Icom IC-705

This chapter describes some specific steps used with the IC-705.

Manuals

PDF versions of the manuals can be found here:

Digital/Packet modes

Winlink/VARA

  1. Start with the IC-705 off.
  2. Connect the Evolve III laptop via USB. If using the MacBook Pro, connect the rig, start Parallels and log in to Windows 11.
  3. Turn the IC-705 on ([POWER]).
  4. Select the APRS/Packet Memory Group (04) on the IC-705.
    • Press MEMO on the touchscreen, then GROUP.
    • Rotate the MULTI knob to ‘04: APRS/Packet’.
    • Press the highlighted row ‘04: APRS/Packet’.
  5. Use the MULTI knob to tune to 145.090 MHz (the frequency for the W3SWL-10 Winlink node).
  6. Check whether the VHF Packet Preset Memory is in use
    • [MENU]/PRESET.
    • Use the MULTI knob to select ‘4: VHF Packet’.
    • If ‘4: VHF Packet’ is loaded, press UNLOAD.
  7. Start Winlink on the PC.
  8. Open the VARA FM connector.
  9. Start the connection.
  10. When finished, close the connection.

Packet radio

  1. Start with the IC-705 off, especially if you are using the MacBookPro and Parallels.
  2. Connect the Evolve III laptop via USB. If using the MacBook Pro, connect the rig, start Parallels and log in to Windows 11.
  3. Select the APRS/Packet Memory Group on the rig.
  4. Tune to 145.030 MHz (W3YA-1 and W3PHB-1 packet nodes).
  5. Check whether the VHF Packet Preset Memory is in use (Menu/Preset). If it is not, load it.
Note

The VHF Packet preset primarily changes the radio’s CI-V port from the default for the IC-705 (A4) to 94, the value used for the IC-7300. The SoundModem application recognizes the IC-7300 CI-V value, but not the IC-705.

  1. Launch SoundModem on the PC.
  2. Monitor the waterfall and the SoundModem window. After a few minutes, there should be packets appearing in the application window.

Direwolf APRS

Evolve III laptop

  1. Connect the Evolve III laptop via USB. If using the MacBook Pro, connect the rig, start Parallels and log in to Windows 11.
  2. Select the APRS/Packet Memory Group on the rig.
  3. Tune to 144.390 MHz.
  4. Check whether the VHF Packet Preset Memory is in use (Menu/Preset). If it is unload it.
  5. Open the Direwolf configuration file and check that the settings are appropriate for the IC-705.

MacBook Pro (running Parallels)

Note

Since I run a receive-only I-Gate that transmits received packets to APRS-IS already, I do not typically enable APRS-IS digipeating or beaconing on the IC-705/MacBook Pro set-up from my home office.

This means that the station can usually only hear received RF packets, and does not transmit via RF or forward received packets via the Internet to APRS.IS.

As a result, most of the APRS digipeater parameters in direwolf.conf are commented out.

Also, if I’m using APRSIS32 to view packets, I disable ‘APRS-IS Enabled’ and ‘Beaconing Enabled’ under the Enables menu:

  1. Start Parallels (Windows 11).
  2. Select the APRS/Packet Memory Group (04) on the IC-705.
  3. Tune to 144.390 MHz; FM-D mode.
  4. Check whether the VHF Packet Preset Memory is in use (Menu/Preset). If it is unload it.
  5. Open the Direwolf configuration file and check that the settings are appropriate for the IC-705.

These parameters are the minimum needed for a receive only station (no IGate, no APRS-IS, no beaconing):

ADEVICE USB 0 0
AGWPORT 8000
KISSPORT 8001

To IGate heard packets to APRS-IS, we need the following:

MYCALL W3TM-<SSID>
IGSERVER noam.aprs2.net
IGLOGIN W3TM-<SSID> <APRS-pascode>

To beacon via RF, we need the following:

PTT COM4 RTS
PBEACON delay=1  every=30 overlay=S symbol="dot" lat=40^47.87N long=077^30.95W power=10 height=10 gain=1 comment="State College PA" via=WIDE1-1

To digipeat heard packets, we set the following:

#DIGIPEAT 0 0 ^WIDE[3-7]-[1-7]$|^TEST$ ^WIDE[12]-[12]$
  1. Start Direwolf (This PC\Local Disk(C:)\direwolf-1.7.0-9807304-_i686)

The following start-up text should be shown in the Direwolf window.

Dire Wolf version 1.7
Includes optional support for:  cm108-ptt

Reading config file direwolf.conf
Available audio input devices for receive (*=selected):
 *  0: Microphone (3- USB Audio CODEC    (channel 0)
    1: Microphone (High Definition Aud
Available audio output devices for transmit (*=selected):
 *  0: Speakers (3- USB Audio CODEC )   (channel 0)
    1: Speakers (High Definition Audio
Channel 0: 1200 baud, AFSK 1200 & 2200 Hz, A+, 44100 sample rate.
Note: PTT not configured for channel 0. (Ignore this if using VOX.)
Ready to accept AGW client application 0 on port 8000 ...
Ready to accept KISS TCP client application 0 on port 8001 ...
Note

Adjust the Sound/Mic levels so that the strongest signals have audio level = 50 or so.

With the IC-705 setting as follows:

‘Menu/Set/Connectors/MOD Input/USB MOD Level’ = 70%

Setting the virtual PC mic level to ~80 seems to work well.

  1. Launch APRSIS-32

Here are the parameters for the Direwolf port using the AGW engine:

And here are the parameters for the APRS-IS port:

Note: This port is disabled under the current scheme.

Local VHF/UHF phone operations

  1. Select the Centre Repeaters memory group.
  2. Check whether the VHF Packet Preset Memory is in use (Menu/Preset). If it is unload it.
  3. Verify that the radio is in FM mode, not FM-D mode. In FM-D mode, audio input is accepted only via USB (see below).
  4. Open the audio scope (Menu/Audio) to monitor output audio.
  5. Choose the repeater you wish to use and make a test transmission.
Note

If needed, check the connectors settings (Menu/Set/Connectors/MOD Input):

DATA OFF MOD: MIC, USB
DATA MOD: USB

HF phone operations

Warning

The loop antenna is receive-only. Do not transmit on HF unless you have changed to a transmit antenna.