Issues with usdx/usdr radio and usdx (tr)usdx DIGIRIG cables—-PTT always activated

Hello

In short, does anyone know how to use digirig/usdx digirig cables with the usdx radio to do JS8/ft8? (Amazon.com: uSDR uSDX 8 Bands SDR All Mode High Frequency SSB QRP Transceiver with Power and SWR Indicator : Electronics)

I recently (about a month ago) passed my tech liscence test and (tried) to dive headfirst into HF with aspirations of JS8call/ft8.

after having my eye on digirig for a while based on YouTube and other research I took the plunge but found out that the troubleshooting was nonstop. I determined that this was more on the usdx « brick » radio end since I also got baofeng digirig cables and those seem to work fine.

One issue I noted was that when I plugged in the digirig cables (red to mic, green to audio), the ptt automatically keyed up and stayed that way. Conversely, when I plugged in the microphone that came with the radio it only keyed when I pressed the PTT on the mic.

Examining the digirig cables, they are a TRS (two ring) but the mic was a TRRS (three ring). I tried plugging in a generic headphone/mic with a trrs (three ring) jack but that also keyed up the PTT so long as it was plugged in.

Does anyone know of a fix for this? I was hopeful that a TRS to TRRS adapter would fix the issue but I’m skeptical since the mic/headphone d stayed keyed up.

The few YouTube videos for the radio doing FT8 show the use of homebrew cables since the rings/pinout seem to be different (which I think causes the ptt issue). I’d like to avoid a home brew solution if at all possible, just to ensure consistency.

Has anyone found a way to use JS8/FT8 with this radio and digirig?

FT8/usdx video:

E

USDX cable offered in Digirig store is not a correct option for your transceiver. Please refer to the product page for the cable recommendations:

Excellent! Can’t believe I missed this in the excitement to get going on HF..coulda saved 24 bucks.

Looking thru the usdx threads, I’m going to aim to do a homebrew cable using block connectors from amazon if I can, otherwise I’ll try to cannibalize the mic cable that came with it since that seems to work.

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