This is a review for the digirig mobile. The unit was supplied to me free of charge by digirig (thank you Denis), but the options expressed are mine alone. 73! Jonathan Email me: questions@m0jsx.radio
Many thanks from Finland, Jonathan! Your video encouraged me to order the Digirig plus some cables for my good old FT-857d that I use for WWFF, POTA and Emcomm out in the field. Also a pleasant surprise to be able to program the rig with this configuration. 73 de OH2CJI
Great video Jonathan - I was not aware of this device and the interface info you have described so clearly. I really must get my FT857D installed into the car and progress it’s operation. You are an impressive communicator so keep up the good work. 73 de GI8WFA.
Thank you for touching all the bases I needed to know about the Digirig. I use the BuildaPi by KM4ACK with a SingaLink. The SingaLink is very clunky for portable operations (I do a lot of POTA). It served its purpose over the years but now it is time to scale down with more features. I will be buying the DigiRig soon.. 73 de N7JRR
I use both the Digirig and Signalink but for different purposes. The Digirig is in my bug out bag along with a Yaesu FT-818, and the Signalink is connected to a FT-891 which I use while operating portable in the back yard and any events that I attend. I like having audio and CAT control on the Digirig, but one benefit of the Signalink is that the audio levels can be controlled easier and quicker than with the Digirig. If the ALC is too high while on HF I can simply drop it down without having to pull up the audio levels in Windows 10. 73 KD5YOU
Nice presentation, but cw only here, but I do look forward too your next video, which might appeal to those who do not like digital modes, cheers mate.
Jonathan, Excellent presentation. What would be a great help is to post the settings on both the FT857 and the computer. I know you described the computer side, it would be a great service to give both on your video. Thanks in advance.
I've got one on order for my TX-500 due to its small size. I've also been using the Signalink for a good few years with the FT-817 and 857 when portable and it does have a couple of advantages over the Digirig. Firstly it that the audio is transformer coupled - I have had issues with direct connecting the line / mic audio from a Toughbook laptop to audio I/O on a radio (FT-817 in my case) where the laptop would stop responding if I transmitted FT-8 on 15m. I've never seen with the Signalink - this was also operating without CAT. I can only guess that RF was getting into the laptop because of the lack of isolation? Digirig is non-isolated. Secondly it has an inbuilt PTT circuit which is pretty useful if you aren't using CAT so can key the transciever via the same connector as the audio. I've pretty much stopped using CAT when out /P where I can and the TX-500 can operate VOX on digital so it's really not an issue with this use case - it will be interesting to see how it performs on 15m with the same laptop.
Hi Jonathan, Great video as per usual, but how come us in the UK have to pay well over THRICE the price for all thats needed, compared toTHAT OF THE USA, & considerably more than most of the rest of the world, EG Mainland Europe who are mainly using Euro's. remember that 1 Euro = approximately 75P to 80P., & we are paying much more for it than the USA price, (see above Much more than TWICE the Price). I already have 2 tigertronics units, 1 is the original release version, the other is the current USB version. I know that you are a great ICOM fan & I'm surprised that you didn't do this demo with an ICOM rig., I too, and apart from a couple of boufang handsets, I am all ICOM only. Missing you at the Lynch Mob Shop too, lol. Once again Jonathan, Many thanks for another Great Video. Kind Regards, Ray, M0RAY.
Hi Ray, for price I don’t know, but I suspect that it is to do with transport costs and VAT. I demoed it with the 857, as it is the most logical choice out of the radios I own. Both my 7300 and 705 have built in sound cards, which render any interface including the digirig redundant. 73!
I bought one a month or two back and haven't fired it up yet. I am working on a portable box and been distracted by life. I was wondering what controls you may have set internal to the FT857. Did you swap out an antenna port on your radio or was that the way yours shipped? I like it! Thank you!
I Fred, you’ll just need to set CAT/Linear to CAT and ensure the same baud rate is set on both the radio and computer. As for the antenna port: the FT-857D (along with most other Yaesu HF/VHF/UHF radios) are sold with the N connector for VHF/UHF in Europe and Asia. Yaesu seems to use two SO239s in the North American market only. 73!
@@fredhillhousejr943 Hi Fred. As I showed in the video I use FLRIG. This will work with JS8Call as I understand - I don’t use JS8Call myself so can’t be 100% sure.
@@M0JSX Thanks! It has been a few days since I watched the video and i am sitting at work and can't watch again. I have two of the DigiRigs and I just finished setting one up with DigiPi, DigiRig (v1.8), and a Baofeng. It just works when you get the settings right. I am now moving forward on my FT857D/DigiRig/DigiPi build. Thanks again for the video! I like the fact it confirms the direction I was working on.
@@frankwc0o yes, but with limitations of the radio you are using. Received audio will not pose a challenge, however transmitted audio will depend on whether your radio offers a monitor functionality. Some do, the FT-857 I used does not.
@@M0JSX Yup, you can't monitor the audio on the FT-857D. Funny thing is that the Tx audio is attenuated when transmitting. If you record the audio from the front panel, you can see the wave form of the Tx. I'm wondering if there is a MOD to get rid of the attenuation and get a stronger signal.
In the UK/Europe we use 12.5kHz channel spacing, rather than the 10kHz or 25kHz used your side of the pond. It is just a simplex channel in Europe. 73!
After installing the driver I can send everything to the laptop (Win10/Chirp-daily build), but can't seem to send back to the radio...keep getting an error. No matter what port I plug the USB into, the device manager always assigns com port 5. Any ideas?
Hi Rich. The com port it assigns shouldn’t cause any issues. In the extremely rare case where it is, you can change it in device manager. Is the digirig working for rig control in other applications?
@@M0JSX Thanks for the reply. I actually got it to work finally. I uninstalled CHIRP-daily and installed CHIRP-next...same issue. Uninstalled that and installed CHIRP-daily (again) and now it works. Who knows, but it's all working now.
@@M0JSX I actually got it working. I had to uninstall CHIRP-daily and install CHIRP-next; same issue. I uninstalled "next" and installed "daily" (again)....and it worked. No idea what happened, but all is well; for now. Thanks again!
Thanks for your view. I beg to differ though. There are still radios waves going from my antenna to the other station (and vice versa). Embracing technology and moving forward can only be good for the hobby. 73!
Off to buy one. Just what I've been looking for. Thanks, Graham - 2M0IJU. Edit - out of stock everywhere.....you've cleaned 'em out! Further edit: Bought direct from Digirig in the States with wonderful customer service from Denis. He explained the difference between using it on an 857 and a KX2 (I have both) so have bought two!
@@M0JSX See further edit: Bought direct from Digirig in the States with wonderful customer service from Denis. He explained the difference between using it on an 857 and a KX2 (I have both) so have bought two!
@@grahamauld8894 Denis is a great guy, and fairly local to me. I helped him beta test the Digirig for the KX series. My first one was a version 1.5, wouldn't work on my KX2, and I beta tested a V1.6 on it. Now he's up to V1.9! Great little item. Bob, W0BNC.
