ML&S appointed sole distributor for Microbit’s Remote-Rig Interface.

A complete remote control system for Amateur radio

Using Microbits advanced technology, full remote control of your rig is available today.

Imagine going on holiday but missing your HF system back home. Well no more! Using the RRC-1258 system all that is required is for you to take the head unit of say your IC-706 or TS-480 together with one half of the RRC-1258, plug into a LAN connection connected to the web and within seconds you are "ON AIR" as if you were sitting in your shack at home. (Minus the cat, TV and any other external interference!)

In fact you don't have to be in another country to take advantage of this brilliant device. Say you operate your station from an outhouse (shed in the UK!) which is fine in the summer months but cold and damp in the winter. No problem - just run some low cost Cat-5 LAN cable between your shack and your house and you could be operating your station all year around!

The two units (one for the rig the other for the remote head control) are supplied as easy screw together kits that take a matter of minutes to assemble. All you need is a screwdriver! We can assemble for you at a small additional charge. We can also supply the Rig Interface cables required to connect the RRC-1258's to the rig's remote head and the radio body although they are not difficult to make if you have the correct tools.

RRC-1258 is a product developed for remote control of amateur radio stations. From the beginning it was intended to be used with the Icom IC-706 and later the Kenwood TS-480 where the control panel could be separated from the radio, connecting the separating cable over the Internet. Later on support for more traditional remote control has been implemented. RRC-1258 is used in pairs with one unit connected to the Radio and the other to the control panel or control equipment (e.g. a PC running a rig control program). All of the above solutions has in common that no PC is needed at the radio site and the audio and data signalling is passing between the RRC-1258 units without any involvement of the PC. Support is now implemented for ICOM, YAESU and KENWOOD and other brands using the same protocol structure.

Panel separation mode:
The system was originally developed with the aim to remotely control the Icom IC-706 (and later the kenwood TS-480) over the internet. These radios have detatchable control panels and the idea was to extend the cord between the radio and the panel using TCP/IP (Internet).
Another 'must' was to get rid of the PC, especially at the far (radio) end. No more hassle with soundcards, Skype or other PC-software. When you press the Power button on the panel, the radio comes to life at the remote side and soun and panel info flows across the internet between the pair of RRC-1258:s. The technic is the same as modern SIP-based IP telephones + a little extra. The look and feel of the panel is the same as if the panel was directly connected to the radio.

Traditional remote control
After a while it became apparent that the RRC-1258 could be configured to transfer CAT / CI-V commands across the internet together with high quality audio. A pair of RRC-1258:s is used and 'any' CAT / CI-V capable radio can be used at the remote site and the operator is using HamRadio deLuxe or a similar rig control application to work the radio. No PC is required at the radio site. The PC at the operator site is never involved in the handling of audio. Connection to the remote site is made via the web interface in the RRC-1258. Ypu can of course share the remote radio (not simultaneously) between many users as long as their RRC-1258 configuration matches the config at the remote site.

General information about the RRC-1258
The RRC-1258 is developed using the latest technology, the ARN7 microprocessor from NXP. The processor has built-in flash memory and all software can be updated, even remotely, via a web interface. New versions of the software are released from time to time with bg fixes and cosmetics along with new functionality. The software is the same for all modes and radios but there is a small inexpensive board inside the RRC-1258 that might need some tweaking, hardwarewise. This small card is cheap and can be ordered at a later time if the customer changes the make of transceiver. Icom and Kenwood are similar but they don't have exactly the same communication timing.

Microbit WEB-switch 1216E

WEB-switch 1216E is a remote controlled switch with 5 relay outputs 230V/16A which can be controlled independently via the built in web server from any computer connected to the Internet. It can also be configured as a automatic antenna switch connected to the radios CAT interface . It's perfect suited for controlling coax relays, switching the Rig on/off or maybe the Power Amp. No PC is needed like in USB switches everything is built in the box, the WEB-switch is connected directly to the local network.

If the WEB-switch is located behind a NAT-router you need to set up a port forwarding in the router to the WEB-switch to make it reachable from the outside. The WEB-switch default IP is 192.168.0.236 and the built in WEB-server is using port 80. IP-address can be changed via ARP with the small PC-software called IP-setup which you can download on this page. IP-setup can also be used to update the firmware. An important feature is that the switch is remembering the Relays statuses even after a power failure. The relay statuses is indicated by LED:s. The Settings is protected by a password.