RIGblaster USB Converter Cable Installation Instructions for the above driver download. Do not use these instructions if you are installing from the CDROM, use the instructions on the CDROM.

Software driver installation for Windows, 98SE, ME, 2000 and XP (all versions):

1) If you have lost the CDROM for the USB driver installation download and run the program above to copy the necessary drivers to your hard drive.
2) Plug the DB9 connector into the back of the RIGblaster using the thumb-screws.
3) Plug the USB connector into an available USB socket on your computer.
4) A “New hardware found” window will pop up.
7) Direct the Windows Found New Hardware Wizard to the C:/RIGblasterUSB folder that was created by completing and running the download.
8) Allow Windows to complete the “Found New Hardware” installation (Do not cancel, stop or abort the installation: NO MATTER WHAT!)
9) You have completed the USB hardware driver installation at this point.

RIGblaster USB Converter Installation Check:

1) Right click “My Computer” and then left click “Properties”
2) Select the “Hardware” tab.
3) Select “Device Manager”
4) Click the + symbol next to “Ports (COM & LPT)”
5) Check that you see the item: “Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port (COMx)”
6) Make a note of the what the COM number is for x in (COMx)
7) Setup your ham radio sound card programs to use that COM port number.

RIGblaster USB Converter Cable Installation Instructions for the above driver download. This driver is new and is not on our CD-ROM. If you have aready installed the driver from our CDROM and the adaptor is working you should not need to install this driver.

Software driver installation for Windows, Vista 32 and 64 bit,(all versions):

1) FIRST: Download and run this pre-installer BEFORE PLUGGING IN THE USB ADAPTOR.
2) Plug the DB9 connector into the back of the RIGblaster using the thumb-screws.
3) Plug the USB connector into an available USB socket on your computer.
4) A “New hardware found” window will pop up.
7) Select ONLY "Automatically Install".
8) Allow Windows to complete the “Found New Hardware” installation (Do not cancel, stop or abort the installation: NO MATTER WHAT!)
9) You have completed the USB hardware driver installation at this point.

RIGblaster USB Converter Installation Check:

1) Right click “My Computer” and then left click “Properties”
2) Select the “Hardware” tab.
3) Select “Device Manager”
4) Click the + symbol next to “Ports (COM & LPT)”
5) Check that you see the item: “Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port (COMx)”
6) Make a note of the what the COM number is for x in (COMx)
7) Setup your ham radio sound card programs to use that COM port number.

RIGblaster pro            RIGblaster Plus            RIGblaster M8            RIGblaster nomic

"Please refer to page 10 of the manual. Disregard the wiring diagram for microphones as shown in Figure 2-4. Use Figure 2-5 for proper microphone wiring diagram"

"Please note: The microphone cable shield must be tied to the transceiver's microphone connector shell. That is normally done by clamping the shield runner under the strain-relief clamp of the connector. Refer to Figure 2-5. TenTec microphones and the Heil/TenTec Studio One R9625 cable sold by TenTec are already wired as such -- many cables (such as other Heil cables) are NOT."

When a TenTec Orion is used with a RIGblaster pro, the optional "4 to 8 Pin Conversion Kit" is required to accommodate the Orion's 4 pin microphone connector. However our 4 to 8 Pin Conversion Kit does not currently connect the shells of the 4 pin connectors thus user modification is necessary. Fortunately we have great customers and one of them, Tom WA1MDO, has sent us a "Mod" that will solve this issue and electrically connect the 4 pin connector shells of the conversion kit. Thanks Tom!!!

The Heil AD-1i adapter is necessary when the Heil Pro Set Plus has a dynamic element. This adapter has a decoupling capacitor installed to block the DC bias voltage from reaching the dynamic element in the Heil Pro Set Plus.

To do this it is necessary to insert a .47uf capacitor in series with the INPUT Side jumper that goes from Pin 1 to MIC on the P1 Jumper Block inside the RIGblaster pro.

The Heil Pro Set Plus 1/8 in. mic plug would then plug directly into the mic 2 jack on the front of the RIGblaster pro.

Please note this only applies to Icom Transceivers.

The jumper diagram would look like this:

Look at your radio's microphone wiring diagram and you should be able to figure out your own jumper diagram and check it against ours. If you are unsure about your radio matching our "typical" diagrams please fax us a clear copy of your radios' mic. wiring and we will fax or e-mail a special diagram back to you. We cannot supply diagrams for radios that have connectors which we do not supply, such as HT's.

