Using SDR with Kenwood TS-590SG as Panadapter/Second Receiver

1 Goals
Primary - To gain the ability to view the spectrum or part or all of a given ham band

Secondary - to explore SDR!

2 My Setup
 Kenwood TS-590SG
 Logger32
 HDSDR
 JT-65 HF HB9HQX Edition (v4.8)
 Nooelec dongle (RTL2832) + Nooelec Up-converter
 VSPE – Virtual Serial Port Emulator
 Omni-Rig

3 Display spectrum via HDSDR

This lets you:

 See the full ham (or other!) band to see where the activity is – or isn’t.
 Identify file-ups
 Look for particular types of activity, e.g. JT65 vs. SSB vs. CW.

4 Link Frequency & Mode

The system connects the various elements to share the frequency and mode. This allows the Panadapter
display of the spectrum space in use and link the Panadapter’s controls between rig / SDR / JT-65 /
logging program so that frequency and mode track between them all.

5 Settings
Each of the various elements in this system will require their own unique settings. These settings were
derived based on many resources found on-line supplemented with my own experimentation. While it is
possible that other combinations will work and perhaps be ‘better’, this set has at least worked for me.

5.1 Rig
Settings Menu 85 – set DRV function to antenna

5.2 VSPE
When starting up it will nag you to buy the 64 bit license. You do not need it. It will run fine in 32 bit
(free) mode. Just click on “No” to the purchase offer then ok to the next window.

Copyright 2019, Mark Anderson 1 WB2SMK - 1/2019

Using SDR with Kenwood TS-590SG as Panadapter/Second Receiver

Create a “Splitter” to create a link to virtual port COM5 from physical port COM3

Note that the settings MUST include No. I did not find any other combination of settings that worked!

Note that the virtual port COM5 does NOT show up in the Windows Device Manager port listing.
Looking at the Hardware Manager reveals:

Figure 1 - Hardware Manager when system is properly configured and running

Note the following highlighted items:

1. There is an entry called com0com. This does NOT appear when VSPE is not running or when it is
running but nothing is activated. If TWO of these show up, try deleting one. If that fails to get
things working, reboot.
2. The rig shows up as COM3 in the Ports section. This should always be there at the same com
port number and must match the VSPE configuration.
3. A com0com emulated port shows up in the Ports section.

The emulated port created by VSPE does NOT show up anywhere in this display!

Copyright 2019, Mark Anderson 2 WB2SMK - 1/2019

Using SDR with Kenwood TS-590SG as Panadapter/Second Receiver

HDSDR
Set this to use OMNIRIG. From Options menu choose “CAT to Radio (Omni-Rig)” then check the
following items:

 sync Rig1
 sync to Omni-Rig
 sync from Omni-Rig
 sync Tune frequency
 sync Modulation

If HDSDR “loses” the RTL dongle, ZADIG may need to be re-run to re-install the WinUSB driver instead of
the default RTL driver.

5.3 OMNIRIG
This can be set directly in Omni-Rig or this dialog can be opened from within HDSDR.

Set this to be on COM5 (the virtual port created using VSPE), port parameters to match rig’s settings. For
my rig, this is: 115,200 baud / 8 bits / no parity / 1 stop bit. Polling interval 500ms, timeout 4000ms.

It appears that HDSDR, uses the pmFreq definition from within the Omni-rig rig definition ini file while
JT-65 requires that the pmFreqA ( or presumably pmFreqB) section be used. To resolve this conflict and
to restore HDSDR’s ability to read/control the rig’s frequency, I just modified the rig definition file. On
my installation, this was found in: C:\Program Files (x86)\Afreet\OmniRig\Rigs\TS590.ini. I copied the
entire file for a safe back up, then copied the commands from the pmFreqA section to the previously
empty pmFreq section.

Since I am not entirely clear on the inner details of Omni-Rig / HDSDR / JT-65 I am not sure exactly why
this is needed nor, frankly, why it actually works!

5.4 Logger32
Setup the rig to be on COM5 (the virtual port created using VSPE), port parameters to match rig’s
settings. For my rig, this is: 115,200 baud / 8 bits / no parity / 1 stop bit.

5.5 JT-HF HB9HQX Edition

This JT-65 HB9HQX Edition supports an Omni-Rig connection. The Hamlib connection did not work when
attempting to connect to the virtual com port.

The Omni-Rig configuration file dates back to 2011. Inside, it indicates that pmFreq is not supported and
there are no commands configured! For this reason in JT-65 HB9HQX Edition, you must set the Omni-
Rig’s Freq option to use pmFreqA so that it will use VFO A to control the rig’s frequency. Without that,
JT-65 will properly display the rig’s frequency but is unable to set it. The other applications would still be
able to change the rig’s frequency.

Copyright 2019, Mark Anderson 3 WB2SMK - 1/2019

Using SDR with Kenwood TS-590SG as Panadapter/Second Receiver

The Mode portion of the Omni-rig configuration may optionally be set to pmSSB_U which will
automatically force the rig to upper sideband as needed for the JT-65 mode. A side effect of this is that
the TS-590 will send the morse code indicator for that mode change – every time!

Unfortunately, putting the rig into SSB mode is not enough! One must also put it into DATA mode to
pass the audio via the USB connector. To facilitate this and no interfere with the normal operation of
pmSSB_U in case that’s ever needed, I modified the pmDATA_U entry in the rig definition file by
changing the default entry to:

;--------------
; Mark Anderson WB2SMK; Make digital mode use USB but turn on DATA mode. I don't currently use
direct FSK on the rig
; I had placed these commands in my Logger32 control panel so why not use them here too!
;$command LK00;$ lock OFF the front panel to make changes possibly not needed
;$command MD2;$ turn on USB
;$command FW2500;$ set filter to wide
;$command DA1;$ turn on DATA mode
;$command LK10;$ lock the front panel to avoid accidents
;$command AG0000;$ turn audio down to 0
;$command PC030;$ low power at 30 watts
; for this I ONLY need the actual command, not the $command prefix nor the $comment after it
;------------------
[pmDIG_U]
; personalized command string - more than just "mode"
Command=(LK00;MD2;FW2500;DA1;LK10;AG0000;PC030;)
ReplyLength=0

6 Physical Connections
 Ant -> rig -> DRV connector -> Up converter -> RTLSDR dongle -> PC USB port
 Rig -> PC USB port as COM3

See Figure 2 - Connection Diagram for more information.

Copyright 2019, Mark Anderson 4 WB2SMK - 1/2019

Using SDR with Kenwood TS-590SG as Panadapter/Second Receiver

Antenna

DRV
Output Up-
TS-590 SG SDR
Converter

USB
USB
PC
Figure 2 - Connection Diagram

7 Resources
This working combination was achieved through the use of the following resources. My thanks to the
various authors!

 https://sites.google.com/site/g4zfqradio/installing-and-using-hdsdr
 http://www.crystalradio.us/projects/ts-590s-panadaptor.htm
 http://dxatlas.com/Download.asp - for Omni-Rig
 http://www.hdsdr.de/ - for HDSDR
 http://www.eterlogic.com/Products.VSPE.html - virtual serial port emulator
 https://omniasdr.groups.io/g/main/topic/using_cat_with_a_logbook/2263174?p=,,,20,0,0,0::Re
centPostDate%2FSticky,,,20,2,20,2263174

Copyright 2019, Mark Anderson 5 WB2SMK - 1/2019