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OMNI RIG NOT WORKING FOR KENWOOD TS-890S

To be able to see Freq list I switched my CAT kenwood settings to OMNI-RIG I set up omni correct. But no TS-890s rig selection, using other model kenwoods and my other ts-590 rig, no luck. it did not work, in that is always set to FSK-R not USB-D, though it did change freq. So I switched back to CAT settings, works fine but I can't see Freq list, and have to change freq manually- no problem.

I don't care that is doesn't set the Freq, in CAT mode, I can do manually,

just would like to see the freq reminders.

thanks

john KK4SHF

30 comments

30 Comments

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John Sails

Dec 14, 2021

USB-D is correct setting for ts-890s - but works in both modes USB OR USB-D on my ts-890s

when in doubt - always check if you have latest firmware, AND PGM VERSIONS VARA TOO.

minicowman

Dec 09, 2021

YES!! I also just had an abbreviated QSO with Gary (NC3Z) as well as Glen (N3MEL)

I am going to call this project a success. NOW, all I need is to learn more about it and be less of a noob when it comes the the actual QSO. Right now trying to figure out how to give a signal report. I think I have to watch the SNR on the VARA HF window for that but I'm not sure. And I kept forgetting to look at it during my first two QSO's.. I'll get there, with y'alls help, I may come into the 21st century yet :)

irad d

Dec 08, 2021

@minicowman

I just has a QSP on 7.105 with Gary NC3Z. he send beacon periodically and also call CQ.

Try to connect him.

please also share a screenshot of your VarAC along with the VARA-HF modem so I can see if all is set correcrly.

minicowman

Dec 08, 2021

Prior to my last post, I had not changed the Omnirig default of USB-D to USB but I did do that afterward. That does appear to have fixed that issue. So, everything at this point appears to be working as far as rig control, transmitting, etc. My only issue now is, even though I have added every frequency that others have posted via this forum (placed into the frequencies.conf file.. and they are visible in the program now).. I can occasionally hear other digital signals but nothing is showing up on the "Last Heard" windows. Also, I've tried calling CQ several times and sent beacons several times. Negative contact with anyone. Right now I have it tuned to 7.105.0 as grey line is approaching and 40 meters will be better very soon. I will leave it there for the next few hours and see if I hear anyone.

minicowman

Dec 08, 2021

Sorry about the lack of response. I know y'all are trying to help. But here's where I am now.. ALMOST everything is working! (YAY!) The only 'glitch' now is that whatever frequency I change to, my TS-590sg goes into FSR mode (not sure what that even is).. But the frequency changes on the radio. All I have to do is tap the LSB/USB button to change back to USB and all is well.. I can send beacons now and actually output a signal (as indicated on my radio and the external SWR/Power Meter).

I have yet to make a contact though. But I will keep trying.

irad d

Dec 08, 2021

Replying to

@minicowman Not sure we covered that - but on the VarAC Settings did you try both USB and USB-D ? did both put you in FSR (isn't it FSK?) ?

irad d

Dec 04, 2021

@minicowman Can you send a screen shot of the VarAC screen entirely after hitting a CQ please ?

W2JON

Dec 03, 2021

@minicowman The one line that stands out is:

2021-11-30 16:24:44 WARNING: VARA is not connected to any App via TCP Port 8300

Please visit the setting page and ensure that your path and port settings are the same as defined in the VARAHF config.

In the second set of messages, I can see you are trying to RX a CQ with an SSID. I have seen the errors myself at times while doing this.

I have yet to confirm that having an SSID suffix works 100%.

if you want to try it you can switch to CAT control and use the Kenwood TX;/RX; commands for PTT.. At least IIRC the TS-590s uses the same protocol as the TS2k. and manually select USB and tune

minicowman

Dec 03, 2021

Replying to

I don't know why that log entry says that. No recollection of specific conditions at that time. But the settings then, as they are now, are the default port 8300. As far as SSID.. I don't know what that means or why it's in there.

One thing that was happening a few days ago, before I sat it all aside for a bit.. when I DID use the CAT control option, I did use the Kenwood Transceiver selection. I would "Save and close" but could open the settings window right back up again and nothing would be selected in that dropdown window. It (the dropdown window) started working sometime the second day I was working with it but when frustration set in the day after that, I deleted everything (VarAC as well as OmniRig) off my computer. This morning I upgraded my VARA HF to 4.50, and VarAC and tried again. It was doing the same thing. That dropdown window, of course, only has two options so, selecting the Kenwood option was obvious. Made sure the rest of the settings were correct and hit save & close. Nothing worked. Opened the settings window again and, sure enough, 'Kenwood Transceiver' was not selected. The dropdown window was empty. Tried several more times with no new results (definition of insanity..?) SO, I downloaded OmniRig again and installed that and configured it for the TS-590. Did a full restart on the computer, opened VarAC and the subsequent settings window and tried OmniRig as the desired control mechanism.. No go. It WOULD change the frequency on the radio when I changed it in VarAC but radio mode went to FSR. That's the extent of 'control' I could establish between the computer and radio.

minicowman

Nov 30, 2021

Alright, did all that.. As anticipated, ended up back where I started.. nothing working. I'll probably set this all aside for now. Maybe someone will come up with a batter interface at some point. I'll check it out from time to time.

minicowman

Nov 30, 2021

That's pretty much the conditions I initially set it up in but I'll give it a try and see what happens. Thanks!

