SWL remote control for ICOM IC-R75, IR Remote Control Operating Manual

Operating Manual

SWL IR Remote Control for ICOM IC-R75

For

Firmware Version 1.43

Web Site: http://www.swl-remotes.com/

Support email: support@swl-remotes.com

May 30, 2005 Revision 2.51

Overview

Thank you for purchasing the SWL IR Remote. We are confident that you will get many hours of listening pleasure from your R75 using the remote. Don’t hesitate to contact us at support@swl-

remotes.com if you have any problems or questions. We want your experience with our products

to be as positive and enjoyable as possible. We also appreciate any comments on how we can make our products better.

The SWL IR Remote is a microcontroller-based device that decodes the Infrared pulse stream from a Universal Remote control and converts it into the remote commands for shortwave receivers and transceivers. Several versions of the SWL IR Remote are available for different models of Receivers and Transceivers.

The SWL IR Remote is connected to the R75 receiver using a 1/8in (3.5mm) audio type cable connected from the SWL IR Remote to the Remote jack on the receiver.

Power for the SWL IR Remote is provided by the included wall power supply. Alternatively, 912Volts DC at 100ma max can be supplied to the power connector. The center pin of the coax power connector is positive. There is a blocking diode in the circuit, so reverse polarity will not harm the SWL IR Remote control unit. Customers in Europe receive a DC cable that connects to the coax power jack on the SWL IR Remote control unit and has pig tail leads on the other end for connecting to a DC power supply.

All keys on the Universal Remote are indicated in this manual with bold type. The keys used for radio control are the digits All references to the

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, Mute, Power, Enter, and Last or Previous.

Last key also refers to the Previous key on the remotes that have that key.

Any Universal Remote control should operate the SWL IR Remote. Follow the instructions in the remote manual to set the remote to operate a Sony TV. The remote needs digit keys,

Power,

Enter, and Last or Previous buttons. The remote should be in TV mode to operate properly.

Make sure you do not have Cable or VCR modes selected. The codes from the keys when in Cable or VCR mode are different and will not operate the SWL IR Remote.

None of the settings are changed in the radio with the exception of memories that you write with the remote. All settings are temporary in the remote control. You can go back at any time to using your radio from the front panel. Move the AF gain, RF gain, Squelch, and PBT controls back and forth on the R75 until control is restored when returning to manual operation on the front panel.

Keep the Quick Commands Reference sheet by your remote as reference on the SWL IR Remote operation.

Connection to Radio

The ICOM CI-V cable has a 1/8in (3.5mm) audio type plug on each end. Connect the cable to the back of the SWL IR Remote control unit and then connect to the back of your receiver to the connection marked REMOTE. This will be a 1/8in (3.5mm) jack.

Plug in the wall power supply and plug into the back of the SWL IR Remote control box. The power connector is located on the back left hand side of the control unit. The SWL IR Remote draws very little power and does not include or need a power switch.

Note: If you use the RS-232C connector on the back of the R75, leave the SWL IR Remote powered at all times or remove from the CI-V port if not powered. The RS-232C connector will be disabled if the SWL IR Remote is plugged into the CI-V port and not powered on. If the SWL IR Remote is connected and powered, it does not interfere with the normal operation of the radio front panel, or the RS-232C computer port. The default CI-V address is 5A. The default baud rate is 19200. These CI-V and baud rate settings match the default settings for the R75.

Radio Addressing

Be sure that the CI-V settings on the R75 are CI-V address 5A and Auto Baud. These are the default factory settings and should not have to be changed except for special circumstances. If you are unsure about whether or not the R75 is set up correctly, check your user’s manual for instructions on how to check and verify these settings. On the R75, the baud rate setting of Auto or 19200 will both work fine. The SWL IR Remote CI-V address and baud rate can be changed if necessary to fit your requirements. Just be sure that the settings match those of your radio.

Remote Control Operation

Description

The following describes the operation of the remote control. Refer to the Universal Remote Commands tables, or the Commands Quick Reference guides for specific features.

