HamPod Elecraft W2 MeterReader
Revised 02/09/2017
Firmware: v1.03

OVERVIEW
  The HamPod series of Amateur Radio station accessories are stand-alone, micro-processor based text-to-speech devices designed to provide speech output and accessibility to common station equipment such as transceivers, antenna controllers and rotor controllers, SWR/Power meters and other equipment capable of serial data exchange. The voice synthesizer utilizes the popular "Double Talk" voice synthesizer and is customizable to your personal preferences.

  The HamPod W2 MeterReader has been specifically designed to work with the Elecraft W2 SWR/Power meter to provide as much capability and accessibility to the meter as possible. With the W2 MeterReader you will have access to the configuration parameters of the W2 and be able to read the SWR and power data and use your W2 meter with enhanced functionality providing a high degree of capability. All without the need for a connected station computer or help from a fellow ham or long-suffering partner!
        
  There are several options that determine how the HamPod W2 MeterReader performs and interacts with your W2 meter and all options are stored in EEPROM and retain their settings when powered off. The 16 button keypad is used to configure the HamPod as well as the W2 meter.  Many of these keys also perform queries to retrieve information from the W2 meter when desired with your choice of either a verbose or less chatty terse mode.


GENERAL DESCRIPTION
  The rear of the HamPod W2 MeterReader has two male DB9 serial ports and a DC power jack. The serial ports are identified as serial port 1 and serial port 2. The connector located next to the power jack is port 1. With the W2 MeterReader, you can connect two W2 meters and switch between them by using the keypad as described later in this manual. Serial port 1 is also used to connect to a computer serial port using a null modem cable to flash the firmware in the HamPod when an upgrade is available. See Appendix C for upgrade instructions. The power jack accepts 9 to 12 volts dc and has a positive center pin.  There is also a small hole at the lower left corner of the speaker grill which provides access to a reset button inside the enclosure.  This hole is located within the very bottom groove of the speaker grill and about one quarter of an inch from the left end of the groove. You can use a paper clip to reach into the box to push this button. The button is about one inch below the top cover. Be careful not to poke through the speaker cone if you happen to be somewhere above the very bottom  groove of the speaker grill area. This button will reboot the HamPod W2 MeterReader without changing any configuration settings.


CONNECTING THE HamPod W2 MeterReader
IMPORTANT!
A.  Do not apply power to the HamPod until you have connected it to your W2 meter . This is because the serial port jacks on the rear of the HamPod are male connectors and it is possible to short one of these pins to the grounded shell while trying to engage the female end of the serial cable into this connector.
1.    Connect the 3.5mm stereo plug end of the Elecraft supplied optional serial cable to the "PC DATA" serial port which is the lower 3.5mm jack of the two vertical jacks next to the LED Brightness control on the rear of the W2.
2.  Connect the female DB-9 on the other end of the cable to port 1 or 2 on the rear of the HamPod depending on your firmware build. You may optionally use the supplied serial data cable as an extension if you wish
3.  Connect the supplied 9 volt DC, 800MA wall power unit to the HamPod . This is a center pin positive 2.1mm x 5.5mm coaxial power connector. You may also connect this using your own cable to your shack 12 volt DC power distribution system if desired. There is no on/off switch on the HamPod as it draws minimal current when not in use.

  The HamPod W2 MeterReader communicates with the W2 meter at a baud rate of 9600. When powered up, the W2 MeterReader will announce "Ham Pod" followed by either "W2" if the meter is detected or "W2 not responding" if not found.


KEYPAD
  The layout  of the first 12 keys of the 16 button keypad is similar to a standard 12 key telephone keypad with an additional column of 4 keys to the right.  The 16 push buttons keys are arranged as 4 rows of 4 columns and each key is capable of two different functions depending on the current mode of the W2 MeterReader. They are operated with both a standard push or an extended longer push and hold action. With the addition of a "Shift" key, each key can generate up to four unique operations. A synopsis of the switches and their functions are listed in Appendix A for reference. As previously mentioned, the first three columns of keys are labeled identically to a standard 12 key telephone keypad. The fourth column of keys are primarily configuration and modifier keys.

