kwctl -- control a Kenwood TM-V71 (or similar) radio

This program allows you to control a Kenwood TM-V71 (and possibly similar models, like the TM-710) via the serial port.

Commands

The following common options are available:

Usage of kwctl:
  -b, --bps int     bit rate (serial only) (default 57600)
  -d, --device string   serial device (default "/dev/radio0")
  -p, --pretty          pretty print output (default true)
  -v, --verbose count   increase logging verbosity
      --vfo string      select vfo on which to operate (default "1")

You can also use the following environment variables:

• KWCTL_BPS -- sets the default for the --bps option
• KWCTL_DEVICE -- sets the default for the --device option
• KWCTL_PRETTY set to true to enable pretty-print mode
• KWCTL_VFO -- sets the default for the --vfo option

bands

Usage: kwctl bands [dual|single]

Get or set dual/single band mode.

edit

Usage: kwctl edit [options] <channel>

Edit channel configuration.

Arguments:
        channel    Channel number to edit (0-999)

Options:
      --clear                 clear channel
      --copy int              copy data from another channel (default -1)
      --dcs dcs               DCS code (default 023)
      --lockout               skip channel during scan
      --mode mode             Mode (FM, NFM, AM) (default FM)
  -n, --name string           set channel name
      --no-lockout            don't skip channel during scan
      --no-reverse            disable reverse tx/rx
  -o, --offset frequencyMHz   offset in MHz (e.g., 0.6) (default 0.000000)
      --reverse               reverse tx/rx
  -r, --rxfreq frequencyMHz   frequency in MHz (e.g., 144.39) (default 0.000000)
      --rxstep stepSize       step size in hz (e.g., 5) (default 5)
      --rxtone tone           CTCSS tone when receiving (default 67.0)
  -s, --shift shift           Shift (simplex, up, down) (default simplex)
  -t, --tone-mode string      select tone mode (none, tone, tsql, dcs) (default "none")
      --txfreq frequencyMHz   frequency in MHz (e.g., 144.39) (default 0.000000)
      --txstep stepSize       step size in hz (e.g., 5) (default 5)
      --txtone tone           CTCSS tone when sending (default 67.0)

Examples

Configure a repeater on channel 90:

$ kwctl -p edit 90 --rxfreq 146.820 --shift down --tone-mode tone --txtone 146.2 --offset 0.6 --name BAKBAY
┌────────┬────────┬────────────┬────────┬───────┬─────────┬──────┬───────┬───────┬──────────┬───────────┬─────────┬──────────┬──────┬──────────┬────────┬─────────┐
│ NAME   │ NUMBER │ RXFREQ     │ RXSTEP │ SHIFT │ REVERSE │ TONE │ CTCSS │ DCS   │ TONEFREQ │ CTCSSFREQ │ DCSCODE │ OFFSET   │ MODE │ TXFREQ   │ TXSTEP │ LOCKOUT │
├────────┼────────┼────────────┼────────┼───────┼─────────┼──────┼───────┼───────┼──────────┼───────────┼─────────┼──────────┼──────┼──────────┼────────┼─────────┤
│ BAKBAY │ 090    │ 146.820000 │ 5      │ down  │ false   │ true │ false │ false │ 146.2    │ 67.0      │ 023     │ 0.600000 │ FM   │ 0.000000 │ 5      │ false   │
└────────┴────────┴────────────┴────────┴───────┴─────────┴──────┴───────┴───────┴──────────┴───────────┴─────────┴──────────┴──────┴──────────┴────────┴─────────┘

channel

Usage: kwctl channel [options] [<channel>|up|down]

Get or set the current channel of the selected vfo.

Arguments:
        channel    Channel number (0-999) or 'up'/'down' to increment/decrement

tune

Usage: kwctl tune [options]

Tune the selected VFO.

Options:
      --dcs dcs               DCS code (default 023)
  -f, --force                 change to vfo mode before tuning
      --mode mode             Mode (FM, NFM, AM) (default FM)
      --no-reverse            disable reverse tx/rx
  -o, --offset frequencyMHz   offset in MHz (e.g., 0.6) (default 0.000000)
      --reverse               reverse tx/rx
  -r, --rxfreq frequencyMHz   frequency in MHz (e.g., 144.39) (default 0.000000)
      --rxstep stepSize       step size in hz (e.g., 5) (default 5)
      --rxtone tone           CTCSS tone when receiving (default 67.0)
  -s, --shift shift           Shift (simplex, up, down) (default simplex)
  -t, --tone-mode string      select tone mode (none, tone, tsql, dcs) (default "none")
      --txtone tone           CTCSS tone when sending (default 67.0)

Note that if you can only tune the vfo when it is in vfo mode (which is why we have the --force option).

Examples

Show the current vfo configuration:

$ kwctl tune
1,145.090000,5,simplex,false,false,false,false,88.5,88.5,023,0.000000,FM

Or in pretty-print mode:

$ kwctl -p tune
┌─────┬────────────┬────────┬─────────┬─────────┬───────┬───────┬───────┬──────────┬───────────┬─────────┬──────────┬──────┐
│ VFO │ RXFREQ     │ RXSTEP │ SHIFT   │ REVERSE │ TONE  │ CTCSS │ DCS   │ TONEFREQ │ CTCSSFREQ │ DCSCODE │ OFFSET   │ MODE │
├─────┼────────────┼────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────┼───────┼───────┼──────────┼───────────┼─────────┼──────────┼──────┤
│ 1   │ 145.090000 │ 5      │ simplex │ false   │ false │ false │ false │ 88.5     │ 88.5      │ 023     │ 0.000000 │ FM   │
└─────┴────────────┴────────┴─────────┴─────────┴───────┴───────┴───────┴──────────┴───────────┴─────────┴──────────┴──────┘

