Remote Icom over the Internet

Remote Icom over the Internet

OpsLog speaks the Icom radio's built-in network protocol directly, so it replaces both the Icom Remote Utility and RS-BA1. Radios with a LAN server — IC-7610, IC-9700, IC-705, IC-7760, IC-905 — can be operated over the LAN/internet with the full Icom console.

The IC-9100 has no LAN server — it is USB-only.

On the radio (one-time)

In the radio's Network menu:

1. Enable the network / Remote settings.
2. Set a Network User1 name and password.
3. Note the radio's IP address and its CI-V address.
4. Make sure the Icom Remote Utility is closed on every PC — OpsLog binds the same local UDP ports, so they can't both run.

In OpsLog

Settings → CAT → backend Icom CI-V (network / remote):

• Host — the radio's IP or hostname.
• User / Password — the Network User1 credentials, as set in the radio's Network menu.
• Rig model / CI-V address — pick the model.
• Ports — leave them empty unless you changed them on the radio. Empty means Icom's factory 50001 / 50002 / 50003.

Close RS-BA1 and the Remote Utility before connecting: this backend talks to the radio's own LAN server directly and replaces them. A radio in standby is powered on automatically.

Two switches worth knowing:

• Listen to the stream — untick it to keep the audio silent. Recordings and the voice keyer still work. It is the same switch as the speaker button on the Icom console.
• Play the received audio (the 50003 stream, through your Listening device) is experimental: the audio framing is still pending verification against a real radio. Leave it off if control misbehaves.

Save. OpsLog logs in, obtains a session token (auto-renewed so control never drops after ~2 minutes), opens the CI-V tunnel, and the whole console works over the net — freq / mode / DSP / TX / RIT / CW / scope.

How it stays solid

• Token renewal every ~45 s keeps the session alive.
• Receive-side retransmit: under the heavy panadapter stream, lost UDP packets are re-requested, so the link doesn't drop when the scope is on.
• Standby-tolerant: the radio's server answers pings even when the radio is off, so the session doesn't flap — the console + power ON button stay reachable.
• Manual power ON / OFF (the app never wakes the rig on connect).

Audio

Audio goes over the radio's own link, in both directions. No sound card, no virtual cable, no second voice application.

There is one device name for all of it: in Settings ▸ Audio, choose Radio (network audio) instead of a Windows device.

Listening

Set From Radio to Radio (network audio). The stream then feeds:

• your speakers or headphones — press ▶ Listen to radio (the choice is remembered, so an operator sitting next to the rig can leave it off and still have everything below)
• the QSO recorder
• a remote operating position, if this PC is also sharing the radio — see Remote Station

Talking

Set To Radio to Radio (network audio) and pick your microphone as the Recording device. Then:

• the talk button keys the rig and streams your microphone to it
• the voice keyer plays its recorded messages into it

Both go out on the radio's UDP stream. If keying fails, the audio route is not started — you never end up talking into a radio that is not transmitting.

WSJT-X and other digital programs

This one does need a virtual audio cable, and the reason is worth knowing: WSJT-X writes to a Windows audio device, and the radio is not one. OpsLog cannot pretend to be a sound card — that takes a signed kernel driver — so the cable stands in for it. wfview asks the same of its users.

1. Install a virtual audio cable.
2. Set WSJT-X's output to the cable.
3. Set Digital input (Settings ▸ Audio) to the cable's recording side.

OpsLog then streams the cable to the rig while PTT is held, and not otherwise: a route left open would put the desktop's notification sounds on the air the moment anything else keyed the radio. WSJT-X keys through the CAT OpsLog shares, so OpsLog knows when to open it.

For receive, point WSJT-X's input at a second cable and set Listening to it.

What is not carried

If this PC shares the radio with a remote operating position, that position can now hear a network Icom but cannot talk through it: the outgoing half of that link still wants a real sound-card output. Everything above is about this PC and the radio.

Troubleshooting

• "Login rejected" → wrong Network User1 name/password.
• Can't bind local port / dial fails → the Icom Remote Utility is still running; close it.
• Link drops when the scope turns on → should be fixed by receive-side retransmit; if it persists, check the log (icom net: lines) and network quality. See Troubleshooting.