Ham Radio Deluxe Customer Support

TS-590 - 590S - 590SG USB Configuration

The Kenwood TS-590 series of radios can be connected to the computer using ONLY a single USB cable. A driver is required to be downloaded from the Kenwood Website which creates the virtual USB Com Port and also sets up the radio's internal USB Audio Codec for use with the digital modes.

To prepare the radio for use with HRD and the computer, first, download and install the proper driver for the radio from the Kenwood website. Please click on the following link to read the instructions for installing and obtaining the proper driver for the TS -590 series. These instructions must be followed so that the Windows automatic driver installation function does NOT install the "generic" Silicon Labs driver.

http://www.kenwood.com/i/products/info/amateur/vcp_e.html

Once the drivers are installed, we need to set some menu options in the radio itself. If you are not sure how to do this procedure, be sure to read your radios owner manual to learn and understand how to make menu changes in the radio.

Please open and set the following menu items as shown below.

Menu #67 Set to 9600

Menu #68 Set to 9600

Menu#69 Set to USB 

Menu #70 Set to Rear

Menu #76 Set to On 

Once the menu items in the radio are set, You should now be able to run HRD and make the radio connection. 

Set the Company field to "Kenwood"

Select the radio (TS-590, 590S, 590SG) from the radio dropdown.

Select"Auto Detect"from the  dropdown (If not known) 

Select"Auto Detect"from the speed (baud rate) dropdown (if not known) 

The CTS and RTS options will automatically be checked 

Make sure No other options are selected on the lower portion of the setup screen. 

Nes click the"Connect to connect to your radio.  If all goes well the next screen will be the actual Rig Control scree screen as seen below. 

 Configuring DM-780

Once you the Rig Control started, click the "DM-780" icon to start the Digital Master program. Here is where we setup the HRD software to recognize your radio, soundcard and PTT options. The first thing we need to configure is the Radio Pane. This allows us to setup the radio and configure the TX option used to key the radio when you are to transmit text in a selected digital mode.

Load the Digital Master 780 software. On the top menu click on "Radio" (#1) to pin the radio control panel to the DM-780 display.

Next, click on the small icon, indicated by #2 in the image below, to open the radio's configuration panel.

When the configuration screen opens, click on the "TX" button, as indicated in the image on the left. The Button Select menu will open which allows you to select the PTT options for the radio.

In the "Select Button" window, select "TX Data", then click the [OK]button and then click the "SAVE" button on the bottom of the configuration window.

DM-780 Soundcard

Our next thing will be to setup the Soundcard in DM-780. Click on the Program Options icon and select "Soundcard" from the menu on the left.

In the soundcard window, make sure both Input (Receive) and Transmit (output) options are set to "USB Audio CODEC" as shown in the image to the left.

Next select the PTT option from the menu on the left. Here we select the "Ham Radio Deluxe" option. This allows the HRD Rig Control to activate the PTT for the audio input from the soundcard to be transmitted.

Configure Windows Default Soundcard

The final step in setting up DM-780 is setting up the Windows sound configuration. Configuring your Windows sound configuration correctly could possibly prevent accidental transmission of unwanted sounds or audio over the air.

Open your Windows Control Panel and select the Windows "Sound" app. In the Windows Sound App, click on the "Playback" tab. Locate the option for your computer's internal sound card. Click on it to highlight it and click the "Set Default" button. This configures Windows to use the computer's internal soundcard for any audio generated from CDs, DVD or websites like YouTube so that it isn't accidentally transmitted over the air by the "USB Audio CODEC" and will only be heard via speakers or headphones connected to the computer.

Next, in the "Playback" tab, left-click on "Speakers USB Audio CODEC" and click the [Properties] button. When the Properties menu opens, select the "Levels" tab and adjust the level slider to 100%.

Once the Playback audio options are set, select the "Recording" tab in the sound app. Locate the "Microphone USB Audio CODEC" in this window, left click on it to highlight it, and select "Properties" Again in this window, click on the "Levels" tab and adjust this slider to about 90%. This should provide adequate volume for the receive side in DM -780

Once the audio is set, close the sound app. Go to DM-780, make sure the radio is set to Upper Side Band, and try a PSK 31 transmission. Check to make sure you have power out. If you do, you're all set to use any of the AFSK digital modes.

If you have any problems with this configuration, please contact HRD Support for further assistance.