MacBook OS and Failure to Transmit
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Not a Mac guy, but Windows has changed its permissions, and I think Mac has, too. I need to make sure that apps have the permission to use the mic before I start fldigi. Maybe so w Mac OS, too?
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73 Rich NE1EE The Dusty Key On the banks of the Piscataqua On 2025-03-07 18:27:, Thomas M. Fields WA7CHF via groups.io wrote:
I am fairly new to Fldigi (three years experience) and have a question. I recently upgraded my 2024 MacBook Pro to Sequoia 15.3.1 OS. Ever since the upgrade, Fldigi fails to key my radio transmitter. Messages in the 鈥渢ransmit pane鈥� are being in being sent as they appear in the "received pane", but the radio transmitter is not being keyed. |
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Can you please verify the symptoms you are reporting.听 "Radio transmitter not being keyed," implies that the issue is with PTT. The other individual who responded was talking about mic permissions. An audio path problem would have symptoms of the radio going into transmit (PTT works) but there would be no modulation and no power output from the transmitter. So it is essential to understand are we debugging a CAT/PTT pipeline (and possibly serial port issue), or are we debugging an audio pipeline issue?听 Tinkering with the wrong pipeline won't help, and could make things worse. I have noticed in recent versions of fldigi and flrig that sometimes fldigi shows TX as active and appears to be sending data, but the radio never goes into TX.听 Often times if I cancel the transmit and retry, the TX works correctly. I am not sure if those issues are a symptoms of failed TCP/IP network comms between fldigi and flrig, or if the problem is between flrig and my transceiver. I have confirmed with other users that they are experiencing the same sporadic "fldigi shows it is transmitting but the radio isn't in TX mode" that can usually be workded around by retrying the transmission. Please confirm with us which pipeline is having the issue (CAT/PTT vs Audio), and if you are having a PTT issue, let us know if it works intermittently or after a retry or whether it is failing all the time. Daniel (AE4ON) On Fri, Mar 7, 2025, 4:27鈥疨M Thomas M. Fields WA7CHF via <fieldstom45=[email protected]> wrote:
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In Windows 10 and 11, this presents as Windows not allowing fldigi to use the "mic", which is what fldigi uses "in kind" when it opens an audio stream for transmission...this is what I have observed /many times/, but I'm not a Windows expert. In my cases with Windows, with no mic permission, there is no PTT. I use several different W10 and W11 computers with SignaLink and digirig, and in all cases where mic permission is not given, there is no PTT.
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I agree we need more specific statements about just what is observed and what is failing. Even though I have mentioned this, I am not convinced this is the problem; I mentioned it because it is easy to check (in Windows, anyway). ~R~ On 2025-03-10 15:27:, Daniel (AE4ON) via groups.io wrote:
The other individual who responded was talking about mic permissions. An audio path problem would have symptoms of the radio going into transmit (PTT works) but there would be no modulation and no power output from the transmitter. |
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This...
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On 2025-03-10 15:27:, Daniel (AE4ON) via groups.io wrote:
Please confirm with us which pipeline is having the issue (CAT/PTT vs Audio), and if you are having a PTT issue, let us know if it works intermittently or after a retry or whether it is failing all the time. |
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Thanks for the update...
