Control Panel

The Hardrock-500 Control Panel software allows you to operate the Hardrock-500 remotely from a Windows PC.

For the software to work correctly you must have at least FW 3.4B in the amp and 1.1F the ATU visit the firmware and ATU pages to update if necessary.

To run the Control Panel Just download the zip file, extract the folder and run the executable file right from the folder, no installation required.

The amp MUST be set to 115200 baud for the control panel to connect to the amp.

When you run the software the screen you see will depend on the presence of the ATU. Without the ATU this screen is displayed:

The screen shows the status of the amplifier and gives you the ability to control the amp.

The buttons under the meter control which parameter is displayed on the meter.

The colored indicators will turn yellow or red if a warning or error condition occurs.

The indicator will continue to be rad or yellow until the next time the amp is keyed if the condition is corrected. Red conditions will cause the amplifier to trip off line.

The buttons below the parameters will allow you to change the settings. In some transceiver modes, changing the band is not possible.

Any changes made on a supported transceiver (band changes, PTT) will be indicated on the control panel as well

If the ATU is installed in the amp the Control Panel will look like this:

ATU information and controls are added to the display.

The tune button will start a tune cycle if the ATU is not tuning or stop a tuning cycle if one in in progress.

After a tuning cycle the results are displayed in the window. In some cases, if the load is better than 1.3:1 the ATU will bypass the tuning network for the best match even if the ATU in the 'ON' mode.

After selecting a new antenna or band, L and C data will be displayed but SWR information about the load and the match are not available. The ATU must be tuned to display SWR information.

The ON/BYP button toggles the ATU between Bypass and ON states.

If tune is pressed when the ATU is bypassed, the ATU will be switched on.

All data displayed is live data from the amp so the info may take a few 10ths of seconds to update after a change is made.

Version 1a:

    • Checks the last Com Port first, then scans if it doesn't work. This prevents scanning every time which can cause issues with some Bluetooth printers

    • Fixes an issue where the band won't go to 'UNK'

    • Now it retains the screen position rather than defaulting to the center of the screen on startup

    • Changed background to darker grey