Ham Radio iMac (iCOM Macintosh) In The Shack
Was the iMac made for ICOM radios? ..hi hi. I picked up an iMac Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz all in one off of e-bay for a good price. It has a bad screen (vertical line), but it will work for what I need it for. Ham Radio iMac (iCOM Macintosh) is what I'm calling it and it's attached to my Icom 7300! This is not going to replace my PC, but it will be fun to use.
Ham Radio iMac Specs
It's an Apple A1311 MB950LL/A 2009 iMac 10.1 Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz CPU, 8GB RAM, 1TB Hard Drive and a 21.5" monitor. Nice size for a monitor!
Even though it's a 2009 I anticipate it'll run fast enough with the latest macOS 10.12 Sierra installed.
Macs don't have as many software apps as PC's do for Ham Radio, but there are a few I would like to try. The Icom 7300 should play nicely with it too.
iMac (iCOM Macintosh) Software
Software that's going to work with the Icom 7300: Have you seen RUMLogNG? From the website, "RUMlogNG is a HAM radio logging, QSL handling and printing tool, especially made for the short wave DXer, made by a DXer." RUMLog is free and runs on a Macintosh. I saw a video on YouTube with RUMLogNG displaying the Icom 7300's bandscope on the monitor. Similar to Icoms RS-BA1. It also boasts two other neat features that are hard to explain, so I'll just have to show you. I can tell you now, I'm impressed. 🙂
Another logging program for the newly acquired "Ham Radio iMac" is MacLoggerDX. I've read some great reviews on it. It is a paid application however ($95), so I'll have to look at that one a little harder. I'll load the trial version first.
A few more Mac applications for Ham Radio I would like to try are WSJT-X, JT-Bridge and Fldigi for the Mac. I'm curious how difficult these are to install and configure. Is it like Linux?? 😉
The USB driver and RUMLogNG was quick. Yes sir it's this easy!
I can use the iMac for multimedia storage, photo and video editing too. It will earn it's keep.
What Ham Radio software do you run on your Mac?
Icom 7300 Configuration
See the Icom 7300 configuration screenshots here. Menu>Set>Connectors
My IMac with High Sierra kicks the USB driver out after three transmits. May try a powered usb hub between the 7300 and Imac late 2009. Also, I’ve heard the SLAB driver is not signed, so it may have a deeper problem.
Craig N6SBN
Hi Craig,
Nice to hear from you and mine used to do the same thing. I fixed it by going into the Audio MIDI Setup app. Change USB Audio CODEC to “2 ch 16-bit Integer 44.1kHz”
You can find the MIDI setup in Applications and Utilities.
I hope this helps, let me know.
Best 73 and hope to hear you on.
Rich, K0PIR
Thanks Rich. I would have never found it. Craig N6SBN
Has anyone had any trouble with “audio pops” when using digital modes on the 7300?
Hi Ross,
I have not and haven’t heard any issues with that.
Something to check would be the computer and software.
Rich, K0PIR
Hi, new operator here. I’ve looked at some of your videos, but wonder is there a way to use an IMAC
(27″ 3.4 GHZ 17. 8GB 1333 MHZ DDR Graphics Radeon HD 6970 M 2048 MB) hooked up to a RSP1 sdr
instead of a PC to run a IC 7300
Hi Charles,
Nice to hear from you and thank you for posting.
There are a couple of great logbooks for the Mac. I like RumLogNG, it’s free. There is also MacLoggerDX which cost some, but it is very good and worth it in my opinion. I would check out RumLogNG first though, it has the spectrum scope.
See this article: Ham Radio iMac (iCOM Macintosh) In The Shack
There’s more too, just look under the Mac category on the right hand side.
HDSDR cannot be run on the MacOS. So you would have to use another program. I think there is one or two for the MacOS. You could try CubicSDR, it worked for me and the SDR dongle I had.
I still use my iMac today and love it.
Best 73,
Rich, K0PIR
Hi. Just got my General license about a month ago and got an IC-7300. Have been meaning to get my 7300 connected to my Mac but didn’t know how. With your video, I had it done in about 10 minutes. Because of my experience, it would have taken me hours to figure it out. Thanks
Hi Patrick, congratulations on getting your license and the radio.
Thank you so much for your input, I really do appreciate it and glad it helped.
Hope to hear you on the air, best 73!
Patrick. I can FT* with my macbook and IC7300 , I can FT8CALL , I want to be able to send APRS data
is there any instruction on how to do that, I have FIDIGI running too..
thanks in advance.
Hi Terry,
Thank you for commenting and great question! I don’t have anything on there but I did see a newsletter, here’s the link http://www.westmountainradio.com/pdf/Quarter-4-2016.pdf
Should be fun to do. Thanks again and take care, stay safe and best 73!
hi
great info as well well made I like to ask you is it will work with ft8?
vy 73 ilan
Hi Ilan,
It’s nice to hear from you and thank you for commenting here.
Yes, FB on FT8. WSJT-X is becoming my favorite app.
Best 73,
Rich, K0PIR
Thanks Richard! I’ve been having problems with FLDIGI and my macBookPro. Soundcard issues. At first it worked, but it soon stopped working. I can control everything else perfectly on IC-7300 via FLDIGI. Just that frustrating soundcard isn’t working. Have heard there are problems, Even read the help from FLDIGI. At my wits end. I tried the rate change you suggested below, but that didn’t do the trick either. Any ideas you can give that may help?
And if I can’t get this to work, what software would you suggest for the Mac that isn’t too expensive? I have RumLogNG, which I really like, and was looking forward to the way it would work with FLDIGI..
Thanks,
Scott
Hi Scott,
It’s nice to hear from you and sorry for the delay. I have a new MacBook Air M2 that I have been using. Just haven’t installed and used Fldigi yet on it. On my previous Macs I used RUMLogNG with Fldigi and it worked fine business. I’ll have to get moving and create a new video for it.
The sound is usually pretty easy to get working, receiving anyway. With MacLoggerDX I needed to use an Apple script, but I don’t remember if I needed a script with RUMLogNG. Can you receive okay?
For digital modes on the Mac I have always used Fldigi. There is another program or two for digital modes and they are free. I just didn’t dig into them. For logging I have always used RUMLogNG and MacLoggerDX. MLDX used to be about $100 and is well worth it. However, I really like RUMLogNG because it has a better rig control interface. Both logging programs are great for DX chasing.