West Mountain Radio RIGblaster duo User Manual Download

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RIGblaster duo

One mic

One pair of speakers

One pair of headphones

One Computer

TWO radios!

OWNERS MANUAL

West Mountain Radio

www.westmountainradio.com

34 Smith Street, Norwalk, CT 06851 tel 203-853-8080 fax 203-299-0232

Rev 1.1 – March 2009

Summary of Contents for RIGblaster duo

Page 1: ...e mic One pair of speakers One pair of headphones One Computer TWO radios OWNERS MANUAL West Mountain Radio www westmountainradio com 34 Smith Street Norwalk CT 06851 tel 203 853 8080 fax 203 299 0232 Rev 1 1 March 2009 ...

Page 2: ...nes and using a master volume control Front panel status indicators show at a glance signal routing audio source and status of PTT CW and FSK control and keying In addition to seeing the position of the transmit select switch optional external LED indicators are available to be located at each radio to make it obvious which radio is ready for transmit In many ways the installation is actually simp...

Page 3: ...UND CARD SOFTWARE 15 STEP 4 TEST THE USB VIRTUAL COM PORTS 15 TRANSMIT WITH SOUND CARD SOFTWARE 16 CW CABLING AND SETUP 17 RTTY FSK CABLING AND SETUP 17 RIG CONTROL CABLING AND SETUP 18 STATION HOOKUP DIAGRAM 20 STATION HOOKUP DIAGRAM optional features functions in red 21 JUMPER DIAGRAMS MICROPHONE AND RADIOS 23 FOR 8 PIN ROUND SCREW ON MICROPHONES AND RADIOS ONLY 23 JUMPER DIAGRAMS RADIOS ONLY 24...

Page 4: ...t the wording to suit a Mac OS or Linux computer to fully understand references to using a computer AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT STATION GROUNDING Interconnected electronic equipment such as an Amateur Radio station is a system Interconnected signal cables must only carry the signals RF audio power or control they are meant to They should never be allowed to be power ground interconnects Your station m...

Page 5: ...oot RJ45 to RJ45 Modular 1 USB A to B Interface Cable 8 1 8 inch 3 5mm Stereo Mini Plug 6 Patch Cords 1 Owners Manual not pictured 1 Patch Cord Label Set 1 Accessories Kit that contains 11 White Wire Jumpers 2 Adapters 1 8 inch 3 5mm Mini female to inch Plug 4 3M Adhesive Pads not pictured Optional accessories 6 foot microphone cables External LED indicators show radio ready to transmit FSK keying...

Page 6: ...dio to the computer for software receive in either headphone or speaker on positions but only with the default setting of the PC monitor jumpers radio B AUDIO MONITOR SELECTOR SWITCH Same as above but selects radio B PC AUDIO MONITOR SELECTOR SWITCH Same as both above but selects audio from the computer ph level HEADPHONE LEVEL SET For adjusting the headphone monitor audio level volume in relation...

Page 7: ...as the DTR line active It will also flash on CW if you have the incorrect serial COM number assigned in CW software usb LED a green LED indicating the RIGblaster duo is connected to a computer supplying USB power power SWITCH Turns power ON and OFF Up is ON and down is OFF power LED a green LED indicating the RIGblaster duo is turned on NOTE References used throughout this document such as R18 ref...

Page 8: ...RADIO B 1 8 MINI JACK for connection to the CW straight key jack on your radio for computer CW keying with appropriate software Compatible with most solid state radios that key with positive pull down Connected to virtual COM A but may be changed to B by changing the appropriate jumpers CW A CW OUT RADIO A 1 8 MINI JACK for connection to the CW straight key jack on your radio for computer CW keyin...

Page 9: ...ios are selected for headphone monitoring Using internal jumpers it may also be configured so one radio is fed to the left channel and the other to the right channel in stereo so that they may be selected by the sound card balance control LEDS READY TO TRANSMIT INDICATOR CONNECTIONS XMIT LED B RADIO B XMIT LED INDICATOR OUTPUT 1 8 MINI JACK for connection to an external accessory LED indicator to ...

