Brighter people than me might know how to make this easier to install, and create an icon for the desktop, etc etc.?
I'm not an expert on the Xiegu (which several in our local club have purchased) but apparently it has the same problem and the same solution.??
As early as 2019, users of the Xiegu product were using ICOM emulation, but reported it was not that great:? ?
Users were making their own UART-based CAT control cables for the Xiegu back in 2021 and FLRIG had started to include Xiegu as one of its supported transceivers?
Well known author Julian OH8STN back in 2022 was explaining how to use WINLINK (one of his favorites) on the Xiegu, with ICOM emulation.? ?
Had I known about those solutions for the Xiegu, I could have figured out the UART-UART cable more quickly!? ? ?However, I don't think Julian is a Winlink sysop nor a user of ION2G ALE.? ?So as time becomes available, I can test out and make the sBitx solution proven on additional pieces of legacy software that will likely not get tried on the Xiegu....giving us a bit of an edge there.? ? The huge advantage of the sBitx in this regard -- especially for the HIGH SPEED SCANNING of ALE -- is the lack of relays.? ? ION2G uses the "split" feature of ICOMs to get around that problem but my friends here in Florida always forget to turn that back OFF and this causes the 7300 to appear non functional....we may be able to avoid this on the sBitx.? ??
Even ARRL W1AW is now a WINLINK RMS gateway.? ?(I've connected to them.)? Back in 2008 when this system was rather infantile by today's standards, there were 12,000 radio users.? Today it is a staple of the "emcomm" crowd after basdically winning the bruising battle in front of the FCC over PACTOR.? ?The 300-baud HF limit is now history as a result (we won!) and PACTOR 4 is finally legal here in the USA as it has been in much of the world for much longer time.? ?VARA HF is at the same speed level as Pactor III, and suffices for most users.? ?Pactor 4 has always been available to the SHARES users, and that group has grown by leaps and bounds after some of the wildfires in the western USA toppled telecommunications towers and state after state embraced WINLINK as a backup communications strategy.? ?There are now almost as many government-affiliated SHARES Winlink gateways in the USA, as there are HF ham radio gateways.? ? ?The State of Florida is encouraging each county emergency operations center group to gain ALE capability via ION2G and my group (Alachua County) has done so.? ?(The software is a PAIN to configure and only supports a very limited number of radios, the ICOM series included.)? ? ?
The availability of ICOM emulation for the sBitx will allow a few more users to enjoy this wonderful relay-free radio.? And it will make my talk about the radio at the upcoming WCF TECHCON conference (a very small conference, to be sure) much easier!
73,
Gordon KX4Z
