Topics

1

General discussion forum / Random restarts

« on: 2013-05-05, 01:33:30 »

For some reason my remotely operated Icom 706MKIIG has been restarting randomly (just like I turned it off, then quickly back on) over the last few days.  It has done it twice today.  I have not had this happen before.  I installed 2.71 last week and am wondering if there is a problem with the new firmware or is this some other problem that coincidentally has started about the same time as the firmware upgrade.

Is anyone else that is using the IC-706 remotely seeing this problem?

Thanks,

Joe W4WT

2

General discussion forum / Icom 706MkIIG has no audio out at panel

« on: 2012-12-17, 05:09:06 »

I have a strange thing happening.  I just got an IC-706, made up the cables, hooked it up to my RRC-1258 MKII boxes as per the instructions, pushed power on on the 706 panel and I have no audio coming from the panel UNLESS I put an audio cable from the back of the IC-706 transmitter unit and into the speaker jack of the "radio" RemoteRig box.  Then all works fine.  Other than the lack of audio, everything works perfectly!

This appears to be a RemoteRig problem.  If I put the two cables I made together with a 2xRJ45 connector to connect the panel with the radio, I have audio just fine coming out of the panel.

Any ideas or is there something I can check?

Thanks,

Joe W4WT

3

General discussion / char by char option

« on: 2012-04-13, 03:56:01 »

Roland, thank for the new version (1.5,1.51).  It looks like you have cleaned the software up nicely!  Many programs that didn't work previously now work including N1MM rotor control software.

I have a question about the "char by char" option.  This selection says "avoid this" but if we shouldn't use it what are we to use to control a rotator or other serial device?

Thanks,

Joe W4WT

4

General discussion / Micro software version 1.2.1

« on: 2012-03-26, 22:15:39 »

Roland, I was trying to install 1.2.1 in a 32 bit machine (I have the 64 bit version on my other laptop) but when I went to download it you have put up 1.1.2 rather than 1.2.1    Version 1.1.2 doesn't work well at all.  Could you put up 1.2.1 until the new version is ready?  I'm trying to set up a remote operation for a friend that is in town for a couple of days.  Thanks,

Joe W4WT

5

General discussion forum / 1216H looses connectivity with 2.0

« on: 2012-02-04, 19:40:45 »

Jan, thanks for version 2.0.  The new antenna selection code works great!  At least on one of my switches.  Much more versatile.

I have two switches; serial #1537 and #1776.  1537 works great with 2.0.  1776 does not.  It seems to "hang" and be very slow to respond to menu selections or require me to reload it in the browser where I have to "restart" it to get it to work again but it only seems to respond quickly for a few minutes then requires a restart again.  I had to go back to version 1.23 on it and give up the new features of 2.0 :-(

The only difference I notice in the two boxes is the one that works has bootloader 1.8 installed and the one that fails has bootloader 1.9.  I've pasted the info from each box below.

The one that fails:

Company   : Microbit
Product   : 1216H Web Switch
Software  : 1.23
Hardware  : 1
Bootloader: 1.9
Build     : Oct  5 2011 13:44:38
S/N       : 1766
PID       : 4
Uptime    : 5011
=========================

MAC       : 00:1e:fd:00:xx:xx
IP address: 192.168.0.xxx
Netmask   : 255.255.255.0
Gateway   : 192.168.0.1
DNS       : 192.168.0.1
=========================
Max available memory = 16301 bytes
Sun state: Unknown

The one that works

Company   : Microbit
Product   : 1216H WebSwitch
Software  : 2.0
Hardware  : 1
Bootloader: 1.8
Build     : Dec 16 2011 16:12:50
S/N       : 1537
PID       : 4
Uptime    : 5530
=========================

MAC       : 00:1e:fd:00:xx:xx
IP address: 192.168.0.xxx
Netmask   : 255.255.255.0
Gateway   : 192.168.0.1
DNS       : 192.168.0.1
=========================
Max available memory = 16301 bytes
Sun state: Unknown
Last Dynamic DNS status: Error, code=2

In addition, I notice if I set only 2 switches to be "active" in the "relays to be used for antenna selection", after saving the change I don't see any way to get back to be able to change this setting and add another switch to be active.  The "antenna selection" menu shows only the two "active" switches and does not show the lower part of the window to allow selection of different relays to be active nor does it show the "disconnected timeout" selection anymore.

Joe W4WT

6

General discussion forum / New 5 minute timer problem in 1.24

« on: 2011-12-09, 23:37:22 »

Jan, it looks like I have run up on another problem with the new code.  This is related to the new 5 minute timer you put in to turn off all relays if no frequency info is heard in 5 minutes.  This is now causing my transceiver to "go dead" due to the timeout shutting off the relays every 5 minutes when I am just sitting and listening to the radio but not changing frequency, mode, etc.

The reason this is happening is my using a micro controller that is programmed as an "intelligent" Icom CI-V interface.  The computer, transceiver, and Icom PW-1 amp all plug into separate CI-V ports (UART ports) controlled by this micro controller.  This keeps all devices isolated from each other and eliminates the PW-1 bus collision problem that is well known among Icom PW-1 users.  This isolation and intelligence handles the computer queries to the transceiver directly.  The micro controller controls data flow on the CI-V bus and it responds to the computer (HRD) directly and provides frequency and mode data, as well as other data, when requested.  It also buffers frequency and mode based on the last frequency and mode that came from the radio so unless the frequency or mode are changed at the radio or remotely through HRD, the buffered data is sent back to the computer/HRD and nothing is sent/requested to/from the transceiver and thus the Web Switch doesn't get any frequency data he times out and my radio doesn't hear well with no antenna connected!

