Remoterig, HRD and Signalink USB Setup

[W8RID]

Just got the Remoterig setup and running correctly.
Using an IC-706
Have the Control head of Remoterig and the Face plate of the IC-706 at my Dad's QTH.
Have the Radio head of Remoterig and the Radio body at my QTH.
At my Dad's he has a Signalink USB.
Had it hooked up to the IC-706, before separating them, and it was working fine.
Now that they are separated, does anyone have any idea as to how to hook them back up and get HRD in the mix??

I know that we can hook the Signalink USB into the mic. port on the radio head and make it work.
But how do you make the connection between the radio and HRD when the radio body is at my QTH??

Bob
W8RID

[dj0qn]

Bob,

For the Signalink, it is very easy: you just plug it into the control RRC as if it is the rig. The audio out
goes into the MIC connector and the audio in from the speaker jack.

For CAT, I am not completely sure how the IC-706 does this, but Mike can answer. Either you need to run
a level converter between the CIV jack on the IC-706 and the radio RRC's COM2 and then pull it off the control
RRC's COM2, or perhaps you can just use COM0 for CAT and just change COM2 to "logical parallel with COM0"
and use COM2 that way. You either hook a standard serial cable to COM2 on the control RRC, or change
COM2 to use USB on the settings page and use the Windows virtual port instead.

Mike or someone can say which method works, but one of these two will for sure.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

[W8RID]

Mitch:

Sorry I have not gotten back to you sooner. There has been some medical issues with my dad that have been taken care of and he is on the road to recovery now.

Just now getting back to trying to figure this out.

Only going to try and get the Signalink up and running right now.

You are telling me to plug the signalink into the Control RRC. Is that into the same port on the RRC as the head of the IC706 is plugged into? If it is where do I plug the head of the IC706 into.
I understand the speaker plug.

Thanks

[dj0qn]

Hi Bob,

Glad to hear that your dad is getting better.

No, I said to plug the Signalink into the MIC (AUX/MIC) connector. The control head is plugged into the TTL connector.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

[W8RID]

Mitch:

Was just able to get back to my Dad's to implement your connections.

Well, it did not go so well.

If I plug the Signalink into the (Aux/Mic) like you said then I have no where to plug the control head into. I know you said to plug it into the TTL port on the RRC Control. But the TTL port is a standard phone jack plug not a Cat5 cable RJ45.

That is beside the point at the moment.

When I wanted to start over a few posts ago I'm pretty sure I started with the wrong item first. I should have started with getting HRD connected and up and running.

That is what we need to do now. Even if I could have connected like you said, I could not have done any digital communication with the signalink because we had no connection between the Radio Head and the Radio body.

So, With that being said, lets start over one more time with how do we get the RRC's and the radio sections to connect up and use HRD for logging and Radio control??

We will get back to the Signalink after that.

Thanks

Bob
W8RID
 

[dj0qn]

Bob,

I for some reason thought you were using a TS-480. I would prefer to defer your questions to Mike or
someone else for Icom setup. I have a lot of experience with Elecraft, Yaesu and Kenwood, but have never
used an Icom rig on this system before. Apparently it uses only the RJ45 to connect, so probably some
sort of splitter is necessary for the Signalink.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

[W8RID]

Mitch:

Can you get my posts to Mike or can you tell me where to send them??
He doesn't post with his call sign.

Bob
W8RID

[dj0qn]

Mike runs this list and will read the postings when he has time. He has a lot of Icom experience.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

[sm2o]

I dont know if it me you are vaiting for ? To connect a signallink to a ICOM, look at the Signallink manual and configure it as described for the IC-706 mic connector. Then use a straight RJ45 cable and connect between the Signallink and  the frontpanel mic jack. If it's not a 706 connect the cable direct to the RRC mic jack ( the RRC has to configured for ICOM in general). The mic and Signallink cannot be connected at the same time, you have to change the cables or making some kind of switch

73 de mike

[W8RID]

Mike:

We have the IC706 up and running using the RRC units. (we do have an internet problem cutting in and out but that is being addressed)

We had 2 more set ups we wanted to get done. In the beginning I asked both questions. How do you set it up for Signalink and How do you get it set up to run HRD.

We then thought that trying to do both was not the way to go. So we decided to pick the Signalink. Well, if the HRD is not connected and running, Using the Signalink is very difficult.

So what we want to do right now is get the RRC units and the IC706 hooked up so my Dad, W8JFQ, can use HRD with the setup.

After we get that accomplished we will look at getting the Signalink up and running.

So, with that all being said, how do we get the IC706, RRC units and HRD to work together??

Bob
W8RID

[sm2o]

That's no problem. Connect a ICOM CT-17 CI-V interface betwen the Radio-RRC com2 and the Radio CI-V connector. Setup com2 in both RRCs to mode 1 and set the same baudrate as the IC706 is set to (9600 is OK). Connect the PC to Control-RRC com2.

73 de mike

[W8RID]

Mike:

I'm pretty sure I understand what you are talking about.

For the RRC Radio Unit:
I need to get the ICOM CT-17.
I need to get/or make the CI-V cable to go from the Radio body to the CT-17. (anything special about this cable?)
I need to get the RS-232 to female DB9 cable. (just a standard off the shelf one?)

For the RRC Control Unit:
I need to get the DB9 male to USB cable (Anything special about this cable?)

Bob
W8RID

[sm2o]

yes

a 3.5 mm standard stereo cable for CI-V and a on the shelf straight RS-232 cable

On controlside you can use the supplied USB cable and set com2 to use USB if you do not have a RS-232 port at the computer, see manual

73 de mike

[W8RID]

Mike:

Have been researching the CT-17.

It looks like it comes with a DC power cord and a basic CI-V cable.

On eBay I have seen them and a few of them said "Does not come with software"

What does that mean? Is there software required to run these things because I am not finding anything on them about software.

Bob
W8RID

[W8RID]

Mike:

Have the CT-17 in place and hooked up as per your instructions.

That's no problem. Connect a ICOM CT-17 CI-V interface betwen the Radio-RRC com2 and the Radio CI-V connector. Setup com2 in both RRCs to mode 1 and set the same baudrate as the IC706 is set to (9600 is OK). Connect the PC to Control-RRC com2.

So far we have not been able to get HRD to connect to the radio. We even tried the Mode 2 (Icom CI-V) but got the same results.
So was are back to mode 1.
We have the cable from the radio plugged into port 5 on the IC-706 which by the manual states that it is the CI-V port. The other end is plugged into port 1 on the CT-17. Yes we have power to the CT-17.

Tried setting the detects in HRD to Auto for Com port and baud rate. that failed to connect also.
We tried to input everything manually accept the Com port (auto) and that failed too.

Is there something that we are missing or did not do??