I am new to the forum and Digirig mobile. I wanted to get some opinions straight from the source. I am looking into purchasing a Microsoft Surface Go 3 as my primary digital radio device. I like to run WSJTX as well as Fldigi. Radio is an FT-891 and I just received my Digirig Mobile yesterday. Does anyone have experience with this set up? If so what are your thoughts on it? Obviously I am just trying to make an educated decision and am curious if these 3 will work nicely together. Kind of like the idea of the laptop in tablet form. Any feed back is appreciated.
To my understanding Microsoft Surface Go is pretty much a windows computer so you should have no issues with the regular PC software. You can refer to these posts for more info on FT-891:
Will do. I ordered the Surface Go 3 yesterday. Hopefully be here by end of the week for some good testing over the weekend. I connected my digirig to my existing laptop last night and it seems like it will work great right out of the box. Changed settings in WSJT-X. Maybe I will get an opportunity to set up my antenna and radio this afternoon to do some testing on my laptop. I believe the surface, digirig, and 891 are going to be a good combination for POTA and portable ops in general
I run Surface Pro8/9s with Digirigs and a variety of radios. The closest I have to an 891 is an 857, which works great. Others have used Go 3s without issue.
Entirely depends on usage. I regularly get 8 hours of solid use and have stretched one to 16 by judicious rationing. HT batteries go long before it does. A 10w solar panel keeps up with the Surface and a 20w will keep the entire thing happy.
I use a Digirig with an FT-891 and a Dell XPS13 laptop. The Dell only has USB C ports so i have to use a hub. The Digirig can’t do CAT control with the FT-891 as is possible with other radios. If you want CAT control you must use a separate USB-A to USB-B cable. That said, the combination works great with any digital mode you throw at it. I have done FT8, Winlink, SSTV, and more. One thing to keep in mind is to get your antenna a good distance from your computer, or use lower power. I have a 50 ft coax lead and run 100 watts no problem.
Got my Surface Go 3 and finally found the time to get everything running. It was easy and works great. Step 1 install proper drivers Step 2 configure setting in Fldigi and WSJT-X and works like a charm. No issues to speak of. Other notes. I really like the small easy portability of the Digirig and I should have got into it sooner. The FT-891 plays nicely with the Digirig and Microsoft Surface. The set up overall is a small footprint as compared to my previous set up. Now to pair this all up with a good solar panel and a Bioenno and that would take an already solid set up to the next level. Thanks everyone for the help through out my learning process with my new devices.