Connecting an Icom IC-7200, IC-7410, IC-7600, or IC-9100 to your PC
The IC-7200, IC-7410, IC-7600, and IC-9100 each provide a USB connector that when directly connected to a USB port on your PC will support transceiver control with no need for a serial port or Ci-V level converter. However, you must install the correct Icom-supplied driver on your PC.
Important Notes
If your PC is running Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you must establish the USB connection between your PC and transceiver before you install the driver
If your PC is running Vista, you must wait to establish the USB connection between your PC and transceiver until after you have installed the driver
Review the Icom-provided Driver Installation Guide before establishing the USB connection between your PC and transceiver or installing the driver:
- IC-7410 and IC-9100 documentation refers to the IC-7600's Driver Installation Guide
as of 2009-07, the serial port driver is not recognized by the 64-bit version of Windows 7; an updated driver can be obtained here
The Driver Installation Guide's COM PORT CONFIRMATION section explains how to determine the serial port number after driver installation is complete. Use this port number in step 3a when configuring Commander. If this port number is greater than 16, direct Windows to assign a port number that is 16 or less using this procedure.
You can configure WinWarbler to use Commander for RX-TX switching
The IC-7200, IC-7410, IC-7600, and IC-9100 drivers also create a virtual soundcard, enabling WinWarbler and other digital mode applications to directly send and receive audio over the USB connection; after driver installation is complete,
open the Soundcard tab of WinWarbler's Config window and select USB Audio CODEC in the PSK & RTTY Reception panel, and in the Transmission panel's PSK & RTTY and Phone sub-panels:
to configure your IC-7200 to accept audio from the USB interface, decide whether your digital mode operation will employ Data mode or not. Then open the transceiver's SET MODE menu and
set the Modulation input (Data OFF) or Modulation input (Data ON) to USB, as shown on page 77 of the IC-7200 Instruction Manual
set the USB Level to 50% (you can increase or decrease this later to adjust the density of the waterfall display)
to configure your IC-7600 to accept audio from the USB interface, decide whether your digital mode operation will employ DATA 1 mode (D1), DATA 2 mode (D2), DATA 3 mode (D3), or will be accomplished with DATA mode not in use. Then open the transceiver's ACC SET menu and
set the appropriate entry's signal source to USB, as shown on page 124 of the IC-7600 Instruction Manual
set the USB MOD level to 50% (you can increase or decrease this later to fine-tune the output level)
- the details of IC-9100 audio configuration are not yet available
Windows will alert you to various events by playing sounds on the soundcard designated as the default Windows soundcard. To prevent such sounds from being transmitted while you are operating in PSK, RTTY, or Phone, use a soundcard other than USB Audio CODEC to serve as the default Windows soundcard.
