Yes, it is true! I have (after quite a bit of trial and error) arrived at a reliable rig setup for the Yaesu FT-991a that allows me to run all modes with Ham Radio Deluxe software on my Laptop, from anywhere within my LAN. (No second computer needed.)
The goal of this effort was to move out of the basement-shack on nice evenings and operate some SSB, PSK, and FT4/8 from our three-season room. I tried several Raspberry-Pi-pathologies and a great deal was learned about “socat”, but even more about things that Windows is really not good at.
Architecturally the FT-991a has a single physical USB port that supplies (through an internal hub) three comm devices: A USB Audio interface (Mic-in, Speaker-out), a basic USB Serial Device, and a USB Enhanced Serial Device. The Enhanced serial device is the CAT-control comm-port for the rig and the USB Audio CODECs in and out are a bit like you would find with a Signal-Link-type external device.
So, the core requirement in remote operation with this technically very capable rig, is to get the data from the composite USB interface onto the network and transparently into my laptop. The search-term I needed was – “USB Device Server”. It happens that small business offices commonly use these servers for printer and fax machine sharing within the office. I located a DS-600 from Silex Technology on Amazon.
At less that $130, this little device does a great job — specifically with Windows (Win10 in my case). The Virtual Device driver software actually allows the USB ports on the radio to show up in Window’s Device manager over the LAN as if plugged directly into my laptop.
I struggled a bit at first go. One thing to remember is that the properties of the device initially default a little differently than it would have if plugged in directly. So, I had to open up each port’s device properties and set the baud rates to 115200, otherwise things were a little sketchy. Once done, I have not had to touch them again. I can also unplug the radio from the server and back into the laptop, and even the port naming remains consistent — so Ham Radio Deluxe doesn’t even know the difference.
Digital Master (HRD) works out of the box as always as well as WSJT-X (FTx/JTx/WSPR) using an HRD connection for the audio/CAT setup.
For SSB, I use a Heil headset plugged directly into the laptop. I can redirect the audio between the mic and rig by going into the Win10 control panel — “Sound”. This is readily available by right-clicking on the speaker icon in the taskbar.
Under the “Recording” tab, the microphone can be selected. Then under the “Properties->Listen” tab, check the “Listen to this device” box and “Playback through this device”. The microphone is now redirected to the USB Sound CODEC (which is the FT-991a mic input over USB).
Similarly, the USB Sound CODEC from the FT-991a can be selected as a Microphone input and then redirected and played out to my headset using the same steps.
An alternative approach to flipping the “listen-to” switches is to set up an application like VoiceMeeter. This is a slick mixing panel that gives some professional quality audio steering, level and effects control. I found with my remote setup that only the MME audio modes are clean. The WDM enhanced Windows Audio mode proved to be a bit choppy.
I created a setup like this:
– Assigned: Rig USB CODEC (out) -> Input 1
– Selected: Input 1 -> A1
– Assigned: Microphone -> Input 2
– Selected: Input 2 -> A2
– Assigned: Output A1 -> Speaker/Headphones
– Assigned: Output A2 -> Rig USB CODEC (in)
and saved the settings.
Now I can simply launch this application for SSB and close it for the digital modes supported by Digital Master and WSJT/X.
So if you have an FT-991 or similar rig with a similar port configuration, I believe that this path would lead to some good results. Even if your rig is using an external RigBlaster or SignalLink over USB, the configuration and operation should be nearly the same.
Hope all this comes as a little help! – 73