Configure for use with a repeater

$ kwctl -p tune --rxfreq 146.820 --shift down --tone-mode tone --txtone 146.2 --offset 0.6
┌─────┬────────────┬────────┬───────┬─────────┬──────┬───────┬───────┬──────────┬───────────┬─────────┬──────────┬──────┐
│ VFO │ RXFREQ     │ RXSTEP │ SHIFT │ REVERSE │ TONE │ CTCSS │ DCS   │ TONEFREQ │ CTCSSFREQ │ DCSCODE │ OFFSET   │ MODE │
├─────┼────────────┼────────┼───────┼─────────┼──────┼───────┼───────┼──────────┼───────────┼─────────┼──────────┼──────┤
│ 1   │ 146.820000 │ 5      │ down  │ false   │ true │ false │ false │ 146.2    │ 146.2     │ 023     │ 0.600000 │ FM   │
└─────┴────────────┴────────┴───────┴─────────┴──────┴───────┴───────┴──────────┴───────────┴─────────┴──────────┴──────┘

version

Show version information.

vfo

Usage: kwctl vfo [0|1]

Get or set ptt/control VFO.

Note that while the radio permits the PTT and control VFOs to be separate, this command always sets both to the same value.

list

Usage: kwctl channel-list [options] <range> [<range> [...]]

List a range of channels.

Arguments:
        range      A range specification (e.g. "1", "1-10", "1,5,10,15,20")

Examples

$ kwctl list 1-4 10 11
[MRABBY] 001,146.820000,5,down,false,true,false,false,146.2,146.2,023,0.600000,FM,0.000000,5,false
[MRMDN ] 002,146.610000,5,down,false,true,false,false,146.2,146.2,023,0.600000,FM,0.000000,5,false
[MRAQCY] 003,146.670000,5,down,false,true,false,false,146.2,146.2,023,0.600000,FM,0.000000,5,false
[MRANRD] 004,146.715000,5,down,false,true,false,false,146.2,146.2,023,0.600000,FM,0.000000,5,false
[MRANRD] 010,446.775000,12.5,down,false,true,false,false,88.5,88.5,023,5.000000,FM,0.000000,5,false
[MRAHOP] 011,447.775000,12.5,down,false,true,false,false,88.5,88.5,023,5.000000,FM,0.000000,5,false

Or in pretty-print mode:

$ kwctl -p list 1-4
┌────────┬────────┬────────────┬────────┬───────┬─────────┬──────┬───────┬───────┬──────────┬───────────┬─────────┬──────────┬──────┬──────────┬────────┬─────────┐
│ NAME   │ NUMBER │ RXFREQ     │ RXSTEP │ SHIFT │ REVERSE │ TONE │ CTCSS │ DCS   │ TONEFREQ │ CTCSSFREQ │ DCSCODE │ OFFSET   │ MODE │ TXFREQ   │ TXSTEP │ LOCKOUT │
├────────┼────────┼────────────┼────────┼───────┼─────────┼──────┼───────┼───────┼──────────┼───────────┼─────────┼──────────┼──────┼──────────┼────────┼─────────┤
│ MRABBY │ 001    │ 146.820000 │ 5      │ down  │ false   │ true │ false │ false │ 146.2    │ 146.2     │ 023     │ 0.600000 │ FM   │ 0.000000 │ 5      │ false   │
├────────┼────────┼────────────┼────────┼───────┼─────────┼──────┼───────┼───────┼──────────┼───────────┼─────────┼──────────┼──────┼──────────┼────────┼─────────┤
│ MRMDN  │ 002    │ 146.610000 │ 5      │ down  │ false   │ true │ false │ false │ 146.2    │ 146.2     │ 023     │ 0.600000 │ FM   │ 0.000000 │ 5      │ false   │
├────────┼────────┼────────────┼────────┼───────┼─────────┼──────┼───────┼───────┼──────────┼───────────┼─────────┼──────────┼──────┼──────────┼────────┼─────────┤
│ MRAQCY │ 003    │ 146.670000 │ 5      │ down  │ false   │ true │ false │ false │ 146.2    │ 146.2     │ 023     │ 0.600000 │ FM   │ 0.000000 │ 5      │ false   │
├────────┼────────┼────────────┼────────┼───────┼─────────┼──────┼───────┼───────┼──────────┼───────────┼─────────┼──────────┼──────┼──────────┼────────┼─────────┤
│ MRANRD │ 004    │ 146.715000 │ 5      │ down  │ false   │ true │ false │ false │ 146.2    │ 146.2     │ 023     │ 0.600000 │ FM   │ 0.000000 │ 5      │ false   │
└────────┴────────┴────────────┴────────┴───────┴─────────┴──────┴───────┴───────┴──────────┴───────────┴─────────┴──────────┴──────┴──────────┴────────┴─────────┘

id

Usage: kwctl id

Display the radio ID response.

mode

Usage: kwctl mode [vfo|memory|call|wx]

Get or set the operating mode for the selected VFO.

txpower

Usage: kwctl txpower [high|medium|low]

Get or set the transmit power for the selected VFO.

License

kwctl -- control a Kenwood TM-V71 (or similar) radio
Copyright (C) 2025 Lars Kellogg-Stedman

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

Thanks

Thanks to LA3QMA for putting together https://github.com/LA3QMA/TM-V71_TM-D710-Kenwood, which was my source of information regarding available CAT commands.