Topics

1

General discussion forum / Squeal/noise when activating PTT at Radio Site

« on: 2021-04-03, 22:58:19 »

Hello to the group.

I have been experiencing an issue for quite some time while trying to operate SSB.
I operate a pair of RemoteRig boxes with a K3s/KPA500/KAT500 at my remote station site. I operate a K3/0 on the control side (city). Not a high powered station but it does play well and I have fun. SInce we are not into the third phase of the pandemic I thought of operating more SSB contests from the stations as I am primarily a cw/rtty operator.

The issue I have been wrestling with is that whenever I activate the remote K3s from my control K3/0 for SSB, I experience a "squeal/noise" whether I have audio or not. I have attached a sound file for your info recorded yesterday. I have another receiver at the site and use it along with RemoteHam software to record the output of my K3s station. This recording is of me only hitting my foot switch PTT three times without transmitting any audio. This was recorded at the 10W output level of the K3s.

I have checked and rechecked my settings and jumpers in the RRC control side box, I will be checking the red straps in the Radio Side RRC as well as the power supply (Thank you Mitch, K7DX) when I next get a chance to visit the remote station. I have also made sure that the settings are consistent with what the K3s manual indicates for Mic gain as well as compression but have not been able to find a solution. I am using a Heil  Pro 7 headset and the problem is still there if I connect it directly to the K3/0 without connection to the shack computer. As the recording indicates, the problem is there irrespective of whether there is audio or not. I get the problem whether I use the amplifier (500 Watts) or barefoot even at the 5 – 25 watt levels. The intensity does not appear to change at all with power level.

 The squeal/background noise is so bad that I cannot operate as folks tell me that it is very bad and interferes with my voice. I have checked the various lists and carried out 100's of google searches without success. 

I would be glad to share any settings/config files/other info that you think could be helpful in troubleshooting this issue.

I would greatly appreciate any help/guidance/advice that the group could provide.

Thank you in advance and have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Serge
VA3SB

2

General discussion / For Sale: AS-1289 - SO Remote Controlled 5 Way Antenna Switch

« on: 2020-05-13, 18:01:18 »

Hello everyone.

I have a AS-1289 -SO 5 position antenna switch for sale. It has SO-239 connectors.
It is in excellent operating and physical condition and surplus to my needs.

Asking $220 US + Shipping.

Please let me know if you are interested in seeing photos of the unit.

73

Serge
VA3SB

 

3

General discussion forum / N1MM+ / MMTTY FSK TX Issue

« on: 2017-10-31, 21:24:56 »

Good day to the group.

I am attempting to get my remote setup to work on RTTY (FSK).
I am using a K3s / K3s/0 mini setup. I have the latest version of software installed in both the RRC Control and Radio units.

My setup works just fine on SSB and CW with N1MM+. I am able to receive RTTY no problem.

My issue is that while I am able to get MMTTY to key the radio and transmit on a stand alone basis, when I attempt to use N1MM+ in conjunction with MMTTY I am not keying the radio at all (I have the same PTT/FSK COM Port selected in MMTTY). I do however have CAT control of the radio via N1MM+.

I am using the USB mini connector on the RRC Control unit to connect to my computer. I also get the error message (see attached screen shot) when I attempt to use N1MM+for RTTY.

Please let me know if I need to provide any additional information on my setup to help resolve my issue.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

73

Serge
VA3SB

4

General discussion forum / RRC Control Unit COM Ports

« on: 2017-08-14, 20:29:21 »

Hello to the group.

I am wrestling with COM Port related issues for a few days now. It seemed to work fine on Friday but when I reconnected on Saturday morning I could not connect to my contesting (and logging) software. I did not change any settings.

I have tried to get the Control unit to work with my logging and contesting software (DXLAB and N1MM+) without success. I have tried 4 computers. Three  running W10 and one running W7.
I just received a new Surface W10 laptop and thought that I would try to use it as there should be no conflicts with COM ports as it is brand new.