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Your comment below ... I have observed in Windows when either fldigi can't find the audio service OR permission to access the "mic" is turned off, fldigi complains at startup. Not too long ago, it would actually hang, requiring the task manager to kill it. But that bug was fixed...I think in 2024...and now fldigi pops a message saying it can't find the audio device. You write that the message appears to be sent, according to the fldigi TX pane, so fldigi must think it has a audio device and port to talk to. That suggests either the hardware is not handling the radio correctly or the OS is not talking to the hardware (digirig) correctly. You have indicated in the past that the digirig handles the radio, IIRC, so that leaves the possibility that the port is not configured correctly in the OS. These are not definitive statements, but some ideas to kick around. I am not familiar with Mac OS, so no help there... ~R~ On 2025-03-21 16:34:, Dave Garber via groups.io wrote:
On Fri, Mar 21, 2025, 3:09鈥痯.m. Thomas M. Fields WA7CHF via <>groups.io <fieldstom45=<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]> wrote: |
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Tom I see D74 and Digirig. I'm assuming that Digirig is plugged into Mic and Speaker port on the radio. If so Playback on computer is TX (PTT) and Recieve is Mic on the computer. The squelch is off other wise听screen black.听 Is this your setup?? 73 Don Poaps New Westminster, BC VA7DGP DATA VA7QU 听 VOICE Winlink:听va7dgp@... Subject://wl2k 听 听 听 听 听 ALLSTAR 听530780 Hamshack Hotline 5971 Mid-Island Phone Mesh 2210 2232 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 |
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I don't have or use a digirig so I apologize if my earlier comments were misleading. My primary use of fldigi and flrig are for HF data modes where the radio is directly exposed to the software in the OS as a sound card and a serial port. With a VHF/UHF HT and digirig, how is ptt handled? When I have done VHF packet radio with a Baofeng HT and a Mobilinkd TNC3, the radio has to be put into Vox mode so it goes into transmit when the Mobilinkd device starts outputting audio. If the digirig somehow does signal PTT directly (not vox) then presumably the digirig also exposes a serial port for PTT/CAT control, but that is an assumption I would need you to confirm. I may have mentioned previously that sometimes I do observe fldigi indicating Transmit mode and printing output characters even though the radio never went into TX.听 I assume this is a breakdown either in the localhost network traffic between fldigi and flrig or a problem with the serial port comms between flrig and the radio.听 It isn't a rare occurrence and others have confirmed similar behavior, but it isn't reproducible on demand and I haven't spent any time trying to troubleshoot the issue.听 Usually initiating a 2nd TX does put the radio into TX. So, 1. Please confirm how the digirig handles PTT. Does it expose a serial port for CAT control and PTT? 2. Verify the serial port settings in flrig. The document you shared was for fldigi and flmsg settings, but if you are using flrig then it is flrig that actually keys the PTT.听 A screenshot of your flrig transceiver setup might be helpful. 3. With the current OS and config that is not working, does it fail 100% of the time, or can you sometimes get the radio to go into TX? What about if you click the Tune button in fldigi? I have a MacBook M3 Pro and I have done some transmitting with it, but it isn't my main shack computer and I don't have it up to date. More critically, I don't own a digirig so that's where my ability to troublsehoot is limited. 73, Daniel (AE4ON) On Fri, Mar 21, 2025, 2:09鈥疨M Thomas M. Fields WA7CHF via <fieldstom45=[email protected]> wrote:
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I've used "real" PTT via digirig on HT with both digirig and digirig lite.听 Been a while tho.听
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There are at least two ways to PTT with a digirig.听 One is via the serial port. This is only with a regular digirig since the lite doesn't have a serial port.听 The other way should work on both and works through a GPIO pin on the audio chipset.听 They call this "RA Board" or "GPIO3".听 I've used this method with VARA FM (Winlink) with Baofengs.听 Never used VOX on them.听 It think actually triggering PTT is way more gooder than VOX.
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You also see support for it in flrig.听 I can't remember if you have to use the "CMedia" or "GPIO" PTT method in flrig config.听 But if you have a full size digirig, you may can just use COM port.听 Again, It's been a while.
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Digirig Lite is a real sweet setup for HTs.
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I have a regular digirig, and this is the first I've heard about RA Board. I did some research, and it seems (can't find an /explicit/ statement on the digirig site) that with the digirig lite you either
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use VOX, which is what the original digirigs were supposed to eliminate as a source of message inefficiency, OR buy a separate board, and use software that recognizes the RA Board, and will send a "PTT" signal to it, apparently causing the RA board to then send a command to the digirig to toggle GPIO3 on the main chip. Is this correct? ~R~ On 2025-03-24 11:44:, W4MRP via groups.io wrote:
lite doesn't have a serial port. The other way should work on both and works through a GPIO pin on the audio chipset. They call this "RA Board" or "GPIO3". |
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(look in the PTT methods row)
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OK.听 I was wrong about the regular digirig mobile -- it can't do the "RA Board" PTT method.听 It can do PTT via CAT command or by COM port RTS line (for radios without CAT, like HTs).
