West Mountain Radio RIGblaster Advantage User manual

www.westmountainradio.com
1020 Spring City Drive
Waukesha, WI 53186
262-522-6503
[email protected]
©2015 West Mountain Radio, All rights reserved. All trademarks are
the property of their respective owners.
RIGblaster
Advantage

Table of Contents
Introduction
About the RIGblaster Advantage.................... 4
About the RIGblaster DVD ........................ 5
Digital-Mode Operating ........................... 5
Package Contents ................................. 6
Controls, Connections and Features
Choosing the Correct ISC ......................... 8
Software Driver Installation ........................10
Windows, Linux & Mac Drivers .....................10
How to Renumber the RIGblaster Advantage COM port..14
Transceiver Connections..........................15
Required Connections............................15
Optional Connections ............................15
RIGblaster Settings
Audio Levels ...................................16
PTT (Keying your radio) ..........................18
Morse (CW) Operation ...........................18
RTTY (FSK) Operation ...........................19
CAT ..........................................20
Transceiver Settings
Operation Mode.................................21
Recieve Settings ................................21
Transmit Settings................................22
Software Conguration
FLDigi (Multiple Digital Modes) .....................23
Airlink Express (PSK31, RTTY & MFSK-16) ...........26
MMTTY (RTTY FSK).............................29
MRP40 (Morse Code) ............................32
JT65-HF: (JT Modes) ............................34
Winlink 2000 with RMS Express (WinMOR) ...........37
UZ7HO Sound Modem (Packet Radio) ...............40
MMSSTV (Analog SSTV) .........................44
Easy Pal (Digital SSTV) ..........................46
FreeDV (Digital HF Voice) .........................49
Ham Radio Deluxe & DM-780 ......................53

3
West Mountain Radio Operating Manual
Reference
RIGblaster Advantage Connection Diagrams ..........58
Icom CI-V CAT Cable Schematic ...................58
ISC & Jumper Wiring.............................59
Using the RIGblaster Advantage as a Microphone Patch Box ..63
Using the West Mountain Radio COM Port Splitter......64
P2 Jumper .....................................64
Digital-Modes, Software and Frequencies ............65
Troubleshooting.................................66
Radio Hook-up Diagrams .........................69

4
West Mountain Radio Operating Manual
Introduction
About The RIGblaster Advantage
We understand you have a choice when buying Amateur Radio products
and we would like to take a moment to thank you for choosing West
Mountain Radio. The RIGblaster Advantage has been designed with
you, the digital-mode operator in mind. It has many outstanding features
which will at the same time enhance and simplify your operating. Some
of the features of the RIGblaster Advantage which put it ahead of the
competition include;
• COM port push-to-talk (PTT) keying.
• A high-quality built-in USB sound card with level controls (both RX
& TX) on the front panel.
• Pre-wired Instant Setup Connectors – no more complex jumper
wiring!
• Rig-control (CAT/CI-V).*
• FSK jack for operating FSK RTTY.**
• CW keying jack for operating Morse Code.
• Digital VOX with adjustable delay.
• Separate audio jacks for received and transmitted audio.
• Foot-switch PTT input.
• USB virtual serial port with RS-232C externalization
• TX inhibit switch.
Connection to your computer is made very simple with the supplied USB
cable. We will go into connecting up your RIGblaster Advantage in the
rst chapter so do not hook it up right away.
Please read through this manual rst (especially the driver installation
section) and you will nd the RIGblaster Advantage will provide you with
many years of reliable service and enjoyment.
* Rig control is only available on certain transceivers.
** FSK requires the transceiver to have a dedicated RTTY mode, an optional
FSK cable and the software must support serial FSK.

5
West Mountain Radio Operating Manual
About the RIGblaster DVD
The supplied DVD is mostly a collection of various digital-mode software
programs for use with sound card interfaces like the RIGblaster
Advantage.
The programs contained on the disc were not written by West Mountain
Radio. Some are completely free while others are commercial. We have
however tested our products on the majority of them.
Amateur radio software is constantly evolving and we encourage you to
visit the various authors websites to check for updates for software you
wish to use.
We maintain a list of website addresses for the software we place onto
the DVD (as best we can) and you can access this page from:
http://www.westmountainradio.com/content.php?page=links
Introduction To Digital-Mode Operating
Most modern digital-modes can be operated on the RIGblaster
Advantage. Some of these may already be familiar to you. For instance
PSK31, JT65 & RTTY are very commonly heard on the bands.
If you have the ability try tuning to 14.070MHz (USB) and chances
are you will hear multiple PSK31 QSOs taking place. Moving up to
14.073MHz you may hear the tones of the MFSK modes such as Olivia,
Contestia, Thor and MFSK-16. You will also nd the “cricket-like” chirping
of Feld Hell.
Tune to 14.073MHz you may hear the tones of the MFSK modes such as
Olivia, Contestia, Thor and MFSK-16. You will also nd the “cricket-like”
chirping of Feld Hell.
Tune to 14.076MHz and you will hear JT65 signals. Going up another
10KHz lands you right in a very popular RTTY segment. Moving up
through 14.100MHz you should hear packet networks, WinMOR and
the wider band digital modes signals such as MT63, ALE and Pactor.
14.230MHz (USB) yields a very active SSTV (Slow Scan TV) frequency.
This is traditional analog SSTV. Another 3KHz up (14.233MHz) is the
main watering-hole of digital SSTV enthusiasts
14.230MHz (usb) yields a very active SSTV (Slow Scan TV) frequency.
This is traditional analog SSTV. Another 3KHz up (14.233MHz) is the
main watering-hole of digital SSTV enthusiasts.14.236MHz is currently
very popular with the digital voice experimenters using FreeDV software.
It is worth noting there are some modes in use which cannot be used
with the RIGblaster Advantage (nor any sound-card based interface).