Messages

16

General discussion / Re: Trouble with Virtual Com Ports Resolved

« on: 2015-03-03, 06:14:49 »

Ok, I got it working. It apparently did not like me switching from a wireless to a wired connection. I switched back to wireless and it works fine now.

17

General discussion / Re: Trouble with Virtual Com Ports Resolved?

« on: 2015-03-03, 05:59:47 »

Well now when the RRC client starts it says my trial is over. I thought it was good for 30 days but I only got 3.

18

General discussion / Re: Trouble with Virtual Com Ports Resolved

« on: 2015-03-02, 21:21:38 »

That is correct. They didn't show up in the Micro client or device manager even when it was working and they didn't show when it was working. It makes it difficult to troubleshoot. Using the drivers I down loaded they show up everywhere and the micro client works fine.

Any ideas?

19

General discussion / Trouble with Virtual Com Ports Resolved

« on: 2015-03-02, 02:27:16 »

My Microbit RRC client was working fine yesterday. Today it couldn't locate any com ports. I played with it for quite a while and finally downloaded a virtual serial port driver from http://www.eltima.com/products/vspdxp/ and it works fine. The only trouble is it's a 14 day demo and the drivers are $99 USD. I'm using a Windows 8.1 laptop and from what I can tell from reading on the internet Windows 8 has a difficult time with virtual com ports.

Any other suggestions for virtual com port drivers that are cheaper? The FabulaTech drivers from Microbit don't always seem to do the job with Windows 8.

20

General discussion / Audio with digital modes

« on: 2015-03-01, 04:48:56 »

I'm trying to figure out a way to work digital modes without having to listen to them using HRD and DM780. If I turn the audio down on my laptop it turns the audio down in DM780 and I cannot decode any signals. So far the only thing I have figured out is to plug in a pair of external speakers and turn the volume down on them. It works but then I have to carry around a set of external speakers all the time. 

I'm enjoying the demo version. Now that I have it all working I will be buying it when I get my next paycheck.

Tom
W5GV

21

General discussion forum / Control Unit Continously Resetting - Bad Power Supply?

« on: 2015-02-08, 23:43:01 »

The control unit at my apartment started a weird problem. With the TS-480 turned off the Remoterig control unit it would start to cycle. Green light would flash, then the red and yellow lights at the mic connector would flash, then it would repeat continuously. I unplugged the cable going to the radio control head and it would stabilize. Finally it would continuously cycle with everything but the power unplugged. I tried a different power supply and everything works fine.

The other power supply has a 3 amp rating so I am hoping that something in the control unit is not going out and requiring more current to function. I ordered a new power supply from HRO and it should be here next week. I didn't measure the voltage on the old power supply to see if it dropped significantly when plugged in. If the new power supply doesn't work I will do some additional investigation. I've been busy at work and working over the last 3 weekends so haven't had a chance to really troubleshoot the issue.

Thanks,
Tom

22

General discussion forum / Remote Control MFJ-993B

« on: 2014-10-26, 01:50:59 »

The MFJ-993B auto antenna tuner has a remote control box as an option using an RS-232 serial cable. I wrote MFJ and asked about the serial interface telling them my Remote Rig had a pass through com port. They told me it should work fine but I had no luck. I plugged the serial cable into the antenna tuner and into com 2 on the Remote Rig at the site. When I powered the antenna tuner on it went into some kind of setup mode asking if I wanted to delete an antenna. I could cancel out of that menu but it would not go back to the normal display. Of course the MFJ gives no information on the baud rate, etc., that it is looking for since it is a proprietary interface. I suspect it is not a true com port and they are using the RS-232 type cable and port as they are common and cheap.

Anyone have any experience getting one to work using Remote Rig? Although the auto tune works fine it would be nice to switch the tuner into bypass mode on occasion.

