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| Reviews Summary for West Mountain Radio Rigblaster NOMIC |
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Reviews: 24
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Average rating: 3.9/5
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MSRP: $59.99
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Description: Small and inexpensive, perfect for portable or temporary setups. Switch radios by ordering an extra matching mic. cable. Use PTT keying circuit as a fully isolated CW/FSK keying output for direct keying of your rig's CW or FSK instead of using it for a sound card interface. No external power supply needed, great for portable or QRP installations.
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More info: http://www.westmountainradio.com/RIGblaster.htm
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You can
write your own review of the West Mountain Radio Rigblaster NOMIC.
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PHOOBARNVAZ
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Rating: 0/5
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Feb 27, 2008 00:31
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Never again...
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Got it about a week ago from AES in Las Vegas...along with my FT-450. After spending almost a week making sure that everything was ready to go...due to work constraints...attempted to CQ after going over the paper & PDF manual on this unit on my day off. No matter how many times I reboot the PC (am a PC/networking tech) with either the USB or RS-232 cable hooked to the unit...it will not key my rig. Am so happy that I didn't spend anymore than what I did on either the Plus or the Pro! Looks like the TigerTronics with their USB unit.
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N8LVA
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 13, 2008 11:53
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The best buy I ever made so far!
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Greetings all,
I hope that I can give you the info you may be looking for in my findings. I purchased my nomic in August of 2007 and when I received it, I read over the instructions and had no problem understanding them. Just read the instructions and follows them exactly especially when installing the jumpers.
I use mine with my Icom V8000 and Yaesu FT-2800M and the antenna is the ARX-2B only up about 25 feet. It could be a problem if you do get the jumper wires set up wrong if you were using more than one model of radio. I use it most on Echolink in the DODROPIN conference and EQSO on the RF Hill. From time to time I go on APRS with it as well as SSTV and it works great. The best thing to do would be to buy more than one so you have one for each radio and that way you always have a back up.
I have been very satisfied with my nomic and will order another so I can give it shot on my Kenwood TS-440S.
I know their have been many harsh reviews on this product but I love mine and I can’t wait to get out on my laptop computer out at the park while camping and have some fun with it and my HF rig. I keep it hooked up to the desktop computer that I have set up for Echolink, EQSO, APRS, and SSTV.
I see no need at this time to purchase the Rig Blaster Pro because this does all I need it to do.
Have fun and remember you do not need 1500 watts to send a digital signal.
73, Bob (N8LVA)
Look me up in the DODROPIN on Echolink
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KI6ADA
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 13, 2007 18:31
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Works as advertised!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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OK, I know their has been many harsh reviews on this product. Too Bad. I like mine.
The instructions have to be read all the way before loading software. Speaking of software not all software on disc is programmed to work with NOMIC. West Mountain did a smart thing by saving money and putting all their software on one disk.
I followed the jumper instructions for my radio. I put the screws on the case and it works.
Now comes the fun part. Write down the available com-port number before loading favorite digital software.
I use my NOMIC with my FT 817 and already made two RTTY contacts.
The only drawback is I do not own a laptop computer. But while I am home in the shack, I leave it all hooked up to the desktop.
When I get a bigger QTH than I will purchase a larger radio and maybe the Rig Blaster Pro.
Have fun and remember you do not need 1500 watts to send a digital signal.
73, Steve
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KG4TQQ
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Rating: 4/5
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Jul 7, 2007 05:30
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Good, so far
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I purchased my nomic because of using one on Field Day. It was great using during the contest. When I received it, I read over the instructions but had a little problem understanding them. It wasn't real bad but I am not an electronics wizard by any means. It is imperative that one reads the instructions and follows them exactly especially when installing the jumpers. I could see how this could be a major pain if you were using more than one model of radio. In that case, I would buy more than one nomics. I have a friend of mine who understands more than I about the working of the nomic and after calling him I found that I was hooking the nomic up correctly and from there I have made over 10 contacts in the last three days(one of them was Russia) on 20 meters at 20 watts using a G5RV antenna. I am very satisfied with the nomic but will give it some time and try to write another review. Let's see if it can keep its rating.
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KE7JFA
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Rating: 0/5
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Apr 26, 2007 13:19
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Garbage
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Piece of junk. Hooked up to my FT-2800 (after I found out that I had to purchase a 25.00 Yaesu cable, all cables included, yeah right!)
