R8600 New IC-R8600 software, need some testers

[kilocharlie8]

I've had this cool application for about a week now. Getting ready to get my 8600 config. setup for my LAN.
Am I missing something or will this only work with TCP/IP and not USB on my radio?

Hi ArloG,

Running on LAN will give the best performance. When using USB, the spectrum display will be significantly slower. (Also, we have not tried that yet).

--E
de W6EL

 

[kilocharlie8]

I'd be glad to help; the issue I have is that I can't connect to it from outside my LAN. I have T-Mobile Home Internet which works great but a double NAT situation is introduced as a result. I have not overcome it and what I have searched up via the internet is not much help. If you don't get any takers on this and we can work through that dilemma I'd be glad to. What you've done with it so far is fantastic and I'd love to see the 8600 operate at as full a capacity as possible.

I don't want this thread to get sidetracked, so if anyone has suggestions about the double NAT issue please contact me via PM. Thanks.

Hi KC1UA,

I did have someone from here volunteer a rig for LAN connections, and we have started using it. Hopefully we will get some R8600 updates in for R1.1, due out in a few weeks.

Thanks,
--E
de W6EL

 

[ArloG]

For KC1UA,
Can you state what your Internet equipment is?
Make, Model? I may be wrong but is it possible that you have a router behind a router?
Is the T-Mobile device handing out a 10.x.x.x or 192.x.x.x. range of addresses and not a public I.P. ?
Give me a mental picture of your setup.

 

[prcguy]

I downloaded the software yesterday and got it working but the squelch doesn't seem to work on the computer audio. I can vary the squelch slider in the software and the radio hardware will squelch and unsquelch but the computer audio is always there with hiss in the background when no signal is present. Otherwise its interesting and I hope to experiment using the 8600 remote over the Internet.

 

[ArloG]

Hi ArloG,

Running on LAN will give the best performance. When using USB, the spectrum display will be significantly slower. (Also, we have not tried that yet).

--E
de W6EL

I just had a little time and sat down to see if I could get the USB CIV interface working. No joy.
Tried the different com ports and baud rate settings. Currently com 4 & 6 and baud is 9600.
I did try different radio settings, CIV addresses.
So far, no joy. Am I missing something or is TCP/IP the only current working method for the 8600?

BTW it's been awhile and I use HDSDR for I/Q. I think it was Commander that I got CIV with USB working quite easily.
Anyone?

 

[waynedc]

Elliott,

I have release v1.0 running perfectly with the IC-R8600 and using a USB connection to the radio. I especially like that the radio can be turned off and then powered up via the application.

Strong work !!!

Wayne

 

[kruser]

I just had a little time and sat down to see if I could get the USB CIV interface working. No joy.
Tried the different com ports and baud rate settings. Currently com 4 & 6 and baud is 9600.
I did try different radio settings, CIV addresses.
So far, no joy. Am I missing something or is TCP/IP the only current working method for the 8600?

BTW it's been awhile and I use HDSDR for I/Q. I think it was Commander that I got CIV with USB working quite easily.
Anyone?

You are not using the special I/Q USB port for your USB control tests are you?
I think control needs to be from one of the regular USB ports but I'm not positive with this new software. I recall someone else hitting that snag with some other 3rd party control software but I don't remember the details.

 

[prcguy]

I'm not using any other software or the USB port. I went through all the radio menus and found under SET, then Connectors, then LAN, you need to turn the AF SQ on. Its working fine now.

You are not using the special I/Q USB port for your USB control tests are you?
I think control needs to be from one of the regular USB ports but I'm not positive with this new software. I recall someone else hitting that snag with some other 3rd party control software but I don't remember the details.

 

[ArloG]

You are not using the special I/Q USB port for your USB control tests are you?
I think control needs to be from one of the regular USB ports but I'm not positive with this new software. I recall someone else hitting that snag with some other 3rd party control software but I don't remember the details.

Thanks guys. Almost too easy once I focused on the radios CI-V menu.
So USB is working good.
Ethernet connection next. Should be a breeze.

 

[prcguy]

I got the software working over the Internet and this is getting more useful. I would like to use this setup for testing antennas across town and it would be great if the software could select the different S meter readouts of S units, dBv, dBv EMF and dBm. Using any of these and especially dBm makes this a perfect setup for taking remote data for antenna measurements and related tasks. So how bout adding this as a feature?

 

[kilocharlie8]

Just a quick update,

We are working steadily towards our "1.1" release, which does include updates to the R8600. The updates on this model are to more consistently support all the modes, correct spectrum scope spans (including the 5 MHz swath), and major updates to the audio back-end, network client code, and command queue system.

The update should feel more responsive and much more stable.

