Help & contact

The most common questions when setting up and operating; text in quotes is a button or message of the app.

What you need

To operate you need a desktop browser, a rig with USB and its driver.

Set up rig

“Detect rig automatically” fills in the steps for a connected rig by itself; by hand, “Set up rig” leads you through these six steps.

  1. Callsign and locator. The app derives the licence class from a German callsign. With any other callsign you choose “Full licence” or “Entry level” under “Your licence” and tick the box to confirm that you hold the licence; the locator sets the ITU region. Without a callsign or without that declaration the station only receives.
  2. Rig. A tile for the IC-7300 or IC-9700 fills in model, Hamlib ID, baud rate and CI-V address from the preset. For every other rig there is the “Other Hamlib rig …” tile (see Other rigs).
  3. Connect. “Find rig …” opens the port chooser of Chrome. If your rig has another USB chip, click “Show all devices”. After the choice the app tests the connection by itself.
  4. Audio. Here you choose the audio devices of the rig under “Input” and “Output”. If there are two USB Audio CODEC devices, the one that belongs to this rig is the one whose meter moves with the noise.
  5. Transmit. You can choose “CAT (recommended)” or “None (receive only)”. “Test transmit (PTT)”: the app keys briefly and checks that the rig then reads back as off.
  6. Done. “Save and start station” saves the profile and starts the station.

Settings on the rig

On the rig itself three things matter (menu paths of the IC-7300; on the IC-9700 and other Icom rigs the menu items have similar names).

Other rigs

Only the IC-7300 and IC-9700 are proven on the air; every other rig, including every other Icom rig, is only assumed.

TX level and power

Set power and level before your first QSO, into an antenna or a dummy load.

  1. Under “Transmit settings”, set the power of the rig with “TX power (W)”.
  2. Start the station. In “My QSO” the “TX audio level” sits next to “Tune”: it says how loud the browser sends the transmit signal to the rig; −12 dBFS is the maximum.
  3. Click “Auto-level”. Tune transmits a carrier and adjusts the level until the ALC just moves; the result is saved in the rig profile. If the level is too high, the rig turns it down with its ALC, and the signal gets distorted and wider.
  4. If the app reports “Level at maximum, ALC stays off”, raise the USB MOD level on the rig (IC-7300: Menu › Set › Connectors › USB MOD Level); on “Level at minimum and ALC still too high”, lower it. Then click “Auto-level” again.
  5. If the rig reports no ALC, set the level by hand: “Tune” transmits a carrier for at most 10 s; meanwhile set the TX audio level so that the ALC just moves.
  6. While transmitting, watch the meters next to “Tune”: ALC, SWR and transmit power as the rig reports them. “ALC at its limit” means: lower the TX level. “SWR high” means: check the antenna and its matching.

Your first QSO

A QSO takes six steps, and “Stop TX” or the Esc key ends any transmission at once.

  1. Set the TX level once (see TX level and power).
  2. On the station, “Start station”. Listen first: the first line appears after the end of the first full period.
  3. Click a line in “Band activity”. That only prepares the station; nothing is transmitted. In “My QSO”, “On my RX frequency” then shows what goes on at that frequency and whether the station is working someone else right now.
  4. In “My QSO”, click “Reply”. Before the first transmission of a session the station shows the rig's frequency, transmit power and callsign; it transmits only after “Understood, transmit”. Alternatively “Call CQ” calls by itself.
  5. The station transmits in its own period, repeats each message (under “Transmit settings”, “Tries per message”, default 3) and moves on by itself as soon as the other station answers. A run transmits at most 12 times and at most 10 minutes.
  6. When the exchange is over, the “Log card” opens; “Save” writes the contact into the logbook.

FT4

“Mode” switches between FT8, FT4 and WSPR; it is locked during a transmission.

WSPR beacon

In WSPR mode only the beacon transmits (besides “Tune”); there is no “Reply” or “Call CQ”.

Logbook, upload and export

A contact is stored only with “Save”, and saving uploads nothing.

Map

With “Who hears me?” the map shows who hears your callsign, with “Who do I hear?” whom you hear.

Two-factor authentication

Under Settings › Account, the optional “Two-factor authentication” protects your account further: after the password, sign-in asks for a six-digit code from an authenticator app.

Passkeys

With a passkey you sign in without a password – with Windows Hello, your fingerprint, your face or your phone.

Download your data, delete your account

You find both under Settings › Account.

Chrome permissions

Chrome needs your permission for the rig's port and for the microphone.

The rig does not answer

Almost always another process holds the port: a second tab with CloudHamSuite, WSJT-X, JTDX, a program from the manufacturer or a process that hung while closing.

  1. Close all other tabs with CloudHamSuite and all other radio programs. If a process hangs, end it in the Task Manager.
  2. Switch the rig off and on again.
  3. “Test connection” or “Start station”.
  4. Only if that does not help, check the CI-V USB baud rate on the rig.

Good level but no decodes

If audio arrives at a good level but no line appears, it is usually one of these.

The clock is wrong

FT8 tolerates only a small offset, so synchronise the computer's system time.

The server cannot be reached

During an update the service is briefly unreachable; your data is safe on the server.

Glossary

The technical terms used in the app and on this page.

More about CloudHamSuite

These pages explain CloudHamSuite to people who do not know it yet.

Feedback and contact

Send a bug, something unclear or an idea to kontakt@cloudhamsuite.de; every report helps, even a single sentence.