After I hooked up to my radio, It would not unkey after booting computer up! Then I had to actually unplug the serial cable to get it to unkey and plug in again.
I fiddled with this complete garbage interface board for a day and then I sold it to someone else. Echolink is a joke to begin with. Never again and went to IRLP.
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KG4IVT
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Rating: 1/5
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Mar 25, 2007 16:28
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Throwing this thing out
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I bought the nomic against the advice of a friend that had one randomly die on him. I should have paid attention to this. It was going to be pressed into service with unused equipment so I figured the lack of a secondary mic connector wouldn't be so bad.
Mine hasn't died, yet, but it's been a major pain to get working. It took everything I knew about microphone wiring (which I found out was a lot) to get it working with a mobile radio that needed to see a decent amount of ground when it keyed up. I had to remove and then jumper across the 680ohm resistor in the unit to get it to work and it still would have problems keying up every once in a while. Yeah, get an interface with a relay in the keying circuit, I understand that part. I wish they would have said something about this on the packaging...or on the website...or anywhere other than asking through tech support (which is actually very good). What is interesting (to me, at least) was that this same radio has worked perfect with a Tigertronics Baypac modem in the past and had no keying problems. Apples and Oranges maybe (I'm not sure how the keying in the Baypac works) but still worth noting.
Then came the HT. I tried it with a Radio Shack HTX-245 that would work perfectly fine with Radio Shack mics and other homebrew spkr/mic combinations that I had developed in the past. I could only find one instruction site on how to build a cable for an HT and ended up building and rebuilding the cable described 3 times with no luck. I even drew up my own idea for an interface cable with still no results. The problem here was not a lack of keying (it would key perfectly fine) but that no audio would be passed. I reinstalled the 680ohm resistor for this (I also used and then shorted the 2.2kohm resistor in the cable) thinking it might help somehow but still could not get any audio to pass.
So I've tried a lot of stuff here. Granted, this application might be very specific but there's something strange to me about trying everything you can put together in your head about how a radio keys and sends audio through the mic connetor and still come up holding nothing but a POS. I also figured that going with a well known brand of interface would be a good thing. Oh well. At least I have a nice case to build my own interface in now.
While this is entirely unrelated, I did purchase and use (for about 5 minutes) a device called Dingotel which uses a crappy VoIP client similar to AOL Instant Messenger. The package comes with a USB dongle that you hook to (per the instructions) and FRS radio with a stereo 3/32in plug. Within a few minutes, I had the device keying up 2 handhelds with a 3/32in stereo plug for a speaker mic and even built an adapter that could take the stereo 3/32in plug and split it off to a mono 1/8in and a mono 3/32in for your average HT.....and this thing wasn't even made for ham radio.
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WD9CVP
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 21, 2006 09:58
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Good Unit
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Easy to set up and use.No problem with stray RF.When I called with a question I found the product support to be outstanding.If you are looking for a simple soundcard interface and do not plan to switch from one radio to another very often it should work fine.
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KX1C
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 8, 2006 03:02
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Outstanding !
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Does what it is supposed to. My NOMIC is hooked up with an FT-897d and PSK31. Setting the jumpers was easy and well described in the manual. I like the all metal enclosure for minimizing RF and protection of the unit. Changing over to microphone use with the "NOMIC" takes less than a minute. Great job West Mountain Radio !
David, KX1C
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N5RNY
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 15, 2005 15:37
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little black box
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Great little product. Running it on echolink, performs great. One caveat: When you are plugging in the jumpers it is VERY easy to accidently lose your place on the jumper configuration page. I did that and set mine up incorrectly. It took me an hour to figure out why the rig would not key!
I recommend either marking your place on the page, or, copying it over to another piece of paper. You may save yourself some aggravation by doing that.
Otherwise, it works just fine.
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YI9VCQ
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 29, 2005 22:45
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Easy to use.
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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After homebrewing my own interfaces many times, I decided to try a Rigblaster Pro interface since I had extra money avaiable. I used the Pro and was so happy with it that I decided to use the Nomic for my Echolink station.
I took the Nomic out of the box, set up the jumpers, plugged it into my IC-V8000, and adjusted the audio level with the convenient pot. It was easy to adjust and I'm pleased with the quality of the device. It ran my Echolink node in Taji, Iraq for nearly 3 months with no problems.
I'm a very satisfied customer.
Korey
YI9VCQ/KA5VCQ
Baghdad, Iraq
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