Customizing WiRES-X

Okay, here’s a bit of a WiRES-X secret. Many of the settings which cannot normally be changed, can be changed. These include the call sign, location, etc. In fact, it is possible to use an HRI-200 with one node number with a different node number. This is necessary should one be running a room and need to switch to a different server located elsewhere.

 

Here’s an example that we have used. Room #21493 is FusionTech. This HRI-200 belongs to Pete, AD0MI, now located in Idaho. However the server we’re using is located near San Diego and has a number of 21811. If you check, the callsign is not AD0MI as registered with Yaesu, but K9EQ. Being able to do this is a necessity for popular rooms that cannot tolerate a room being down because an HRI-200 is being sent in for repair.

 

This data is stored in the Windows Registry. In the Windows search bar, type in the text “regedit”. The Registry Editor will open. This is where Windows and applications store a lot of information such as window location and size, settings, preferences, file locations, etc. Be very careful when using regedit as any changes you make are immediately effective and there is no undo. One can really mess a computer up with regedit!

 

In Regedit, press CNTL-F or use Edit->Find. Enter the search term “YAESUMUSEN” and deselect everything except “Keys”. Wait as it searches. The registry is very, very large and Microsoft’s search function is not very efficient. 

 

Expand the WIRESXA folder. These folders contain all of the operating parameters of the WiRES-X software. Click on “USER_INF”.

 In the folder you will see the key “callsign” and the value of whatever callsign you’re using.

 

To change an item, stop the WiRES-X software. Double click on the key whose value you wish to change. Type in the new value then click “OK”. Restart the WiRES-X software. If you changed the callsign, you’ll see that the callsign has changed.

 

In this folder you will also find items like the HRI-200 serial number, room number, and node number. If you change this information to match a different HRI-200, the software will then take up the identity of that HRI-200. Thus you can swap server locations or HRI-200s without changing the room number. Note that the node and room numbers appear under other folders and these must be changed as well.

 

Not all of the values are obvious as to what they mean but probably contain values we wish we could change. The DATA_COM folder has some interesting values in it. It would be interesting to perform experiments just to see what all of these things do.

 

I should note that in our long use of this product, we have identified many strange bugs. One common one is that there is no outgoing traffic even though incoming traffic is fine and everything looks like it is working. Usually restarting the software solves the problem, but not always. In another case transmissions from a YSF bridge were blocked but everything else worked. Fixing this took three months. It was necessary to uninstall the software, delete any residual configuration files, AND delete all the data in the registry. It was then necessary to reinstall the software and repeat the authentication process and re-entering all of the parameters manually before it would work again. So if you have a problem you’ve never been able to figure out……

 

Yaesu’s list server contains some of the information in the registry. In some cases it’s only updated when the software is registered (callsign, node number, etc.) and some of it is updated every time the software starts (city, state, location data, etc.). In this last category the workaround is to run a script that updates the registry just before WiRES-X is started.

 

If you find this stuff interesting, please stop by our FusionTech net which is Monday, 7:30 PM Central in the FusionTech Room / YSF 21493. We like talking about the technical nature of our toys. We can also be found on HamOperator.com.