APPLE WATCH & IC-7610
It has a swinging s-meter and an animated waterfall. How cool's that??
It comes from an app called CLOCKOLOGY which provides amazing watch faces and allows a high degree of customisation too. Costs £1.79pm. I'm not advertising - I'm just putting the info here that I know I'll be asked for.
73, Tom, M7MCQ.
Connecting your SDRPLAY to your IC-7610
The Icom IC-7610 has a different arrangement. It has RX-IN/RX-OUT BNC sockets on the back which form an RX loop, allowing you to insert a receiver inline. This means that you are never putting your SDRPLAY (or whichever receiver you use) at risk. I thought originally that I could just plug my SDRPLAY into the 7610's RX out, but when I did, I got nothing! Apparently, you need to place the external receiver into the loop using a splitter (see the diagram that I sketched above).
Why Icom chose this method over the simpler one employed by Yaesu on the FT-DX3000, I have no idea. Presumably there's a benefit or it's due to the fact that the IC-7610 has Dual Receivers and very comprehensive antenna switching capabilities - I don't know.
By using a high quality splitter such as a Mini-Circuits ZCS-2-2+ or a Diamond SS-500, you can be assured that you are also providing a good degree of isolation between your transceiver's receiver(s) and the external receiver. Typically, you're talking about more than 30dB isolation, so there's very little chance of interference from one receiver to another.
At the time of purchase, the Mini-Circuits splitter wasn't available anywhere in the UK - fresh stock wasn't expected for another 3 months, so I turned to the Diamond SS-500 which is beautifully made but at £80 is horribly expensive. The Mini-Circuits device cost around £60. As usual in these Covid times, stock shortages pushes prices up to ridiculous levels, and you have to choose between stumping up the cash or waiting months. I chose the former.
Although the price was higher than those retailers who had no stock 😲 RadioWorld were quick to deliver - it arrived the very next morning and was well packaged.
The Diamond SS-500 is good from 0.5MHz up to 500MHz which falls way short of the SDRPLAY's frequency range, but that's of no consequence to me, since I'm only interested in HF coverage.
I then loaded the latest version of SDRuno along with all the various add-ons and also made sure that OmniRig was running and configured for the IC-7610.
With everything setup correctly I switched on the radio and ran RSDRuno. The two interfaced perfectly and it was good to see the full layout and tools of SDRuno instead of the very limited EXTIO version which I'd tried previously with limited success.
Version 1.4.1.1 is the latest version of SDRuno at the time of writing and is incredibly rich in features. There are a couple of bugs, but the software writers are fully aware of them and are working hard to sort them out. One of them relates to an issue which I personally experienced when trying to use the IF Output of the 7610 through the USB3 connector. It meant that you were unable to click on SDRuno's Scope to tune - you had to use your mousewheel or direct frequency input. That, ultimately, led me to go down the RF path. Hopefully, the patch isn't too far off for those who want to use SDRuno with the 7610's IF Out without an external receiver.
Anyway, the software ran perfectly and it feels good to have SDRuno back on screen, especially this latest version. Things have changed significantly since the last time I connected an RSP to the radio and I'm looking forward to exploring and experimenting.
Below are a couple of images showing the Diamond SS-500 and RSP1A hidden away under the radio shelf and then there's a screenshot of the software up and running. Conditions are poor at the time of testing, so there's not a great deal going on in terms of signals. I’ll post more when conditions (and activity) improves.
If you don't have an external receiver such as the RSP1A and don't want one, you can, of course, use HDSDR as instructed in the IC-7610 Manual. It provides you with a simple panadapter which works very well. You don't need anything other than a USB3 lead.
I'd be interested to know what you have opted for!
If you have any comments or questions, leave them below. Thanks for visiting the blog. 73, Tom, M7MCQ.
icom ic-7610, sdrplay, sdruno, rsp1a, rspdx, rspduo, diamond ss-500
HDSDR & SDRUNO
If you have Ham Radio Deluxe (or similar) you can control the radio from the computer screen and it feels more natural to make adjustments on the screen that you're looking at. But HRD (and this is just my opinion) is really quite boring to look at and the scope and waterfall facility is quite poor and not at all easy to setup.