We're also adding support for the IC-7700 (including network audio), and we have greatly enhanced the ability of wfview to act as a server for radios that lack OEM network connections. This includes the IC-7300, but also older rigs like the IC-706/718/7000/7100/7200, etc. Older radios also will work much, much better than they did previously. This is due to a dynamic polling calculation that takes place (and the user can override the timing value), and a new queue system that guarantees commands don't violate radio data timing (which is critical when you are using a true CI-V one-wire radio).


This update might feel more like a stability and bug-fix update, but there are a few minor features that sneaked in as well, such as:

• Adjustable waterfall length
• No need to restart wfview to change baud rate, connection type (network or serial), serial port (if used) or CI-V address
• --settings argument, which allows you to have different settings files, useful to make shortcuts on your desktop to multiple rigs
• Slider values are reported in the UI as they are adjusted. This is nice for setting a slider to a specific value
• For rigs without spectrum data, wfview automatically hides the spectrum and takes on a smaller main window

Linux users can try it now, the code is out on our gitlab page. For Windows and Mac, give us a few days to release it officially (or compile it yourself if you live on the wild side).

Useful links:
Support Forum
Main Website
User Manual
Source Code

Also, a big thanks to a user on this forum that has made his IC-R8600 available to us over the internet for testing. This was a huge help in debugging!

Keep an eye on the Download page for our 1.1 release, which will be out in about a week.

73!

--E
de W6EL

 

[kilocharlie8]

And.... It's out!
Link: Download | wfview
Make sure to scroll past the "Latest" release, and down to where it says "Test (Alpha) releases".

We've got lots of changes, especially towards smoother operation on the IC-R8600.

Here are some notes from our changelog and what's new file:

• added IC7700, 718, 7100. (more testing needed)
• fixes and improvements to audio
• ability to choose between rtaudio and qtmultimedia (default) as compile time option
• fixes and lots of improvements at the usb-server end
• waterfall length can be adjusted now
• no need to restart to change CIV address, baud rate, or serial port
  
• seamless changing rigs without restart
• started support for older rigs like the 718
• waterfall display disappears when there is no waterfall-capable rig
• IC R8600 support improved, including more stable network, mode commands, and full 5 MHz span
  
• for older rigs added a polling timing box to keep stuff keeping smooth
• Local af gain now has anti-log audio pot taper.
• Preferences saved now include selected waterfall theme, local AF volume setting, and waterfall length.

Please give it a try today! We'd really value your feedback. Here's a screenshot to entice you, which also includes a few beta features that aren't in the test build yet (notably the extended transceiver control window).

73,

--E
de W6EL

 

[kilocharlie8]

I got the software working over the Internet and this is getting more useful. I would like to use this setup for testing antennas across town and it would be great if the software could select the different S meter readouts of S units, dBv, dBv EMF and dBm. Using any of these and especially dBm makes this a perfect setup for taking remote data for antenna measurements and related tasks. So how bout adding this as a feature?

Hi PrcGuy,

wfview derives signal strength from a single number that the radio provides. If you've read much about the 7300, you know that the S-units are scaled differently from most radios. I have thought of "fixing" the scale to make it more standard. Perhaps that will be an option in wfview one day.

For now though, if you really want to measure antenna gain, I have done this using another technique that is more suited for recording measurements. My son and I wrote some python code to take periodic readings from an RTL-SDR, plus a GPS snapshot (time and position), and write these data to a CSV spreadsheet. The entire thing can be run in the car using a Raspberry Pi or a laptop. I did this and drove around town maping out my repeater coverage, it worked very well. The CSV file was actually quite easy to overlay into google maps as a sort of 'heat map'. Probably the most challenging thing about this was figuring out how to derive signal strength from a spectrum. I ended up using power spectral density, an integral of all the spectra over a bandwidth. The CSV file has the complete spectrum as well as the measured signal strength in dB. You have to be careful to set the gain of the RTL-SDR (and keep it at one setting) for the test, generally setting the gain at the strongest spot (ie, the transmitter site) before driving out.

Here's the code if you are interested:

GitHub - eliggett/SDRSurvey

Contribute to eliggett/SDRSurvey development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[prcguy]

The R8600 S meter is very accurate and designed to be that way unlike most amateur radios and it can display in S units, dBV and others on its front panel. I and others have compared the dBm readout on the R8600 to test equipment and its amazingly accurate. I would hope the raw data supplied by the R8600 could be scaled to dBm or something similar in wfview, which would be useful for making field measurements. The R8600 is more like a piece of test equipment than an amateur radio.

BTW, where in Los Angeles are you? I might be able to let you use my R8600 and I lent it to Rob Sherwood who posted performance specs between his and my radio on his receiver performance website.

