Hey guys,?

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I was trying to contact Lab599 directly but I can only find the support email that did not seem to work the last time. ?Since this is a developer’s matter there’s little point contacting the US service center either. So I hope someone at Lab599 is monitoring this forum.?

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For the love of God Lab599, please, please fix this bug. It severely limits one of my intended purposes for this rig.?

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Problem: My radio app automatically cycles through various bands to scan for connection requests. It CAT‘s nicely and even PTT‘s just fine.?

Major issue: Every time it changes bands it switches from DIG to USB. In theory this wouldn’t be a problem but unfortunately USB instructs the radio to pipe its input through the MIC, not the DATA input. So it PTT’s alright but obviously there’s no power output rendering the entire auto band scanning process useless. I can only see two possible solutions for that:

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1. Fix firmware so it stays in DIG mode after /freq/band changes?
2. Add a DATA input option in USB. This is probably pointless since it would neglect the entire point of having a separate DIG mode since the input seems to be the only difference between USB and DIG.?

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I really love this rig but this problem is a huge spoiler for me. Can we expect a firmware update soon that addresses this issue? Maybe you can even add a manual passband filter settings in DIG? Tbh, I feel digital operation has been neglected a little bit in this rig but it’s a SDR so I have high hopes this is going to change with future firmware updates?

开云体育

A couple thoughts

Interesting. This may at least help with JS8, VarAC and fldigi auto band scheduling, a related problem I didn’t even mention haha because yeah, band schedule doesn’t work either, of course.?

The issue I had outlined doesn’t actually involve flrig, unfortunately. I’m a Winlink SysOp and my plan was using the TX-500 as a mobile field gateway during certain ENCOMM situations. ?That’s not currently possibly. It’s the only radio I own where this doesn’t work, I might add. It’s def still a little raw around the edges on the digital side which is surprising in this day and age with all the competing rigs around.

Thanks for the tip!

Oh I just realized I misread - yeah I had gone through any possible flrig options. I always run flrig with the three modes mentioned above anyway and I can confirm it doesn’t maintain DIG after hand change. If it’s a Kenwood CAT issue it might be time to develop their own since this is going to continue to bite.

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Agreed, it's a pain. I use FLRIG and still have to manually hit the button to change back to DIG mode when I change bands or load from a memory channel. I consider this a minor downside since I'm not constantly changing bands, it's more of an annoyance when I change and then wonder why it's showing 0 watts when I transmit since PTT somehow still works...?

Low hanging fruit for LAB599 to fix on their next update! I am a 100% DIG operator, don't even carry a mic in the field anymore.?

Yup that’s the thing. DIG all the way all day and we are not alone. It needs fixing, especially in light of other big brand models in the market that cater to digital operators specifically. But yeah I have high hopes it’s just a matter of time but maybe this needs to be moved up a bit on the priority list of upcoming updates since the radio has already been out for a couple of years and not much has changed for digital operators…

Flrig does have a TX-500 entry

Marc

Yeah it does. It seemed promising but it doesn’t seem to have an effect on the DIG issue, which is weird. But tbh, right now I would gladly trade any Flrig’s DIG solution for maintained DIG operation in my non Flrig managed WL gateway. The latter kinda has priority for me since that was the main purpose for this rig.

This address works fine - support at lab599.com

RR. Haven’t had much luck last time (kept bouncing back) but I tried anyway. Thanks for the tip!

I have many a post about this in this forum and direct Lab 599 support requests to resolve this.? In the Kenwood 2000 protocol, the MD command (mode) has a few states.? With testing I found the MD6; will place the TX500 into DIG mode.? Problem is that when Mode is queried, the radio responds with MD2 (USB mode).

With all the other firmware updates through the years, I'm struggling to figure out why a seemingly simple issue has not been fixed.
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Grace & peace,
Tim AF6TF

Update from Lab599 today:
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This is awesome news! I can’t wait! ??

Re: Update v1.18.08

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1. It now seems to stay in DIG mode on freq as well as band changes, at least when using Flrig that has TX-500 in its supported radios list. Have only tested briefly.?
2. Standalone apps that don’t have TX-500 listed and that don’t have Flrig support like Winlink are still struggling to stay in DIG mode when switching freqs on CAT.
3. DIG mode passband filters still aren’t manually adjustable like in the voice modes.?

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Obviously Winlink needs to add this rig to their list of supported radios. I’m not sure this is going to happen, however.?

I found a little workaround. For WL Trimode auto switching channels via CAT and to stay in DIG the Kenwood 480SAT plan seems to work. The problem is that the PTT portion really only works using the Kenwood 580SG plan and these two radio settings have to match. There might be a bug in WL I’m currently exploiting where I can confuse the app into accepting both radios but that only lasts until I reopen settings or restart the app. Basically it works as long I don’t touch anything but the constant re-setup process when I do is cumbersome.?

Now that they have fixed it in the firmware, looking forward to a fix in the memory channels as well. Seems odd that I can't save a memory channel as digital and it automatically reverts to USB.

The Flrig side of things seems to work now as intended which is a great workaround but standalone apps are still struggling so I wouldn’t call it a fix yet. It’s halfway there. One of my other radios isn’t listed in those apps either and it utilizes the IC-7200 CAT plan even though it’s a completely different radio. It works really well and doesn’t cause any issues. Some fringe radios will never get listed by the big digital radio apps, that’s just the reality which is why I think it’s still important to solve issues through the Kenwood or maybe someone else’s mainstream CAT plan.?

If the CAT control software doesn't have TX-500 listed, then the Kenwood TS-2000 model is the documented basis for this radio and has worked for me.
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Grace & peace,
Tim AF6TF