Page 10: ...es Do not put the RIGblaster duo in strong RF fields The RIGblaster duo requires little ventilation and can be put in any cool location that does not block the ventilation for another piece of equipment that does require ventilation INSTALLATION PLANNING This instruction manual is written and the RIGblaster duo is designed to accommodate any operator no matter what equipment he or she may have or ...

Page 11: ...8 pin round and RJ45 square connectors Note even for the same brand of radio different connectors have different wiring Make sure that you identify the correct diagram not only for the brand of radio or mic but also what type of connector it uses Install the jumpers for your microphone and each one of your radios If you have two different types of radios make sure to keep track of which radio you ...

Page 12: ...r Turn radio A s volume control AF gain about half way up 12 o clock Select radio A on the RIGblaster by flipping the radio A switch F6 to the up top position Turn up the rx level master volume knob F5 on the RIGblaster and you should hear radio A coming from your speakers Try the Same thing with radio B using the radio B F7 switch Play music or cause your computer to generate audio and select PC ...

Page 13: ...s also a separate ph level F9 headphone volume control The headphone volume is controlled by this knob in relation to how loud the master volume is set This allows you to set the headphones louder or softer than the speakers Note now you can work that weak station you can barely hear on your speakers simply by putting your headphones on Your headphones will be playing the same thing they are alrea...

Page 14: ...d has several virtual control panels with many things to click on There are virtual controls that either set what is being fed into the computer from the outside world or they control what comes out of the computer Think of the input as receive controls and the output as transmit controls Generally they are completely independent and one has nothing to do with the other You must understand which i...

Page 15: ...NING if you stop or cancel at any point it will be a difficult to correct your mistake Once you have completed the driver installation you must check to verify the installation Right click My Computer left click Properties select the Hardware tab and then click Device Manager The Device Manager will show you a list of all of the hardware currently operating with your computer Scroll down and click...

Page 16: ...in the task bar and un mute the Wave output and the left hand Volume Control output The left Volume Control and Wave virtual sliders should still be set to where you had previously set them to monitor computer audio Also the virtual left right balance sliders should already be in the center Set your radio to upper sideband USB and use your normal mic gain setting turn your speech compressor off an...

Page 17: ... connector is not used RTTY FSK CABLING AND SETUP Turn off both your radios and the RIGblaster duo before connecting cables to either unit There are two optically isolated FSK keying outputs to be used with RTTY FSK keying software These outputs always function and key together You have two ways to determine which radio transmits You can use two different COM ports for PTT control or use a PTT swi...

Page 18: ...is stereo on one end and mono on the other tip and ring on the RIGblaster duo end and both of those wires connected together to tip on the radio end With a Yaesu it is a little more complicated The Yaesu CAT system uses three wires and they have different connectors and pin wiring arrangements for different models Older Yaesu radios require the rig control TTL 5 volt level converter built into the...

Page 19: ...19 ...

Page 20: ...2 6 wire Modular or special 6 long cables are available Note in order for this cable to function properly with a particular radio jumpers must be installed correctly inside the RIGblaster on the P2 block See page 25 This is a supplied microphone cables connecting MIC OUT B R19 to radio B s front panel microphone input It is either a 8 pin round metal connector to a square RJ45 Modular connector or...

Page 21: ...D USB This supplied computer USB type A to type B cable connects the RIGblaster s USB socket to one of the computer s USB sockets Do not plug in this cable unless you have read the instructions on doing this and are ready to do the USB software driver installation This supplied DC cord with a Powerpole connector and coaxial connector supplies power to the RIGblaster duo It plugs into the INPUT 12V...