Once you have the jumpers installed it is mandatory that you make sure that your mic. works completely normally. If you do not check your mic. for normal operation before trying your computer you may waste a lot of your time. Check all the buttons and switches on your mic. and get on the air reports to make sure it is working properly. Just because the needles move when you talk doesn't mean everything is hooked up correctly. You could have an open or reversed grounds and still get almost normal meter indications. CHECK YOUR MIC OPERATION FIRST before trying the computer!

If after doing the boot up test, step 3, successfully you find your that ham software will not key up your rig (PTT activation) you can be sure it must be a software problem, it cannot be a hardware problem. It is usually a setup problem, 7 out of 10 support calls from customers are due to software PTT control setup problems. Make sure that you have gone in to your software setup (configuration, settings, preferences) or whatever it is called and "tell" the program what serial (COM) port that you have the RIGblaster connected to. You also must "tell" the program that you wish that PTT is activated by RTS. YOU MUST DO THIS if you expect the program to transmit with automatic serial control via the RIGblaster or any other interface.

Note that if your program keys both RTS and DTR on PTT transmit activation you will also see the CW LED light. This is not a problem as your radio will ignore CW keying if it is used with a sound card program in the SSB mode. If the program is a multi mode program it will let you configure PTT on RTS and CW on DTR.

If you are not using the serial cable that came with the RIGblaster make sure your serial cable is wired as follows:

The Proper cable is a standard serial extension cable.

SERIAL EXTERNAL MODEM CABLE WIRING

In our manual you will see that there are several ways to connect the receive audio from the radio's audio output to the computer's audio input. To check that it is actually connected and working set your sound card so that you can hear the audio from your radio come out of your computer speakers, see the Windows screen diagram below.

If you are having trouble receiving, you may wish to completely disconnect the RIGblaster and put it back in the box and then follow the instructions on the Quick Start guide that is included with the Pro.

Read the documentation, help and manuals that come with the ham sound card software you are trying to use. Also read the Windows help regarding "volume control".

Please do not call or e-mail us at West Mountain Radio with software questions, we have nothing to do with the software or it's support. You should e-mail the software author if you can not get their program to work. The most direct way to solve a software problem is to try a different program from a different author. If several programs do not work you may no receive audio connected or you have a problem with your sound card adjustments, or it's Windows installation.

Refer to the sound card control panel diagram below to set your receive audio that should be fed in to your software. This is a typical diagram, yours may differ.

Don't forget the obvious: you should hear signals if you expect to copy any; the bands may be dead or your antenna isn't working.

Assuming the software you are using correctly activates transmit (PTT Activation) when you "tell" the software to transmit, continue reading otherwise go back and fix it.

With the RIGblaster powered on and the process switch off put the software you are using in to transmit. Make sure that the RIGblaster keys up as indicated by the digital C.S. LED on, the MIC LED off and the PTT LED on, along with PTT transmit activation of your radio. This must happen in order for audio from the computer to be transmitted. If this does not happen go back and read "THE COMPUTER WILL NOT ACTIVATE TRANSMIT" on this support page.

When software is in the transmit mode it should generate a transmit audio signal. You should be able to hear that tone coming from your computer speakers and/or with headphones plugged in to one of the RIGblaster's headphone jacks. You should also see the RIGblaster "level" LED light indicating that you have audio coming from the computer at an adequate level to feed your radio via the RIGblaster. If the RIGblaster level light does not light un-mute and turn up your sound card wave and master level controls, see the diagram above.

Your radio should be set to your normal mic. gain setting for you and your mic.. The speech compressor should set on or off depending on the mode you are running, see the software help files. Set your radio's RF Power (drive control) at maximum with in USB. Set your computer's sound card control Volume control panel Volume and Wave output sliders both about half way up and a little above where they light the RIGblasters "level" LED. The RIGblaster's audio level control should be set as high as needed to drive your radio to the desired output. The RF output should something less than full RF power output. Never set it to full power, approximately 50 % power is safe, not only will your signal be distorted and wide but you may overheat and damage your radio. You should end up with your computer sliders set between 1/4 and 2/3 of the way up.

