HobbyPCB RS-HFIQ, Quick Start Instructions

Page 1: ...RS HFIQ Quick Start Instructions Jim Veatch WA2EUJ 3 May 2018 Quick Start Instructions ...

Page 2: ... THE STARTECH USB SOUND CARD 12 8 CONNECTING THE PYLE USB MICROPHONE 17 9 CONNECTING THE ADAFRUIT USB SPEAKER 18 10 HARDWARE INSTALLATION SUMMARY 19 11 INSTALLING THE HDSDR SOFTWARE 21 12 INSTALLING THE OMNI RIG SOFTWARE 22 13 INSTALLING EXTIO_SI570 DLL 24 14 CONFIGURING THE HDSDR SOFTWARE 26 15 BASIC OPERATION 30 16 CALIBRATING THE S METER 33 ...

Page 3: ...dio translates two audio frequency signals I and Q to the selected RF frequency The USB Soundcard AKA the StarTech model ICUSBAUDIO2D USB audio adapter During receive it is used to digitize the I and Q signals from the radio and provide a corresponding digital data stream to the computer via USB During transmit the USB soundcard converts a digital data stream from the computer to I and Q signals u...

Page 4: ...he signal and creates a two channel I and Q USB bitstream which is managed by Windows Recording Devices and passed to the HDSDR software that AGC s filters and recovers the voice signal which is passed digitally to Windows Playback Devces and out to the USB speaker Transmit Path red dotted line You talk into the USB microphone which creates a USB bitstream which is passed via Windows Recording Dev...

Page 5: ...appear click on it and follow the instructions to update Windows if necessary Restart your computer The next step is to make sure that the drivers especially sound device drivers that are installed on your computer are up to date We cannot give step by step instructions for this because the procedure varies depending on the manufacturer and model of your computer Check the support section of the c...

Page 6: ...window that appears type set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices 1 without the quotes and press Enter Then type start devmgmt msc and press Enter to start the Device Manager Close the Command Prompt window Click on View in the upper left and then click on Show Hidden Devices ...

Page 7: ...nd game controllers tab for unused audio devices that are no longer attached to your computer Right click and uninstall any devices that you no longer use Close all windows and reboot your computer I am going to stress again how integral the computer is to this radio system If you plan to make frequent hardware and software changes to the computer that is connected to the RS HFIQ and runs HDSDR so...

Page 8: ... you plug the radio s USB port into a different port on your computer the radio will enumerate as a different COM port Wh ll not be able to communicate with the radio and the entire station will stop working until you update If you plug the soundcard microphone or speaker into a different USB port on the computer it will essentially become a new computer and HDSDR sound mapping level settings and ...

Page 9: ...t The RS HFIQ Starter Kit includes a set of stickers so you can label the USB ports for the radio components You might consider finding an old laptop and removing virtually all software from it maybe re install the operating system Then add in the RS HFIQ and other hardware and then add all the software You can run remote desktop software and operate the radio from your main station computer and c...

Page 10: ...llow items should be included with your RS HFI RS HFIQ Radio StarTech ICUSBAUDIO2D USB Soundcard Power supply 13 5V 5A Pyle Pro PDMICUSB6 USB recording microphone 8 HFIQ Starter Kit Pro PDMICUSB6 USB recording microphone ...

Page 11: ...ker Four Port USB hub with power switched with AC power supply and USB3 0 cable Two Audio Cables 3 5mm male to male 6 USB Cable 3 Right Angle Thumb Drive with software reference material and utilities and a sheet of USB labels ...

Page 12: ...and see an installation message 10 HFIQ without installing anything so let s start setting things up In an unused AC plug plug in the 13 5V 5A and the AC supply for the USB hub and connect the DC cord to In an unused AC plug plug in the AC adapter for the USB hub and connect it to the hub Make sure that you computer is on and the operating system is running Locate the USB port where you plan to co...

Page 13: ...you can find out which COM port the RS HFIQ FINDER program In the software thumb drive open the UTILITIES folder and double click After several seconds you ll get the port number of the RS HFIQ jot it down somewhere we ll need it later You can run the RS HFIQ FINDER anytime but if Omni Rig and or HDSR are connected to the RS HFIQ the FINDER won t be able to locate your RS HFIQ You should have two ...

Page 14: ...ver and technical data if necessary Before connecting the StarTech soundcard turn the volume control all the way up fully clockwise and set the EQ switch in the center or DIRECT position Using one the 3 5mm audio cables connect the IQ OUT RX output to the microphone input on the StarTech Using the other 3 5mm audio cable connect the IQ IN TX input to the headphone output on the StarTech ...

Page 15: ...ow will open which after searching for drivers for a few minutes will ask you to reboot your computer After rebooting right click on the sound icon in the tray in the lower right portion of your screen Then select recording devices bringing up the Windows Sound panel You can also access the sound panel by clicking on or and typing sound You will see that the StarTech Microphone identified as USB A...

Page 16: ...ect some other recording device and set it as default by single clicking on device and selecting Set Default at the bottom of the panel When the another device has been set as the default recording device single click on the StarTech USB Audio Device and select properties then click on the Levels tab and set the Microphone slider to 0 zero ...

Page 17: ...ck at the Windows Sound Panel so click on Playback and you see that the StarTech Speakers are set as the default playback device Under no circumstances should the sound device attached to the RS HFIQ be the default sound device You MUST select some other sound device and set it as default by single clicking on device and selecting Set Default at the bottom of the panel ...

Page 18: ...ht Click on OK on the Speaker Properties panel and then click on OK on the Sound panel to close it PRO TIP If the StarTech is ever disconnected and connected to a different USB port you will have to repeat these steps before you can use the StarTech PRO TIP If the StarTech is only sound device on your computer you will have no choice but to set it as the default device Once we install the USB micr...

