New to me ICOM IC706Mk2 to HF + 2M radio pt2
/New to me ICOM IC706Mk2 to HF + 2M radio pt2
I have been in contact with Steve from XGGcomms, who understood my issue perfectly. The 706MK2 uses different pins to PTT HF and VHF. Pins 3 and 7 consecutively. He provided the below chart and advised me to ‘get out my soldering iron’ and insert a jumper connecting the two pins inside the plug covering and thus PTT will trigger regardless of band now - and that’s just what I did
I placed a short jumper about 10mm long connecting the pins
Time for a test!
While still getting to know the radio, I broke out mu portable pi and set about getting direwolf talking to the radio on 2M FM with PTT via RTS signals. Worked.
Lessons learned for others:
Digital modes (normally conducted on USB) should be set to RTTY mode on the 706MK2, while FM modes such as APRS/Packet should use FM. Again using RTS for PTT signal.
The radio is a thirsty beast drawing around 2A - make sure your power source will last long enough for testing, my small 1S 4 Cell LIFEPO4 battery was nearly dead by the end of the testing.
My QRO portable digital setup
The picture above shows my full set up now: IC706Mk2, GPS for location and timing, CAT, AUDIO, PTT interface from XGGCOMMS, and a small usb sound card to feed to brain of the whole thing - a raspberry pi 3B+ - A far cry from its first iteration: http://wadeabout.com/blog/portable-pi-update-new-capabilities