tk8500 Connection Issues

[HoboCoastie]

Hello all. Hoping Mr. Parnass might chime in here. I've got an Icom IC-R8500 and I'm trying to set it up for remote programming with the tk8500 suite.

From the R8500, I've got a RS232C to Serial adapter into a Belkin F5U257 Serial to USB adapter. The drivers are installed for the Belkin and it's showing up under COM 3.

I've got an array of platform options, but so far I'm getting the same problem on both of them. On one machine, (Macbook Pro with VMWare), I have tk8500 installed on a 32 Bit version of Windows XP Pro. I also have a Windows 10 VM with tk8500 installed.

I also have a PC with Windows 10 installed.

In all three installations, I had to change the path in the .bat file from 83 to 86 in order to get the software to run. (I found that instruction in another thread on here).

The hang-up now is after clicking "ok" on the splash screen and selecting COM 3 (per Device Manager for the Belkin), I get the error message that reads:

Error in Startup Script

Couldn't open "COM3:": no such file or directory while executing
"open $GlobalParam(Device) RDWR"
("windows" arm line 2)
invoked from within
"switch -glob $platform {
{unix} {
set SID [open $GlobalParam(Device) "r+"]
{macintosh} {
set Sid [open $GlobalParam(Device) "r+"]
..."
(procedure "OpenDevice" line 9)
invoked from within
"OpenDevice"
(procedure "MakeGui" line 11)
invoked from within
"MakeGui"
(file "C:\tk8500\tk8500.tcl" line 129)

I know these adapters are less than desirable, but I'd like to get it to work with one of these configurations if at all possible. I remember installing a printer a while back with one of these and I had to use a virtual serial port, but I don't remember how to do it.

I could also throw a Linux image on the Mac if thats easier. It looked complicated installing tk8500 on the MacOS itself. I was looking for the path of least resistance.

Thanks for the help...

Hobo

 

[HoboCoastie]

My mistake...It's showing up under COM 4. Replace all instances of "COM 3" in my original post with "COM 4"

 

[HoboCoastie]

FIXED!

Alright, I found the problem and the software is working fine now, however, the problem was caused by a glitch.

Upon opening the software for the first time, for COM Port selection, you need to select "Other" and type in your port (COM1, COM2, etc...). Selecting 1-4 from the already set-up selections does not work even if your port is 1, 2, 3 or 4.

I switched USB-Serial cables and found the new one went to COM5 (the other cable was on COM4), so I was forced to enter it in the "Other" field and it worked.

When I switched the radio over to my PC from my Laptop, the port was set at COM3 and I received the aforementioned error. I selected "Other" and entered "COM3", and it worked.

I'll shoot Bob an email and let him know about the glitch. I ended up on Windows 10. It worked on the Virtual Machine (running on Mac) and on my PC running Win10 native.

Hopes this helps someone.

Hobo

 

[parnass]

...

The hang-up now is after clicking "ok" on the splash screen and selecting COM 3 (per Device Manager for the Belkin), I get the error message that reads:

Error in Startup Script

Couldn't open "COM3:": no such file or directory while executing
...
Thanks for the help...

Hobo

When specifying the COM port in tk8500, type "COM3" in the text box instead of clicking on the COM3 checkbox.