Is is possible for you to put a enable/disable entry for this new 5 minute timer?  I like the idea of shutting all relays off after a period of time (if I forget when I shut down, for example) but the 5 minute time frame doesn't work for me.  Or maybe a time to timeout setting so we can put something in other than 5 minutes.

I've decided to go back to 2.23 for the time being.  I hate giving up the new multi-relay ON function but the other problems outweigh the benefit. :-(

Thanks,

Joe W4WT

7

General discussion forum / Two relays on for one band segment

« on: 2011-11-06, 00:04:00 »

I am trying to get two "relays" to close for a single band segment (7.0 to 7.1 mhz).  I have the webswitch set to decode my CI-V Icom interface and all works well.  I have a 40 meter beam but for CW, I need to add additional tuning components to get the SWR reasonable for that part of the band.  Thus, I need to automatically pick both the beam (which I have set using "7A" in advanced settings for relay 1 and I want relay 4 to activate using "70" in advanced settings to pick the 7.0 to 7.1 segment.  When I code this in, relay 4 does indeed activate for 7.0 to 7.1 mhz BUT relay one does not even though it is set to 7A.  I tried setting it to 71,72,73 but it still won't activate with relay 4.  When I tune up above 7.1, relay one activates and relay 4 deactivates (which relay 4 should do).

Is it not possible to pick two relays when the webswitch is decoding the radio?

Thanks,

Joe W4WT

8

General discussion forum / Profiles

« on: 2011-06-16, 19:15:18 »

Any chance that a future enhancement for the web switch could include profiles?  I would like to have the ability to select a different "profile" to allow me to easily select a multiband antenna for all frequencies 80 through 6 meters rather than have to go into the web switch relay assignments and manually change one or all to allow this.  I have Yagi's  for 40 through 6 meters on my tower and sometimes in local contests I would prefer to use the multiband antenna rather than have to constantly rotate beams.  A profile option to set this selection up would make changing to it much easier.

Thanks,

Joe W4WT

9

General discussion / Setting up the RRC Micro

« on: 2011-05-15, 09:10:11 »

Update:  I don't seem to be having the muting problem anymore.  I'm not exactly what I did to "cure" it but it doesn't seem to be an issue now.  What I continue to see, though, is the audio from the receiver will just quit sporadically.  Everything else seems to work so the unit is not disconnecting; just no receive audio comes through.  To get it back, I have to do a disconnect and then reconnect.  Any settings that might affect this that I should use?  I'm running 1.2.1 software on the Micro and 2.38 firmware on the RRC 1258 radio unit.


I'm having a bit of a problem getting the Micro to work properly.  I have both the headset and microphone plugs plugged into the Micro USB device.  In Windows 7 Control Panel, hardware, Sound, I have set Microbit 1274A Microphone as the default device.  In the RRC Client Setup I have selected the following:

Speaker - Speakers (Microbit 1247A)
Mic - Microphone (Microbit 1247A)

This seems to work until I disconnect the RRC Client then reconnect.  Once I do this I loose the microphone.  I have to go into Win 7's control panel, sound, and select microphone properties for the Microbit 1247A Microphone and un-mute the microphone.  Then it works fine until I have to re-connect due to a disconnect from the remote rig radio box.  Once I reconnect, the microphone mutes again and has to be manually un-muted.

Any ideas why it is doing this?  Do I have something set up incorrectly?

Thanks,

Joe W4WT

10

General discussion / Problem with Rig software

« on: 2011-05-01, 17:56:40 »

I just received my Micro PC Client yesterday and find that neither TRX-Manager or DXLabs Commander will operate with the serial ports created.  HRD does operate okay but I can't use HRD due to my amplifier (Icom PW-1) needing isolation to eliminate CI-V collisions.  HRD does not provide a secondary COM port to allow syncing of the PW-1 to the frequency read from the radio like Commander and TRX-Manager provide.

Any idea why these two popular rig control programs can't use the COM ports created by the Micro PC Client?  DxLabs author says it is a driver problem.

Thanks,

Joe W4WT

11

General discussion forum / New install working great!

« on: 2011-01-04, 18:16:30 »

Just received my Remote Rig boxes yesterday and got them working today.  Very nice!  Thanks for a great solution to remote operation.

I did get hung up on one thing during the install.  From what I read in the manual, I could use my DYNDNS name but I couldn't get that to work.  I ended up having to use the actual IP address in the SIP Connect field.  Maybe there is a particular form of the DYNDNS name that is supposed to be used?  My address is in the form of xxxxx.homeip.net.  If I just put that in the SIP Connect entry box, Remote Rig will not connect.  Tried http://HTTP://xxxxx.homeip.net and that didn't work either.  I would like to get this sorted out so I don't have to worry about Comcast changing my IP during a QSO and I'm dropped out until I look up the new address and plug it in!  If I use xxxxx.homeip.net in my browser, I get right to the router so I'm not sure what the problem might be.

I'm using the "stereo" version of Remote Rig but only using a Icom 756 Pro II at the moment so not taking advantage of the dual receive yet.  Running version 2.30 of the application software.

One other glitch I had was with the radio control function.  I made up a cable for my 756 CIV system as per the Remote Rig manual and used the TTL port but couldn't make that work.  Had to just use my CT-17 and COM2 on both boxes to get connectivity.  This seems to work fine so no problem.  Not sure what was wrong there but no big deal.  I'll play with that later.  Maybe I hosed up the cable connection when I built it.

Joe, W4WT