I downloaded the latest version of Microbit Setup manager and loaded it. I am able to find the control unit using the Setup manager.
When I connect the USB mini cable from the Control unit to the Surface and check Device Manager, I do NOT  see the usual RRC COM Ports such as:
RRC1258 COM0 (COMx)
RRC1258 COM1 (COMx)
RRC1258 COM2 (COMx)
RRC1258 COMExtra (COMx)

What I see is 4 COM ports but the naming convention is (see attached screenshot) not correct:

USB Serial Device X
USB Serial Device X
USB Serial Device X
USB Serial Device X

I have the latest version of Setup Manager and have the latest updates for the Surface installed.

Not quite sure what to make of this?

Assistance/guidance would be greatly appreciated.

73

Serge
VA3SB

5

General discussion forum / RRC Control Unit USB / Virtual COM Ports issue

« on: 2017-04-11, 20:58:15 »

Hello to the group.

My remote system is working very well. However, since yesterday morning, I have been unable to connect any logging software (N1MM+ and DXLab). What I noticed was that after I connect to the remote, I plug the USB cable to the RRC control unit and it does not create the Microbit Virtual COM ports.

I have uninstalled  Microbit Setup Manger and then reinstalled it (v1.31) hoping that it was a driver issue but obtained the same result - no virtual com ports are created when I plug in the USB cable. I have tried three different cables along with two laptops.

I am using software version 2.91 with a Windows 7 and 10 laptop as well as with a K3s and K3/0 Mini.
Not quite sure what happened. The connector on the RRC does not appear to be damaged in any way.

Any assistance as to what I can try next would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks

Serge
VA3SB

6

General discussion forum / ERC Rotor Control / PstRotatorAz and Remote Rig Virtual COM port Issues

« on: 2017-03-16, 01:28:07 »

Hello everyone.

After spending two days trying every possible combination I am reaching out to the forum for some help.

I wonder if someone who is using a ERC controller together with PstRotatorAz and their remote rig boxes could share their settings with me.

I have a ERC - RS232 Version 4 controller installed in a Yaesu G1000DXA rotor.

I tested the unit with a real COM port on my laptop and it works just fine - just can't seem to get it working over the internet.

In my PstRotatorAz software under the Communications tab I have selected RS232/TCP Server. Under the Azimuth COM Port I have selected COM2 as this is the COM port identified on my laptop.
Under the Setup Tab I have the Controller set for ERC-M as per the manual on the ERC website.  I have the ERC set for 9600,8,1,0.

RRC control unit:

COM1 serial settings are:
- mode 3
- 9600 baud
- 8 data bits
- 1 stop bit
- parity 0-off
- rts/cts no
- terminator 00
- USB, no

On the control RRC end I have straight cable (USB to Serial ) going from my Computer COM port on the laptop which is COM2 and I selected COM 2 in the PstRotatorAz software as indicated previously.  This serial cable goes to the COM1 connector on the front of the RCC Control unit.

On the RRC Radio unit end I am using the cable with pins  2 and 3 crossed over as in the manual. This cable goes from COM1 on the radio box to the ERC-M Rotor controller. 

The RRC radio unit

COM1 settings are:

- mode 3
- 9600 baud
- 8 data bits
- 1 stop bit
- parity 0-off
- rts/cts no
- terminator 00

When I start the PstRotatorAz software I expect to see where the rotor is presently (i.e. at the 360 degree position) but when I click on the compass nothing happens. Clearly something is not set up properly. What am I missing.

I am using the RRC software version 2.91.

Any assistance in getting the above to work would be greatly appreciated especially since I am at the remote site for another day or so.

Thanks to all in advance.

73

Serge
VA3SB

7

General discussion / RRC Micro Virtual COM port Issue

« on: 2016-11-20, 20:17:30 »

Hello to the group.

I have been having success using my RRC Micro while travelling in Europe.
However for the past couple of days, I have not been able to connect to my remote station.
FYI - I am using a Windows 7 64Bit laptop with RRC - Micro 1.9.2.0
My radio and Control RRC are using software version 2.91. My transceiver is a Kenwood TS-480.

 I can see that I am able to connect to to the remote Radio RRC via RRC Micro as I can see the packets being received on the RRC Micro screen.

When I then try to connect via the COM port using my control software (ARCP-480, DXLab and/or HRD) I get a message indicating that the software is not able to connect to my COM port (2 in my case). This happens with all three of the above pieces of software.

