Under settings Ref Adjust it is possible to do fine & coarse adjustments.
But is it possible to toggle/access the “sync to ref in” settings ? I cant find this in ICOMs CAT lists.
Hi Nigel,
I just looked through the 9700 commands and I don’t see a way to toggle it.
Personally, I find the OEM reference to be rather disappointing in that it is not actually locking but rather just comparing and adjusting at regular intervals. I use this board and a GPS-referenced generator on my 9700:
Glad you found the reference adjust — I don’t think many people have ventured that far.
—E
de W6EL
if I am not mistaken, the control software of ICOM (CS-9700) can fetch the setings and save them as well. So maybe not documented or something.
I also have the ref board, for 23cm needed, for digital modes on 2/70 I did not need it with full power and wspr. But YMMV.
I have the Bodnar unit installed on my home 9700.
We have been running a 10Mhz OCXO on a remote station (400km away) with excellent results.
In fact - for all intents and purposes it works so well that going forward I would be hard pressed recommending spending the extra $$$ on a Bodnar unit.
The issue, we have is that after a power cut, the radio is no longer synced with the OCXO.
Could be a few reasons 
Power supply - unlikely uses same PSU as radio
Loose cable/connection - unlikely but possible
OCXO - failure - possible
Radio lost settings after power cut - possible/likely
Since the unit is unattended and resides in an AirBnB, we cant physically get to the radio.
So the ability to toggle the Sync to Ref from the remote computer would really help in managing the radio and identify what the issue is.
This might be a good question for Icom’s tech support. If you find a CI-V command do let us know.
Maybe there is something you can do using the SD card’s storage settings?
I only saw the internal reference annoy me on 1.2 GHz. It was acceptable otherwise.
—E
de W6EL
I have had a discussion with Ray Novak from Icom America on that issue.
The command to enable external SYNC in IC-9700 is not in place by design.
So there is no way nor plans to provide a CI-V command for that.
The same for IC-905.
VY 73
Hi Dawid,
Well, drat, that’s too bad, as it seems like it would be useful!
I’m very interested that he spoke about the 905! I have so many questions about that rig!
Thanks for following up with us,
–E
de W6EL
the settings as far as I know can be read and written though over USB with the CS9700 tool.
But then again. I don’t really understand a good reason for it anyways. I “modified” my 9700 with the Bodnar board. non-intrusive and 10 minutes work including making coffee.
It’s a set and forget thing.
The issue is if your reference goes on the fritz and you are accessing the radio remotely. You can’t turn off the misbehaving reference and you can’t stop the radio from trying to use it.
The solution is probably a relay on the signal (the SMA connector) with some kind of remote toggle.
the chance that you need to restart the 9700 is many times greater than the ref going haywire (the bodnar board).
being able to restart the 9700 is something you need much more.
But the original question is exactly what I’m saying, his reference sometimes had an issue so he wanted to stop the 9700 from using it, at least temporarily. Low chance sure, but not impossible. Could happen with a Leo injection scheme too, although mine hasn’t as far as I know.
I am pretty sure you can toggle it via cs9700. and you can do that remotely too. Don’t exactly recall all the details and need to start windows, connect usb etc. so maybe tomorrow.
“The issue, we have is that after a power cut, the radio is no longer synced with the OCXO.”
I think because ou are outside of the syncing range. So I still say that a bodnar board will arrest this issue 100%. There is no syncing involved, the rig gets forced from the outside.