Page 19: ...port the StarTech sound card and the Pyle USB microphone When you plug the Pyle USB microphone into the computer you will see an installation message If you click on the installation message another window will open which will eventually look like this The USB microphone is now ready to go You can register your Pyle USB microphone and warranty information support is included in the microphone s pa...

Page 20: ...StarTech sound card and the Adafruit USB speaker When you plug the Adafruit USB speaker into the computer you will see an installation message If you click on the installation message another window will open which will eventually look like this The Adafruit USB speaker is now ready to go and this completes the hardware setup for your station You can use the Adafruit USB speaker as the Windows def...

Page 21: ...o Device are used as the output of the receiver to produce voice and CW sounds The StarTech headphone output Speakers USB Audio Device are the I and Q signals that drive the transmitter in the RS HFIQ Depending on the other sound devices installed in your computer the list you see may be different from the list above but the Adafruit USB Speakers and StarTech Speakers will be present For playback ...

Page 22: ...d to the I and Q output of the RS HFIQ s receiver The Pyle USB Microphone USB PnP Audio Device is the microphone you will use to transmit during voice mode transmissions Depending on the other sound devices installed in your computer the list you see may be different from the list above but the Pyle USB Microphone and StarTech Microphone will be present For the StarTech Microphone we set the gain ...

Page 23: ...ly reviewing the freeware license click I agree to the agreement then click NEXT Leave the default installation folder unchanged and click NEXT Click NEXT again to create a folder in the START menu Check the boxes if you would like a desktop shortcut and or a Quick launch shortcut and click NEXT Review the installation choices and click Install Un check the Launch HDSDR box and click Finish Do not...

Page 24: ...s to allow the software to install then click Next on the first screen of the Omni Rig Setup Wizard Click on or and typing computer then click on the computer icon to open another file explorer window Double click Local Disk C Programs Files x86 folder Afreet folder OmniRig folder Rigs folder Drag and Drop the HR 50 and RS HFIQ files from the thumb drive OmniRig folder into the Rigs folder ...

Page 25: ...ck on the Omni Rig icon Make the following changes to the default settings Click on OK to close the Omni Rig Settings window You can run the RS HFIQ FINDER program on the software thumb drive in the UTILITIES folder if you don t know which COM port the RS HFIQ is on ...

Page 26: ...the EXTIO_SI570 folder and double click on setup exe Click Run to allow the software to install then click Next to start the CFGSR Setup Window Click Next allowing the software to install in the default directory and Next again to begin installation Click OK on and security windows that pop up and Close when the installation is complete The installation created a CFGSR icon on your desktop which y...

Page 27: ... 25 Drag and Drop the ExtIO_Si570 DLL and libusb0 dll files from the thumb drive EXTIO_SI570 folder into the HDSDR folder ...

Page 28: ...start the program If the software is running click on at the bottom left part of the screen Click Options Misc Options Autostart so that the SDR does not automatically run when the program is started Click Options Input Channel Mode for RX Swap I and Q Channel for RX Input ...

Page 29: ...lick Options Misc Options set LO Tune Offset in the window that opens enter 0 zero then click OK Click Options Misc Options Tune fixed to LO Tune Offset Click Options CAT to Radio Omni Rig sync Rig1 inactive ...

Page 30: ...crophone input For TX Input from Microphone select Microphone USB PnP Audio Device which is the Pyle USB Microphone For RX Output to Speaker select Speakers USB 2 0 Device which is the Adafruit USB speaker For TX Output to Radio select Speakers USB Audio Device which is the StarTech Headphone output If any of your sound devices are disconnected and plugged into a different USB port you will have t...

Page 31: ...nd 12000 for the output Click in the X in the upper right to close the window Click Optione TX Enable TX Button for Omni Rig 1 HDSDR is now fully configured and ready to operate Detailed HDSDR operating information is located on the web at https sites google com site g4zfqradio installing and using hdsdr ...

Page 32: ...dBm The upper half of the display shows the RF spectrum everything that s happening on the band The maximum width is determined by the sampling rate of the sound card 96 kHz in this case The tuned frequency is at the center of the display and the light blue area in the RF spectrum is the portion of the band that is being actively processed and appears in the Audio display ...

Page 33: ...you can define your own lists Remember that the RS HFIQ can only tune from 3 to 30 MHz Requests for frequencies outside this range are ignored There are also keyboard shortcuts for tuning CTRL Page UP and CTRL Page Dn shift the frequency by the width of the RF spectrum CTRL left arrow and CTRL right arrow move the frequency by the step increment CTRL V switched between the A and B VFOs Q brings up...

Page 34: ...perate in AM or FM modes set this value to 4000 Hz Bandwidth Selection Change the bandwidth by clicking and dragging the red lines in the audio spectrum display Holding SHIFT and pressing the arrow keys also changes the bandwidth Left right change the upper cut off frequency and up down change the lower cut off Pressing W brings up a bandwidth setting window which allows you to enter a specific ba...

Page 35: ... in HDSDR 33 CALIBRATING THE S METER in test BIT oscillator to calibrate HDSDR s S meter The front end gain of the RS band with lower gain at the low frequencies and higher gain on the upper bands so for the most reading you can set the S Mete Set the frequency in HDSDR to the frequency where you would like to calibrate the S Meter HFIQ Control Panel program located in the UTILITIES folder on the ...

Page 36: ...owed by OK to exit Return to the RS HFIQ Control Panel and click on BIT OFF to stop the test signal 34 In HDSDR click on Options Calibration Settings then click on the S Meter Calibration tab Click on the Reset Calibration at the bottom of the screen 62 in the Correct Level dBm box then click the Calculate button followed by OK to exit HFIQ Control Panel and click on BIT OFF to stop the test signa...