If moving the Wave or Volume (far left) sliders have no effect on the audio level you have a improperly installed sound card. Refer to the manufacturer of the sound card's Web page. Fix this by downloading the CORRECT driver installation file for the specific make and model sound card in your computer. Carefully follow the Windows instructions for updating a driver and re-installing hardware. Do not attempt to re-install a sound card unless you are sure you have the correct driver software. Be aware that if your sound card doesn't work it is probably good, you probably have a software driver installation problem, don't go out and buy and new sound card unless a proper software installation fails.

Having computer speakers that are turned up too loud has caused many people to set their sound cards too low to transmit. If your computer speakers are too loud turn them down with the knob on the front of them and turn up your sound card so the "level" LED on the RIGblaster comes on. If your computer speakers have no volume control un-plug them or turn them off and turn up your sound card.

If you use low impedance un-amplified speakers or headphones plugged in to the RIGblasters rear panel "COMPUTER: AUDIO, SPKR. OUT" or a front panel headphone output you will effectively short out the audio from your sound card. Doing this may not provide enough audio for your rig to transmit. You may be trying to use the wrong output on your sound card. Some sound cards have both line and speaker outputs. You must use proper speakers or headphones designed for use with the particular sound card output that you have available. If your computer is so equipped it is usually better to us a sound cards speaker output not its line output. This will also prevent the susceptibility that most amplified computer speakers have to RFI. The only drawback is that un-amplified speakers do not have internal volume controls.

It was mentioned before but make sure you have the RF power (drive) control of your radio set at maximum. You must do this even if you wish to run 1 watt with your 100 watt rig. Your power output should be set with the audio level that is fed in to the mic. jack. It is just like speaking softly in to your mic., your radio will show less power.

Note that most rigs will not run digital modes at full duty cycles and full power. You set your sound card audio level to 50% RF power output or less to keep your rig from overheating.

With an FM transmitter you do not normally have mic. gain, speech compressor, ALC meter or power output meters to watch or set. FM audio level should be set either with a deviation meter, AC millivolt meter or by listening on a second receiver. If you lack the equipment or technical experience simply listen to your signal on a second receiver. Set your audio level so that your radio sounds as loud as other stations. Do not confuse how loud the audio (modulation) is with how strong your RF signal is. This is easily done on packet as there are usually several stations on the same frequency. With voice or SSTV it is going to be harder to find a signal to match to. You should, with some practice, be able to set the audio to your radio to match another good signal.

When the process switch is on, your microphone is disconnected from your radio and the computer audio is connected to the radios mic. input. This allows routing of your mic. to the computer, through the computer and back in to your radio. Having this audio path available allows you to run audio equalization, speech compression or any real time audio processing software that is available to enhance your speech quality.

For the mic. to be routed to your computer you must set the mic. mode jumper P6 to do this, see page 28 in the manual. Some microphones are electret condenser mics. that require DC bias supplied from the radio. The mic. will be disconnected from the radio in the process mode so we have a P6 jumper provision to bias the microphone. Use the bias setting only if you know your mic. is an electret type that requires bias.

You may also use the process switch when operate sound card software to take advantage of a muting circuit. When the RIGblaster Pro is in the process mode it will mute the computer speaker output whenever PTT is activated either by the computer or your PTT button. This is nice for sound card operation if you wish to hear the receive signal but not your transmit signal.

Read the section above on the function of the process switch.

You must have a full duplex sound card to run real time equalizer or processing software. To tell if your sound card is full duplex, open up both the Recording and Playback sound card control windows as shown on this page. Move your microphone slider on the Playback control panel if the slider doesn't move on the recording control panel then your sound card is full duplex.

Select and run a simple equalization program to start and figure out the virtual control functions. Most programs have a EQ on / EQ off button. With the equalizer off you should be able to select and turn up your mic. input and turn up your master Volume output and hear your microphone audio come out of your computer speakers. This will not happen unless you run software which passes the sound card mic. input to the sound card's output.

Set your sound cards mic. gain and output until you hear good sounding mic. audio coming through your computer. You may wish to plug computer headphones in to the front of the RIGblaster and turn down your computer speakers to monitor and set up the sound card for mic. audio.

Once you are satisfied with the sound of your mic. being passed through the computer, turn on the equalizer and experiment with setting the equalizer. You will probably find when the processing software will delay the sound slightly, this depends on the processing speed of your sound card, computer and the software implementation. Other stations will not be aware of this as it is a fraction of a second. You may wish to get in to the habit of holding your PTT button down a bit after you stop talking. You may also find that when you adjust the virtual adjustments on the equalizer that you will notice a slight delay before you hear the change.

