Digimodes with Apple Macintosh, Kenwood TS570d, microHam DigiKeyer-II

Since there is very little MacOS support for microHam devices, I had to develop the software myself. It was very helpful to study the source code of the (outdated) uH-router application as well as the microHam protocol which was sent to me from microHam upon request (thanks!). I decided to integrate microHam support into hamlib, such that all applications linked with hamlib automatically support microHam devices (this works on MacOS and LINUX). However, so far it has only been tested with the DigiKeyer-II (I have no other microHam device) and the Kenwood TS570d. It should work with all other CAT protocols having a "normal" serial line connection. I would like to hear whether it works with the bus-like ICOM CIV protocol (I have no such rigs to test it).

The good news is:
Since WSJT-X links with daily snapshots of hamlib, a WSJT-X binary downloaded from the interned worked without modification my Apple Macintosh laptop using the DigiKeyer-II interface connected to a Kenwood TS570d. For fldigi this does not (yet) work but is supposed to work in the future. I can report here on a fldigi program that I have compiled myself. The fldigi source code was not modified, but it is linked with the lastest version of hamlib.
Rig control for FLDIGI and wsjt-x via the DigiKeyer-II
Again we use the "hamlib" option with fldigi. Be sure that nothing is checked in the flrig, RigCAT, XML-RPC and Hardware PTT tabs.

We have to select the rig (here, Kenwood TS 570d), and "uh-rig" as the serial port. Then hamlib as compiled into fldigi will automatically communicate with the microHam device. The baud rate has to be specified as set up in the rig.

Important is the text in "Advanced configuration": this tells hamlib to use hardware PTT (DTR line) on the serial port "uh-ptt". This will then automatically converted by hamlib to the appropriate command for the DigiKeyer.

Note that the DigiKeyer cannot use RTS/CTS flow control (these lines are physically missing in the Keyer--TRX connection).


At the moment, this does not work with a plain vanilla fldigi binary downloaded from the internet, since this is not linked with the most recent version of hamlib. I have compiled an (unmodified) fldigi source code and linked it with the most recent hamlib version and obtained a working version.

If you cannot do this, you have to wait until hamlib version 3.2 is fully released and fldigi is linked with this.
The same applies here. The Baud rate value will be used, apart from this, set up your rig that is uses 8 bytes, no parity and 1stop bit.

Choosing "DTR" for PTT method and "uh-ptt" for the PTT port generates exactly the configuration string we had to type into the "Advances configuration" field in fldigi.


Note that with both programs, you can also use true serial ports with names "dev/tty.something". Any serial port with a name different from uh-rig or uh-ptt will be normally processed by hamlib.


"Soundcard" settings for FLDIGI and WSJT-X and microHam DigiKeyer-II
This is straightforward: simply use the "microHam CODEC" sound card. This is the one built into the microHam device.
According to the Documentation, for "USB Interface 3" the name is "USB Audio CODEC".
Use PortAudio (as always for FLDIGI on Macintosh) and select the sound card within the microHam interface. The name is "microHAM CODEC" in most cases (DigiKeyer-II, microKeyer-II, etc.) but can be "USB Audio CODEC" for some older interfaces (USB Interface 3).
The same applies here. Some older interfaces may have a different name for the sound card (USB Interface 3: USB Audio CODEC).



DL1YCF, February 2017.