Many of today’s modern radios connect to the computer using just a type A/B USB connection between the radio and computer. When the driver for these radios are installed on the computer, they create not only the virtual COM port for Rig Control, they also install a USB Audio CODEC that allows connection to the built-in soundcard of the radio. This document will explain how to setup DM-780 with any radio that connects to the computer using only a USB cable from the radio to the computer.
Step #1 – Configure Radio Pane
An important step in setting up DM780 is the configuration of the Radio Pane. On the DM780 top menu click on VIEW > then click on RADIO and the following Radio Pane will appear on the left side of the DM-780 display.
 | Your radio pane may NOT look EXACTLY like this but we will still be able to get the basics here. The Radio Pane MUST be configured before you will be able to transmit any data from within DM780. From here, click on the "Configure" icon on the Radio Pane toolbar as indicated by the red arrow in the image to the left. This opens the Radio Configuration Options page. |
In the image above, you will first see the HRD User interface information. Be certain it shows an "Address" of "localhost" and a port of "7809". Do not change the “Address” or “Port” settings as this will result in DM-780 not being able to communicate with the other HRD modules. Be certain there is a check mark in the box to automatically connect, then click on the "Connect" button.
There MUST be at least a "TX" button configured in order for DM780 to key your radio from within the digital modes, so, our next step is to place our cursor on the button marked "TX" and left-click. This will open the button options screen as seen below.
Once this is open, select and highlight "TX" as shown above, and click the "OK" button on the bottom of the Select button menu. This activates the TX button in the Radio Pane.
N o t e : There is one exception to setting the “TX” button. If you are configuring the “TX” button for the Kenwood TS-590, 590s or 590sg, you must select “TX Data” from the Select Button list.
Now, all you do is click the "SAVE" button on the bottom of the configuration window and you will be returned to the main DM780 window.
You should now be able to transmit the AFSK digital modes in DM780 provided you have your soundcard configured properly and the PTT option set correctly in the DM-780 Program Options.
Step# 2 – Configure Soundcard
Now we need to configure the soundcard that DM-780 uses for the digital modes transmit and receive.
On the DM-780 main toolbar, click on “Program Options”. When the Program Options dialog opens, follow the steps below to configure assign the soundcard in the radio to be used for the audio device for receiving and transmitting the digital mode.
- Select “Soundcard” in the menu on the left.
- Click on the dropdown for the input device and select “Microphone – (USB Audio CODEC)
- Click on the dropdown for the output device and select “Speakers – (USB Audio CODEC)
Step #3 – Configure PTT
Next, select “PTT” from the menu on the left and put a “tick” in the “Via Ham Radio Deluxe – DM-780 must be connected to HRD” radio button as shown below.
Step #4 – Configure Windows Default Soundcard
This setting selects the soundcard used by Windows for audio generated from things like CDs you may want to play in the computer that’s connected to the radio, or audio from YouTube videos you may be watching. If incorrectly configured, it might be possible to transmit this unwanted audio over the air.
To configure the Windows default audio, open your “Control Panel” in Windows 7 by clicking on the “Start” icon in the lower left corner of your taskbar and type in the “Control Panel” in the “search box”. For Windows 10, right-click on “Start” and select “Search” and type “Control Panel” in the search box.
When the Control Panel opens, you may see a display like the one on the next page.
If you see this display, click on the dropdown indicated by the arrow in the image below and select either “Large Icons” or “Small Icons”
When you have the Control Panel open showing all the apps, select the “Sound” app as shown by the arrow in the image below.
When the Windows Sound app opens, make sure you locate and click on the soundcard that’s built into the computer and left click on it to highlight. Click on the “Set Default” button to set this soundcard as the default soundcard that Windows uses for things like playing CD, audio from internet sites, etc.
Again, this reminder, if you set one of the “USB Audio CODEC” options as “default” there is a possibility you may accidentally transmit unwanted audio from the computer over the air.
Step #5 – Return to DM-780 to complete setup
Some of these next steps may or may not apply for every radio. Setting the radio properly will determine whether or not you will successfully be able to transmit audio from the digital modes out over the air, so you may have to play just a bit with some of the settings until you get used to working the digital modes.
First, we’re going to display the “Waterfall” on your GUI. To do this, on the DM-780 toolbar, you will see an icon labeled “Waterfall”. Click on this icon and you should now have a display as shown below.
You are now ready to set the radio and DM-780 to try a test transmission to make sure you have RF going out your antenna.
First, look closely at your Radio Pane on the left side of the display. Most radios will display 6 pre-configured buttons in the area below the “Frequency” display. One of those buttons should say “Mode”. Left-clicking on the “Mode” button will open a dropdown menu with the modes that your particular radio is capable of operating in.
The Digital Modes are always worked in USB (Upper Side Band) regardless of what band you are on. On some radios, when you click the “Mode” dropdown button, along with the normal USB and LSB, you may see something like “USB-D” or “LSB-D”, “Digi”, “Digi-U”, “User-U” or something of the sort. The “D” in these modes indicate “Digital”, so if you show only “USB” in the dropdown, select that. If you show anything with a “D” that indicates you select that mode. A mode selection with “U” following it indicates Upper Side Band. When selecting the digital mode, just make sure it indicates Upper Side Band.
Some radios display a “Data” button on the GUI. When clicking on this you will have something that indicates Data Off/Data On, or possibly several data settings like D1, D2, D3, etc. The selection on this button depends on proper settings of internal menu options in the radio itself. This selection is important because it tells the radio which plug on the back of the radio is carrying the digital data to the transmitter.
Now the only thing left is to select the operating mode (PSK, RTTY (AFSK) or what ever you choose, and click on one of the CQ macros to see if the radio transmits the RF properly out the antenna. Should you have any problems with this configuration of DM-780, please don’t hesitate to go to www.HamRadioDeluxe.com and select the “Support” option on the top menu and “Create a Support Ticket” containing details of the problem you are having and a support technician will be more than happy to assist you in any way he/she can.