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Reviews For: Icom RS-BA1

Category: Ham Software/Apps - Other than logging

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Review Summary For : Icom RS-BA1
Reviews: 82MSRP: 100
Description:
remote control software for newer Icom radios.
Product is in production
More Info: http://icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/hf/rsba1/default.aspx
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
23.5822.8
AK4GA Rating: 2016-10-30
Not for amateurs Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I really mean it. Like the guy below me, I am an IT professional and had no problem working out the setup. If you are the type that still access the internet from an "AOL" icon on your desktop, this software isn't for you. The Icom video by Julian Frost is sufficient to get most applications up and running. My station is controlled at a remote site over the Internet (25 miles away).

I really like the interface. It brings a few features that are hidden in menus on my IC-7100 and makes them virtual knobs or sliders on my screen. The only thing I would love if Icom would add it is rotator control. I love that PTT, settings, and audio are handles by a unified program.

Please feel free to ask any questions. My email is my callsign@comcast.net

Keith
AK4GA
K6XR Rating: 2016-08-18
worst software ever Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Station elements confusing. Could have used better nomenclature for pieces of the equipment. Difficult at best to set up and operate out of the box. I had it to work ONE TIME only and never again after that and cannot find out why. It requires much to much tinkering and testing to set up. I have gave up and wish I had saved my 95 bucks for something else. anyone want software cheap?
WB9YTG Rating: 2016-07-24
Don't recommend Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Not as "user-friendly" as I would have liked. Requires Windows 10. Tricky to install, not sure it offers any advantages. IMHO, more trouble than it's worth. The IC-7300 works great without it.

A bit disappointed in Icom. I think they should have held off until they had something better. Maybe an "app" for the iPhone/iPad?

K3YUB Rating: 2016-07-17
A waste of $100 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Icom manufactures great radios, but this software is a waste of money. All I wanted was to operate my IC-7300 from my computer. I have no interest in remote control operations from another location. This software is a nightmare to install and the documentation leaves a lot to be desired. I'll stick with HRD.
K1HMS Rating: 2016-05-06
Works, when no one is watching Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
It is OK which eHam says is a 3. Set up does require learning a new hobby - setting up Networks. Between setting ports, configuring a firewall, and other network related items there are a number of things to get right. If you simply stumble through it all without understanding it you will likely have stability issues. Mine is stable but I seems when I try to demo it for someone there is one issue or another.

I suggest getting a WEMO switch, it's a $50 wall wart internet controlled 110vac 60Hz 15A plug, it even tracks power consumption and logs on time. It is reliable, very easy to set up, and let's you remotely cut power to the rig if you need or want to. A remote rig power cycle has helped get everything working a time or two as well. I also have a 100 buck easy to set up Belkin Web Cam so I can see the shack remotely to see what is on, or guide the XYL to the right switch or knob.
K5JDY Rating: 2016-04-17
Works when it works Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Definitely not one of the most tranquility inducing software products available. I bought it because I'm not well versed on the alternatives.

It is difficult to configure, regardless of your skill level. It will work fine for a while. Future times you open the it and it will not connect or randomly disconnects.

The SW behaves sporadically on different platforms, which I guess is sometimes common for similar platforms. Partially to blame is the Windows sound mixer architecture that is in sore need of usability enhancements.

