Good evening -
Just got my hands on a new set of RRC-1258mkII units. They are running 2.41 SW. My intention is to use the units on an IP link to replace some legacy 420MHz link radios between one repeater site and another. There are similar repeater controllers at each site, both with the ability to support multiple links. All I need is TX audio, RX audio, PTT and COR at both ends. Nothing fancy. I hope someone can help me.
The devices are currently sitting on my bench, 1m apart, plugged into a network switch. For my initial testing, the "radio" (R) end has a radio scanner receiver headphone output plugged into the front SP jack, and the "control" (C) end has a speaker plugged into its SP jack. I wired the IO port outputs on each box to 3 LEDs, which are pulled up to VCC supplied on the respective IO connector. I wired the 3 inputs on each side to toggle switches that can switch to ground, supplied on the respective IO connector.
The devices started up in 11 - Transparent Mode. In this mode, the two devices boot up, connect to one another, and in about 15 seconds scanner audio is coming out of the speaker. So far, so good. However, when I try to throw a switch to change input states on either box, there's no effect on the related LED at the other box. In fact, the LED connected to (C) Output0 stays lit all the time. However, I spent quite some time in mode 11, and at least got used to configuring audio packet size and thus delay, the characteristics of different codecs, even got the COM1 transparent mode working between Hyperterm on two different computers. But I can't get the IO to work.
The "program mode" seems critical to correct operation. I'm unfamiliar with most or all of the radios that are specified in Program Mode. And at least my initial problems are around the right setting for that. Since my intended use is pretty easy, I was guessing that if 11-Transparent Mode wasn't the right one, then 0 - Transparent Mode was the correct one. That didn't work either. Here, nothing works until I bring IN1 on the Control side to ground, then immediately there's a click in the local speaker, the link connected lights come on, and audio starts streaming across. When I unground IN1, the link shuts off. But no other IO.
So I've been stepping through the different "mode" selections. It seems that Mode 3 - FT8x7, FT=1000x does what I need, but other modes seem to work as well. But which one is the "right" one for my use?
Also, I notice that in mode 0 and 3 (the only ones I've checked this on so far) that if the (C) IN0 line is grounded, when the (C) box is powered up, both the red and yellow LEDs on the AUX/MIC port light up and never clear, and the link never comes on. If (C) IN0 is left ungrounded, there's no issue. That seems like a bug to me.
Overall, it appears that the devices can do what I need, and the audio quality if very good.
73 - Jon N7UV