Once you have everything working put your radio on the air by pushing your PTT button and set the sound card output like you would for any sound card program for the same modulation as when your mic. is connected with the process switch off.

I don't think we can explain how to get the audio you desire, it is very subjective. The telecommunications industry as spent millions of dollars researching this and I am sure that there are papers on it. We hope that your are trying to adjust your audio for maximum intelligibility, you may have some other idea. Basically it is just as easy to adjust your audio to sound better as it is to sound worse, the problem is that you do not know how you sound, only the station on the other end does.

If you have a communications microphone you probably are pretty close to having high intelligibility and you may only need fine adjustments to your audio. If you wish to have so called HiFi audio your will have to boost the bass on a communications mic.

If you have a HiFi mic. and want communications quality you need to cut the bass and boost the highs. This is a great oversimplification but you get the idea. Think along the lines of do you sound better or do you sound clearer, which do you want, perhaps they are the same.

With a Yaesu it is a little more complicated. Yaesu's CAT system uses three wires, they have different connectors and pin wiring arrangements between different models. Older Yaesu's require the rig control TTL (5 volt) to RS232 level converter built in to the RIGblaster Pro. Newer Yaesu radios have DB9 RS232 CAT jacks.

For an older Yaesu CAT system you must set the RIGblaster Pro rig control jumper J16 to Yaesu/Kenwood as shown on Page 29 of the manual. You must also change the plug on one end of one of the supplied mini plug cables to match your Yaesu's DIN jack. You must make sure that the tip of our plug comes from the data out of your radio and the Ring goes to the data in of your radio.

Note: we found on the web that some of the wiring diagrams printed in the Yaesu manuals was incorrect, we have not heard back from Yaesu as yet regarding this issue. We did discover that two similar model Yaesu manuals had completely different wiring charts for the same type of DIN plug but on closer examination we realized that they actually were wired the same, the pictures of the same type of DIN plugs had different numbering making it so the charts were actually the same.

You must set your software to match the correct Yaesu model, the correct baud rate, the correct parity and the correct stop bits to match the radio. If your wiring or any ONE of the software settings are wrong it will not work.

Older Kenwood radios that have provisions for TTL control are NOT possible to control with a RIGblaster pro. These Kenwood radios utilize what is referred to as Negative Logic and are not compatible with the Positive Logic used in the RIGblaster pro TTL to RS232 converter. Positive logic, as employed in most computer interface circuitry, represents a logical one with a positive voltage and a logical zero with a zero voltage. See the item in this section titled "Kenwood TS-450S/690S/850/950S & and other Kenwood radios, utilizing TTL Negative logic Rig Control interface." above for a work-around.

You may have to set your software to match the correct Kenwood model, you will have to set the correct baud rate, the correct parity and the correct stop bits to match the radio. If your wiring or any ONE of the software settings are wrong it will not work.

If you are using a Heil mic. with a Yaesu be aware that the Heil mic. with their Yaesu adaptor may have the PTT and mic. audio ground leads wired incorrectly. If this is the case the RIGblaster may not work with that mic. unless you fix the wiring error by changing the RIGblaster wiring to correct the Heil wiring error. You will have to take the Heil adaptor apart or check it with a meter against the pin numbers in the Yaesu manual.

If you have a Yaesu or other brand of radio with an RS232 level control jack you should not use our rig control output (CTL IN/OUT). You may use the RIGblaster pro's RXD & TXD on A passed through to B option. This will allow both sound card operation, CW and rig control with a single serial port using software such as HamScope, MixW or WriteLog. If you wish to use separate sound card and rig control programs at the same time you will have to make a direct connection from your computer to the radio's RS232 control jack. If the radio is equipped with a FEMALE DB-9 RS232 connector for Computer Control (CAT), the following cable will be necessary from the B Port on the RIGblaster pro to the radio RS232 DB-9. Both DB-9 connectors shown here are MALE connectors.

If you are using a Heil mic. with a Yaesu be aware that the Heil mic. with their Yaesu adaptor may have the PTT and mic. audio ground leads wired incorrectly. If this is the case the RIGblaster may not work with that mic. unless you fix the wiring error by changing the RIGblaster wiring to correct the Heil wiring error. You will have to take the Heil adaptor apart or check it with a meter against the pin numbers in the Yaesu manual.

