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Reviews For: Navigator by Timewave - previously by US Interface

Category: Interfaces, Radio to computer, amp, rotor, coax switch, internet

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Review Summary For : Navigator by Timewave - previously by US Interface
Reviews: 67MSRP: 369
Description:
The Navigator is a high quality interface between the rig and the computer, for use in running the digital modes such as PSK31, Olivia, MFSK, Hellschreiber, MT-63, etc. It also works fine for SSTV using many popular software programs such as MMSSTV.

The Navigator interfaces to the rig using a USB port, thus it does not require a serial port on the computer. It provides CAT control to the rig via a serial connection from the Navigator to the rig. The Navigator is completely configured and defined in software, and future updates are expected to be flash-ROM updates that can be installed by the user.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.Navigator-Interface.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00674.9
RADIO_RANDY Rating: 2020-10-28
Powerful Hardware, Highly Configurable Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I'm still learning this unit. Just got it to do FSK RTTY on my FT-950, but have been doing FT8 for months, now.

The Navigator helped me replace 3 cables...2 USB and 1 serial, with a single USB cable from my PC. I now control my sound card interface, CAT radio interface, FSK, Morse keying and even my Ham IV rotor...all through one USB connection between the box and my PC. The Navigator to FT-950 cable assembly worked perfectly and I only had to supply a serial cable to the rotor controller.

While it can be painstaking to get everything configured...once it is, you'll wonder how you ever got along without your Navigator.
W2MB Rating: 2020-07-08
Great Product Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This device is not inexpensive, but it works well, is well designed, currently supported and made here in the USA.

I use it to interface FLDIGI to my Kenwood TS-590S and I like that it supports true FSK Rtty and true keyed CW in my configuration.

K4FX Rating: 2020-05-02
Superb Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just got this connected to my 857d. Was a pain to switch the TX input to the rear connector in the wsjt ini file, but once that was done she works great. Love the front panel controls to set the in and out levels.
Highly recommended to make these older rigs modern!
K6HOM Rating: 2016-11-12
Great for FSK RTTY & Digital Modes Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My Navigator was the original version manufactured by US Interface and it has been used with a number of radios over the years.

My initial reason for purchasing it was for its ability to support FSK RTTY. At the time, there were not many soundcard devices that could support FSK. While my current IC-7600 can natively decode & TX FSK, applications like MMTTY, 2Tone, WinWarbler and others offer much more powerful macro capabilities and better decoders. The Navigator does an excellent job with these applications and together with these apps, out-performs my radio's internal RTTY decoder and limited macro capabilities.

In recent years I have been enjoying digital modes like JT-65, JT-9, PSK and others. I have found the Navigator to be superb for these modes because its noise floor is significantly lower than other soundcard devices that I have tried, including the one built into my radio.

Easy to use and extremely reliable, I haven't experienced any hardware issues. To be fair, I did experience some driver incompatibility issues with some of the later Windows 7 upgrades and ended up contacting Randy at Timewave. The latest driver and ExtFSK updates resolved these issues. There are detailed step-by-step instructions included with these upgrades. After following them, my Navigator ran flawlessly on Win 10.

Highly recommended for the above uses.

K1HC Rating: 2016-11-11
Cumbersome Setup; Bring Plenty of Computer Skills Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Maybe this device would have worked out better had I had better computer skills, but I was not able to get it up and running. So, if you are not well-versed in computers, you may have difficulty. Purchased it in October 2016 and the software CD with it was dated two years prior. Timewave tech help directed me to download new drivers, but I was not able to get things set up correctly. Also waited quite while to get the two cables I ordered. When I did get them about three weeks later (due to parts availability they said) there was no set up instruction with either cable (TS-2000 or K-3).
W6OU Rating: 2016-06-17
Miswired factory cable Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I ordered a cable for my Navigator and FTDX5000 and was told it would be shipped right away. It was shipped 9 days later. When I received the cable, I made an Ohmmeter check of the wiring and found the CAT RS232 wires were crossed! This miswiring was easily fixed but if I hadn't made an initial cable check I would have wasted some time trying to get my software to work. Why didn't Timewave check their cable for proper continuity after assembly?
W4TUN Rating: 2015-04-01
Great Customer Service Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Everyone has said how great the unit is, and I go along with that. Very easy to set and run, and it just keeps on going. I wanted to say that Randy at Timewave spent several hours with me getting this baby working the best it could in my set up. He was great, some of the best customer service on a product that I've experienced. Don't hesitate to buy one, Timewave and Randy will do whatever it takes to help you. Can't say that about many companies.

Ray W4TUN
K0MTZ Rating: 2015-03-19
Computer Booting Issue Time Owned: N.A.
Well I guess I have to write this fairly long review over again since the Eham.net system lost my last version. Said the summary was missing (it was) but when hitting the "back" it lost everything.

Now for the Navigator. It's very rare for any product to get a large number of reviews with 100% of them giving a rating of "5" and I kind of hate to break that record, but I will.

The product works great while everything is up and running. The issue comes up whenever you have to boot the computer. Be aware that if you do this without unplugging both cables from the Navigator, it goes into an oscillatory mode where over a period of several seconds there is a sort of a "beep", the lights flash and the rig is put into a transmit mode. That last one is serious. To fix this you have to unplug both cables, reboot the computer, plug in the USB cable, wait a while, plug in the cable to the rig. Then you're OK again.

If you leave the computer and rig on say overnight and Windows does an update with a reboot, you won't even see this thing keying the transmitter until morning! In other words don't do that.

Even if you're at the computer and need a reboot (remember this is windows and OS updates, antivirus updates, and others all require this way more frequently than seems reasonable) then unless you unplug the Navigator before you boot, the strange mode happens and you have to do the whole unplug/reboot/replug sequence again.

I understand about Windows and the need to assign COM ports, USB ports, etc. but it looks like the first thing to wear out on the Navigator will be the connectors/cables due to the frequent plugging. That is unless my tolerance for the hassle wears out sooner.

Really, the major issue is putting the rig in transmit. That should never happen without control operator intervention!
HZ1SK Rating: 2014-05-03
Excellent Interface Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have owned so far every model of digital modems and tested them over many years. The US Navigator interface is built to last , installation is easy..documentation is Excellent. I got the one with silver face, I only wish if there was an ON/OFF switch but anyway this is not a big deal.
I made the cables by myself so you can save some money on this as all information is available online for the majority of transceivers.
The sound card has very low noise which enables you to pick low signal and pull them out of the noise.Bottom line, I highly recommend this modem.
Best 73,
Samir
OD5SK , HZ1SK
W7BV Rating: 2014-01-19
Great interface Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm very pleased with my 2 month old Timewave Navigator in use with HRD 6/ DM 780 software and my Elecraft K3. It has provided excellent performance and replaced a MicroHam Microkeyer II and software router. My only complaint is the lack of an "on/off" switch to remove power from the unit when it's not in use and the computer is still and in use for other purposes. While I've solved the problem by using an external USB hub whose ports can be switched on or off as needed, adding an on-off switch to one of the pots on the navigator would be nice.