My favourite piece of radio-related software is actually SDRPLAY's SDRUNO but that doesn't integrate directly with the IC-7610 but HDSDR does!! Thankfully, Icom purposely made it possible to easily integrate HDSDR and they included full instructions in their manual. It's extremely simple and straightforward and I recommend that you do it.
Please note that in order to keep your transceiver, tune frequency and LO frequency synchronised, you need to got into the ExtIO settings ( ExtIO onscreen button) and tick the option for synchronising both ways.
SO THAT’S HDSDR RUNNING! You can stop there and enjoy it.
Many people will be satisfied with HDSDR but personally I think SDRPLAY's SDRUNO is infinitely more sophisticated and offers better control of the radio. And the good news is, once you've got HDSDR up and running, it's then simple to add SDRUNO because HDSDR installs everything that you need.
DO NOT skimp on quality when buying this cable - buy a double-shielded one of good quality!!! And don't buy one longer than you need to. Use a piece a piece of string between your radio and PC to determine the minimum length of cable you can get away with.
So with HDSDR installed and running, you now need to copy a folder and a file to the "DOCUMENTS FOLDER" of your PC. That folder and file can be seen in the image below. Locate them, copy them and then paste them into your Windows documents folder.
Now you're ready to download the SDRUNO SOFTWARE and install it as normal. If you are asked which SDRPLAY device you will be using with the software, just select RSP1A (it doesn't really matter which because you won't be using one anyway). You only need to download one file - SDR UNO! Don't bother with anything else.
People might wonder what makes SDRuno better than other similar style software and to me, it's not so much the functions and features (although that's very important), it's the efficiency of the software in terms of how slick it is, how fast it operates, how glitch-free it is and how regularly updated it is.
Install the SDRUNO SOFTWARE and you will end up with an SDR UNO icon on your desktop but that is NOT the one you'll be using to open the software. If you double-click that one by mistake, it will go looking for an RSP1A device, won't find one and will close down.
What we need to do to start the software is run a different tool. Go into your Windows Menu by clicking in the bottom left corner of your desktop and in the list of programs, find SDRPLAY and go to the SDR ExtIO icon and right click it so you can run it as Administrator (you can save a copy to your desktop while you're there).
The software will now run and will start with the initial panel open. From there you can click on the buttons to open the RX window, SP1 & SP2 to open the scope and waterfall. If you're used to SDRuno, you'll very quickly figure it out, but if you're new to it, you'll probably have to watch a few YouTube videos to understand and fully benefit from this fabulous software.
If you try an older version of SDRuno that is already on your PC, you'll need to pay particular attention to the part of the instruction videos relating to separating the tune frequency from LO frequency! It's a minor point which if ignored will cause you much grief. I think the very latest software may have removed the requirement to offset - you'll have to check.
That's it! You've got some of the best software in the world running on your PC and controlling your IC-7610. Best of all, it's FREE! The only cost is about 20 minutes of your time. I'll explore more and report back on how practical and useful it is.
Please leave any comments below - and thank you for visiting the blog.
73, Tom, M7MCQ.
UPDATE 30 JAN 2022
After installing SDRuno, I'd been using it as an extra receiver but a friend of mine wanted to use it to control his 7610 completely, so I was on the phone with him trying to sort that out. To be honest, I didn't actually think there was a problem, but we learned that SDRuno wasn't keeping the Radio freq, Tuned freq and LO freq synchronised if you clicked on a signal in the scope.
Adjusting frequency with the mouse wheel was fine, but not if you clicked on a signal.
There has to be a way to resolve that issue and I'll update when I find it. I noticed also that opening the SDRuno software with the ExtIO icon meant that there was no SaveWS button to save your workspace, so each time you open the program, you have to lay out the various panels all over again.
I might end up simply connecting my RSP1A to the RX-OUT of the IC-7610.
