ShuttleXpress

A place to discuss and exchange ideas on all types of control surfaces for PowerSDR and Thetis.
vk3io
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Dec 19, 2021 9:41 am

ShuttleXpress

Postby vk3io » Wed Sep 21, 2022 1:35 pm

Hello Scott and all.

With regards finding a VFO knob / control panel, I have recently purchased a ShuttleXpress and have managed to get it working with my Windows 10 PC and Anan7000DLE. but to complete the control panel setup, I need a copy of the keyboard shortcuts, for the Thetis software.

Is one available? I am sure there is.

I recently purchased the Controller V2, but have decided it is not what I want, as after using it for about two months, I notice I never did use the touch screen and about all I ever did like to use was the VFO knob for tuning.

I will still keep the Controller V2t, as just in case my PC fails, so I will still be able to use the Anan7000DLE with the Controller V2 and keep on the air until the PC is fixed, as I have sold off all my old analog transceivers.

I do not have much room on my radio table for a nice Hercules DJControl console or other large control unit, and I don't need all that many controls, as I am happy to use the PC mouse to select settings on Thetis, but find it irritating to use the mouse wheel to do the VFO tuning, especially when using cw mode.

All I want from my ShuttleXpress or other smaller control panel is to do VFO tuning and a few buttons to select VFO A or VFO B and to select VFO tuning steps.

I think the Shuttle 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Left and Right ring controls can be used to select the VFO tune steps up or down, incrementally and quickly bring the tune step back to a standard setting and Button 1 VFO A and Button 5 VFO B. For the other 3 buttons I have no idea at this time.

Maybe someone has already made such a setup and they would be happy to share this setup with me and others, as in the ShuttleXpress Device Configuration/Settings management/Options I can Export and Import custom settings.

On another similar topic site, someone asked about using the Expert Electronics E-Coder Plus and while this model is expensive, it also does not take up much room on a radio table.

While I did recently buy an E-Coder2 unit, which I use on my SunSDR2DX, I once again waisted a bit of money, as all I use it for is for a VFO knob, but it is so smooth and nice to use.

The standard E-Coder control panel has a nice larger rotary encoder knob , that I think is only 256 pulses per revolution, but I think that is more the sufficient for smooth VFO tuning and this unit is about half the price of the E-Coder Plus. Now that they also have the E-Coder2 model, there maybe be some of the older E-coder units on the second hand market, even cheaper.

If someone has worked out a way to use the E-Coder panel on the Anan, I surely would be interested.

From the first impression of the ShuttleXpress, the rotary encoder knob only feels like only 32 pulses per revolution, but even that maybe OK, together with quickly changing the VFO tuning steps, with the Shuttle ring control. I will see, when I get it set up fully.

Regards, from Ron. vk3io.
User avatar
w-u-2-o
Posts: 5539
Joined: Fri Mar 10, 2017 1:47 pm

Re: ShuttleXpress

Postby w-u-2-o » Wed Sep 21, 2022 9:11 pm

This post had nothing to do with the topic it was posted in, which was to announce the revised focus for this subforum. It has therefore been moved to it's own topic.

vk3io wrote:Hello Scott and all.

With regards finding a VFO knob / control panel, I have recently purchased a ShuttleXpress and have managed to get it working with my Windows 10 PC and Anan7000DLE. but to complete the control panel setup, I need a copy of the keyboard shortcuts, for the Thetis software.

Is one available? I am sure there is.
If you do a Google search for "Thetis keyboard shortcuts" the very first link Google returns is:

https://openhpsdr.org/wiki/index.php?title=PowerSDR_Keyboard_Shortcut_List

That may not be 100% accurate anymore, but a quick check of a few shortcuts all worked for me.

I recently purchased the Controller V2, but have decided it is not what I want, as after using it for about two months, I notice I never did use the touch screen and about all I ever did like to use was the VFO knob for tuning.
Not to mention it can't do everything Thetis can do and it tends to struggle with its low-powered Pi processor.

I do not have much room on my radio table for a nice Hercules DJControl console or other large control unit, and I don't need all that many controls, as I am happy to use the PC mouse to select settings on Thetis, but find it irritating to use the mouse wheel to do the VFO tuning, especially when using cw mode.
Have you tried a Logitech mouse that offers "hyper scroll" (smooth scrolling)? It is wonderfully VFO-like and it even has "inertia". I use a Logitech M705 mouse because a pair of AA batteries in it lasts for a year and I don't have to hassle with charging it, but fancier versions exist.

I think the Shuttle 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Left and Right ring controls can be used to select the VFO tune steps up or down, incrementally and quickly bring the tune step back to a standard setting and Button 1 VFO A and Button 5 VFO B. For the other 3 buttons I have no idea at this time.
There's no reason you can't use it with the keyboard shortcuts list linked above.

If you pair the ShuttleXpress with separate keyboard macro software, it would even be possible to send entire CAT strings to Thetis at the push of a ShuttleXpress button.

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