  In this document, the key labels are enclosed within square brackets. For reference, left to right, top to bottom, the keys are labeled:

Row 1: [1], [2], [3], [A]
Row 2: [4], [5], [6], [B]
Row 3: [7[, [8], [9], [C]
Row 4: [*], [0], [#], [D]

  The keys are always pushed individually. Never are multiple keys pressed simultaneously to perform any function.

  There are two modes of operation for the keypad and are as follows:
1. Normal Mode. Standard user operation.
2. Configuration Mode. This allows setup of DoubleTalk voice parameters as well as HamPod W2 MeterReader options.


1.  NORMAL MODE  - Features and Operation
  The Elecraft W2 SWR/RF Power meter was found to be a reasonably accurate meter with some nice features such as its depth of options, coupler calibration,and of course, the inclusion of its serial port. The HamPod W2 MeterReader has tried to implement as many of these features as possible, many of which are only accessible through the serial port so they are available to us here using the HamPod. There are also some unfortunate issues with the meter and we have tried to compensate as best we can with the firmware running within the HamPod. The most significant problem is the level of "jitter" that is impressed onto the data returned from the W2 meter itself when requesting a power reading. This "jitter" becomes larger as power is increased. To help compensate for this we have implemented some data smoothing techniques. When you request a forward or reflected power reading, the meter is quickly queried 16 times and the response is the average of those 16 values. For an SWR reading, the meter is queried 8 times and the average is reported. These values were found to be the best compromise for accuracy and performance. When a key is pressed for either a power or SWR reading, the HamPod will  look for the presence of RF power and if detected, will perform the request and report the results. If no RF power is detected, the HamPod will emit an ascending two tone beep and will wait for 5 seconds for you to initiate a carrier. When RF is detected, a short beep will sound letting you know the HamPod  has detected the RF and is now performing the series of multiple readings and will announce the average value.  The process will automatically abort after 5 seconds if no RF is detected signified by a descending two tone beep. This way, you can "arm" the HamPod with a key press, then move to your radio to perform the transmission to be measured. We have also attempted to add an audio tone tuning feature to the W2 MeterReader. When this function is selected, the HamPod will continuously query the W2 meter and convert the reading to a tone that will increase in pitch as the power or SWR increases. This allows the tuning of an amplifier for maximum output or adjusting an antenna tuner for lowest SWR. There are two problems with this implementation caused by the W2 meter. First is the latency incurred  while querying the meter through the serial port and the second problem is the "jitter" of the data received from the W2 meter. To help mitigate these issues, we allow several parameters to be adjusted within the configuration menu of the HamPod that can be optimized for your particular situation. There are four settings in the configuration menu which control how the audio tone tuning  behaves. These are: Pulse Rate, Pulse Width, Number of queries, and smoothing factor. Please note that due to the design of the audio generator within the HamPod, the audio tone must be created using a pulsing tone and not a continuous tone. Therefore, the Pulse Rate option set the speed at which the W2 meter is queried for data and The Pulse Width sets the duration of each audio tone per pulse. Do not allow the Pulse Width to be long enough that the pulsing tone starts to run together, sounding like a continuous tone. If this happens, the tone generator is not able to keep up with the pulse rate and will begin to buffer the pulse data as it is received. When this happens, you are then hearing data from the buffer as it gets behind and you are no longer listening to the real-time data so be sure you are always hearing a pulsing tone. The other two configuration options were created to help minimize the "jitter" in the data. The next option, Number of Queries, set the number of times the data is requested from the meter per pulse. The values returned from these individual queries are combined together into one average reading. This setting greatly effects the maximum speed at which the pulses can be  generated.   Fewer queries result in a faster pulse rate but will diminish the effectiveness of helping to eliminate the "jitter". So set this to the smallest number that works for your setup. The remaining option, Smoothing Factor, processes those averaged readings with a list of previous readings to generate a running average which further smooths the data. The number you choose with this option determines how many of those previous readings to consider in order to compute the current reading. By using a larger number, the "jitter" is minimized but there is an increase in latency since it has to work through the number of previous readings you specify. So again, you should use the smallest value to get the best results possible when setup for use with your equipment. Unfortunately, with the combination of latency involved with reading data via a serial data connection and the issues with "jitter", this is not the best meter for this function. But under the   right circumstances and settings, it can be a workable solution. Since the "jitter" gets worse as power is increased, our testing showed that when using the 2 kilowatt coupler, the audio tone tuning feature was useable for tuning an amplifier for maximum output when we were generating 1,000 watts or less of RF power. Another way to help minimize the "jitter" is to set the W2 meter to return average power readings via the serial data stream verses requesting peak data.  See the keypad assignments below for the location of this key function.
The following is relevant to firmware version 1.01 and above.
  In our efforts to improve the performance of the audio tone tuning feature, we have provided two additional tone generation sources and methods. The first improvement tone utilizes the existing Text-to-Speech hardware but has reduced latency due to an improvement of the firmware within the speech hardware within the HamPod. This firmware can only be flashed by the manufacturer. The new firmware is being shipped with HamPod units after March 2014. If you have an older HamPod and require this update, contact HamPod for information on getting this update. This new tone is noticeably different due to the tone is a smooth continuous tone instead of the pulsing tone. This tone requires less time to generate so the latency is reduced and tuning is more responsive. A second tone source was added which is generated by the onboard microprocessor and is the most responsive tone. This requires a hardware modification to the HamPod circuit board and has been shipped since January 2014. Again, contact HamPod for information about this modification if you have an older HamPod and you require this for use with your meter.