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The Digirig Lite and DR-891 can both do PTT via GPIO3 (aka "RA Board" which is the GPIO 3 pin of the C-Media 108 usb sound card chipset) and Active VOX on the right audio channel (never used it, I guess it does "real PTT" when it hears something on the right channel).听听
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The DR-891 can also do PTT via CAT command.
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I remember doing the GPIO3 (RA Board) method with Digirig Lite and an HT and VARA FM because I did it recently.听 Before when I did FLDIGI, AndFLMSG, and PSKDroid with a regular Digirig, I must have used RTS on the serial port (no CAT commands on HTs).
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For the GPIO3 (RA Board), VARA FM supports it by the name "RA Board", and I believe I believe on FLDIGI it's under the name Cmedia with GPIO-3 IIRC.听 FLrig and others also support COM port RTS line for PTT for the regular digirig.
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I believe it's called "RA Board" because of another product called "RA Board" from Masters Communications that also uses a similar C-Media USB soundcard chip as digirig (or vice versa -- I think the Masters Communications boards have been around longer than digirig).
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Hope that clarifies.
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Yep. Was there. Not to be picky, but as a newbie to /this/ subject, I was not sure what
"GPIO3 (RA-Board)" actually meant...because it doesn't /say/ needs extra purchase, as many of the other digirig pages do when extra hardware is needed. I have used lots of GPIO devices in the past, and I was left wondering how I accessed GPIO3. Disassemble the digirig? Solder a wire? Attach a PTT switch to the wire? "GPIO3 (aka "RA Board" which is the GPIO 3 pin of the C-Media 108 usb sound card chipset)" doesn't mean anything TO THE UNENLIGHTENED. We call lotsa things what they ain't, and "RA Board" could mean anything. So now I see that I need to buy another board...otherwise, the digirig lite is just another SignaLink to me (not that I have a problem with that...I use SL regularly). And "RA board" aware software must be used. It seems that this software (fldigi appears to support it) sends a command to the RA board that is plugged into the USB port, the board then sends a command to the digirig, in addition to the audio stream, to toggle GPIO3. Why the board is needed is not clear. It seems that the digirig lite does not accept what ever the RA board accepts. So, to get the same functionality that I have already with the digirig, I need a $50 board, another piece of hardware, and I get to not use a COM port (Windows)...which has always worked for me. Still, I see the benefit of the digirig lite, if it relies only on VOX, because of the smaller form factor and simpler cabling. (Though I note that digirig recommends if you use one of their cables designed to work w the digirig, you tape the unused connector. As an aside, I might use masking tape for that but I'd never use electrical tape on a TRS plug. I'd likely just find something reusable to slide over the plug.) I think that the digirig site could benefit from some clarity, some links to relevant 3rd party hardware, and perhaps a line diagram or actual image of what a setup looks like. Thanks for taking the time to write that explanation, though. |
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No, no.听 Sorry for the confusion.听 If you already have a digirig, you don't need anything else.
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If you have a regular digirig mobile:
If you have a Digirig Lite:
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If you have the Digirig DR-891, made specifically for the Yaesu FT-891 (I dont have one, but I assume the following is correct):
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No extra hardware required.听 Just different software settings for which digirig you have and whether or not your radio has CAT control or not..
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Does that clear it up?
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Well, when I wrote, I was under the impression that if I bought a digirig lite, and I wanted to use GPIO3 control, I needed to buy an RA Board. I imagined...