When I go to device manager and click on Ports (COM & LPT) I do see the Microbit Virtual COM ports (1 - 3) are created. When I then click on Properties for each of these ports, I note that under the general tab the device status indicates that the device is working properly. However if I click on the Resources tab,  I see a message indicating that "This device isn't using any resources because it has a problem." I am curious why one tab would indicate that the device is working and the other that it has a problem? This may well be why the software cannot connect to the virtual COM port. I have tried to connect to all three virtual COM ports (changing the setting in RRC Micro and in my ARCP, DXLAB or HRD software to ensure that they are the same).

I have also tried a number of things to try to correct the problem.

I have:

Uninstalled the RRC-Micro software and reloaded it. i Have reloaded the firmware on the 1274B dongle (1274B-2016-05-03-v2).
I have rebooted my router and RRC Radio at the remote location
I have successfully connected (my xyl was good enough to run that test for me) my RRC Control unit with the front panel of the TS480 to the RRC Radio unit. So the cabling should be fine at the remote location. I have not changed any of the settings on the software I wish to control the radio with.

Any assistance / guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 73

Serge
VA3SB

8

General discussion forum / Issue with CW Transmission using a PC based logging / contest program

« on: 2016-09-06, 02:30:48 »

Hello to the group.

I was participating in a recent cw contest and wondered why I was not making qso's. Even though  I could hear (with the sidetone) and see that the transceiver (TS-480) was being keyed and sending my callsign in cw. I am using the USB connection on the RRC Control unit for CW. I assume that my RRC setup for both the Control and Radio units are correct (as per page 93 of the Remote Rig manual) as I am able to send cw via my paddle without any issues. I have verified that my settings on the TS-480 are set properly for CW. I am suing software version 2.91 on both Control and Radio units.

When I listen to my signal on another transceiver, I realized why no one came back to my calls. It does not sound like CW. It almost appears that the computer generated cw does not have the tone nor the proper dot to dash ratio and sounds like keyclicks. Difficult to describe actually. Unfortunately, I am unable to send my MP3 recording to the group as it is not one of the allowed file types which provides a sample of the audio when I transmit with my paddle followed by transmission using my computer. At first I thought it was a computer USB port issue so I tried using another computer with the same result. I have also used N1MM+ as well as DXLab suite software and the cw generated by computer sounds the same.  Has anyone ever encountered this type of problem. I have no idea what could be causing it.


Thank you very much in advance. Greatly appreciate your assistance.

73

Serge
VA3SB

9

General discussion / RRC Micro Connection issue

« on: 2016-06-15, 09:55:02 »

Hello to the group.
I am having some difficulty with using my RRC Micro system while travelling in Europe.
I am presently using the following software:
RRC MIcro Version 1.10.1
RRC 1258 Version 2.91 Beta (cw support)
1274B Version 2016-05-03-v2
ARCP - 480 Kenwood Software

Just before I left home, I was able to connect successfully to the remote radio and operate with no problem at all.

Upon arriving in Europe, I have been unable to obtain any audio out of the radio. Further after a minute or so the RRC Micro software timesout. I do not see the green in the latency bar nor the audio level in the headset bar on the audio screen. I am attaching a screenshot of both RRC Micro and ARCP 480 Kenwood software.

I also activated the debug operation and have a file that I can send to you for further analysis. The internet service at both my remote site and hotel (Download 5 mbps/Upload 2 mbps) seems to be working fine.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Serge
VA3SB

10

General discussion forum / Issues Connecting to the Remote site

« on: 2016-06-10, 16:48:58 »

Hello to the group.
I've encountered an interesting but frustrating problem.
I am using Software version 2.91 on both Control and Radio units. I have also installed the Beta version of RRC Micro to enable me to send cw via paddles.My radio is a TS-480.

