Software

Latest Update: 5/28/18

The 'Quick Start' Guide is now available for download at the bottom of the page. It's deals specifically with the components in our RS-HFIQ Starter Kit that we sold at the Hamvention in 2018 but the information may be useful to other setups as well.

This page contains the instructions to get the RS-HFIQ transceiver setup in the standard configuration. The standard software configuration is:

HDSDR Software

EXTIO.dll to allow TX functions

Omni-Rig to control the hardware

All three of these items are in RF-HFIQ_Software.zip that you can download at the bottom of the page.

You will also need the following hardware items to get the standard configuration up and running:

    • RS-HFIQ transceiver

    • A Windows PC 7, 8 or 10.

    • A USB Sound Card, StarTech, Soundblaster X-FI, ASUS XONAR

    • Audio cables to run between the USB sound card and the I/Q in and out of the RS-HFIQ, 3.5mm stereo.

    • USB cables to connect the USB sound card and the RS-HFIQ to the PC

    • Speakers for the PC (might be built-in)

    • Microphone for the PC if you plan on running voice modes

    • 13.8VDC >2.5A power supply 2.1X5.0mm

    • Suitable antenna

I recommend a USB microphone that can be dedicated to ham radio communications and possible even a second USB sound device that can be dedicated exclusively for RX audio. That way your radio audio is separate from PC sounds, Netflix, YouTube, etc. A Samson Q2U Recording Pack works very well.

Your station should be setup something like this:

There maybe variations in USB sound device and the microphone/speaker audio that you connect to your PC.

Pro Tip: Once you decide where to plug in all of your USB devices, plug them in and leave them. When you plug the same device into a new USB port, Windows thinks it's a new device and sets all of the parameters to default settings. If you station is 100% working and you unplug the USB soundcard and plug it into a different port, you station will stop working and you'll need to reconfigure the soundcard and HDSDR.

The first thing to do is plug the 13.8V power supply into the RS-HFIQ DC Power jack and the RS-HFIQ's USB port to an available port on the PC. Turn everything on and you should see two green LED's on the RS-HFIQ. This means that the RS-HFIQ has 13.8V DC power and 5V power from the USB.

The RS-HFIQ will enumerate as a COM port and you will need to figure out the number of that COM port. If Windows cannot find the correct driver you can download it here.

At the bottom of this page is a utility program called RS-HFIQ FINDER which will determine the COM port where the RS-HFIQ is connected.

If the port is higher than COM20 it won't be accessible from OmniRig so use the instructions in "UNUSED COMM PORTS.txt" to remove some unused COM ports un-plug and re-plug the RS-HFIQ which will enumerate on a lower port.

When you have the hardware working on a COM port lower than 20, install HDSDR. Copy ExtIO_Si570.dll into the directory that contains HDSDR which is usually:

C:\Program Files (x86)\HDSDR

Then install Omni-Rig

Copy RS-HFIQ.ini the the RIGS folder in the Omni-Rig folder (creating the folder if necessary)

Onmi-Rig is installed by default in C:\Program Files (x86)\Afreet\OmniRig

Select RS-HFIQ as the Rig type and use the following settings:

You will also need to install a second sound card either a USB external or internal. Do that before starting HDSDR.

HobbyPCB recommends the StarTech 24 bit, 96 KSPS USB sound card available here.

Connect the sound card to a USB port on the PC and follow the installation instructions that come with the USB sound card.

Now use the appropriate audio cables to connect the line or headphone output of the USB sound card to the IQ Input (TX), J5, on the RS-HFIQ and the Line or Mic input on the USB sound card to the IQ-OUT (RX), J4, on the RS-HFIQ

Install HDSDR. After installing HDSDR you must place ExtIO_Si570.dll in the HDSDR directory, typically C:\Program Files (x86)\HDSDR.

Start HDSDR.

Click on OPTIONS [F7] then select input and select SoftRock Si570. If you can't do this because the option isn't available see the special instructions here.

If you get an error at this stage, try the fixes on the EXTIO.dll Troubleshooting Page.

Click on OPTIONS [F7] then TX and select the SDR TX Support

Click on Enable TX Button for Omni-Rig1

Click on Soundcard [F5] and select the proper soundcard for the four functions

Click on OPTIONS [F7] CAT to Radio Omni-Rig then Omn-Rig setup

On the 'RIG 1' tab select RS-HFIQ on the RS-HFIQ's COM port; 57600 Baud; Parity None; Stop Bits 1; RTS/DTR High; Poll int 750 ms and Timeout 4000 ms

Click OK

Click on "Sync to Rig 1"

Click on OPTIONS [F7] then Misc Options then SET LO <-> Tune Offset and set it to 0 (zero)

Click on OPTIONS [F7] then Misc Options then select Tune Fixed to 'LO <-> Tuned Offset'

Now you can start HDSDR and the hardware will spring to life the first time you change frequency

Here is a link to an excellent site that explains a lot about how to use HDSDR:

HDSDR Info Site (opens in a new tab)

After downloading Termite or RS-HFIQ FINDER, rename the file removing the ".safe" and it will run

To download files DO NOT CLICK ON TH FILE NAME, click on the blue arrow on the right.