After getting my Flex 5000A up and running on SSB and CW, it was time to investigate using digital modes which I had always done using my antique radios such as the ICOM 756PRO and Yaesu FT847 with the Rigblaster interfaces. The jumble of wires running from the interface to the radios were somewhat unsightly and cumbersome but we worked many countries and all states. It was no easy task using my new Flex 5000A since a few things had to be learned such as instead of using physical cables to connect a radio to the computer I had to understand how a virtual connection could be made without the hassle of many wires. The program named VAC stands for Virtual Audio Cable and is available on the web for a small fee. VAC is used by many audio enthusiasts to connect various hardware to their computer system. Another item necessary and the easiest for me to setup is called Com0Com which sets up ports for the computer to recognize which keys the Flex Radio and for CAT control. The following screen shots may help anybody just starting out to make their settings which in my case is PSK31 and JT65 weak signal work. These screen shots were captured using "SNAPIT" which is an excellent capture program for still shots and video.
Many Flex Radio operators are at first somewhat confused how virtual Com Ports and Virtual audio cables function but if you set your controls to the below settings, things should work right away. The advantage of having virtual or non existing cables is the elimination of cable clutter and possibly picking up RF in the shack. NOTE: If you use Windows Vista or Windows 7, go to the Flex Radio site:
http://kc.flexradio.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50504.aspx and follow their information on how to change the Windows default Cable Format from 44.1 KHz to the normal 48.Khz. This will improve your computer use of resources somewhat.
The Com0Com control panel is located on the PC inside the Com0Com folder. These virtual ports are used to control Push to Talk and CAT control. The port numbers can be any 2 pairs and I just happened to have these at the top.
This panel for VAC (Virtual Audio Control is located on the PC with in/out virtual audio cables for audio flow.
This control panel is located on the SDR screen under Setup/Audio. It controls the audio through virtual cables to the progrm being used such as Ham Radio Deluxe as in mysetup Notice that the audio/in cable will connect to the audio/out on HRD and the same for cable 2, One cable is for routing the audio to HRD and the other for routing from HRD to the SDR radio.
