SDR-Control for Icom. Full remote SSB, FT8 and CW from your iPad! Software review.
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- čas přidán 29. 08. 2024
- SDR-Control for Icom is the first ham radio software designed for the remote operation of your Icom IC-705, IC-7610 and IC-9700 transceivers straight from your iPad! It’s not another VNC, it’s a full wireless operation of the rig in SSB, CW and FT8/FT4 modes. This ham radio app is created by German radio amateur Marcus Roskosch, DL8MRE. It’s sold on the Appstore for 44.99EUR.
For this review, I used my transceiver IC-705 and my M1 12.9 inch iPad-pro.
Please check these affiliate links. I might earn a small commission at no cost for you if you buy through these links. Thank you!
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73! Linas LY2H
Thanks for showing this method.
That's impressive!
Thanks for this explanation and demonstration. It was very helpful to me, Linas.
I downloaded the app on its release day been using it fo weeks . Bit buggy since it’s new but it works
Agree! It's good the app updates coming out pretty often with bug fixes. 73! Linas LY2H
Thank you Linas for the clearest explanation of how to set up the 705 as a network.
It's a pity that older iPads (about 8 years in this case) connot be upgraded to 15.0 iOS.
Therefore I am experimenting with the Icom RS-BA1 for now.
Victory for Ukraine as well.
Excellent presentation ! Many thanks and 73.
Danke für das tolle Video.73 von Jozef,S56CJG QTH Wien.Austria.😊😊😊
Nice, i like that. New school.
Very interesting.
Nice software! Poor us the PC mortals!
Is there something that works with the Icom 7100 or 7410
I use an iPad and IC 705 with SDR control at home on the home wifi network and it works great. I want to do POTA using my iPad and SRD control. My question is could I replace the home network wifi for the hotspot on my iPhone? would the iPad and IC 705 work over my iPhone hotspot?
Hello, thanks for watching! Yes, I think the SDR Control will run happily on your iPhone's hotspot, as it would act as your home wi-fi network. So all you need to do is to get both the radio and the iPad connected to this network and configure everything accordingly. Of course, you can always use the Option Nr 2 in the video- the hotspot created by the IC-705. Have fun! 73! Linas LY2H
Linas,
Thank you hor helping me get my SDR-Control App and Icom 705 on air and working FT8. You provided excellent help. I saw that you worked CW too, so I tried it but I cannot get it to work. I enabled CW, went to a signal but it won’t decode not can I key the transmitter. What am I missing….does Markus have a help page on how CW option works? I can’t seem to find it in the manual.
Hello Don! Thanks for watching and I’m glad the video was useful for you! As it comes to CW, I don’t think the app provides for decoding of CW signals on receive. It gives an opportunity though, to send the CW straight from the keyboard of your iPad if an external keyboard is connected to it. The manual is pretty brief on this and this feature is mentionnes in Chapter 5 “Suplemental Views” and in chapter 10.2 “ CW Macros”. In my setup, it works pretty straightforward. With the radio in CW mode, it only takes to open up the CW Panel under the View tab on the main waterfall window. In the CW Panel you may choose the Break-in mode from OFF, Semi and Full options. If OFF, the CW will be generated in the app but the radio wouldn’t switch to transmit ( you would need to manualy push the big red TX button top left), in Semi or Full, the radio goes on transmit automatically. In CW Panel you may also choose how would you like the CW transmitted: as soon as you type, or first write then transmit. For the first, you need to activate the Live button (lights blue) and start typing in the small box on the right, for the second, keep the Live button grey and push Send button after finished writing. That’s it. I found a small glitch (I mention it in the video) in the app , when listening to the audio of your transmitted CW through the speakers of the iPad, the sound is distorted , the Morse is chopped and sometimes hardly understandible. Accordingly to Marcus, this might be fixed by setting the Buffer Size to Small in the Audio Settings ( top left button). It helps a bit, in my case, but does not cure completely. I hope, this will be fixed in the future upgrades of the app. If you listen to the transmitted CW audio on the radio’s speaker though , then everything is just fine. HTH, 73! Linas LY2H