Once you begin to use the remote you will get very comfortable with the operation. There is a lot of functionality achieved by just a few remote buttons. You can stick with the basic operations of the remote (volume, frequency, and memory) and still achieve a lot of control over your radio. The biggest problem you will have in the operation of the remote is the

Enter key. If you do not

enter the codes exactly you will end up trying to enter a direct frequency. Direct frequency entry can occur in either VFO or memory modes.

You do not have to use the more advanced features (for example RF Gain, SQL, NR level, and PBT controls) to enjoy the remote. These features are normally used for DXing and are not really necessary for normal broadcast listening. OK, I know some of you tweak these controls to achieve better audio frequency response and eliminate heterodynes. Because you do not have a rotary control for RF gain, squelch and PBT, like on the front panel of the R75, it can get a bit confusing on where you are when setting the advanced controls. Just stick to the basic controls, and advance to these controls as you understand their function and can control them with the remote for the desired effect.

Power

When the R75 is turned off with the remote, certain status is saved to non-volatile memory and restored when power is turned back on with the remote. The current memory selection, volume level, mute status, current tuning step, and the VFO/memory mode are stored in non-volatile memory. The last frequency entered is kept in volatile memory and will be lost when power is removed from the control unit.

Sleep Timer

You can set the Sleep Timer for the R75 with the remote.

The Sleep Timer cannot be started reliably with the CI-V commands, so you must start the Sleep Timer from the front panel of the R75. Use the following key sequence – Clock, V DN, Set, and Clock to turn the Sleep Timer on. The R75 Sleep Timer can be turned off with the remote.

Direct Frequency Entry

When entering frequencies directly, be sure to press a digit key before the first decimal point. The

Mute button functions to mute the radio, as a decimal point when entering frequencies, and

as a clear to abort any key entry to that point. When using the

Mute button as a clear, be sure to

press it enough times to get the LED to blink twice, or for the volume to mute. This is confirmation that the clear command has been accepted. When entering frequencies directly, the Mute key will operate as a decimal point only after a digit key has been pressed before the first decimal point. As an example, you can enter

0 Mute 3 Enter for 300KHz. Pressing the Mute a

second time during direct frequency entry will then enter 100Hz values. To enter 15.235.500 you would enter

15.235.500 by pressing

1 5 Mute 2 3 5 Mute 5 Enter. Zeroes are assumed when not entered. You can enter

1 5 2 3 5 Mute 5 Enter. You can enter the frequency without any

decimal places, but you need to enter all the zeros so the frequency is not misunderstood. To enter 15.235.500 without using the decimal key, enter

1 5 2 3 5 5 0 0 Enter.

The SWL IR Remote assumes that you are entering frequencies in kHz. Any frequency in kHz can be entered directly. 9565kHz would be entered as

9 5 6 5 Enter. The decimal place (Mute)

is not necessary in this case. The decimal place is only needed to save zero entries or optionally when entering a frequency less than 1MHz. When entering frequencies below 1MHz, press a leading zero before the frequency and then use the

Mute Enter

Mute key as a decimal place before or after the frequency entry. For example: 7 0 0

for 700kHz or 0 Mute 7 Enter for 700 kHz.

Enter. For example: 0 7 0 0 Enter for 700kHz. Or

After a frequency has been entered, you can then use the

CH+/- to step the frequency in the VFO

mode. Frequency steps of 1Hz, 10Hz, 100Hz, 1kHz, 5kHz, 9kHz, 10kHz, 100kHz, and 1MHz can be used to adjust an entered frequency very quickly or step through stations with set frequency spacing. Press a numeric key corresponding to the frequency step desired (see commands below), and then the is kept and used again the next time the the radio is powered off and back on with the remote

CH+/- and the step frequency will be used. The step frequency

CH+/- keys are used. The step is permanently kept when

Power button. The CH+/- keys will change

the frequency when in the VFO mode, and change memories up and down when in memory mode.

Frequency pacing is the rate at which the frequency is increased or decreased when the

CH+/-

keys are held down. The pacing is a configurable parameter that can be set by the user. You can speed up or slow down the rate at which the frequency changes by setting the frequency pacing.

