I am planning on purchasing a FT-891.
I currently use a Linux laptop to run WSJTX mostly for FT8 and Pat winlink with a VARA modem for winlink email.
I have a digirig mobile sitting on the shelf and I was planning on just purchasing the cable for the FT891. I then saw the DR-891.
Is there an advantage on getting the DR891?
Thanks
I don’t own an FT-891, but I don’t want your question to go too long unanswered.
Yes. See Digirig DR-891 – digirig, particularly:
Supports complete connectivity of your Yaesu FT-891 (audio, PTT, CAT) over a single USB connection
Be aware, it seems to be a special order item for now. Maybe Alpha and beta testers will comment.
73 Constrainted
Constrained,
Thanks for the information. If I am understanding this correctly the advantage is using one USB port instead of two on the computer. Since with a Digirig mobile you would use one port for the Digirig and one for the USB cable from the computer to the FT891.
Thanks
I just purchased a DR-891. I’ve been using a regular digirig sound card with my Yaesu 891 and the regular one has been working flawlessly. It has two connections to the computer. So, when I saw the DR-891 come out I thought it would be great to eliminate one of connections, a great advantage for field operations. I’ve been unable to get my new DR-891 to work with the rig. On TX the transmit light on the radio comes on but I am getting no power out. The power meter on the radio is flat. I’ve been trying to get it to work for several weeks now but to no avail.
Don’t let this discourage you from purchasing one. I’ve haven’t heard if anyone else has had problems and this is probably unique to me. I thought I would share.
Are you getting audio from the DR-891 to the radio?
The Troubleshooting Digital Modes – digirig will give you a step-by-step approach.
73 Constrainted
No. I’m getting audio from the radio through the DR-891 to the computer, but not the other way around.
Right, so please check the audio settings in your application and in the Windows operating system. You can use mmsys.cpl in a command prompt. Also check the permissions on the audio devices. You are very close to success!
73 Constrainted
Thank you. I checked the audio settings and they are the same as with my regular digirig. The DR-891 should work with the same settings unless I missing something. I am receiving and decoding with the DR-891 just not getting any signal out with JS8Call. I don’t know about checking permissions. If you would explain. Thanks for your help. It would be great to get it working.
If nothing else works with the audio output, please PM me for RMA/exchange.
The audio devices may have a different name from one Digirig to the next. Check mmsys.cpl to make sure the devices are not turned off.
73 Constrainted
Denis, Thank you. I will. I am going to take another look at it and double check a few things.
Thank you and yes they do have a slightly different name. I will check messy.cpl to see and make sure they aren’t turned off. Thanks again.
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mmsys.cpl
[/quotemmsys.cpl
HI FR Robert. Yes, absolutely. I have had an FT 891 for years, they are solid radios. I’ve been using a Digirig 8xx before this new product came out. I went ahead and bought the DR 891 because it saves you a single serial port on your laptop. The DigiRig 8xx uses two serial ports when used with an FT 891 and the DigiRig 891 only uses one. Unfortunately for me, I can not for the life of me get the DR 891 to work properly with my radio. My OS sees both serial ports, but I am unable to chat the CAT control like I was with the DigiRig 8xx unit. With that said, I’ve reached out to Digirig to see if they can help me troubleshoot. I’ve seen one other individual successfully demo the new product and he created a youtube video on it (he is the Tech Prepper on youtube). This is my first issue with a digirig product so I can’t comment yet on their tech support. Great choice of radio purchase for portable comms. Paired with a battery and solar panel, the FT 891 is a great radio for field usage, such as field day or parks on the air.
I just received my DR-891 and am not able to get it to work. When trying to use it with Winlink/Vara HF (haven’t tried any other software) I keep getting an error message that “Unable to open radio serial port com3 . May be in use by another application…” No other application is using com 3. COM4 is my enhanced, COM3 is my standard in device manager. I have all my sound card settings setup to use digirig. On vara I see the waterfall , but PTT does not engage the radio. Nor do I have the com control to change the frequency on the radio. I am at a total loss. I have checked all the cables, radio settings are correct 100%. Vara radio settings for radio control port are com4. PTT port is Com 3. Baud rates are the same in radio and vara. rts and dtr enabled on ptt port in vara.
I guess I will try it on another laptop and see if the same thing occurs, but I can not understand why COM3 is not available when nothing else is using it. If anyone has any input they can provide I would really appreciate it.
I had no issue setting up vara on my ft991-a, but this 891 is giving me a headache with the dr891 for some reason.
Carolee,
If you have difficulties with serial CAT control side of the setup, you can bypass Digirig for the time being and make sure you can have CAT control working while the radio is directly connected to the computer with a USB cable. The COM port numbers may be different, but the rest of the setup should be the same.
Thanks. The only way I could get it to work was to select ft891 as ptt in vara radio settings. Cat control works now but can’t get my Alc on radio down no matter how low I set Digirig volumn and data volume levels in the ft891.
Carolee Moreno
Please make sure you uncheck AGC box in Digirig’s recording device settings.
Yeah. Did that. I am going to try a newer computer and see if that helps. Just to confirm though, the PTT setting in vara should be the non enhanced setting com port right? Everything I see on the internet says not to use ft891 in that setting. Not sure why it is working when I choose ft891 there. Is the dr891 different that way and I am supposed to use the radio name for ptt in vara?
Carolee Moreno
Dennis, am I able to return this dr-891? I just can not get it to work for me.