LD-5 and Macbook Pro

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  • March 16, 2016 at 4:11 pm #2582
    w8tam
    Participant

    Greetings,

    I use my LD-5 with my desktop windows 7 professional 64bit machine in my shack without problem. We’re getting ready to activate an NPOTA site, and I would like to be able to run some digital modes while running off battery in a park.

    As soon as I plug the LD-5 into either of the USB ports on my mid 2012 Retina MacBook Pro, the LD-5 begins to transmit. In USB/LSB/DIG mode, it shows 0.0 watts out, and in CW/CWR mode, it shows full power, and transmits DASH-DASH-DASH endlessly.

    I’ve rebooted my Mac, and as soon as the machine powers off, the LD-5 stops transmitting, but begins again as soon as the machine boots, even before OSX loads.

    I’ve installed the Prolific drivers, and experienced no change in behavior.

    I’m out of ideas. I’d really like to be able to use my radio with my Mac.

    73,
    -Thom
    w8tam

    March 16, 2016 at 10:09 pm #2584
    w8tam
    Participant

    Additional information…

    Placing a USB hub between the LD-5 and the MBP does nothing, unless the hub is powered, in which case, the LD-5 begins transmitting as soon as it’s plugged into the powered hub.

    March 16, 2016 at 10:42 pm #2585
    w8tam
    Participant

    Further testing.

    Plug LD-5 into a non-powered hub, no TX. Then plug the hub into the Mac, TX.

    Plug LD-5 into powered hub, TX. Then plug the powered hub into the Mac, still TX.

    Plug the LD-5 into a Linux box (Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS). The LD-5 goes to TX briefly, then returns to receive.

    -Thom
    w8tam

    April 12, 2016 at 7:46 pm #2658
    af7md
    Member

    I don’t have an LD-5 to do any testing on, but I think I understand what’s going on here so I’ll at least make a stab at it. Something to go investigate is better than no leads at all, right?

    For reasons that are not clear, it seems the OS X Prolific driver likes to set the DTR line low at initialization. For lots of target devices this doesn’t matter, but on the LD-5 (and I’m guessing here) it seems the DTR line is used for the PTT signal. This is actually pretty common for rig interfaces.

    The experiment I’d do: download a serial control app such as ZTerm or Serial, and use the app to open the serial port and force the DTR line high. At that point, the LD-5 should register that PTT was released and receive as normal.

    Links to the apps and other OS X serial port troubleshooting info here:

    http://pbxbook.com/other/mac-ser.html

    You may also have luck using “cocoaPTT”, a tool to integrate with AppleScript for PTT via serial port. I think you can configure it to release the DTR line automatically, but I haven’t played with it. http://www.w7ay.net/site/Applications/cocoaPTT/index.html

    April 15, 2016 at 10:43 pm #3067
    w8tam
    Participant

    Thanks for the ideas! I figured out something very similar the other day. ‘stty sane’ to the USB device resets the serial port and turns off the PTT. It’s annoying that it turns on, and I can’t seem to change the defaults, but at least I can use the radio with the Mac!

    Next issue is the LD-5 and hamlib. Seems like the TS-2000 emulation isn’t close enough for hamlib. Booo! I can control the PTT with wsjt-x on the Mac, but not the VFO via cat control due to the incompatibility with hamlib. Closer though!

    73

    -Thom

    August 29, 2016 at 8:55 pm #3171
    hoshnasi
    Participant

    Hello Thom,

    Did you get any further with getting CAT work work? What driver are you using on your LD-5 to interface the radio?

    Thank you!

    September 11, 2016 at 10:59 pm #3174
    w8tam
    Participant

    Hoshnasi,

    I’ve upgraded to an LD-11, but in order to fix the issue with the Mac, I found that issuing ‘sudo stty -f /dev/$XYZ sane’ resets the port, and turns the transmitting off. Where $XYZ is the name of the device.

    Hope that helps!

    -Thom

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