  Listed below are  the assigned functions for each key. Note that for clarity, in normal mode, the [A] key (upper right corner key) is also referred to as the [Shift] key.
Most keys have two potential functions by either simply pressing the key, or pressing and continue holding the key down for an additional .5 second. And that combined with the [Shift] key, we can then get up to four unique functions for each key.

In the listing below, each key is enclosed in square brackets.

In normal mode, the keys have been assigned the following functions:

Note: "TTS" refers to the Text-to-Speech hardware within the HamPod.
[1] - Request Forward Power in Watts
[1] , Hold - Forward Power Tune using PIC generated tone. (Requires hardware update for older HamPod)
[SHIFT] , [1] - Forward Power Tune with TTS pulse audio tone
[SHIFT] , [1] , Hold - Forward Power Tune with TTS smooth audio tone (Requires latest TTS firmware)

[2] - Request Reflected Power in Watts
[2] , Hold - Reflected Power Tune using PIC generated tone. (Requires hardware update for older HamPod)
[SHIFT] , [2] - Reflected Power Tune with TTS pulse audio tone
[SHIFT] , [2] , Hold - Reflected Power Tune with TTS smooth audio tone (Requires latest TTS firmware)

[3] - Request the SWR value
[3] , Hold - SWR Tune using PIC generated tone. (Requires hardware update for older HamPod)
[SHIFT] , [3] - SWR Tune with TTS pulse audio tone
[SHIFT] , [3] , Hold - SWR Tune with TTS smooth audio tone (Requires latest TTS firmware)

[A] - Shift On
[A] , Hold - Volume Up
[SHIFT] , [A] - Shift Off
[SHIFT] , [A] , Hold - Tuning volume up for PIC generated audio tone

[4] - Toggles between Average or PEP display of Forward Power LED's
[4] , Hold - Toggles Peak-Hold LED On/Off
[SHIFT] , [4] - Sets LED Decay Rate
[SHIFT] , [4] , Hold - ;Toggles between Average or PEP value of Power from serial data

[5] - Quick read Forward, Reflected, and SWR values
[5] , Hold - Silent query of Quick read Forward, Reflected, and SWR values to be announced later
[SHIFT] , [5] - Announce results of the latest Silent Quick Read query of Forward, Reflected, and SWR values 
[SHIFT] , [5] , Hold - Decrement SWR Alarm trip point

