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IC-705 Setup Log in to Edit

Flrig and Fldigi Configuration

Unless noted, screenshots are from a Raspberry Pi, but the applications will appear similar for other distributions of Linux, MacOS, and Windows. The primary differences will be the names of USB devices.

No external USB device drivers are required to connect the IC-705 on either MacOS or Linux. A USB device driver for Windows for the IC-705 is available for download from Icom Japan.
Icom Japan Download for IC-705 USB Device Driver

Flrig Configuration

Flrig is the easiest way to interface your IC-705 to a computer. No Rigcat XML files are required, and you can easily interface to WSJT-X by selecting Flrig as your radio.

You must provide Flrig with the device name of the IC-705's USB interface. This device name will be different for each operating system.

For Linux systems, it's easiest to identify the IC-705's USB interface on by looking in /dev/serial/by-id. You will see two devices here with very long filenames. The one ending with if00 is the rig control and audio. The one ending with if02 can provide GPS data. It is tempting to select a shortcut name like /dev/ttyUSB0 or /dev/tty/ACM0, but these names may change if you attach other USB devices. The by-id name is harder to deal with because it is so long but it will be more stable.

On Windows systems, the name of the USB device will be something similar to COMn where n is the number associated with the comm port. If you have many USB devices, n may be two digits.

Identifying the name of the USB device under MacOS is described in the section of this document about MacOS.

Note that Flrig will correctly enter the Icom CIV address as 0xA4 (A4 in hexadecimal) and you do not need to pretend that your radio is an IC-7300 by entering the IC-7300's CIV address of 0x94.

This is a screenshot of the Flrig from a Linux system. It is similar to what you will see under Windows and MacOS.

The checkbox for Echo must match the setting of the IC-705 for CI-V USB Echo Back. The default value is OFF. You can check this value as follows:
SET->Connectors->CI-V->CI-V USB Echo Back
(This is documented on page 8-14 of the Icom IC-705 Basic Manual.)

You must now configure Fldigi to use Flrig rig control in the Fldigi configuration. In Fldigi go to Configure -> Config Dialog -> and navigate to flrig. Click on the checkbox for "Enable flrig xcvr control with fldigi as client".

If all is working, Flrig will begin communicating with Fldigi. The frequency displayed in Fldigi should match what is displayed in Flrig, and you should be able to change mode and filter bandwidth in Fldigi.

Fldigi Configuration with Rigcat

If you'd prefer to not use Flrig and interface your radio directly to Fldigi, you must first download the IC-705 XML file for Rigcat from https://sourceforge.net/projects/fldigi/files/xmls/icom/ . It does matter where you save IC-705.xml, but your home directory will work.

The next step is to configure Rigcat rig control in Fldigi. Go to Config -> Config Dialog -> Rig Control -> CAT (rigcat). Push the Open button next to the Rig description file box and navigate to your IC-705.xml file. Select your IC-705's USB device in the Device box. The name of the IC-705's USB interface is discussed in the Flrig section of this document. Click on the Use RigCAT checkbox, push the Initialize button, and then push the Save button. If you were previously using Flrig, you will need to quit Fldigi and then start again for Rigcat rig control to work.


Identifying the USB device on MacOS with either Flrig or Fldigi

To interface your IC-705 to a Mac with Flrig, you must first identify the name of the IC-705's USB interface. Open a terminal window and cd into the /dev directory. Look for devices with names starting with "cu.usbmodem". In the image below, you'll see two devices with the name "usbmodem". On this Mac /dev/cu.usbmodem142201 is the rig control interface and /dev/cu.usbmodem142203 provides GPS data. Note that the last 5 digits in these filenames may vary from Mac to Mac, so you'll have to examine the /dev directory to find the correct filename on your Mac. The device with the lower value in the last 5 digits is the rig control interface.

Now that you've identified the USB device for rig control, you must enter it into Flrig. Unfortunately, Flrig does not identify these devices automatically, so you'll need to enter the device name manually. Once you've entered the full name of the USB device, push the Init button and your Mac should connect to your IC-705. Make sure you enter the complete device name starting with "/dev".

Should you decide to not use Flrig and wish to use Flrigi and Rigcat for rig control, Fldigi under MacOS will find the USB devices for your IC-705, so there's no need to enter the device name manually.

Sending CW using CAT

You may configure Fldigi to send CW by using CAT to key your radio. You can do this by using Fldigi and Rigcat, or by using Flrig for rig control. This means you do not need an external CW keyer to send CW. This works the same way under Linux, MacOS and Windows.

To configure this feature, go to Fldigi and navigate to Configure -> Config Dialog -> Modem -> CW -> CAT keying. Click on the box for Icom. Make sure the IC-705's CIV address of A4 is entered in the CIV box. If you want full break-in keying, click on the box for Disable CAT PTT. To send CW, use either Fldigi or Flrig to change the mode to CW. You can now send CW from a macro button. You may also send CW by first entering text into the blue Fldigi transmit pane. Then push the T/R macro key to start transmitting. Push the Rx || macro button to end transmitting.

If you want full break-in, in addition to disabling CAT PTT in Fldigi, you must also disable it in Flrig. Go to Config-> Setup -> PTT and check the "disable PTT in CW mode" checkbox under CW mode PTT.

You select the CW speed using the controls at the lower left of Fldigi. These are circled in the following screenshot. The number displayed is the selected CW speed, which for the IC-705 has a range of 6-48 WPM.

Using the IC-705's GPS receiver as a time standard for your Linux system

You can use the IC-705's built-in GPS receiver to set the time on your Linux system, even if you're operating from a very remote location with no Internet access. This is important if you're using a mode that requires precise timekeeping like WSJT-X or if you're using a Raspberry Pi which has no on-board Real Time Clock (RTC).
Icom IC-705 GPS Cheat Sheet for Linux