Update 3 FEB 2022
Apparently, SDRuno V1.4.1.1 has a bug which is causing this inability to click on the scope to tune when using IF output mode as opposed to using RF. It will be fixed soon.
UNCLE ROBERT
When I was a baby, my Dad died from stomach cancer. Back in the 1950's he and his brother left Portadown, Northern Ireland and set off for a new life in nearby England. Bolton to be specific. I've no idea why they chose Bolton, but knowing that their family of 13 were living in a tiny 2-up, 2-down, I can see why they wanted to leave their Irish home and seek new opportunities elsewhere.
I guess that after my father's death, my Uncle Robert felt it was his duty to step forward and donate some of his time to me and most weekends I would walk over to his house half a mile away.
Despite his seemingly sharp character, he was in fact a very loving man and although he had no money to speak of, he always made sure that he'd got enough to put petrol in his old Ford Popular to take me for an exciting drive to Southport or Blackpool. He would save up pennies and halfpennies in a bag and then give it to me when I reached the fairground or pleasure beach.
More than a provider of rideouts and bags of pennies, my Uncle Robert was also like a teacher of all things exciting. He was a railway engineer and had a passion for anything to do with trains, planes and automobiles. He was keen on learning about mechanics, electronics, radio and TV. Even though he knew it was going way over my head (due to a lack of understanding and a lack of translation), he insisted on showing me how he was going to repair the distributor on his car and maybe adjust the valves.
He collected model cars and model motorcycles and taught me how to build and paint them. Motorbikes were another passion of his and although he never took me for a ride, he would always involve me in the servicing and maintenance of it.
I remember he'd save me his magazines and when I was ready to go home he'd give me a carrier bag with various mags inside. Little did I know how all these things would impact and guide me later.
Sadly, as I got older, I visited less and less. I discovered the value of girls and pretty soon I was married and having kids myself. Occasionally, I would pop over to see him, to maybe show off my new motorbike (which he thought was just one of those new-fangled rubbish Japanese things). He tried to get me interested in his model railway layout that he'd built in the spare room but I was having none of it and I rode off down the street in a plume of 2-stroke smoke.
And before I knew it, he was gone.
Shame on me!! I always regret being that selfish teenager after he spent so much time providing safe and happy memories for me. He taught me to become curious and he planted countless seeds of interest that would grow into enjoyable hobbies for me later in life.
His influence had led to me serving my time as a car mechanic. I had a passion for cars and motorbikes. I became interested in electronics and used to love making little projects each month from Practical Wireless magazine. I became an avid ShortWave Listener and later an Amateur Radio enthusiast.
I owe a lot to Uncle Robert and although I was the typical selfish teenager, I do remember him and recognise my debt to him. He was a fabulous Uncle - the best! 💖
BUILDING THE QDX 'REV2' BOARD
I recently built the Original QRP-LABS QDX (Rev-1) and everything went very well. It was an enjoyable kit and so I thought I'd purchase the Rev.2 board so I could keep one in the shack and stick one in my 'go-bag'.
I'll state right now that this build did not go well initially - there were problems which drove me nuts and I later found out that it was nothing to do with anything that I'd done - it was a fault on the PCB.
I chose to record all the details of the build (and the struggle) so that anyone else who experiences similar problems may benefit. Bear in mind that this is written from the perspective of a BEGINNER with virtually no electronics knowledge. So here we go....
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| Part built |
This updated kit thankfully didn't have any SMD parts to worry about and I found it extremely easy to build. If I say so myself, I did a great job of all the toroids and was especially proud of my L12 with its awkward taps. It was much neater than the first one I did.
It fitted onto the PCB like it was made to measure and I experienced no problems. Neither did I have any problems with the trifilar T2. I took my time with it and made doubly sure that I had the correct A-A, B-B and C-C. I even went to the trouble of colour-coding them with a touch of acrylic paints (my other hobby is painting) 😊
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| 16 JAN - UK to JAPAN on 4W 😃 |
