DigiRig + Baofeng + Linux

Written By Gaston Gonzalez

Install Dire Wolf

Let’s begin by installing Dire Wolf and creating an initial minimal configuration. Follow the steps described here.

Accessing the DigiRig Serial Device as a Normal User

The DigiRig presents two USB devices to your operating system: the first is a sound card and the second is a serial device. We need to make sure that your normal user account can access the DigiRig’s serial device without requiring root access using sudo. We can do this by adding your normal user account to the dialout group.

Replace YOURUSER with your user name.

$ sudo usermod -a -G dialout YOURUSER
$ groups YOURUSER

Assign a Consistent Serial Device Name

  1. Find the current device path for the DigiRig. It should be something like /dev/ttyUSBX where X is some number.
$ ls -l /dev/serial/by-id | grep CP2102
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 27 06:04 usb-Silicon_Labs_CP2102N_USB_to_UART_Bridge_Controller_a068f09199b1eb118c57b87718997a59-if00-port0 -> ../../ttyUSB4
  1. Lookup the device information using the device manager admin tool. In my case, /dev/ttyUSB4. Replace your device below.
$ udevadm info -a -n /dev/ttyUSB4
  1. Find the device that matches the attribute below.
ATTRS{product}=="CP2102N USB to UART Bridge Controller"

In my case, /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-5/1-5.2.

  1. Dump the variables for this device.
$ udevadm test /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-5/1-5.2
  1. Next, let's create a udev rule file. This file will allow our normal user account to access the device as will as give it a consistent device name that we call /dev/tty-digirig.
$ sudo vi /etc/udev/rules.d/emcomm-tools-digirig.rules
SUBSYSTEM=="tty", GROUP="dialout", MODE="0660", ATTRS{product}=="CP2102N USB to UART Bridge Controller", SYMLINK+="tty-digirig"
  1. Set the permissions.
$ sudo chmod 0644 /etc/udev/rules.d/emcomm-tools-digirig.rules
  1. Reload the device rules.
$ sudo udevadm control --reload-rules

  1. Reboot.

  2. Verify the symlink exists on reboot.

$ ls -l /dev/tty-digirig
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Apr 23 05:43 /dev/tty-digirig -> ttyUSB0

At this point we can now use the /dev/tty-digirig as a consistent device path for the DigiRig's serial interface.

Configure PTT

Now that we have a serial device configured, let's update our Dire Wolf configuration so that we can trigger the PTT on the Baofeng.

  1. Edit the Dire Wolf configuration: nano ~/direwolf.conf.

  2. Search for the keyword PTT and add a PTT definition for the DigiRig's serial device.

PTT /dev/tty-digirig RTS
  1. Start Dire Wolf.
$ direwolf

Note: If you are running gpsd with AUTOUSB="true" you may notice that the Baofeng will get stuck in transmit mode. This is a known issue with the DigiRig under Linux when using gpsd. A workaround is to edit /etc/default/gpsd and set AUTOUSB="false", then reboot.

YAAC Installation

  1. Install Java.
$ sudo apt install openjdk-11-jdk libjssc-java -y
  1. Download and install YAAC.
$ mkdir -p ~/opt/yaac
$ cd ~/opt/yaac/
$ wget https://www.ka2ddo.org/ka2ddo/YAAC.zip
$ unzip YAAC.zip

  1. Ensure that your DigiRig is connected and that Dire Wolf is running.

  2. Start YAAC.

$ java -jar YAAC.jar

  1. Complete the configuration using the configuration wizard.

  2. On the Configure Interfaces, select Add AGWPE Port. We will be connecting to the Dire Wolf AGWPE port. Set Transmit to Enabled. Leave all other defaults.

Gaston Gonzalez
Next

Setting up Dire Wolf