John Sails

Nov 30, 2021

here's what I would do...

uninstall - Delete the VarAC program and Omni rig folders too, completely

restart pc. (not shutdown)

go to sleep

reinstall it all again.

just set VarAC to CAT,

set baud and rts cts to high

set your audio in VARA modem.

it will work fine. it will PTT as needed.

just manually set the Freq, USB-D on the radio manually.

i have the ts890. it will work.

after a few days working it... you can add the ts-890.ini and try that in omni rig.

john

minicowman

Nov 30, 2021

Alright, doing more tinkering this morning.. I notice that in the "VARA-HF command stream" window, I'm seeing a lot of "WRONG" messages. SO... I went to the Vara-HF window and opened the log. Here are some example entries for the last few days...

It appears to me that Vara-HF doesn't like the commands being generated by VarAC..?

2021-11-30 16:35:45 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z 500

2021-11-30 16:35:25 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z 2300

2021-11-30 16:35:14 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z 500

2021-11-30 16:34:21 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z-9 500

2021-11-30 16:34:09 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z 500

2021-11-30 16:27:21 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z 500

2021-11-30 16:27:11 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z 500

2021-11-30 16:26:57 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-30 16:26:05 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-30 16:25:50 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-30 16:24:44 WARNING: VARA is not connected to any App via TCP Port 8300

2021-11-30 16:22:36 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-29 18:06:51 Wrong command: CONNECT KN2Z

2021-11-29 18:06:24 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-29 18:04:59 Wrong command: CONNECT KN2Z

2021-11-29 18:04:40 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-29 18:04:07 Wrong command: CONNECT KN2Z

2021-11-29 18:03:47 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-29 18:03:07 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-29 17:38:14 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-29 17:14:16 Wrong command: CONNECT KN2Z

2021-11-29 17:13:44 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-29 17:03:29 Wrong command: CONNECT KN2Z

2021-11-29 17:03:16 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-29 17:01:20 Wrong command: CONNECT KN2Z

2021-11-29 17:01:09 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-28 01:52:25 Wrong command: CONNECT KN2Z

2021-11-28 01:52:14 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-28 01:50:05 Wrong command: CONNECT KN2Z

2021-11-28 01:49:26 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z-9 500

2021-11-28 01:45:24 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-28 01:45:10 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-28 01:36:42 Wrong command: CONNECT KN2Z

2021-11-28 01:24:58 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-28 01:24:29 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z-9 500

2021-11-28 01:23:10 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-27 17:12:55 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z-9 500

2021-11-27 16:57:50 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z-9 500

2021-11-27 16:55:03 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-23 16:51:13 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-23 16:50:47 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z 2300

2021-11-23 16:50:37 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z 2300

2021-11-23 16:50:27 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z 2300

2021-11-23 16:49:26 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

2021-11-23 16:46:26 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z 500

2021-11-23 16:46:17 ABORT command received

2021-11-23 16:46:16 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z 500

2021-11-23 16:46:06 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z 500

2021-11-23 16:46:02 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z-9 500

2021-11-23 16:44:47 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z 500

2021-11-23 16:44:37 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z 500

2021-11-23 16:44:27 Wrong command: CQFRAME KN2Z 500

2021-11-23 16:43:33 Wrong command: LISTEN CQ

irad d

Dec 03, 2021

Replying to

@minicowmanYou need to upgrade your VARA HF to 4.4.9 or higher.

This is why you get the WRONG messages on CQ/BEACONS. Look for the specs on the download page for more details or the troubleshooting page for more details.

minicowman

Dec 03, 2021

Replying to

@irad d I very much appreciate the suggestions but I did try that. Just this morning, in fact. Same thing. Still nothing working. I use Winlink (with VARA HF) and JS8Call and just about the entire Fldigi suite pretty much every day and they're all working great. It WAS a struggle with a couple of them to get the settings right but they work fine now. I'm content with waiting until someone develops, or at least delineates a clearer path to success for my TS-590sg.

minicowman

Nov 30, 2021

Yes, when I first installed VarAC... that was what I started with. Up until that day, I had never heard of Omnirig... When the CAT control selection didn't work, I did an internet search for Omnirig.. found it, downloaded and it.. sort of ... worked. Not sure why Flrig wasn't used as an option.. it's been around for a long time and works great, but hey, I'm old but not afraid to try something new now and then 😊

Anyway, the CAT control selection, with Kenwood Transceiver selected, didn't work even a little. But, as I said, I'm not done tinkering just yet.

NC3Z Gary

Nov 30, 2021

Have you tried using "CAT control for PTT" vs "OmniRig for PTT"??

minicowman

Nov 30, 2021

Thanks, I'll give that a try. I did try the cat control when I first installed VarAC (of course it didn't work) but that was before I started tweaking the ini file. I learn a little more each day as I tinker with this.. Not ready to give up yet. I have the Fldigi suite that does work so if or when I get VarAC up and running, it will make a nice addition to the communication toolkit.

NC3Z Gary

Nov 30, 2021

I think I made that 890 ini file as I had mentioned before legacy Kenwood uses CAT command MD for mode and the 890 uses OM.

John Sails

Nov 30, 2021

Ok you can just set VarAC to CAT,

set baud and rts cts to high

set your audio in VARA modem.

it will work fine. it will PTT as needed.

just set the Freq, USB-D on the radio manually.

but the ts-890.ini file gary sent me works for ts-890 too.

yes you have to set baud to match.

73 john

minicowman

Nov 30, 2021

After you said that I went and looked... I found the existing ini file and opened it. I found several things supposedly set up for the TS-590 that weren't correct. My radio is set to 115200 baud for pretty much ever other digital mode I use.. The ini file had it set to 9600. There were some other minor things as well. But after getting the changes made to that ini, I tried it out and still have issues. The frequency now tracks between the software and my radio... changing frequency in the software causes the radio to change and vice-versa. It still comes up with "WRONG" when I try to connect my station so still not successfully using VarAC but I'm gaining 😉