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Rigblaster plug&play, two modes simultaneously

M

mfidanoglu

Member
Jan 13, 2011
9
0
11
Istanbul, Turkey
Hello,

We are planning to construct a ground station for our cubesat project. In this project, our cubesat will send digital data (in AX.25 format), and CW beacon. It will not send them simultaneously, but alternatively. As we are tracking a satellite, rig control for Doppler effect is required too.
I am planning to use a Rigblaster Plug&play for sending and receiving AX.25 signals from and to the transceiver. Also, I want to control the rig with plug&play (and a CI-V cable). Is it possible for digital mode and rig control to work "simultaneously"? Or should I buy another equipment such as Rigblaster pro too?

Thanks

Melih
 

I'm not sure how to say this, hope it makes sense. Yes, it is possible to do digital modes and rig-control from the same computer, but it means using two separate programs at the same time. The 'controlling' part would be in between the digital mode transmissions.
I have no idea if the "Rigblaster Plug&play" device will be capable of it. I would have to guess that it would be, but that's only a guess.
- 'Doc
 
What rig are you going to use? You can certainly do both rig control and digital modes from the PC using a soundcard interface, but how difficult it is to set up will depend on the software in use and the rig. You mentioned CI-V so that sounds like an Icom rig to me. Usually the rig control is handled by a serial port using the CAT/CI-V commands. If the rig does not support PTT via CAT/CI-V, then you need another virtual serial port. The rigblaster plug and play will work with several different software programs; which one are you planning on using? Depending on the rig, this should work fine with either MIXW or HRD/DM780.
 
Hello,
First of all, thanks for answers. I did not know the sites about cubesat forum, so this might prove useful both now and the future.
We did not buy the rig yet, but it will be %99 percent ICOM IC-910H. There are still some dealers that are selling it. The reason is high output power, because we can't be sure attitude control, thus antenna orientation, so the higher the output, the better. As plan B, Kenwood TS2000 maybe, but then there won't be such problems because we can control it via serial cable. I wish ICOM IC-9100 was out, but they keep delaying it forever.
When I emailed Westmountaionradio (producers of rigblaster), they said controlling two of them "simultaneously" was possible with appropriate programs.
For the programs, as I don't have the rig yet, I am not sure about the programs yet. But possibly I will use HRD/DM780. I also liked fldigi, or may try other programs. But it seems like every digital mode program works for me.
 
mfidanoglu said:
Is it possible for digital mode and rig control to work "simultaneously"
Click to expand...

So you ask if it is possible to control the parameters of the rig or to transmit commands to it, from your PC and in the same time send data from the PC (sound blaster) to the rig?

It will make little sense to control the rig through your computer and to not be able to send data simultaneously. So the answer is yes, sure.

Somebody (see below) was so fascinated about remotely controlling rigs that he made an internet site where he described his experience with ICOM CI-V interface.

" Since many years I own and operate ICOM rigs. And at the same time I am looking for interesting things to write software for. So I started playing around with the ICOM CI-V remote control for ICOM rigs.
These pages summarize what I have learnt about the CI-V interface over that time "
 
The Rig Blaster PnP will do both, it has a CI-V connection on it so you can do both the sound and rig control. I could never get it to work well with HRD and I sold my Icom. I use the Signalink with my FT-950 and Love it, much better than the rig blaster but you have to have a second connection for rig control.


mfidanoglu said:
Hello,

We are planning to construct a ground station for our cubesat project. In this project, our cubesat will send digital data (in AX.25 format), and CW beacon. It will not send them simultaneously, but alternatively. As we are tracking a satellite, rig control for Doppler effect is required too.
I am planning to use a Rigblaster Plug&play for sending and receiving AX.25 signals from and to the transceiver. Also, I want to control the rig with plug&play (and a CI-V cable). Is it possible for digital mode and rig control to work "simultaneously"? Or should I buy another equipment such as Rigblaster pro too?

Thanks

Melih
Click to expand...
 
Hello w1med,
It seems I'll try first plug&play, and if it not works I'll use plug&play for rig control only, and buy a Signalink for digital mode operation. Let me try it first :)
Thanks
 

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