Page 22: ...t key socket and the CW A R7 keying output for CW operation using keyboard CW software Note the default configuration of jumper block P4 is configured to key this jack with DTR on COM A See page 28 for the P4 jumpers This is for a supplied mini plug Patch Cord and mini to phone plug adaptor to interface between radio B s CW keying straight key socket and the CW A R6 keying output for CW operation ...

Page 23: ...T 3 NC 4 NC 5 NC 6 NC 7 MIC GND 8 PTT GND OPTIONAL ICOM with 8 Pin Screw on Microphone Connectors Pin 1 MIC 2 NC 3 NC 4 NC 5 PTT 6 PTT GND OPTIONAL 7 MIC GND 8 NC YAESU with 8 Pin Screw on Microphone Connectors Pin 1 NC 2 NC 3 NC 4 NC 5 PTT GND OPTIONAL 6 PTT 7 MIC GND 8 MIC The PTT GND connection should always be used on the P10 microphone jumper block but it is optional on the P2 and P3 Jumper b...

Page 24: ...ICOM with RJ45 Microphone Connectors Pin 1 NC 2 PTT GND OPTIONAL 3 MIC 4 MIC GND 5 PTT 6 NC 7 NC 8 NC YAESU with RJ45 Microphone Connectors and most but not all Yaesu FM rigs Pin 1 NC 2 PTT GND OPTIONAL 3 PTT 4 MIC 5 MIC GND 6 NC 7 NC 8 NC The PTT GND connection should always be used on the P10 microphone jumper block but it is optional on the P2 and P3 Jumper blocks It is normally used except in ...

Page 25: ...r station to work you would like to know what your options are and you like to experiment read on If you lose track of what you did while experimenting here is a diagram of the default jumper settings DEFAULT SETTINGS FEATURE SELECTION JUMPERS DIAGRAM MIC ELECTRET BIAS JUMPER P8 The P8 jumper block enables MIC BIAS required to use an electret microphone or disables it for a dynamic mic By default ...

Page 26: ...ither radio it goes to left channel of the sound card input tip If you select both radios both of them are connected and the audio is mixed together You can monitor two radios with one program which could come in handy to chase digital DX on two bands The other option is to have radio A always goes to the right channel and radio B always goes to the left With this option you may monitor either or ...

Page 27: ... before deciding if you need to change anything Your choices for each of the virtual COM ports A and B are PTT CW keying and RTTY FSK keying Besides being able to choose which one of these virtual ports does which one of those functions you have two ports for CAT CI V rig control Rig control uses the RXD and TXD serial pins and those are permanently assigned to COM A for radio A and COM B for radi...

Page 28: ...e P4 PTT jumper You must look in your device manager to determine the COM port numbers assigned to the virtual COM ports A and B In the Windows device manager the upper listing for the RIGblaster is COM A and the lower one B No sound card software transmit output If your software activates transmit PTT on the radio and the RIGblaster it probably means you have the transmit audio muted or turned do...

Page 29: ...LINE IN 9 LINE OUT 9 MIC MODE JUMPER 25 MIC OUT 9 MICROPHONE 6 9 11 23 Microphone Cable 5 MICROPHONE CONNECTOR 6 Mini Plug 5 MMTTY See MONITOR 6 9 OUTPUT 8 9 P16 jumper block 18 P6 jumper block 25 Patch Cord 5 20 21 22 Patch Cord Labels 5 POWER INPUT 8 power LED 7 Power Supply 5 power SWITCH 7 Powerpole 5 11 21 PTT 2 ptt LED 6 RF drive 28 RX MUTE 26 Serial Cable 5 Sound Card 4 SPKR OUT 9 Stereo 5 ...

Page 30: ...ware Collection is excluded from any and all warranties by West Mountain Radio Note that the programs have been provided as shareware or freeware by the software authors to the amateur radio community for their use and enjoyment The CD ROM is to be used at your own risk West Mountain Radio shall have no liability or responsibility to customer or any other person or entity with respect to any liabi...

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