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howto:7300digital

IC-7300 Settings and Windows Driver

Radio Settings for Digital Modes

This page describes how to adjust the settings on the IC-7300 to use digital modes like FT8, JS8, or Winlink. To make it convenient to switch between digital and voice, we use an SD Card to save the settings and load them up when needed.

So before doing anything, let's backup the current settings in case something goes wrong:

  • Insert an SD Card in the radio.
  • Go to MENUSD Card
  • The first time, Format the card. This will erase everything on the card.
  • Press Save SettingNew File → Pick a file name.

Later on, these settings can be applied using the Load Setting option.

Connector Settings

Now that the settings are backed up, lets tweak a few things.

VA7FI has the following settings on his radio. The settings in light grey are there for reference only and can be different, but the settings in black should probably match.

Digital Voice
MENUSETConnectors:
ACC/USB Output Select AF
ACC/USB AF Output Level 40% 50%
ACC/USB AF SQL OFF (Open)
ACC/USB AF Beep Speech... Output OFF
ACC/USB IF Output level 50%
ACC MOD Level 50%
USB MOD Level 35%‒40%1) 50%
DATA OFF MOD MIC/ACC
DATA MOD USB
MENUSETConnectorsCI-V:
CI-V Baud Rate Auto
CI-V Address Note it N/A
CI-V Transceive ON
CI-V USB→Remote Tx Address N/A
CI-V Output (for ANT) OFF
CI-V USB Port Link to [REMOTE]
MENUSETConnectors:
USB Serial Function CI-V
MENUSETConnectorsUSB SEND Keying:
USB SEND RTS OFF
USB Keying (CW) OFF
USB Keying (RTTY) OFF
Inhibit Timer at USB Connection ON

Filter Settings

Next, we adjust the filter width:

  • Press the FIL1 (or FIL2 or FIL3) button at the top of the screen (above the frequency) and select FIL1.
  • Press and hold FIL1 (yes, the same button as before).
  • Press the BW button and turn the VFO knob until it says “3.6k”
  • Then turn the inner and outer TWIN PBT knobs (top left) to adjust the boundaries to 600 and 2600 (even though the picture shows 650 and 3400).2)
  • Optionally, press FIL1 again to also customize FIL2 and FIL3 in the same fashion.
  • When done, press the MENU button and select the screen you usually like to see (SCOPE, METER, etc)

Digital and Voice settings

Let's now set settings that will be specific to the voice and digital modes.

Start by adjusting all the settings in the Voice column:

Mode Digital Voice
Defaut Frequency 7.078.00 USB-D 3.729.00 LSB
MUTI (select and turn the knob)
RF POWER 30% 100%
MIC GAIN 40%
COMP N/A ON 4
MONITOR ON 12% OFF 12%
FUNCTION
P.AMP ATT OFF
AGC OFF MID
NOTCH OFF
NB OFF Depends
NR OFF Depends
IP+ OFF
VOX OFF
COMP N/A ON
1/4 OFF WIDE
MONI ON OFF
  • Now save the settings to the SD Card and call the file 1Voice

Before we set the digital settings, move on to the next section and come back here after.

ACG Adjustments

For digital modes, we don't want any ACG:

  • Pick a clear frequency.
  • Press FUNCTION button.
  • Press and hold the AGC button.
  • Select the FAST button and turn the VFO knob until it reads OFF.
  • Optionally, set the MID to 0.3s and the SLOW to 2.0s.
  • Press MENU and select SCOPE, or METER, or ...

Now that the ACG is set, go back to the previous section and apply the settings in the Digital column. When complete, save to the SD card under the name 2Digital.

Loading Settings

To load the settings: MENUSETSD CardLoad Setting1Voice or 2DigitalALLYES and restart.

IC-7300 Windows Driver

Before connecting the radio the computer, the driver needs to be installed:

  • Search for “ic-7300” on the Icom website
  • Download the latest USB Driver
    • Click on the link in the Model Name column
    • Scroll down to the bottom of the next page
    • Check the I have read box and Download
  • This should have downloaded a file named CD-301501-00x.zip
  • Unzip it (Extract) and run CD-301501-004\Driver\Win10\CP210xVCPInstaller_x64.exe

Your computer may request to reboot (or not). Once done, you should see the following in your Device Manager:

References

1)
Change the USB MOD Level to adjust the ALC, which should be about 2/3 in the red when transmitting.
2)
The filter boundaries can be tweaked anytime on the fly to filter out unwanted signals at the edge of the band. This is useful if say you've got strong RTTY signals activating your AGC, thus reducing the strength of the signals you're interested in.
howto/7300digital.txt · Last modified: 2023/10/24 21:46 by va7fi