DigiRig Modem and Rig Control for Lab599 Discovery TX-500 

This works great. Got my old FT-897D up in less than 10 minutes. It just works.

I bought one of these to use with my Xiegu G90 for digital modes, and I love it for that

Really great video explaining the set up so clearly. It's greatly appreciated! In have received my DigiRig and leads today for my TX500, already got everything installed along with FLdigi and ION2G, now looking forward to see what can be done. Cheers, Pete M3KXZ

Just ordered a Digirig for the TX-500 a day ago! Thanks for the settings ! The TX-500 is a great radio hope to see your videos on it soon ! W4LJH

Mine just arrived ♡ very much looking forward to setting it up 😎👍📻🔥 thank you for posting this!

I ordered a Digirig soon after ordering my TX-500. I’m looking forward to using both, but it may be awhile before my radio comes in.

Good video. I've been looking at this unit since seeing Julian talk about it. I just placed my order for a Digirig and IC706MKIIG cables today. One use of an FM HT with Digirig would be using it for Packet or VARA FM Winlink if you are in range of an RMS node. My primary plan is to use it with the IC706MKIIG in my truck for portable HF VARA and Packet/VARA FM Winlink ops for EMCOMM.

Thanks for making this video, it really helped guide me

You are great at explaining complex items in understandable terms. Certainly a gift. Thank you for this video 73

The TX500 needs the Digirig version 1.6 and it’s a good idea to mention the intended radio when ordering, so that Digirig has the right voltage jumper setup.

Jason I know absolutely nothing about digital modes but I feel like you do a tremendous job of explaining that stuff on this video! 73 KC9QVE Kokomo,Indiana

The digirig is a great piece of equipment, and offered for sale at a very reasonable price.

I'm looking for something like that for my truck thanks for the video

That is great, and is an extremely 'universal' interface. Hopefully they can add some more pre-made cables. No doubt homebrewing your own cables for other rigs won't be too hard.

Jason, can you do a video on how to hook up the TX500 and PA500. LOVE YOUR SHOW, 73

Fascinating! Admiral Spock

Have TX-500, Digirig just arrived. Preparing Surface Go (that has been resting in a PeliCase for ages) as the WSJT-X host

I use on my G90 in Hawaii for FT8! I was using the UK cable and this is way better. Only place found a USB-C shielded cable.

I want to explain some things I've learned about serial communication with devices in the case this helps someone out there who is really confused. I've worked with serial devices professionally for a *short* time and I'm sure I'm still wrong about some details. If you know better than please comment back. All these radios, as far as I can tell, use RS-232 protocol to talk bc it's cost effective. This is a *loose* standard that specifies what voltage is a 1 or a 0. That's about it. In the old days, Transistor-to-Transistor logic (TTL) was sent using higher voltages than modern transistors, 3-25 VDC. These days newer chips use something lower I think it's around 5 VDC. To be clear, USB is also serial but a different standard. That has to be broken out to the multiple pins on the RS-232 *standard* and given the proper voltages. These conversion chips are not only used with radios but tons of legacy equipment. You'll see that some serial-to-USB conversion chips are specifically for 25 V or 5 V. Most are 5 volts. There's a chip called FTDI which is a producer of these common chips. They cost more than knock-offs because they handle the conversion better and there's probably some patents so the knock off's cannot just clone the chip exactly. In the old days, embedded systems were very slow and memory was limited. Thus they would be easily overwhelmed if too much data came streaming into it's data port (serial port). They used Data-Ready, Clear-to-Send and Ready-To-Send signals on separate wires / pins to mitigate those issues. Modern embedded micro controllers do not need the three separate signals. However, a radio may use DTR for data and RTS for PTT which is convenient. Or the radio can just read a specific code for PTT and command data from just one wire/pin. The data sent are binary numbers usually each has a special meaning. Some devices can "talk" using ASCII commands which are nicer to read for humans when programming. The binary numbers are 16 bits or two bytes long. There's a preamble that means, "hey I'm talking!", then the data ( like a frequency value), then a post-amble (I'm done talking). The radio then replies that the command was received and often a code for success or failure. The driver is the connection between the OS's low level kernel and the higher level program like FlDigi or JS8Call. The kernel makes the connection painless for the programmer they just say, "open the USB port and connect" and it happens. A main feature of DigiRig interface, is that is combines an audio chip (and codec) and the FTDI conversion chip in the same small package. There's a built in USB bus which combines the signals into a single USB connection. I didn't know until I watched the video, that there's also an EPROM chip with the Windows driver to talk to the FTDI chip. That's super cool.

I ordered one last night to go digital while doing SOTA.

Nice............................ ❤️

i've got a G90 and i'm looking to go digital soon. so i'm looking at a digirig or a signalink.

I have a Baofeng sitting in its charger working as an iGate for a big footprint APRS Digi 3 miles away…connected to a small footprint pc via $8 usb sound card…Agwe siftware TNC. Been in operation for 3 years now.

I have one for my KX2 but I have tested yet.

The heck with FT8 over FM, but you can do Winlink. The digirig can also do CHRIP on the Baofeng.

@Ham Radio 2.0 hi I was wondering if you could recommend a good backpack hf /uhf/vhf cw transceiver that can reach all of the world if one exist. the usage would be for emergency and connecting with people all over the world and i want to have everything at my disposal.. for the home/bay station I went with an ic 7300. just couldnt pass it up. thank you and looking forward to the live video

I’m very interested in using this with the ICOM 706mkii -would you consider doing a video along these lines ?

I built one of those and placed it in the extended battery for a UV-5R. It cost $8 in parts.

Can't find the link to the setup doc you mentioned in the video?

I have heard of Digirig. Think I saw it on Julien's channel. I would be interested in it for some of the older radios I have. Older Yaesu's and Kenwoods. Possibly the KX3.

Ok. Noob question. What is the end purpose of the device? And is Internet on the computer necessary when using it?

didn't directly mention it that I heard but is the DigiRig Windows only?

So there’s different digirig boxes for different radios or is he referring to the cable set?

When are the lab599 cables for the DigiRig shipping??

Does the DigiRig do packet radio?

Way cool Jason! will that work for an ft-891?

A video on setting up profiles in want would be helpful.

It should work for Winlink FM. I don't know if it will do winlink Vara FM high speed. Maybe you can find out, or someone on here may know. I need to do Winlink Vara FM!

I’m lost….real simple terms, what does it do?

I ordered a digirig and the cables for my TX-500 that were preset for this radio. I find that the input audio levels into my Windows 11 laptop is way too hot. I cannot adjust audio to a proper input level. If I mute it, they are gone as expected. Has anyone experienced the same issue?

Windows os okay but what about those of us who uses Linux for out OS?

Why do you need an external sound card when every laptop has one built in?

It's the DIN series of connectors. Poor mans Cannon XLR.

I feel badly for anyone that bought a Lab599 TX500 radio...with it being developed in Russia... One of my friends bought one a few months ago and he loves it but now he's worried about not being able to get support or firmware updates. Sucks!

Watch out !! Beware : "You won " watsup scam messages.

Hi great video and is helping me to set up the Digirig to the TX-500. Can you post the link to the groups.io pdf document you mentioned in the video as it sounds like it would be very useful in setting this up. Many thanks Martin M0UMS

I'm having problems setting FLDIGI and FLRIG up with the DigiRig and TX500. Have you tried this at all? 73 de M3KXZ