz)
set_mode(mode, passband_hz=0)	'usb', 'lsb', 'cw', 'cwr', 'am', 'fm', 'dv', 'digi'
get_strength()	Hamlib STRENGTH float (dB re S9)
get_strength_settled(settle_s=0.5, samples=3)	Averaged strength after settling
set_agc(mode)	'off', 'fast', 'mid', 'slow'
get_agc()	0=off, 1=fast, 2=mid, 3=slow
set_rf_gain(gain)	0.0–1.0
close()	Releases PTT if held, then closes connection

IC-9700-specific methods

Method	Description
get_vfo()	Returns 'VFOA' or 'VFOB'
set_vfo(vfo)	Select VFO_A (main/downlink) or VFO_B (sub/uplink)
get_split()	True if split (duplex) is active
set_split(enabled, tx_vfo=VFO_B)	Enable/disable cross-band split
get_tx_frequency()	TX (uplink) VFO frequency in Hz
set_tx_frequency(freq_hz)	Set TX frequency (split must be enabled)
get_tx_mode()	(mode_str, passband_hz) for TX VFO
set_tx_mode(mode, passband_hz=0)	Set TX mode (split must be enabled)
get_ptt()	True if transmitting
set_ptt(tx)	Key (True) or unkey (False) the transmitter
set_satellite_mode(rx_freq_hz, rx_mode, tx_freq_hz, tx_mode, ...)	One-call satellite cross-band setup
clear_satellite_mode()	Release PTT and disable split
update_doppler(rx_freq_hz, tx_freq_hz)	Update both VFOs for Doppler correction
band_of(freq_hz)	Static: returns '2m', '70cm', '23cm', or 'unknown'

Module constants

from rf_bench.icom import VFO_A, VFO_B   # "VFOA", "VFOB"
from rf_bench.icom import PTT_RX, PTT_TX  # 0, 1

Satellite operation notes

• VFO A is the downlink (receive) VFO; VFO B is the uplink (transmit) VFO.
• Always call clear_satellite_mode() or use the context manager — close() releases PTT automatically.
• For real-time Doppler correction during a pass, call update_doppler() every 1–2 seconds with the Doppler-shifted frequencies computed from the satellite's TLE and your GPS position. The radio/doppler/doppler.py project integrates GPS and Hamlib for this purpose.

---

Notes (both radios)

• All frequency values are in Hz throughout the API.
• get_strength() returns Hamlib's raw STRENGTH (dB re S9 for Hamlib 4.x; range approx −54 to +60). Build a calibration table with a signal generator and get_strength_settled().
• set_agc("off") is a true hardware bypass on both the IC-7300 and IC-9700.
• rigctld must be running before instantiating either class; the constructor connects immediately.
• No external Python dependencies — pure stdlib (socket, time).

License

GPL-3.0-or-later. See LICENSE.