Dear Linas, excellent video, thank you very much! One question: do you know if the time for the usage under the FT8 functionality of the app is updated from the IC-705 GPS in the remote mode? I think this would be critical to avoid too big time delays when using the system remotely. A reply would be very much appreciated! 73, Jo - DL1JRM
Dear Johannes, thanks for your question which I'd like to get a positive answer to myself! :) I'm afraid this is not the case yet with the iOS/iPadOS and the "SDR Control". I think, Marcus, the author of the software is the biggest authority here in giving us the answer, but from what I know, the GPS sentences containing the info including the time , could only be transmitted from the radio to the PC ( and NOT the iPad) via the USB cable. This is due to the USB architecture on IC-705 and two comports used by it. Second reason , I think, is the lack of an separate app for the iOS on the APP Store ( or anywhere) being able to fix the iPad's clock after the GPS signal from the radio been received. Thirdly, even if it would, it seems that Apple doesn't want us to fiddle with the time syncing , so there are only two options- Auto, when the iPad syncs its time from the network, or Manual- where you can establish the right time manually (sort of) :)
So far, I only know of the Cable-Windows PC combo which allows to do the GPS synching between the IC-705 and the Windows PC employing also a third party app, like BKTsynch or similar. There is a separate video on my channel on that ( How to sync your Win10 laptop PC time using ICOM IC-705 GPS receiver, quick and easy!
czcams.com/video/Xo1Qt-pe5JQ/video.html
I wish I were wrong and there is a way somewhere to synch the iPad remotely! Until then, we might rneed the internet access and leave it for the iPad to do this. 73! Linas LY2H
Thank you for your video explanation. It was very clear and informative. Hope to work you one day when I get my Icom 705. 73 de WA3SCW
Hi do y have try with ic-7300? And with 705 bit over internet not in Lan connection but remote?!
Hello OM! This app does NOT work with the IC-7300, unfortunately. The developer of this app Marcus explained the IC-7300 is not suitable to work with his app because of the different schematic design compare to the IC-705. And yes, the IC-705 can work remote ia the internet from anywhere with this app, just the internet router in the place where the radio is located should be reconfigured for the external access accordingly to instructions in the user manual. HTH, 73! Linas LY2H
@@Linas_LY2H hi man! now work USB connection with ic-7300! new update!
@@iu1olr Hi man too! No, the app for the iPAD is still NOT working with the IC-7300, even via the USB (as you know, it is not possible to connect anything to the iPad via the USB except the storage flash on the newest iPad models anyway) only 705, 7610 and 9700. The new feature for the IC-7300 you are speaking about is for MAC computers only. Please note, there are two different apps from Marcus- one for the MAC, the other- for the iOS (iPads). They are NOT compatible with each other, and their features are a little bit different, so you have to decide before buying which one is you need based on which device you are going to use to control your radio. My video is only dealing with the iOS app. HTH, 73! Linas LY2H
@@Linas_LY2H Thanks for all your info! and for your videos always very interesting! i bought an old ipad 5th and i'm trying it right now with my 705! really great application!
Hello, Very helpful video. What type keyboard case are you using with your iPad ? 73, Don w0dg
Thanks! It's a Logitech. I think, there is a link in the description for the specific model. 73! Linas LY2H
Is there a similar software for Windows?
@@RayKasprowiczJr Hello Ray! I'm not aware of exactly similar software for Windows, with all the functionality like in SDR Control, like integrated WSJT-X, etc. But, speaking generally, the vast majority of remote control software is designed exclusively for Windows and there is some variety to choose from, both free and payed. I'm sure Google search would pope many of them. I don't have my favorite as I feel no need yet for the Windows remote in my shack. iPad and the IC-705 is a totally different matter :) 73! Linas LY2H
Hello Linas. Do you know if the software has been updated to make using CW any better ? 73 de Syd MI5UTC
Hello Syd, no, the latest version is still V1.0.16 and still with this CW issue in it. 73! Linas LY2H
@@Linas_LY2H OK thanks Linas. Is the CW delay the same in hotspot mode ?
@@Sidmi5utc Yes, it's more or less the same , listening "by ear", both in the WLAN and in the Hot Spot connection mode. What does help a little bit is changing the Buffer size to "small" in Audio Settings, but just a little bit.
