Sound Card Interface - iMac ??

**Fritzables** · Sat 10th Sep 2011, 08:18

Good evening to All,

I have recently moved across from a Windows environment across to MAC and bought myself a new iMac.

The problem is that the iMac has no Serial Interface so when operating RTTY I have no way to control PTT.

What are others doing on Mac to control PTT??

Pete VK4CCV

**5B4AJB** · Sat 10th Sep 2011, 21:43

Might be worth trying a USB to Serial interface, the cables cost around $30.
Ask your local P.C. repair man if you can borrow one to try out, he should have an old, unused one knocking around somewhere which he will happily sell you at a discount...

P.S. my Windows machine really hates those things, even when you do find the right driver...

**G6NHU** · Sat 10th Sep 2011, 21:47

VOX.

I use the TS-590S now and that works with VOX for PTT on my iMac with fldigi.

Previously I used a microHAM USB Interface III with my Mac Pro, not cheap but _very_ good.

**Fritzables** · Sun 11th Sep 2011, 03:39

G'Day Guys,

Thanks for the help. Never thought of using the USB->RS232, pretty logical isn't it. :-o

Keith, I run a FT-847 and come to think of it, VOX isn't supported, but I will check the manual, surely it's got to be behind a menu somewhere.

Pete VK4CCV

**G6NHU** · Sun 11th Sep 2011, 07:49

Ahh, you're a bit knackered as the 847 doesn't have VOX, that's the radio I had. That's partly why I chose the microHAM USB Interface III as it works flawlessly with the Mac and an 847, I understand it can be quite a tricky combo to get working. I had a generic USB to serial adaptor before which simply wouldn't work reliably.

**Fritzables** · Sun 11th Sep 2011, 07:55

G'Day Keith,

Took a look at the manual and little disappointed that the unit doesn't have VOX. Thought most radio's had VOX these days.... obviously not.
Took a look at the microHam interface and agree, it looks the way to go.
I saw that there is software for Windows and I assume it's the mode software (RTTY, PKS, SSTV, ...) but didn't see anything for Mac. What did you end up using??

Pete

**G6NHU** · Sun 11th Sep 2011, 09:38

Hey Pete,

You have to remember that the 847 is a few years old but yes, it's still unusual for it to be missing.

Anyway, moving on!

I used a couple of different packages with the uHAM interface and the Mac - Cocoamodem and fldigi both work for RTTY, PSK etc and I used JT65-HF within a Parallels XP Virtual Machine (you could also look at Virtualbox instead of Parallels, it's free) for JT65A. I never sent any SSTV but did receive a few pictures using Multiscan 2SL.

If you're after a very good logbook program for OS X, I can thoroughly recommend Aether. It's not free but it's absolutely superb, I use it all the time and it will interface to the 847 as well.

Have fun with all those links

**Fritzables** · Mon 12th Sep 2011, 07:53

Good morning Keith,

Thanks for that info, pretty damm useful indeed.

I really like the look of Cocoamodem, the great thing about this is that I also code in Cocoa using XCode and also downloaded the source. I can tweak it the way I want.....

Also took a gander at the Logbook, now that's a nice looking piece of software, and it's not too expensive. Trouble is, I have already started writing code for a HAM LogBook which I was going yo make available to all and sundry. It is employing the SQLite database engine....... If it doesn't work out, ya know where I'll be heading !!! :-)

Pete