This is a good one and has gotten many. It goes like this, you hook it up and the rig doesn't get any transmit audio, a week of evenings later you call West Mountain Radio and we usually help discover the problem was one mouse click away, literally a week of evenings and it was a mouse click.

This should not be a problem with the Pro, if you turn up your sound card on transmit and the level LED on the front of the Pro lights you will transmit if the radio is set for full output and normal mic. gain.

The following paragraph has evolved from many phone calls. Many of the problems may be a mouse click but they turned out to be obscure and subtle.

CHECK THE FOLLOWING AND DO NOT MISS OR IGNORE ANYTHING!:

Make sure you are plugged in to the OUTPUT of the sound card to feed the "COMPUTER: AUDIO, LINE IN" of the RIGblaster. In the dark corner behind your computer it is very hard to see the infernal "international symbols" that label the output jack. Make sure you have the audio output not one of the inputs!

Make sure you use a STEREO 1/8" 3.5 mm mini plug cable like the ones we supplied. The kind with a plug EXACTLY like the ones on Walkman style headphones. They must have three connections commonly referred to as tip, ring and sleeve. Make sure you have the same plug on BOTH ends. DO NOT USE RCA phono plugs, don't laugh someone did this. An RCA phono plug is NOT a phone plug, notice phone/phonO...... If you use a mono cable with 2 connections just tip, sleeve you will be shorting out one channel of the sound card and the other channel will be pulled down by the attenuate network inside the RIGblaster due to the short circuit created by the wrong plug. It may work with a mono cable but you will get less than half the audio for transmit that you normally would. ABT mono is OK for the receive connection.

TOO MANY volume controls, yes you may have as many as 7 adjustments between the computer the RIGblaster and the radio. If any of which are turned down too far or muted will make it appear that you have no transmit audio. You have to adjust them all for the best compromise to end up with proper mic. audio level. Look for the RIGblaster's level light to light with computer transmit audio. On your radio you probably have mic. gain (set it for your mic. to work normally and properly), your speech compressor (usually off for digital modes with some exceptions). Your RF drive/power adjustment should be all the way up and you should use the audio adjustments to set the sound card mode RF power output.

The RIGblaster has only one audio level adjustment on the front back and it is intended to achieve a balance between your computer and your radio. Turning it clockwise gives you the maximum audio drive. If the RIGblaster control is all the way up and it's level light is on and you still do not have enough RF output simply turn up the wave and/or volume output of your sound card.

Here is where Bill Gates gets in the act and gets people messed up. Remember you have to push the "START" button to turn off your computer! Think like Microsoft when adjust you sound card. There are many hidden virtual controls for your computer sound. Take your mouse and "double click" the little yellow speaker icon that is usually located in the bottom right corner of your computer screen. You will find a nifty little virtual control panel that is poorly labeled. Some of the adjustments you need may be hidden and have to be dug out with terms like "Properties" and "Advanced". If you get your RIGblaster transmitting without understanding the Volume Control panel then it is just dumb luck.

Sound card volume control panel and they ARE different from computers to computer. The horizontal balance slider should normally be set in the middle. The far left vertical "Volume control" is the master output which controls transmit audio and everything that comes out of your sound card, it must be pushed up and un-muted to get anything. The vertical "Wave" slider controls the output of your sound card software and it is the primary transmit audio adjustment but it can be defeated by the master.

Note: if you don't see the "wave" adjustment you may have to go to the volume control "Options" and then "Properties" to select the missing ones. It is a good idea to mute, turn down or de-select the ones you are not using, like midi, CD, telephone mic. (on a desktop).

HERE IS ONE THAT GOT US AND OTHERS: Several RIGblaster customers seemed to be doing everything right but they had no audio with popular PSK31 programs.
Here is what it is: if you select less than 500 Hz or, too high, more than 3000 Hz on your DigiPan or WinPSK program by clicking on the far left or far right sides of the waterfall tuning screen, IT WILL NOT WORK.
What is going on is you can't hear 150 Hz come out of a 1" laptop speaker and worse yet your SSB transmit audio filtering in your radio can't "hear" it either. It will appear that your RIGblaster isn't hooked up. Do not get caught by this trap. We stumbled on it by accident with a customer after going through everything step by step.

If anyone has figured out another way to make their RIGblaster not work please tell us and the author of the sound card software.