Icom 705 Quick Start

The Icom 705 has a USB port that allows both CI-V radio control as well as sound control.  It also supports turning the radio on and off while power is continuously supplied to the radio. The Icom 705 interface works best with a tablet, iPad or PC/Mac due to the screen layout that includes the spectrum scope. It will work on a phone, but may require some inconvenient scrolling. Larger phones may be fine.

Icom 705 Preparation:

The Icom 705 will work with RemoteTx from the factory default settings without modification, but there are several settings that can be made that optimizes performance.

Please make the following Menu settings to optimize performance:

  1. Menu -> SET -> Function-> USB Power Input: OFF
    Prevents radio from getting it’s power source from the Pi. (It should be powered via the 12v external power plug.)
  2. Menu -> SET -> Function -> Power Off Setting: Standby/Shutdown
    Ensures that radio can always be powered up remotely.
  3. Menu -> SET -> Display -> Opening Message: OFF
    Speeds up Power UP
  4. Menu -> SET -> Display -> Power On Check: OFF
    Speeds up Power UP
  5. Menu -> SET -> Connectors -> Mod Input -> DATA OFF MOD: USB
  6. Menu -> SET -> Function -> Time-Out Timer (CI-V): 3min
    In case all control is lost due to a malfunction, radio will stop transmitting after 3 minutes.
    This will also limit continuous transmissions to 3 minutes.
    See FCC Part 97.213
    If network connection is lost while transmitting, RemoteTx will automatically switch the radio back to Rx within a minute regardless of the above setting assuming there has not been a USB/CI-V control malfunction between the RPi and the radio.
  7. Menu -> SET -> Connectors -> USB AF/IF Output -> ACC/USB Beep/Speech… Output: ON
    This setting allows CW sidetone to be heard via the USB radio sound card.

Setup procedure:

  1. Connect the usb port on the IC-705 to any of the usb ports on the RPi with a USB cable.
  2. Plug the ethernet network port on the RPi into an Internet connected router with a cat5 network cable. (Wifi can be configured later once initial connection is established via ethernet.) Remember to copy the ‘remotetx.conf’ file to the ‘/’ folder of the RPi SDCard first.
  3.  Apply power to the RPi so that it boots up.  It should take about 1 to 2 minutes. During this time it will acquire a network address from the router and automatically connect via the Internet to the RemoteTx service.
  4. Make sure power is applied to the radio. (The radio does not have to be on. RemoteTx can turn it on and off.)

Remote Control:

  1. Using a Mac, PC, tablet or phone open a browser (Chrome or Safari) to https://your-callsign.remotetx.net
  2. At the login prompt, enter your RemoteTx username and password.
  3. Accept the prompt to allow the use of the microphone by the browser.
    It is important that your device you has a working microphone or the audio will not start and you may not get the microphone prompt from the browser.
  4. You may also be prompted to save your password.  This is a good idea if you are using a device that you use often.
  5. The RemoteTx station control interface will appear showing the ‘Settings’ tab.
  6. Select ‘Icom-Scope’ from the radio menu.
  7. Select ACM-0 from the USB Port menu.
  8. Select ‘Icom 705 (A4)’ from the CI-V Addr menu.
  9. Select the upper  ‘Radio’ tab and click on the ‘Connect Icom-Scope ‘ button. This will initiate a control connection to the radio and show it’s current status. (It could be on or off.)
  10. If the radio status is ‘OFF’ click the ‘Power ‘ button to bring the radio online and display its controls. (This can take a few seconds for the radio to start.)
  11. The radio control interface should now be online.
  12. Select the upper ‘Audio ‘ tab and in the ‘Remote Audio’ area select the ‘USB Audio Codec’ sound card choice.
  13. Click on ‘Start/Restart Audio 1’.
  14. Wait about 5 seconds after which the ‘Call Radio’ and ‘Hang Up ‘ buttons should appear in the ‘Local Audio’ area.
  15. Click on the ‘Call Radio’ button to initiate bi-directional audio to the radio. If audio becomes disrupted due to unreliable network conditions, clicking ‘Reset Local’ will re-initiate the browser audio and re-clicking the ‘Set Audio 1’ button will re-initiate the RasPi audio. (Normally re-clicking the ‘Set Audio 1’ button is only necessary if there has been an Internet disruption at the radio site.)
  16. STEPS 13, 14 and 15 MAY ALL HAPPEN AUTOMATCALLY WITHOUT YOU NEEDING TO DO ANYTHING.
  17. Return to the upper ‘Radio’ tab to operate the radio.

Typical Radio Control Settings:

RemoteTx allows setting the most frequently used controls during typical operation. Buttons either toggle features on and off or cycle through available values. Slider controls allow setting variable values. (Can also be controlled with mouse roller.) Following are initial settings that are known to work well. They can be fine tuned to personal preference as experience is gained with the solution.

  • Mod-Source: USB  (This sets the Data Off Mod source to USB which is required for Tx.)
  • USB-TX: 50
  • COMP: ON  (Button will be orange color, this is important)
  • COMP LEVEL: 5
  • RF-GAIN: 100 or as preferred
  • USB-RX: 50
  • AF-GAIN: Has no effect so leave at 0. If it is above 0, the radio speaker will be heard at the station location.