Thanks,
Tom
W5GV

23

General discussion forum / Cabinet for Remote Unit - Avoiding Heat and Dust - Providing a Little Security

« on: 2014-03-31, 21:21:46 »

So my remote is on the second floor of an old building with no heating or cooling and no insulation. New Mexico gets very hot and very cold (not too worried about the cold). It can also get very windy and it is always dusty. I would like to put the rig, power supplies, antenna tuner, DSL modem, etc. in a cabinet or box of some kind to protect it from dust and prying eyes, but I'm concerned about heat. The power supplies and the radio have cooling fans, but obviously I need to provide some ventilation. I thought about making some cutouts in a cabinet and put filter material over them with a grill of some kind. I could go with an aux fan on the cabinet and still may do that.

I wondered what others are doing in similar situations.

Thanks,
Tom
W5GV

24

General discussion forum / Re: TM-D710 control end resets and panel display dims on rx audio

« on: 2014-03-31, 21:08:44 »

I have the same problem with my Kenwood TS-480HX. Using the internal speaker in the control head the display dims and flickers with moderate volume. I have not remove JMP2 as it was not indicated on the configuration table for my early version of the radio. I wasn't sure if that would be safe to do or not. I could get an amplified speaker.

25

General discussion forum / Re: Almost had it working - Questions

« on: 2014-03-30, 01:55:57 »

Thanks Mitch! I have it working! While I was waiting for a reply I decided to check my jumpers once again and I had the remote RRC configured for a Kenwood 480 type one and the control set for type 2. That still didn't solve the problem completely. I think I had some audio but there was that minor problem with the jumpers and I think I was getting RF into my setup. After bringing the control RRC back to the home QTH The RF was gone and I was able to properly set the mic levels.

Everything is up and running remotely!

Thanks again,
Tom
W5GV

26

General discussion forum / Re: Almost had it working - Questions

« on: 2014-03-29, 20:45:03 »

I  configured dynamic DNS in my remote RRC. Everything is working except I don't have any Xmit audio. I've checked all the settings and all appears correct.

I can plug the mic directly into the radio and have Xmit audio.

No audio running through the RRC control. I'm keying up the radio, no audio.

Thanks,
Tom
W5GV

27

General discussion forum / Almost had it working - Questions

« on: 2014-03-29, 04:08:23 »

First question is after setting up DMZ on my router and getting my RRC entered into it I was able to connect to the RRC remote web page from my iPhone. Since this it totally outside my DSL router network I'm thinking that I am good to go as far as having the remote RRC available so I can connect to it from home. Is that correct?

From there I thought I was ok, but I took everything apart to set up the radio and rerun all the cables so they are out of the way. After bringing everything back up I could not connect to my remote RRC from my iPhone or connect to my DSL router from my iPhone. I'm guessing the DSL router IP changed. I was out of time, I had already disconnected my computer, and the owner of the building wanted to close up so I will be going back to the remote site tomorrow to see what happened although I'm pretty sure the IP changed.

I did not set up dynamic DNS on the remote rig, nor did I set it up on my modem although it is available on their configuration menu. I'm a little confused as with the DMZ setup the RRC is using the modem IP. I would think I would want dynamic DNS setup on the modem not the RRC. Another option I have is to lease a fixed IP from CenturyLink for 5.95US a month and not worry about it.

I guess I don't understand why I configure dynamic DNS on the RRC when it is running through the DSL router but I know very little about networks as you can tell.

Thanks
Tom
w5GV

28

General discussion forum / Internet Speed Needed

« on: 2014-03-01, 01:30:41 »

So I put in an order with CenturyLink and the fastest speed available at my remote location is 3 mega-bit. Will that be fast enough for voice and digital modes?

29

General discussion forum / Re: Monitoring XMIT audio on TS-480HX

« on: 2014-01-19, 23:59:28 »

Thanks! It is delayed. I had trouble talking with the delay when I got the monitor going. Good to know. I won't go crazy trying to trouble shoot it.

30

General discussion forum / Monitoring XMIT audio on TS-480HX

« on: 2014-01-19, 01:45:46 »

On the Kenwood TS-480HX there is a transmit audio monitor that allows you to listen to yourself when transmitting. I'm getting no audio in my headphones when transmitting. It works with the panel connected to the radio. Watching the ALC I appear to be transmitting audio but nothing coming through the headphones on xmit. I tried using the speaker jack on the control head and the speaker jack on the RRC control. RX audio is fine. Everything else appears to be ok and working.