The

CH+/- keys are used to step the frequency up and down when in VFO mode. The first press

of the

CH+/- in this mode will be slightly delayed. If the key is held down it will then begin

stepping the frequency at the current slewing rate. Use single presses of the

CH+/- keys to move

slowly up or down in frequency. Hold the keys down continuously to step the frequency very quickly.

Last Frequency Recall

The last directly entered frequency can be recalled. Use this when looking for other frequencies being used by a shortwave broadcaster. You can set a frequency directly, enter another frequency, and return to the original frequency. You can then enter another frequency and return, etc. The last frequency entered is lost if power is removed from the remote control unit. It is kept if the radio is powered off.

Tuning Steps

Pre-set Tuning Steps can be selected by entering a single digit before using the CH+/- keys on the remote. The tuning step stays until changed again by the user.

Five User Tuning Steps can be defined for special tuning requirements. Set these tuning steps to half the value of your filters. Tuning off frequency by half the filter bandwidth will improve audio response without degrading the signal or losing synch lock. For example if you have a

2.4kHz filter, set User Tuning Step 1 to 1.2kHz and then tune off frequency when the 2.4kHz filter is selected. This procedure is similar to using a PBT control, but you can see on the display how much off frequency you are tuned. With the PBT, you can only adjust and listen for

improved response. You could also set a User Tuning Step to 5Hz and use it to quickly zero-beat the frequency in SSB mode.

Memory Operation

When moving through the memories, you can directly select a memory channel using the x (x)

(x) Last

key sequence. For example, to select channel 23 you would press 2 3 Last. You can

select a memory channel in VFO or memory mode. You can also write the VFO to the currently selected memory. Once the channel is selected, you can move the memory to the VFO using

Last

, or move through the channels one at a time using the CH+/- keys. The CH+/- will change

the memory channel when in memory mode only.

There is one idiosyncrasy with memory channels on the R75. The remote keeps track of which memory it has operated on last, but there is no way to know which memory channel is currently selected once a memory scan has been started. At times the memory may seem to be off of where you expect it to be. Just directly select a memory, or move through memories until you have the memory desired. This issue comes about because in the CI-V interface there is no way to query the radio and get the current memory channel selected. The remote will do the best job it can to track the current memory. When the radio is powered off with the

Power key on the remote, the

current memory channel is put into semi-permanent memory so it can be restored even after the remote control unit is powered off.

Mute Operation

There is a lot of functionality in the Mute key. The normal operation of the Mute key is to mute the radio volume (or AF gain to be more precise). The as a decimal point. Any time a digit key is pressed before the understands the keys pressed. The

Mute to be a decimal point. At any time you can press the Mute key to clear any

Mute may have to be pressed several times to get the LED to blink twice,

Mute key is used during frequency entry

Mute, the control unit then

indicating that the keys have been cleared. If the radio mutes then you can be sure that the sequence is cleared. The remote needs to know whether the

Mute is being used for a decimal or

it is intended to be a clear. A clear function is interpreted by the remote control by multiple presses of the

The

Mute key is also used to return the VOL+/- keys back to volume after using analog controls.

There is one situation where the then the frequency entry and decide to clear the operation, the first press of the

Mute key.

Mute clear function is stacked. If you press a numeric button

VOL+/- to control the RF Gain, Squelch, NR, or PBT controls and then start a direct

Mute will return the

VOL+/- back to volume control, and the second press of the Mute will cancel the direct

frequency entry. On both presses of the this confusion is to return to volume control before direct frequency entry, or press the

Mute the LED will blink twice. The best way to avoid

Mute until

the radio Mutes, confirming that all previous operations have been canceled.

RF/SQL and PBT Controls Press a numeric key to select the control to adjust before pressing the VOL+/- to adjust the RF

gain, Squelch, and inner or outer PBT. The RF and Squelch controls can be adjusted from full CW (clockwise) with

VOL+ to full CCW (counterclockwise) with VOL-. Full CW is the center

of the control for the RF gain, and full CCW is the center of the control for the Squelch. The PBT controls can be adjusted from full CW with

VOL+ to full CCW with VOL-. When the PBT

control is centered the LED will go out and movement of the PBT will cease. When the RF Gain

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SWL remote control for ICOM IC-R75, IR Remote Control Operating Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual