Using WSJT-X and JS8call with hamlib or rigctld for C-Media PTT

[BMDaug]

Hey everyone, I’m starting to dabble in JS8call and FT8, but the software lacks native support for C-Media PTT via GPIO. I’ve found very limited info about setting the PTT in WSJT-X to ‘none’ and having hamlib or rigctld OR flrig PTT the radio since they all support C-Media PTT. Does anyone have experience with using this functionality? Fldigi and VARA both support C-Media PTT natively, so I’m unfamiliar with interfacing an application like WSJT-X or JS8call to a secondary rig control system.

I’m running a Codan NGT-MR with a DRA65 sound card interface with custom cables and a prototype balancing transformer add-on (Codan is floating 600 ohm balanced audio in.)

Thanks for reading!!

-B

 

[BMDaug]

Well, obviously, this isn’t a popular topic… since I’m using the DRA series with a VOX circuit, I’m able to squeak by without this capability, since I can set one audio channel as the VOX trigger, and the other as the output to the radio, which means I can get a solid VOX signal without worrying about audio levels to the radio. Then, I can set every single other data mode/application to use the cmedia gpio and run out the “audio to radio channel” only, thereby bypassing the VOX circuit on all more capable software…

It’s very frustrating that WSJT-X and JS8Call are the only two pieces of software that do not support cmedia, but when you bring this up to them, they ask why anyone would support such a “niche protocol”… well you’re the outlier here… so everyone else thinks there is merit to supporting this simple protocol.

I guess VOX works well enough for fooling around, it’s just a bummer that the devs have blinders on and have already decided that they won’t support this.

-Brian