My home station is the Icom IC-7300. The transceiver has no modification. Besides the common clock battery issue (aka loosing of time) the transceiver is great.
To deal with clock issue I've greated the IcomClockOmniRig Windows executable to set the Icom IC-7300 clock via OmniRig. That works out quite well and I can set the IC-7300's clock to UTC as well. Check IcomClockOmniRig program out if you have an IC-7300. For non-windows computers you may want to check out the IC-7300-time-sync Python script. The only drawback here is that the COM port can't be shared like with OmniRig.
I'm using a Dell Latitude E6540 laptop with the Dell Dell E-Port Plus port replicator (aka dock) running windows. The computer is connected to the IC-7300 via the USB A-to-B cable and the USB to CI-V cable. This allows two programs to communicate with the IC-7300 concurrently via different COM ports. I run OmniRig on the CI-V port and whatever digital mode I use on the USB port.
To enable this in the IC-7300 the following settings are used:
OmniRig allows multiple programs to communicate via a single COM port with the transceiver. The awsomeness of this is that you don't need to shut down an app while using another app concurrently. OmniRig is free and the source code is availiable. The code is very mature and works great. The only downside is that it works only with Windows due to the technology used.
My OmniRig configuration is as follows:
For logging I primarely use Log4OM, a free but not open source Windows logging software that utelizes OmniRig for rig control.
I use OmniRig for cat control with the following settings:
To allow WSJT-X automatically add log entries I added the following settings under "Software Integration" -> "Connections" -> "UDP Proxy" -> "UDP PROXY INBOUND":
Using the UDP Proxy allows other clients like GridTracker to listen to the UDP traffic on port 2238.
Similarely to allow my NetLoggerElf software to add QSOs I added the following settings under "Software Integration" -> "Connections" -> "UDP" -> "UDP INBOUND":
An introduction to WSJT-X isn't needed with FT8 being so popular. The WSJT-X software is free and open source. Occasionally I do run other modes like FT4 or JT65.
My WSJT-X rig control settings are:
I use the UDP Server for automated loggin to Log4OM. The required settings on the WSJT-X side are under the "Reporting" -> "UDP Server":
Fldigi is the allround tool for digital communication. The Fldigi software is free and open source. Some of my used modes are PSK, RTTY and Hell.
I use RigCat with the following settings:
JS8Call took FT8 one step further and made it into a mode that can be used for real communicaton. The JS8Call is free and open source. The project has received the 2021 Amateur Radio Software Award
My JS8Call rig control settings are:
If I'm somewhat serious about running a contest I install the N3FJP logging software for the specific contest since I already bought the bundle and the logger is easy to use.
My rig settings are:
As mentioned above, I'm using the IcomClockOmniRig to set the time to UTC on the IC-7300. IcomClockOmniRig is free, open source and has been rock solid for me. Of course I'm the author of the program. The following command runs whenever I start up Log4OM but I also have the same command availiable as a shortcut in case I want to execute it some other time:
IcomClockOmniRig.exe -u
For logging and participating in the 3905 Century Club nets and occasionally the OMISS nets I use the free but not open source Netlogger software I wrote the NetLogger Elf software to print QSL cards or QSO labels for commercially made QSL cards. It also insert logs into Log4OM. This software is free and open source, but is probably a bit more involved with the setup.
In the past I was printing the QSL cards with it but now I'm printing labels instead so I can use the cool QSL cards that my daugher created. My NetLogger Elf configuration (config.yml) for this is:
qslCard:
enabled: false
qslLabel:
enabled: true
ccnAwards: '3905 CCN 100pts 160m SSB #665'
adif:
file:
enabled: false
udp:
enabled: true
station:
call: AE0S
grid: EN32
county: STORY
state: IA
country: UNITED STATES
itu: 7
cq: 4
I'm using a Yeasu FT-857d with an LDG YT100 tuner for portable operations like POTA activations. I primarely operate voice and log directly on my phone. For logging I found the free and open source app Ham2K Portable Logger (aka PoLo) quite great. Even with the small screen of my android phone the logging is no problem.
Occasionally I use the Dell Latitude E6540 laptop with the Yeasu FT-857d in the field for digital modes. With the Yeasu FT-857d I only have one rig control connection.
Since the computer is used and configured for the home station already, I continue to use OmniRig with Log4OM eventhough no other software is utelizing OmniRig.
My OmniRig configuration is as follows:
Settings are the same as for the home station (i.e. no changes).
An introduction to WSJT-X isn't needed with FT8 being so popular. The WSJT-X software is free and open source. Occasionally I do run other modes like FT4 or JT65.
My WSJT-X rig control settings are:
Again, I use the UDP Server for automated loggin to Log4OM. WSJT-X needs to be started before Log4OM so that OmniRig doesn't claim the COM port. The required settings on the WSJT-X side are under the "Reporting" -> "UDP Server":
Coming soon.
Here I list of software I use for the various digital modes. Note that I primarely run Windows and Android OS.