The issue is that when I try to connect to the remote site I keep getting the following error messages under RTP/UDP audio status and UDP CMD status:
 
Status

Name   Value
P5.4   ON
Radio   ON
Connection status   Faulty(See below)
SIP status   Connected/transfering
Last SIP error   None
RTP/UDP audio status   Stalled(23)
UDP cmd status   Error(0)
SIP command timeout   0
Rx Jitter buffer size   6
Rx Jitter delay   4
Dual Rx   0
Current audio packet size   20
Current audio quality   2 - Linear 16 bits 8 kHz
SIP Out port   13000
SIP In port   13000
Audio Out port   13001
Audio In port   13001
Command Out port   13002
Command In port   13002
External SIP In port   13000
External Audio In port   13001
External Cmd In port   13002

Anyone have any idea what could be causing this. It is intermittent as sometimes I am able to connect with both the Control RRC and RRC Micro.
Please let me know if I need to add any additional information to help trouble shoot this problem.

Any assistance/guidance would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

73

Serge
VA3SB

11

General discussion / Lack of Audio using RRC Micro Question

« on: 2016-06-06, 00:39:36 »

Hello to the group.
Not quite sure what the problem is with my lack of audio. I am able to connect to the radio RRC with my control RRC and all works fine. I then disconned the Control RRC and attempt to connect to the radio RRC via RRC Micro. I am able to connect to the Radio RRC as can be seen from the attached photo. However, I cannot figure out how to get audio to my headset or speakers. Tried various settings. Probably something simple but I cannot see to be able to figure it out.
I am hoping to load the latest RRC Micro software to enable me to send CW via the paddle. I have a business trip coming up and would like to try to operate from Europe.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

73

Serge
VA3SB

12

General discussion / RRC Micro Audio selection issue

« on: 2016-06-02, 20:37:08 »

Hello to the group.

I just purchased a 1274B and using it in conjunction with a Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 computer. The Radio RRC 1258 has software version 2.87 installed (wanted to get this working before making the upgrade to the latest version). I am using a Kenwood TS-480 Transceiver at the remote location.

I first installed the Micro Software version 1.92. When I attach the dongle to the computer, I do not see the 1274B audio card when I go to Device Manager. I do not see any choices for the MIC and for Speaker I see two entries Communications Headphones (IDT H and Speakers / HP IDT High Definition. I have also tried to restart the computer with no change.

Will try to uninstall RRC Micro and re-install the software after rebooting the computer.

Thank you in advance.

73

Serge
VA3SB

13

General discussion forum / Problem with N1MM+ and TS-480

« on: 2016-05-28, 01:06:17 »

Hello to the group.
IN preparing for the CQWW CW contest I am running into a couple of issues. First, I am not able to use the CW macros as when I right click on the macro buttons the program indicates that the Mode Control is in RTTY and not CW. I have also posted this issue to the N1MM+ user group.
The second issue is loosing CAT control on a regular basis. It works for a minute or so then I get an error that the Radio COM CAT port is not installed. Yet I do see the correct com port in Device Manager.

I am using a Kenwood TS-480 transceiver and am at the remote radio location.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciate. Shouldn't have waited to test the radio so close to the contest but thought everything was working.

73

Serge
VA3SB


I am using a

14

General discussion forum / RTTY Operation TS-480 and either DX Lab Suite or N1MM+ software

« on: 2016-04-25, 23:49:02 »

Good evening to the group.

I have been trying unsuccessfully for quite a while to get FSK RTTY operating with my TS-480 and DX Lab/N1MM+ software.

I have followed the instruction in the Remote Rig manual and tried many combination of settings in both software packages  without success.

I would be most appreciative to hear from anyone using the above noted software in FSK RTTY mode with a Kenwood TS-480.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

73

Serge
VA3SB

15

General discussion forum / Using a Rigblaster II with a TS-480 for PSK

« on: 2016-04-12, 16:36:00 »

Good morning to the group.

I am having some difficulty using my rigblaster with my TS-480 for PSK. As I had a Rigblaster II sitting on the shelf I thought I would put it back into service.

I  hooked up the RS-232 port to the laptop and am able to turn the tx on using PTT. However, I am not able to get any modulation. I also have checked that the jumpers in the Rigblaster are properly installed for  Kenwood radios.

I assume that I could use a straight through ethernet cable to connect the RRC (aux/mic connector) to the ethernet port on the back of the Rigblaster. Is my assumption correct?

I have checked and double checked the audio connections but just cannot seem to get any modulation. I am able to receive no problem at all as well as to activate PTT from my software (DXLAB).

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

73

Serge
VA3SB