Rig Control of my IC706MK2G with RMS Express
Submitted by w8nyy on Fri, 04/30/2010 - 03:28.
I have no issue with controlling the IC-706MK2G when I use my BlueTooth laptop and RMS Express. It's just when I'm using the USB cable connected to the computer from the SCS Pactor to the computer. The connection from the Pactor modem is a data cable going from the rig control out on the SCS Pactor modem going to the C-IV input on the
706. The set up calls for the C-IV address which according to my Icom set up is
58h and as the instructions in the Help file say, I included the h in the
address as 58h. When I go to open the Session as WL2K Pactor it goes to
initialize the modem and shuts down the RMS Express program all together.
Essentially a crash of the program.
I tried it both with the h in the hex set up of the C-IV address and without the
h. It will key up the all right when I can get it to at least not crash but it
won't change the frequency. Now RMS Express just crashes. By the way, I did
check the firmware on the SCS PTCIIusb Bluetooth Pactor and it's 4.0 so that's
not it.
My SCS PTCIIusb BlueTooth worked perfectly with Airmail and Rig Control.
Bob, W8NYY
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Rig Control IC-706 MK2G
Hallo Bob,
I don´t know, whether you could fix the problem in the meantime, but anyway
let me write some comments, since I am using the IC-706 as well.
1. The IC-706 MK2G uses, as you described correctly, "58h" as remote control
address by factory default. This must be set exactly in that way in the
software, which you have in use.
2. For the remote control there is also a speed adjustment. Set the speed at
the radio on "Auto", so I did with my Icom rigs. Then the radio will
recognize the data speed automatically.
3. Remote via the PTC: May be there is a problem, that the software and the PTC
don´t like to communicate with each other. Therefore you may try to do the
remote control directly from the computer to the CIV-jack of the radio, by
the use of a separate COM-port. So do I with my PTC-IIex, which has not a
remote functionality. I am using a modified OPC-478 cable, connected at a
separate COM-port of my computer and it works pretty well.
4. I have heard about many CIV adapters, which shall be not compatible with
the Icom protocol and therefore not working. The same issue may happen, when
USB/COM converters are deployed. I had the case here, that my galvanically
separated USB converter does not work together with the same, equal model
at the same time. So I have to use the USB-converter together with my sound-
card-interface (which includes a CIV-tool), in order to control my 706.
5. Ensure, that no ther software tries to use the COM-port, which is in use
for remote control, due it will lead to collisions and failures.
As you see, there are many issues you can figure out now and you may give me
a feedback.
Thorsten Wilke/DK1ESD
SysOp of Hamburg RMS/DM0ESD