Dėkui!
Hi, LOG in software support WWFF? Thank You !
Hello! Tnx for watching! Accordingly to the manual, the Log in this app is designed more for the day-to-day logging, not specific logs like WWFF. Actually, it is possible to customize this log for some kind of contesting, also it is possible to set “My SOTA REF “ in the station settings, so, probably one can put WWFF in this box instead. But it would not be very convienient for the WWFF logging in the field, IMO. When I activate a flora-fauna ref, I, normally use a special dedicated Log, like FLE (Fast Log Entry), with automated adding the received Ref Nr and other specific info. It does not require to be connected to the radio, but allows very fast, real-time logging QSO’s right in the pile-up situation. HTH, 73! Linas LY2H
@@Linas_LY2H Thank you for the answer, yes, that's true, but if I want to continue working with QSOs from WWFF, I would have to rewrite them in another LOG in a complicated way, this is a rather complicated situation :) I'm looking in vain for a program that can do this, because the better ones can also synchronize from QRZ and so I wouldn't have to write anything during Pile-Up, except for the HAM callsign, the rest would be filled in for me. 73! Jakub
@@JacobNewmen QSL, Jakub. Trying not to complicate my life, I only log my WWFF activation contacts in the FLE logger, it puts automatically the date, time the full report (I only need to enter a fragment of rst, like 3 for the “539” report , the callsign and his Ref. Nr if he’s an activator too) , and after the activation I just e-mail the ADIF file to the WWFF manager who puts my log into the database for all the hunters to verify with. In case my computer hangs in the middle of the forest (usual stuff :)) , I can keep on logging to the paper log and then manualy enter the contacts into the FLE logger, that’s a very useful feature of it. I don’t see how would I benefit from the internet connection to the QRZ database even if the logger had such a feature , in the way I’m used to activate WWFF. YMMV! Thanks for sharing! 73! Linas LY2H
Will this software work with earlier versions of iPad?
Hello Roly! It's said in the manual the software is compatible with iOs15 or later. So, I think any iPad still able to update to iOS/iPadOS15 will run the SDRControl for Icom too. The older iOS versions will most likely not. HTH 73! Linas LY2H
@@Linas_LY2H Thanks Linas.
My iPad runs 15.6 so should be ok then.
Cheers
Anybody think Icom will update the 7300 to do this?
What, if Icom has already done it and called it IC-705? :) :)
No, the 7300 does not have networking built in. 🙁
How do you get your contacts off the ipad from FT8 to upload to your log?
Hello, there is a Logbook app within the SDRControl which logs all the contacts in, including FT8 and allows to see all the contacts and export the ADI file later on to wherever you want via an e-mail or via the i-Cloud. HTH, 73! Linas LY2H
@@Linas_LY2H yes I know how to log contacts but how do I get them off my ipad? Where do you go to export to a file?
@@MichaelRandazzophotoguy If you are in a Waterfall page in SDRControl, you need to leave it by pressing the Tools button at the centre bottom of the screen. The Tools page opens. Then press the Logbook icon in this page, and all your contacts are displayed. On the Right Top of the screen there is a Files graphic icon (second from the left). Press it, and a dialogue box opens up with following options to choose from:
-export ADIF file to iCloud drive
-export ADIF file via Email
- import ADIF File from iCloud drive
When you choose your preference, the Email window or an iCloud dialogue box opens up, accordingly.
That's it. HTH, 73! Linas LY2H
@@Linas_LY2H Found it thank you.
WHAT TYP;E OF ANTENNA DO YOU USE AT YOUR QTH PLEASE DYLAN M0DSY
Hello Dylan, thanks for watching. I use the vertical R8 and a full-size 80-10m EFHW at my home QTH. 73! Linas LY2H.
@@Linas_LY2H I also use a efhw40/80m and a magloop not so good for ft8 but great for ssb lol thankyou for taking the time 73 Dylan
непонятно .... украинский спец позывной ?
Awesome video Linas! I’m hoping some day my Elecraft KX2 and my iPad 4 will work seemlessly… but alas, no… Thanks for sharing your success with the IC705. 72. de W7UDT Rand (dit dit)