Rigblaster Duo Fun
I recently bought a Rigblaster Duo to use with my IC-756 Pro III and IC-746 Pro. There are some good resources online but I wanted to add my two cents worth.
First, here is the link to West Mountain Radio, the designers and builders of the unit.
There are a few things you need to know if you install one. First, follow the directions to the letter when you set it up. It is a multi-step process and it must be done in order. A word to the wise, before you plug in cables, make sure you are using the right one. There are mono and stereo plugs, so be careful. As well, if you use an Icom and are doing CAT control, you will need to wire a stereo to mono plug. The instructions are in the Icom manual. Make sure it is wired properly.
Make sure you have the wiring diagram of your microphone so that you can correctly install the jumpers in the unit. It is not hard at all but the manual does not have all the mic connections to all the radios. Take your time with this and check and double check your wiring.
This is very important: The Duo uses virtual ports as opposed to one port for rig control and one for PTT. This can be confusing but it need not be. What this means simply is this: if you are using a program for rig control it is assigned to one of the virtual com ports and the PTT is assigned to another. If you are doing this, you must make sure that the blue jumpers in the Duo are correctly set up so that PTT and CAT are not on the same port. If you don't this will totally confuse the unit and everything will be nearly unusable. So, let's say you are using DM780 and Ham Radio Deluxe. Your PTT will need to be assigned to one port (lets say PTT B in the blue jumper) and the CAT to the other virtual com port. You want to make sure that in DM780 you choose the DM780 to key the PTT and not 'follow' the PTT from HRD. (This is leftmost choice in the PTT setup in DM780). The HRD will read the first com port and the DM780 will read the other port.
The blue jumpers are in circled by a yellow circle in the top right quadrant of the Duo.
Notice the positions of the jumpers. From the bottom, PTT is on B (this is com4). Therefore, in the HRD software, the other virtual port (in my case com 3) is chosen.
So how does the unit work?
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And to have full digital control on both radios is a joy. Here is a good review.
First, here is the link to West Mountain Radio, the designers and builders of the unit.
There are a few things you need to know if you install one. First, follow the directions to the letter when you set it up. It is a multi-step process and it must be done in order. A word to the wise, before you plug in cables, make sure you are using the right one. There are mono and stereo plugs, so be careful. As well, if you use an Icom and are doing CAT control, you will need to wire a stereo to mono plug. The instructions are in the Icom manual. Make sure it is wired properly.
Make sure you have the wiring diagram of your microphone so that you can correctly install the jumpers in the unit. It is not hard at all but the manual does not have all the mic connections to all the radios. Take your time with this and check and double check your wiring.
This is very important: The Duo uses virtual ports as opposed to one port for rig control and one for PTT. This can be confusing but it need not be. What this means simply is this: if you are using a program for rig control it is assigned to one of the virtual com ports and the PTT is assigned to another. If you are doing this, you must make sure that the blue jumpers in the Duo are correctly set up so that PTT and CAT are not on the same port. If you don't this will totally confuse the unit and everything will be nearly unusable. So, let's say you are using DM780 and Ham Radio Deluxe. Your PTT will need to be assigned to one port (lets say PTT B in the blue jumper) and the CAT to the other virtual com port. You want to make sure that in DM780 you choose the DM780 to key the PTT and not 'follow' the PTT from HRD. (This is leftmost choice in the PTT setup in DM780). The HRD will read the first com port and the DM780 will read the other port.
The blue jumpers are in circled by a yellow circle in the top right quadrant of the Duo.
Notice the positions of the jumpers. From the bottom, PTT is on B (this is com4). Therefore, in the HRD software, the other virtual port (in my case com 3) is chosen.
So how does the unit work?
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And to have full digital control on both radios is a joy. Here is a good review.
