After some struggle I have successfully managed to interface CAT control between Wfview, Log4OM and WSJT-X on my IC-7300 with great stability! How did I do it? I followed the simple instructions in the manual (hamlib rigctld emulation) and was up and running in 5 minutes.
So why am I posting here about a struggle? My goal, like many, was to simply interface my transceiver to various software via a USB single cable. When searching how to share CAT data between software I did encounter the instructions linked above, but everything I read about rigctld suggested this was the method for remote control over a network, so I skipped over this. Then I fell into the wormhole of countless posts about using virtual serial port emulators, different CAT engines, and various CI-V setting trying to accomplish this task. I tried several approaches based on suggestions from the forum only to achieve limited, unstable success.
I have a strong suspicion that many users that continue to post their struggles with getting various ham software to share CAT data are confused the same way I wasāassuming the Hamlib rigctls emulation setup is not relevant to a transceiver directly interfaced by USB. So this post is to hopefully offer some clarity.
Wfview is an awesome opensource piece of software. If I may offer a kind suggestion, it would be helpful to add an introductory statement in the instructions to clarify that Hamlib rigctls emulation setup is also for directly interfaced transceivers without the need for virtual com port emulators.
Hi Anthony,
Iām one of those struggling with the same software issues. I think the VSPE wormhole has been created by several YT posts from a well known Ham Vlogger. Will follow your suggestions and see where it gets me.
Kind regards
Peter Juett
Unit 385/36 Hillier Rd.,
Hillier SA 5116
0418802049
pjuett@adam.com.au
Hopefully this helps Peter. The only minor annoyance I have found is that the Hamlib engine appears to not recognize VFO B on Icoms so the TX freq is not recorded in the log. This is a worthwhile tradeoff with getting VSPE out of the loop. I found it mentally taxing to have to go through the whole start-up routine of remembering to open multiple apps in a specific order to get things to talk to each other, and then crash the virtual port if you close an app and try to open it again.
Itās so much easier to just open Wfview first and then be able to reliably open and close the other apps.
I have my IC-7300 in a hardcase in the back of my camper van and control it remotely through Wfview. Manually turning the transceiver on/off to reset the COM port with VSPE was a deal breaker. So far the system using Rigctld has been very solid, allowing me to power on/off the transceiver through Wfview, then start all the other programs as needed.
I have done the same as Anthony, works like charme. My only annoyance is, that there is no way to find out, if the IC7300 is powered off. I have written a small script, which integrates the IC7300 nicely in my home or shack automation. I.e. it switches antennas, when the IC7300 does band changes or puts an 24/7 SDR RX to a dummy load, when the IC7300 is in use.
Fun fact, I also run a camper van, but currently I have only VHF including 10m installed there. HF is done remotely via the IC7300 at home.
The only thing I am really missing is a wfview client for Android. Currently I am accessing the raspberry attached to the IC7300 via VNC. However, that does not support sound. For this I am using Mumble. Unfortunaley, I am currently not able to send voice to the IC7300. It never leaves the rapsberry (not a wfview problem). So with this setup I am good for digimodes and CW. For voice TX I need to carry a Laptopā¦
Thanks Roeland. I did a quick test and always got an error. However, I am currently in the camper and will have a closer look, when I am back in the shack. Same for nomachine. I tried it together with SparkSDR, but didnāt work for tx voice. But I will do this again with wfview.
In my version of WFView (ver 1.64) I have an extra setting in āSettings>External Controlā under Waterfall Format, with a check box titled āEnable USB Controllerā. If you have an Icom RC-28 remote control you can setup this USB controller by checking this box and opening up āSetup USB Controllersā. Here you can set up two pages with VFO A and VFO B on separate pages and use the F1 and F2 buttons on the controller to switch between VFOās.
The cool thing about WFView is that is has an F Lock function that locks the frequency dial and control from the RC-28, so you canāt accidently bump the dial on the controller. The Icom RS-BA1 software doesnāt include this feature.
Hi Roeland,
still being on the road (APRS DL3EL-14), I have tried nomachine, with no luck on the audio. Perhaps you have some help available.
The current setup is a Raspberry 4 @home with Bullseye exclusively for the IC7300. Next to WFView it has FLDigi and WSJT-X installed, plus a couple of not radio related tools.
When I connect from my Android tablet, I use VNC and when sound is necessary (e.h. CW), I get it via Mumble. That works quite well, however, only for RX. When I TX, voice will never leave the Raspberry to the IC7300. Btw, it is just the same as with my HL2/SparkSDR setup.
So yesterday I have tried nomachine. The server on the raspberry, the client on my tablet. Communication works, but without any audio