[6] - n/a
[6] , Hold - n/a
[SHIFT] , [6] - Toggle locking SWR Alarm On/Off
[SHIFT] , [6] , Hold - Increment SWR Alarm trip point

[B] - n/a
[B] , Hold - Volume Down
[SHIFT] , [B] - n/a
[SHIFT] , [B] , Hold - Tuning volume down for PIC generated audio tone

[7] - Toggles between two Sensors (2 Sensors required and Sensor Search mode must be disabled)
[7] , Hold - Toggles Sensor "Search" mode (2 Sensors required)
[SHIFT] , [7] - n/a
[SHIFT] , [7] , Hold - n/a

[8] - Sets the active sensor to Autorange
[8] , Hold - Set Range Drop Rate
[SHIFT] , [8] - n/a
[SHIFT] , [8] , Hold - Decrement calibration of active sensor (Elecraft factory default is 500)

[9] - Sets active sensor to one range
[9] , n/a
[SHIFT] , [9] - Hold - Output Sensor Calibration values
[SHIFT] , [9] , Hold - Increment calibration of active sensor (Elecraft factory default is 500)

[C] - n/a
[C] , Hold - Enter Configuration Mode or
exit and save while in configuration mode
[SHIFT] , [C] - n/a
[SHIFT] , [C] , Hold - n/a

[*] - Request W2 config information or last value spoken when exiting tone tuning mode
[*] , Hold - Request W2 Firmware version
[SHIFT] , [*] - n/a
[SHIFT] , [*] , Hold - Request HamPod MeterReader Product Information

[0] - n/a
[0] , Hold - n/a
[SHIFT] , [0] - Toggles W2 LED's On/Off
[SHIFT] , [0] , Hold - Reset HamPod for BootLoader

[#] - Reset from SWR Alarm
[#] , Hold - n/a
[SHIFT] , [#] - n/a
[SHIFT] , [#] , Hold - Restore HamPod Factory Defaults (W2 not effected)

[D] - Verbosity On/Off
[D] , Hold - Switch between HamPod serial ports
or exit without saving while in configuration mode
[SHIFT] , [D] - n/a
[SHIFT] , [D] , Hold - n/a


2.  CONFIGURATION MODE
  This mode allows changes to the various voice settings as well as modifying the options which effect how the  HamPod W2 MeterReader operates and interacts with your W2 meter. To enter Configuration Mode, press and hold the [C] key for 1 second. When you enter the configuration menu, you are placed at the option you last viewed when you previously exited the configuration menu.

In Configuration Mode the keypad switches perform the following functions:
[A]: Step forward through the configuration options.
[B]: Step backward through the configuration options.
[C]: Increment the parameter values.
[D]: Decrement the parameter values.
These are circular menus and will cycle through once  the first or last choice has been passed.

To exit and save your changes, press and hole the [C] key for 1 second. The settings are stored in EEPROM and will remain even when power is removed.

To exit without saving your changes, press and hold the [D] key for 1 second. Any changes you may have made will not be stored in EEPROM but those changes will still remain in effect until you power off or reset the HamPod W2 MeterReader. If the key timeout function is active and you don't press a key before the timeout occurs, you will also exit the configuration mode without saving to EEPROM.


HamPod W2 MeterReader CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
1. Key beep: on/disable. This sounds a beep when a key is pressed.

2. Key Time out Duration: Disable / 5-30 Seconds You can either disable this option or set the time out duration from 5 to 30 seconds. When set to a value, this sets the length of time for the key time out period.  If an action to be performed requires multiple key presses and you fail to fully input the sequence, a time out will occur after the set time duration and the HamPod will abort the current partial keypad entry.

3. Verbosity: on/disable. When enabled, some responses from the W2 meter will announce additional information such as labels and prompts along with the data returned from the meter.

4. Pulse Rate: 0 - 20. When using the audio tuning tone functions, this sets the rate at which the W2 meter is queried for data. A setting of 0 is fastest and 20 is slowest.

