Curious what folks are using for remote stations. My latest setup is mostly designed for digital use; i haven't figured out a decent way to do audio remotely (but open to suggestions).

Currently, I have a VPN back to my home PC. From there, I can run HRD, WSJT, etc., with the rig (Yaesu 857) controlled via CAT; Signalink for a sound card interface. Tuner and radio are all connected to a web enabled power strip, so I can remotely turn the radio and tuner on and off remotely. Also have a webcam so I can remotely keep an eye on things, if needed. I don't have a way to control the antenna switch, so I'm limited to one antenna (and have to keep it connected).

wfview works pretty well.  Latency is killer with it though.
It can be massaged to play nicely with a streamdeck too.

I use it with a Contour ShuttleXpress.  Voided the warranty and soldered a 1/4 TS jack to one of the buttons, which lets me use a footswitch tied to PTT assigned to that button.  

I use the Icom RS-BA1 version 2 with my Icom 7610
Great audio for SSB and CW and a pretty user interface. It costs money though.

No server needed for the 7610 because the server is inside the 7610.

Most people around here I have talked to doing remote have gone to the 7610. Seems like it is well liked for that.

@NAM

Have you tried the RCForb software?

http://download.remotehams.com/

It works quite well. It handles CAT, audio and PTT. There is no need to join their community, you can just download the client and server app's and use them privately.

This might be exactly what I need. I'll check it out!

For those recommending the IC-7610, I appreciate the suggestion. I'm sticking with the 857 for now, but a new rig is likely in the near future. Something that's remote capable is a major selling point for me. I seem to gravitate towards Yaesu, but have fell in love with a few Icom rigs (still kicking myself for not buying an IC-970 and IC-781 from an estate I helped sell; they were older, but very nice and rack mountable out of the box).

flrig, fldigi and several others. Server and client run NoMachine. Client is a tablet into which a Jabra headset can be plugged (either wired or wireless). PTT is toggled with a stylus touch.

Rigs are older Icoms. As long as the various programs recognize them and they can be fully utilized by the host, they can be similarly controlled by the remote.

At some point I'm going to get an IC-7300, IC-9700 (or 905) and an R8600 for a dedicated remote setup. Tablet doesn't take up much space on the patio table when we're sitting outside and I usually have a headset on thanks to work.

Remotehams seems to be working great, so far. Control and audio is clear on RX. TX doesn't seem to be working well; guessing I need to adjust the levels on my signalink (radio is keyed via CAT, and I can see the red light on the Signalink turn on meaning it's getting audio, but not enough power to key up the tuner). I probably need to tweak audio setting across the board, both voice and digital.

What a sneaky way to get rare DX.

Just borrow an HF rig set up for remote in Outer Slobovia, fire it up, fire up your home rig and work yourself.

Saves postage on QSL cards, too.

About a mile from my place is the highest point around. A farm, with existing cell tower. Line of sight from there to here.

Keep telling the wife that if I hit the Powerball or whatever for enough scratch, I'm buying the place. Then installing a tower crane whose boom we'll convert to be the center support of a Big Honkin' HF Log Periodic.

In the cab will go a Flex 6600 or 6700, Power Genius and support equipment. Practically no feedline loss to speak of. 5GHz link from here to there and a remote interface to everything including the rotator controls.

Yeah, a guy can dream.

Well...WAS...until I went to tune in for the net and the computer was offline. Thats what I get for installing win11 on a non-compliant system (gen 7 i5).

Did some fiddling with RCForb. Got the levels tweaked as best I can tell, but didn't have time for on-air tests. Discovered a few "bugs":

- Tuning mode uses the default sound device. No matter what sound device you select for mic and speakers, it insists on transmitting the tuning tone through the default sound device. I hit tune, and was blasted by a loud tone in the face. Fiddle fucked around, and discovered if I switched the default sound device to the signalink, it tuned perfectly. Tx/RX audio works as designed; only the tune setting seems to do this.

- With the 857, audio only goes out the "DATA" port when in data mode. Data mode is a separate mode outside of USB/LSB/AM/FM/CW. You can set the mode to USB or LSB (typically USB for digital modes) from the menu, but not remotely. So, while I can now do SSB voice remotely, I can only do it via USB.

- Mic gain, while cranked up, seems to be weak. Weak to the point that the signalink delay feature cuts in and out. Not necessarily bad, but not necessarily good. Audio looks good in RCForb, and everything works 100% in digital modes. Probably need to do some on-air testing/fiddling.

