Prior to moving to WRL I was an HRD user. Since their suite of products all integrated and many other products could connect to HRD I really only ever needed 1 COM port for my radio to be able to interface with many app to do WSJT-X, RTTY, PSK31, SSTV, etc. But now that I’m no longer using HRD I moved over to using Eterlogic VSPE (Virtual Serial Port Emulator). I did a bunch of searching for configurations and found many for ham radio but when I configured them they would work at first and then stop. For example after an hour or so I’d get rig control errors in WSJT-X. It didn’t matter whether I setup WSJT-X for direct CAT to a virtual COM port or if I set it to use Hamlib to WRL CAT Control and WRL CAT Control was using a virtual COM port. So I reached out to Eterlogic support and they walked me through a fairly new feature their software has and it has made my configuration rock solid. Let me explain my setup and then I’ll share the configuration.
VSPE can be downloaded and installed for free. The only limitation I know of with the free version is it won’t autoload the configuration at boot time. I opted to spend the $50 for it. That’s up to you. You can get it here: Eterlogic - Eterlogic Software Virtual Serial Ports Emulator (VSPE)
IC-705 (connected to an amp but that’s besides the point). 705 has a USB connection to my PC. It’s all CMC protected with ferrites and such. My PC runs Windows 11 and I have a need to easily run and switch between the following applications and in some cases run many of them at the same time. MMSSTV, Vara FM, Vara HF, ARDOP, WRL CAT Control, WSJT-X, JS8Call, VarAC, N1MM+, FlRig, FlDigi, CS-705, WfView and OpenHamClock-Rig.
Additionally the IC-705 has a COM port that will send it’s GPS data out. I use this with BktTimeSync to get accurate PC time when off-grid and I don’t have access to an NTP time source. I have a few applications that can use this GPS info so I used a traditional VSPE Splitter configuration to build a virtual COM port that be be accessed by multiple applications simultaneously to utilize the GPS data.
In my setup, COM4 is CI-V (rig control) and COM3 is GPS for the physical ports. You will also notice in my configuration that some of my virtual COM port numbers are low like COM5 for the virtual GPS port and COMs 11-16. This is because some software can only use COM port numbers up to 16. Newer applications can use just about an enumerated COM port number.
This configuration is for more than just Icom branded radios. It will work on many other brands also.
I hope this helps folks in similar situations
NOTE: I can NOT get the formatting to look OK in this post so please forgive the uglyness and if you want a slightly better looking copy you can get it off my Dropbox at: Dropbox
Joe - KK7PZE
===Here is my Configuration===
VSPE Configuration
VSPE
Tools
Program Settings
Hide splash window on VSPE startup=Yes
Minimize on startup=Yes
Hide on minimize=Yes
Display popup message in system tray=No
Ask for saving configuration when closing the application=Yes
Ask for confirmation when closing the application=Yes
Delete all devices when closing the application=No
Show experimental devices=No
Service Settings
AutoStart enabled=Yes
Handling Windows power events=Yes
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VSPE
Stop Emulation
Delete all existing VSPE Devices
Start Emulation
Devices
Quick Config
Share COM port device (Serial Router)
Title = COM4 - Icom CI-V
Description =
Virtual COM Ports
11 = MMSSTV
12 = Vara FM
13 =
14 =
15 =
16 = OpenHamClock-Rig
17 = WRL CAT Control
18 = WSJT-X
19 = JS8Call
20 = VarAC
21 = N1MM+
22 = Vara HF, ARDOP
23 = FlRig
24 = FlDigi
25 = CS-705
26 = WfView
Next>
Filter = Radio ICOM CAT compatible protocol
Next>
COM4
Read only
Speed = 115200
Flow control = none
Initial RTS State = Not defined
Initial DTR State = Not defined
Parity = none
Byte size = 8
Stop bits = 1
Next>
Add many virtual ports
Specify COM port numbers (list or range) [Min 2, Max 16] = 11-26
Next>
Finish
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VSPE
Device
Create new device
Virtual Splitter
Title: COM3 - Icom IC-705 GPS Sharing
Description:
COM5 is shared virtual COM port for GPS
Used by:
BktTimeSync
VarAC
NEXT>
Special node: create single virtual port which can be opened many times
Application is not allowed to open the same virtual COM Port multiple times
Only first connected client can write data and update modem registers
Stop reading data when no clients connected
Reset DTR/RTS when no clients connected
Clear input buffer when no clients connected
Buffered reading mode
Purge virtual COM ports buffers on open
Purge virtual COM ports buffers on close
COM Port to use as a data source
COM3
Settings
Speed=115200
Handshake=NONE
RTS=N/A (Not defined)
DTR=N/A (Not defined)
Parity=NO
ByteSize=8
StopBits=1
OK
Virtual COM Ports the applications will connect to
COM5
\[X\] Allowed to receive data
\[X\] Allowed to send data
\[X\] Redirect RTS
\[ \] Full RTS control
\[X\] Redirect DTR
\[ \] Full DTR control
\[ \] Not allowed to block read flow (allow buffer overruns)
0
Finish
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VSPE
File
Save config file as…
VPSE_COM4 CI-V Serial Router to vCOM11-26 — COM3 GPS Splitter to Shared vCOM5.vspe
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VSPE
File
AutoStart
AutoStart
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VSPE
File
AutoStart
Save as AutoStart config file
Do you want current configuration to be loaded when Windows starts? Yes
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Make sure Windows is not set for fast start
Classic Control Panel
Power Options
Choose what the power buttons do
Change settings that are currently unavailable
UNCHECK - Turn on fast startup (recommended)