5. Pulse Width: 2 - 9. When using the audio tuning tone functions, this sets the length of the tone pulse. A setting of 2 is shorter and 9 is longer.

6. Number of Queries: 1 - 8. When using the audio tuning tone functions, this sets the number of times the W2 meter is queried for data. The values returned from the meter are averaged together. A smaller number of queries will result in a faster pulse rate but more queries will result in better average readings from the meter and a smoother audible tone.

7. Smoothing Factor: 1 - 8. When using the audio tuning tone functions, this value represents the number of previous readings that are figured into the current reading. The final number is a running average of the last number of averages as specified by this setting. A larger value results in a smoother consistent audio tone but increases the latency which is revealed by the time an adjustment is made and the time it takes for the HamPod to "catch up" to the change.

8. Power On To Port:  1/2 Selects which serial port is active when the HamPod W2 MeterReader is powered on.

10. Reset Now?: Used to reset the HamPod W2 MeterReader. When at this option, you can press either the [C] or [D] keys to alternate between enabling or disabling the opportunity to reset. When the W2 MeterReader informs you to "Enter to Reset", you can then press the [Enter] key to initiate the reset. If you do choose to reset, the W2 MeterReader will perform a 3 second countdown before performing the reset process. This is useful when you want to coordinate the reset with the application running on your PC for the purpose of updating the firmware. This reset only occurs on the HamPod and not the W2 meter.

HamPod DoubleTalk VOICE PARAMETERS
  There are nine parameters which effect the voice synthesizer output.
Volume: 0 to 9. Default is 5.
Speed: 0 to 13. Default is 5.
Pitch: 0 to 99. Default is 50.
Articulation: 0 to 9. Default is 3.
Expression: 0 to 9. Default is 3.
Reverb: 0 to 9. Default is 0.
Formant Frequency: 0 to 99. Default is 50.
Tone: 0 to 2. Default is 1.
Voice: 0 to 10. Default is 0.

The last parameter in the above list is the "Voice" parameter and are predefined voice configurations. Please note that many of these predefined "Voices" will override some of the voice parameters such as pitch, tone, and reverb settings that you may have already modified and will be changed when you select one of these alternate "Voices".

A list of all configuration parameters and their range of acceptable values are found in Appendix B.


   APPENDIX A

W2 MeterReader Key Pad Assignments

  There are 4 possible assignments to most keys. To invoke these actions you do one of the following:
1.  Perform a normal press of the desired key.
2.  Press and continue to hold the desired key for an additional .5 second.
3.  Press the Shift key followed by a normal press of the desired key.
4.  Press Shift then press and hold the desired key for an additional .5 second.

Every key with all 4 potential assignments are listed below:

Note: "TTS" refers to the Text-to-Speech hardware within the HamPod.
[1] - Request Forward Power in Watts
[1] , Hold - Forward Power Tune using PIC generated tone. (Requires hardware update for older HamPod)
[SHIFT] , [1] - Forward Power Tune with TTS pulse audio tone
[SHIFT] , [1] , Hold - Forward Power Tune with TTS smooth audio tone (Requires latest TTS firmware)

[2] - Request Reflected Power in Watts
[2] , Hold - Reflected Power Tune using PIC generated tone. (Requires hardware update for older HamPod)
[SHIFT] , [2] - Reflected Power Tune with TTS pulse audio tone
[SHIFT] , [2] , Hold - Reflected Power Tune with TTS smooth audio tone (Requires latest TTS firmware)

[3] - Request the SWR value
[3] , Hold - SWR Tune using PIC generated tone. (Requires hardware update for older HamPod)
[SHIFT] , [3] - SWR Tune with TTS pulse audio tone
[SHIFT] , [3] , Hold - SWR Tune with TTS smooth audio tone (Requires latest TTS firmware)

[A] - Shift On
[A] , Hold - Volume Up
[SHIFT] , [A] - Shift Off
[SHIFT] , [A] , Hold - Tuning volume up for PIC generated audio tone

[4] - Toggles between Average or PEP display of Forward Power LED's
[4] , Hold - Toggles Peak-Hold LED On/Off
[SHIFT] , [4] - Sets LED Decay Rate
[SHIFT] , [4] , Hold - ;Toggles between Average or PEP value of Power from serial data

[5] - Quick read Forward, Reflected, and SWR values
[5] , Hold - n/a
[SHIFT] , [5] - n/a
[SHIFT] , [5] , Hold - Decrement SWR Alarm trip point

[6] - n/a
[6] , Hold - n/a
[SHIFT] , [6] - Toggle locking SWR Alarm On/Off
[SHIFT] , [6] , Hold - Increment SWR Alarm trip point

[B] - n/a
[B] , Hold - Volume Down
[SHIFT] , [B] - n/a
[SHIFT] , [B] , Hold - Tuning volume down for PIC generated audio tone

[7] - Toggles between two Sensors (2 Sensors required and Sensor Search mode must be disabled)
[7] , Hold - Toggles Sensor "Search" mode (2 Sensors required)
[SHIFT] , [7] - n/a
[SHIFT] , [7] , Hold - n/a

[8] - Sets the active sensor to Autorange
[8] , Hold - Set Range Drop Rate
[SHIFT] , [8] - n/a
[SHIFT] , [8] , Hold - Decrement calibration of active sensor (Elecraft factory default is 500)

[9] - Sets active sensor to one range
[9] , Hold - n/a
[SHIFT] , [9] - Output Sensor Calibration values
[SHIFT] , [9] , Hold - Increment calibration of active sensor (Elecraft factory default is 500)

[C] - n/a
[C] , Hold - Enter Configuration Mode or
exit and save while in configuration mode
[SHIFT] , [C] - n/a
[SHIFT] , [C] , Hold - n/a

[*] - Request W2 config information or last value spoken when exiting tone tuning mode
[*] , Hold - Request W2 Firmware version
[SHIFT] , [*] - n/a
[SHIFT] , [*] , Hold - Request HamPod MeterReader Product Information

[0] - n/a
[0] , Hold - n/a
[SHIFT] , [0] - Toggles W2 LED's On/Off
[SHIFT] , [0] , Hold - Reset HamPod for BootLoader

[#] - Reset from SWR Alarm
[#] , Hold - n/a
[SHIFT] , [#] - n/a
[SHIFT] , [#] , Hold - Restore HamPod Factory Defaults (W2 not effected)

[D] - Verbosity On/Off
[D] , Hold - Switch between HamPod serial ports
or exit without saving while in configuration mode
[SHIFT] , [D] - n/a
[SHIFT] , [D] , Hold - n/a


APPENDIX B

Configuration parameter and value ranges:

Volume: 0-9
Speed: 0-13
Pitch: 0-99
Articulation: 0-9
Expression: 0-9
Reverb: 0-9
Formant Frequency: 0-99
Tone: 0-2
Voice: 0-10
Key Beep: on / disable
Key Timeout Duration: disabled / 5-30 Seconds
Verbosity: on/disable
Pulse Rate: 0 - 20
Pulse Width: 2 - 9
Number of Queries: 1 - 8
Smoothing Factor: 1 - 8
Power on to Port: 1 / 2
Reset: Used to reset the HamPod


APPENDIX C

FIRMWARE UPGRADE OVERVIEW
The procedure to flash the firmware is standard practice as with other devices that utilize a bootloader. There are basically two components used for this procedure:
1.  The bootloader which is already resident within your HamPod.
2.  A Windows based computer running an application that communicates with the bootloader and sends the new firmware to the HamPod.

The bootloader is a special application that resides within the HamPod and runs every time the device is either reset or  powered on. This special application looks for a unique command sequence over serial port 1 of the HamPod which is connected to your computer which is running the companion Windows flash loader  application. Once the bootloader begins, you have approximately 1.5 seconds to initiate the flash loader application running on the computer. During that first 1.5 second window of opportunity,the bootloader is in control of the HamPod and is looking for a connection from the computer over the serial port. When a valid connection is established between the HamPod and the application running on the computer, the flash loader application then sends the new firmware to the HamPod. If no connection can be established, the bootloader times out and the HamPod starts running as usual.


FIRMWARE UPDATE PROCEDURE
1.  Important! You must use a null modem serial cable for this connection. Connect a null modem serial cable between serial port 1 of the HamPod (the connector nearest the DC Power jack), and a serial comm port on your personal computer. The comm port on your computer can be any serial port from COM1: to COM8:. The existing straight wired serial cable provided with your HamPod can be used provided you also use the included null modem adapter in addition to this cable.
 2.  Download and extract the ZIP archive update  firmware file to any directory of your choosing on your computer. You may over write any existing files with a new firmware update if you have previously performed this update before. This file can be found from the W2 MeterReader page on the HamPod web site at the following URL:
http://www.HamPod.com

The files contained within the ZIP archive are:
ds30LoaderConsole.exe : The command line flash loader application.
Flash_1.bat : Batch file when using comm port 1 on PC.
Flash_2.bat : Batch file when using comm port 2 on PC.
Flash_3.bat : Batch file when using comm port 3 on PC.
Flash_4.bat : Batch file when using comm port 4 on PC.
Flash_5.bat : Batch file when using comm port 5 on PC.
Flash_6.bat : Batch file when using comm port 6 on PC.
Flash_7.bat : Batch file when using comm port 7 on PC.
Flash_8.bat : Batch file when using comm port 8 on PC.
W2.hex : the firmware file to flash to the W2 MeterReader

3.  Once you extract the files into a directory of your choosing, simply run the appropriate batch file for the comm port number on your PC that you have connected to the HamPod.  The batch file contains the command to launch the flash loader  application and also set some necessary parameters for the program. When you start the batch file, the file will open a DOS window, validate the new hex firmware file, and prepare to flash the HamPod but will stop and wait for any key to be pressed on the PC before actually initiating the flashing process. The text written into this DOS window by the flashing application should be readable by most screen readers such as JAWS or Window EYES and will inform you of its progress.

4.  Once the application pauses and is waiting for a key press, you must reset or power on the HamPod but remember, once you initiate the reset, you only have 1.5 seconds to press any key on the PC to start the loading process before the bootloader within the HamPod times out while waiting for the PC connection. If the bootloader fails to connect to the PC, it automatically starts the W2 MeterReader application and you will need to start over.

There are five ways to reset the HamPod W2 MeterReader:
A.  Remove power from the HamPod for a couple seconds then restore the power.
B.  Use a paper clip to push the reset button within the HamPod located at the lower left corner of the speaker grill.
C.  Locate and perform the "Reset Now?" option withing the Configuration Menu of the HamPod.
D.  Press the [SHIFT] key followed by a long press of the [#] key to restore factory defaults. This will ultimately cause a reset after restoring those default values.
E.  Press the [SHIFT] key followed by a long press of the [0] key to cause a three second countdown and a reset.

5.  Once the reset has been initiated, you have about 1.5 seconds to start the flash procedure on the PC by pressing any key such as the Space Bar. When a key is pressed on the PC, the flash loader application will try to establish a connection with the bootloader within the HamPod and if found, will continue with the update. This will take about 30 seconds to complete. DO NOT power off the HamPod while the update is in progress!When finish, the HamPod may restart on its own but sometimes you may need to power cycle the HamPod yourself. The flash loader application on the PC will write a series of period characters to the screen as it transfers the firmware file to the W2 MeterReader, When finished, it will report the status of the update and wait for a final key press on the PC to terminate the flash application and close the DOS window.

If you failed to start the PC application on time or the process is unsuccessful, You can repeat this procedure until you get the timing sequence correct.

6.  After a successful update, you can verify the new firmware has been installed by requesting the product information from the W2 MeterReader by entering the keypad query on the HamPod W2 MeterReader as previously described in the key assignment section of this manual to report the current firmware version.
7.  Disconnect from the PC and reconnect the HamPod to your W2 meter and enjoy the new benefits and features of the firmware!

73 and Have fun with your HamPod W2 MeterReader!