Hi PrcGuy,

wfview derives signal strength from a single number that the radio provides. If you've read much about the 7300, you know that the S-units are scaled differently from most radios. I have thought of "fixing" the scale to make it more standard. Perhaps that will be an option in wfview one day.

For now though, if you really want to measure antenna gain, I have done this using another technique that is more suited for recording measurements. My son and I wrote some python code to take periodic readings from an RTL-SDR, plus a GPS snapshot (time and position), and write these data to a CSV spreadsheet. The entire thing can be run in the car using a Raspberry Pi or a laptop. I did this and drove around town maping out my repeater coverage, it worked very well. The CSV file was actually quite easy to overlay into google maps as a sort of 'heat map'. Probably the most challenging thing about this was figuring out how to derive signal strength from a spectrum. I ended up using power spectral density, an integral of all the spectra over a bandwidth. The CSV file has the complete spectrum as well as the measured signal strength in dB. You have to be careful to set the gain of the RTL-SDR (and keep it at one setting) for the test, generally setting the gain at the strongest spot (ie, the transmitter site) before driving out.

Here's the code if you are interested:

GitHub - eliggett/SDRSurvey

Contribute to eliggett/SDRSurvey development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[kilocharlie8]

The R8600 S meter is very accurate and designed to be that way unlike most amateur radios and it can display in S units, dBV and others on its front panel. I and others have compared the dBm readout on the R8600 to test equipment and its amazingly accurate. I would hope the raw data supplied by the R8600 could be scaled to dBm or something similar in wfview, which would be useful for making field measurements. The R8600 is more like a piece of test equipment than an amateur radio.

BTW, where in Los Angeles are you? I might be able to let you use my R8600 and I lent it to Rob Sherwood who posted performance specs between his and my radio on his receiver performance website.

Hi PrcGuy,

I'm in Glendale, CA -- northern LA area. I've got one R8600 from a fellow in Florida, I believe (from the NOAA broadcast I listened to). But if you have one local, that would be great because I could transmit and hear myself. PM me if you're up for it. Especially if you have an HF antenna attached.

RE: S-meter units, I see what you're getting at, yes, we could allow different numerical overlays on the meter. The code is actually set up in a way that makes alternative scales not too difficult to set up. When I go in and add the other meters (Vd, Id, ALC, etc), I'll see about alternate scales. We've also got the issue that some radios scale the meter differently, which I have basically ignored so far because I haven't decided upon a modular way to handle it.

 

[prcguy]

PM on the way.

Hi PrcGuy,

I'm in Glendale, CA -- northern LA area. I've got one R8600 from a fellow in Florida, I believe (from the NOAA broadcast I listened to). But if you have one local, that would be great because I could transmit and hear myself. PM me if you're up for it. Especially if you have an HF antenna attached.

RE: S-meter units, I see what you're getting at, yes, we could allow different numerical overlays on the meter. The code is actually set up in a way that makes alternative scales not too difficult to set up. When I go in and add the other meters (Vd, Id, ALC, etc), I'll see about alternate scales. We've also got the issue that some radios scale the meter differently, which I have basically ignored so far because I haven't decided upon a modular way to handle it.

 

[prcguy]

I would consider a dBm or similar readout to be specific to the R8600 as no other Icom radio S meters are very accurate and they don't offer these different scales on the radio.

Hi PrcGuy,

I'm in Glendale, CA -- northern LA area. I've got one R8600 from a fellow in Florida, I believe (from the NOAA broadcast I listened to). But if you have one local, that would be great because I could transmit and hear myself. PM me if you're up for it. Especially if you have an HF antenna attached.

RE: S-meter units, I see what you're getting at, yes, we could allow different numerical overlays on the meter. The code is actually set up in a way that makes alternative scales not too difficult to set up. When I go in and add the other meters (Vd, Id, ALC, etc), I'll see about alternate scales. We've also got the issue that some radios scale the meter differently, which I have basically ignored so far because I haven't decided upon a modular way to handle it.

 

[jazzboypro]

I'm using the Windows build of the software with my 8600, 7900 and 7610. The LAN connection work very well on all three. I made some contacts on 2 meter from my laptop sitting on the patio while controlling the radio located in the basement, very nice. Any chance of getting the scan features and full memory control in an upcoming version ?

Thanks
73
VA2FCS

 

[kilocharlie8]

Hi All,

With version 1.2c we have implemented the "center tune" option as a meter choice under the Settings tab.

We're still working out how to best handle memories and scanning. It'll come, one way or another though!

73,

--E
de W6EL

 

[prcguy]

I'll download and give it a spin, thanks! How bout that dBm or dBmv meter readout?

Hi All,

With version 1.2c we have implemented the "center tune" option as a meter choice under the Settings tab.

We're still working out how to best handle memories and scanning. It'll come, one way or another though!

73,

--E
de W6EL