- Roughly 10% of the time, the tune feature causes the whole setup to lock up. RCForb says the radio is busy, like it's losing com. Terminating the server program will fix it, or remotely terminating power. This could be a problem if you don't have the ability to remotely power off or remotely connect to the server.

All in all, not a perfect fit, but not bad either. I probably need to do some more fiddling, but it's heading in the right direction.

That sure seems like a bug. They have an active help forum. If you set up an account (costs nothing) at their website you can socialize that issue. Maybe they are working on it?

An unfortunately limitation of the 857. There is no way to fix this in RCForb because there is no CAT command supported to switch data sideband. You could build a cable that interfaces the Signalink through the mic input instead of the rear panel input. Or get a more modern radio

If digi modes are running OK then it seems like a Windows issue and/or an issue with your microphone. Have you gone to the Windows legacy sound control panel and the advanced properties tab for the mic and checked the level setting there? How about the Windows audio mixer control?

That seems like an indication of RFI in your shack when tuning from a poor VSWR state, not a fault of RCForb. Grounding, bonding, shielding, isolation, all need to be looked at. Ferrites are your friend.

Are you using a wired keyboard and mouse? If so, try using a 2.4GHz wireless mouse and keyboard. That trick fixes a lot of PC-related RFI problems.

+1, especially the bolded. I'd have a good look at station grounding too. Is your PC's case metal, as is it grounded as well?

As for the 857 being old....yeah...lol...It's on the list to replace at some point. Not a high priority, but it's on the list.

The station is grounded fairly well. I have a loop around my house with ground rods every 10-20 feet as able (porches, sidewalk, etc. throw the even spacing off). That is connected to my shack ground buss, which is connected to each piece of equipment (including the rack itself), and includes a ground rod in the shack (older concrete floor with a few sand holes). RFI is always possible, but I don't think that's the case here. All the same, adding a few ferrite beads never hurts.

The tune feature is a minor issue. I know it doesn't work, so I just won't use it. I can tune perfectly fine through most digital programs, or can switch to AM and key up.

I asked about PC grounding because of something that bit me last year.

When I was fixing up my old place to sell I kept a small home office there. That is, a laptop w/ extra monitor and a docking/charging station.

The shack-in-a-bag next to it was an IC-703+ with an end-fed random wire (49:1 balun) with coax feed. Located 50ft away from the TX point, A Digimode-4 was the sound card interface.

Even at 10w PEP out on FT8 I got into all sorts of PC misbehavior on TX before I finally clip-leaded one of the dock's parallel-port jack screws to the rig's ground terminal. Bear in mind my original station ground was still in the room in question and was akin to yours - and was connected to the rig itself.

Ground loops are sneaky.

Computer is a laptop. The case is your standard laptop plastic-ish fare, connected to an HP Ultrabook Dock (older wedge style). The laptop doesn't really have a good ground point, but I could try connecting something to the dock possibly. There is a kensington style lock port, but not sure if it's electrically connected to anything (but I could check that with a VOM).

Hmm...more playing to do.

Can you put an opto-isolator between the rig and the laptop?

There are USB ground cables made specifically for this purpose. Or you can roll your own.

Figured out the cause of my audio issues: Windows 11. Lots of folks reporting issues with noise cancelling and speech processing issues. If I try playing a tone into the mic, it registered for a second then cuts out. One person reported recording a choir, and the mic picking up only speech and cancelling out everything else. So far, no one's found a clear cut 100% resolution (at least not with Windows 11).

:-D

I tried a bluetooth mic, and had the exact same issues. I do have a standalone USB mic, but I'm guessing it'll give me the same issues. I'll have to do a deep dive into the issue when I get some spare time.

Been drooling over the 7610 lately....might be time to update sooner than I thought, though the Windows audio issues will be the same.

Solved my issues when I went this route.

A 7610 is a step up, especially if you are a CW enthusiast, (Audio peaking filter, quiet QSK) or DXer (dual receiver's, receive antenna port, 2 regular antenna ports) Receiver tracking for diversity etc.

Remote operating with built in server in the 7610, Lan operation Lan clock update, Many other upscale features, BUT if you don't make use of them or don't care about them, then there is no reason to upgrade from a 7300.

Remote operation is 100% a must. Not having decent remote capability is a dealbreaker; being fully remote-able out of the box is a big plus. I don't do a lot of CW, but am heavily into digital.

Side note, I think I worked out my laptop audio issues. Had to disable all the Intel SST controllers. It disabled my built in mic, but an external now works perfectly. Zero affect on my speakers, just the mic.