07/28/2024
I have an important piece of advice for any hams out there using the Yaesu FTDX-10.
If you use Ham Radio Deluxe, there are two important things you need to understand. First of all, you cannot transmit using a USB cable. The radio and software WILL talk to each other, and you can decode the digital audio coming from the radio, however, you cannot transmit with this setup. OR, let me put it this way. You can technically transmit in digital modes (not CW... I'll get to that later), however, the radio will not transmit from the correct 'mic' jack.
One of the problems with using Ham Radio Deluxe on a LAPTOP configuration is, most laptops have only one sound card option, and that's the internal microphone that's used in conjunction with the built in camera. Even though there's a virtual sound card PORT that you get when you download it from the Yaesu website, that virtual sound card needs to have an internal sound card option separate from the internal microphone. My HP laptop does not have one. That means that it may be possible to use something like a RigBlaster, or even an external sound card, such as a Steinway or some other external made for music production, such as you'd get at Guitar Center.... but outside of that, you can't get tones from Ham Radio Deluxe to go directly to the transmit section of the FTDX-10. But, that's not the ONLY problem.... Wait for it...
If you use CW mode in Ham Radio Deluxe to try to send code, you're not going to be able to do it. What will happen is one of two things. If you use CW in SSB mode, the radio will do nothing, or if you use CW in WinKey (EleKey) inside HRD, the radio will lock up in transmit mode and Ham Radio Deluxe will freeze. You will not be able to Control-Alt-Delete and use Windows Task Manager to terminate HRD. Also, whether you are able to terminate the program or perhaps you're able to move the mouse (i couldn't) to the "Abort" button, it will make no difference. The radio will remain locked in Transmit mode and then your only option is to power off the radio using the rig's Power button on the radio itself.
Upon powering up the FTDX-10, the rig will come on, the volume control, all the buttons on the face will work and you can transmit using the microphone attached to the radio or your CW key... however it will make no difference because the radio display doesn't light up and will remain black.
The "fix" for this, if you call it that, was to do a factory reset (see manual) and after two or three times of turning the power off and back on, after a minute of waiting on the fourth try, the display returned to normal.
This is a super bitch of a problem, because along the way in this process, you've wiped all of your presets out in returning the rig to factory settings, and you have also had to close and then re-open Ham Radio Deluxe.... assuming you still want to use it for decoding digital transmissions. And, honestly, HRD does a terrible job of decoding CW. You're better off using the built in CW decoder in the radio - or better yet, learning CW to the point where you can read CW in your head at high speeds. Really, folks. Using Ham Radio Deluxe on a laptop to try to decode CW isn't worth it one bit.
Save yourself the hassle and just use the built in decoder in the FTDX-10. It really is a superior product than the available software out there that you might use to decode CW - and you'll save yourself the hassle of going through what I just did!
de K1FRC! 73!