Computer > RA board > digirig lite > HT ...but you say On 2025-03-24 18:20:, W4MRP via groups.io wrote: No, no. Sorry for the confusion. If you already have a digirig, you don't need anything else.Well, we need to be clear...I already own a digirig, and it works great w my HTs, so I know I don't need another board, but we are discussing **digirig lite** (confusing choice of product names) If you have a Digirig Lite:So you seem to be saying that I can use the digirig lite right out of the box, without an RA board. All I have to do is configure (fldigi, for example) to //think// I have the board, and it will work to toggle GPIO3? Wait! "I was hoping to have the Baofeng as a portable backup to my other Winlink setup with a Tait 8200 and RA board which works fine. I have now ordered a second RA board (made by a local ham) to use with the UV-5R (as other club members have had no issue getting this working with the UV-5R). The RA Board is a little bigger than the Digirig, but still portable and about the same price as the Digirig." This writer seems to think a board is needed. ~R~ |
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Yes, you can use the digirig lite without anything extra.听 With a HT and I assume any other radio for which you have digirig cables.
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You don't need any other board.听 No RA Board.听 No DRA.听听
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I made a leeetle veeedio just for you to show it working in FLDIGI and Winlink/VARA-FM:
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Hope that helps! |
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Very nice video. I'm sure that some will criticize the sometimes fuzzy image, but it succinctly provides exactly what I wanted to know. I have recommended it to digirig in my discussion with them.
Also, fldigi has the same setting in Rig Control > C-Media PTT. I just didn't understand how it all works, in part because the fldigi manual itself mentions the boards, leaving me with the impression that I needed the board. I don't have the lite, so I can't test this. But I wonder why digirig isn't more clear about this for the newbie, rather than drag in the board issue. That should be a footnote, not a main point. Thanks for taking the time. Way more than I could have done, and a top notch answer. 73 ~R~ On 2025-03-25 12:16:, W4MRP via groups.io wrote: |
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Yeah.听 Some people have a hard time understanding unless they can see it.
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For those that complain about video quality, I'm neither a youtuber nor a maker of fine videos.听 It's worth every penny they paid for it.
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I can sorta see why digirig doesn't want to mention the words "RA Board" because it's a competing product (as your "Wait!" quote in prior email illustrated).听 And, perhaps (I dunno fer sher), because digirig decided on the CMedia chipset to leverage the software support already established by that competing product.听 Totally don't know about that, but kinda makes sense.
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It's all written out in the Digirig Lite Setup Manual: 听
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They DO mention "RA Board" and "CMedia GPIO3" in the PTT section, though.
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Hope that helps.
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On 2025-03-25 14:23:, W4MRP via groups.io wrote:
Yeah. Some people have a hard time understanding unless they can see it.Not me...not necessarily...the vid DOES explain very well what you wanted to say. But for all the words and all the BOLD text, the conversation missed the target for me. I can sorta see why digirig doesn't want to mention the words "RA Board"Except they DO mention it, and that is what led to my initial confusion. It's all written out in the Digirig Lite Setup Manual: <>It doesna mention fldigi's setting "Rig Control > C-Media PTT" and why you'd choose C-Media PTT when what you really want is to toggle GPIO3 on the chip. And explain why GPIO3 isn't special...GPIO pins are uncommitted digital signal pins. A lot of detail is not needed, but SOMETHING to help lay a base for learning. (I haven't looked into why pin 3 and not another. I assume some design decision by some folks somewhere....) They DO mention "RA Board" and "CMedia GPIO3" in the PTT section, though.Yes, they do...leading to my confusion about needing a board. has one of the answers, but I needed to read 2 blocks to get the answer. GPIO3 (RA-Board), Each can be disabled via solder pads. &&& PTT by VOX (enabled by default), PTT by GPIO3 (enabled by default) I now understand this means that 1. Both PTT methods are enabled on the lite as shipped 2. Either method can be used without disabling the other *** *** This is not stated. Nor is any reason given why one might want to disable one of them, if they can coexist without interfering with one another. ~R~ |
Rich NE1EE
Daniel (AE4ON)
Don Poaps
W4MRP