Digirig Mobile and FTM-400 - how to make this transmit?

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This is how new I am…I bought the Digirig mobile. I plugged it into my computer and the round (serial) port on the back of my Yaesu FTm-400. I have both the Audio Cable and the Audio + CAT cable.

The computer recognizes the Digirig in the sound settings.

I bought it for two reasons. First, and most importantly, I want to be able to play Newsline for our weekly club net. Second, also important but I don’t know how to use the software, is to send/receive email via Winlink for our local ARES group.

I’ve been following the YouTube tutorial “Audio Settings and Troubleshooting.” I’m able to hear the audio from the radio (set to 162.55 local NOAA weather.)

I’ve goofed around with wsjtx doing FT8 with my HF rig (Yaesu FTDX10.) I’ve been able to get wsjtx to key the FTM-400 but it transmits for several seconds. I have to turn the FTM-400 off to get it to stop transmitting or wait until I get a rig control error from wsjtx and eventually it will stop transmitting. However, I do not see any movement in the levels when looking at the Digirig in my computer’s audio settings as seen at the 7:00 minute mark in the video.

How do I get my computer to key up the radio and play the Newsline mp3 that is saved on my desktop? I open the file in media player. It plays thru my computer speakers but I can not hear it when I plug a set of headphones into the Digirig.

I have to give the disclaimer that I’ve searched and read through several other posts. I suspect that I need some sort of software to make this happen but I don’t know what or how. I read something about Direwolf?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Merry Christmas and 73,

Bud

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This might not be the simplest way, but I would do it with fldigi. In fldigi, set the audio devices to your Digirig and set Rig Control to hardware PTT by the COM port RTS. Then create a macro button in fldigi with the tag <AUDIO: file:path to your mp3 file> inside a <TX> <RX> block. Use that macro button to broadcast the file and then end the transmission by releasing PTT.

Use the sound settings of the operating system to set the output of the media player to Digirig USB device, rather than to the system default. AFAIK, the media player does not have a way to pull and release PTT on the radio.

73 Constrainted

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I’m guessing fldigi is software that I would use instead of wsjtx?

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Yes. fldigi can be found at W1HKJ Software . I have heard that the ARRL uses fldigi for their broadcasts. I do not claim that fldigi is the only way, though.

73 Constrainted

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it sounds like you’re getting RF into the ‘chain’ when keying up the ftm-400.
that’s causing the PTT lockup i’d say.

now, on to your project/goal.

when you play an audio file in the computer media player, it is set to use the ‘default’ audio device.
that’s the built in audio rather than the usb audio/digirig device.

so, you could open the media player settings and tell it to use the usb audio device.
you could also set the usb audio device as the default for everything BUT THIS IS NOT RECOMMENDED.

now, these options would output the audio but would not key the radio.

as mentioned above, FLDIGI is another program for doing digital modes on the radio.

it can key your radio and playback a prerecorded audio file all by itself.

it will be setup similar to wsjt-x in that you’ll select an audio device and PTT method.

NOW, if you just can’t get the hang of fldigi, you could do this:

download media player classic.
this will be a ‘new’ media player for your files.
i know for sure you can set MPC to output the audio on whatever soundcard you want.

THEN, you can make sure WSJT-X is set to the built in soundcard BUT has the correct PTT trigger info.

THEN, you could click the tune button on wsjt-x which would key the radio but send the tune tone to the built in speakers.
WHILE that’s going on, click play on MPC (media player classic) and the audio will go to the usb audio/digirig.

phew!

:slight_smile:

alrighty then,

a digirig LITE would let you just use any audio player and the digirig LITE can PTT the radio just from the audio it receives (vox mode. does not require a radio that has vox)

good luck
kb0wlf

1 Like
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Thanks for the suggestions. I’m gonna give fldigi a try. The FTM-400 is not listed in the drop down menu for choosing a radio in wsjtx and I keep getting a rig control error so I don’t think wsjtx is going to work.

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I’ve got fldigi installed and I’m still pretty confused. The FTM-400 doesn’t appear in the drop down list and I can’t figure out how to play a simple audio file. From the top menu I go to File > Audio > Playback. When I select the newsline.mp3 file I get an “unsupported audio format” error. I guess this isn’t going to be as easy as I thought…

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I may have figured it out…sort of. I had to set wsjtx radio to “None.” Then I play the audio file with VLC media play and select the Digirig as the audio device in the VLC player. Switch back to wsjtx and click Tune to key the radio. Works for now…until I try to figure out WinLink!

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sweet!

yes, sorry about the ‘radio’ selection bit.

i forgot to add that selecting ‘none’ in any program that has that option is a good choice if serial remote control is suspect.

then choose PTT via RTS and select the digirig serial port.

good luck

kb0wlf

1 Like