I would like to see the next version of RS-BA1 get some usability enhancements, particularly in the areas of initial configuration and stability.
WB4SLI Rating: 2015-09-25
Kinda sorta Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is for the most part a valiant effort at remote control software. I had it working for a few days then just all of a sudden it quit working. I had not changed any settings. This was version 1.80 updated from version 1.70. I would recommend looking elsewhere for remote control with voice. When it worked it was great then it just quit. Thank goodness it was not a $2,000 package. I just threw away $100.
WA3V Rating: 2015-07-13
Recommend the Software Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Knowing that I would be retiring in 5 months and would be spending considerable time away from my home, I wanted to try remote control of my icom 7800 in order to enjoy it when I was not home. I read the reviews of the RS-BA1 and felt intimidated and somewhat discouraged. At that time, about half of the reviewers would recommend the product. I should point out that I knew little about networking and connectivity, but I have been a ham for a long time and I am very persistent.
I am using a Macbook Air with 512 GB of memory. In order to use the software, I needed to install Windows 8. I used VMware initially which readily loaded RS-BA1 and other ham software. However, when I began to try to initiate the software, the program would not recognize the RC-28 controller which I also purchased. After kicking the problem around a couple of weeks, I called Apple and they thought that the problem was with the VMware and suggested that I use bootcamp to create a separate space for Windows in memory. This was also easy to do and after reinstalling RS-BA1, the program recognized the RC-28 controller.
Using Wifi, I initially tried to connect to my icom 7800 via the LAN port using the local router IP address, but later used my server internet address. In order to do the latter, I needed to change the port forwarding of my verizon router via the internet and enter my user ID that I needed to also enter directly into the icom 7800. Being very leisurely about this, it took me another week. Once you are connected to the icom 7800 via the connection command in the "server list", you need to enter data via the "radio list" including the com port of the icom 7800. I used com port 11. You are not able to do this until you are connected initially to the radio via the command under the "server list." It took a call to icom to figure this out. I might point out that they were very helpful here.Finally I got everything together and was able to control the radio via wifi in my home shack.
I then took the radio remote, about 90 miles away, and was unable to make an internet connection to my home radio. I went home, and then by trial and error was able to turn on and off the radio via the program only when I first started controlling the radio with the radio on via the power button on the radio. Once the program controls the radio, you can turn on and off the radio via the program. When the icom 7800 is turned off by the program, it goes into a sleep mode with the orange light on the power button oscillating slowly from bright to dark and the fan will occasionally go on. At this point with the radio in the sleep mode, I went to a remote site and immediately was able to connect to the radio and made several contacts on 40 meter cw.
The radio went off when I turned it off via the program and this was confirmed by my son who was at my home site. Two days later, while working a contest, I found that my transmission was being delayed and traced this to not making my prebuffer zero in the radio list settings. Once this was resolved everything worked fine.
I really enjoyed using this program with the controller and I felt very good about getting it to work. I do recommend this program and give it a 4 rather than a 5 . because it took me a long time to work through the problems which admittedly were due largely to my inexperience with networking and connectivity issues.

VE7TJL Rating: 2015-04-12
Works good once you figure it out Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
It took a little while to figure out how to get a remote connection going with this software.

It's two programs - a client/server that forwards the audio devices and serial port - and another that connects, on the client, to that forwarded serial port to control the transceiver.

The instructions are rubbish. Still now that I have it running I make quite a few contacts through it and it's solid - very little trouble and good performance. Interface is pretty good.

$100 is steep but I would still recommend it if you want to use an ICOM remotely.
VE2DC Rating: 2015-01-31
Lifesaver living in a high-rise condo. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Read WB0KZB's review. It sums it up pretty well. Ignore 0 or 1 reviews... that's nonsense... it works great. With radios with an imbedded server such as the 7700 and 7800 (possibly some others) setup is a snap as all you need is a LAN connection to the radio and a router. I don't think it took me 20 minutes. Others, such as my 7100 were a bit more confusing. You basically have a program on your local computer which controls the radio via the CI-V interface (via USB with the 7100). You then have to set up another instance of this program on a remote computer and they communicate. You then run the Radio control program on the remote computer which connects to the server program on the remote computer which connects with the server on the local computer which talks to the radio... getting an bit hairy, but it all works very well. Some of the "complaints" you will read in the reviews are not actually problems with the software, but issues with the radios control features. Icom got into the remote control game late... logging program authors have been complaining about the limited CI-V control capabilities for years. With the later radios Icom has addressed some of these limitations by allowing us to flash them with upgraded firmware which has given us some enhanced control possibilities such as putting the radio in a powered down standby mode. For that reason you need to be aware of the limitations of this product with older radios which cannot have their firmware updated.