Frequently Asked Questions

Important:  For the IC-7300MK2 make sure you connect to the radio on USB Port A, not B if you ever plan to run additional software over that second serial port.  The comport number is usually the lower of the two.  Also make sure you ONLY used the Icom driver and not generic Silicon Labs drivers!!

A) Connection issues: Win4Icom cannot connect to the radio or it disconnects

  1. Cannot connect: If you cannot connect make sure you are using the Icom drivers and NOT the generic Silicon Labs drivers.  There are various issues with these drivers and some just do not work.  To correct this, search Google for Icom IC-xxxx USB drivers and download them. Next, unplug the USB cable and reinstall the ICOM drivers from the ICOM site.   After it is complete, plug in the USB cable.

  2. On the IC-7100, IC-7600, IC-7800, IC-7850/51 you still cannot connect after following the video

    If the radio is in standby and the software turns it on but cannot connect, make sure you have the latest firmware for your radio.  Some CI-V commands were added that were not present in older firmware versions.

  3. I still can’t connect to the radio!

    Please take a look at the user manual.  The quick install is 1 page long, the detailed install 3 pages.  If you follow this and cannot connect please check that the “USB Serial Function” found in Menu>Set>Connectors>USB Serial Function is set to CI-V and not RTTY.

  4. The software disconnects from the radio when in use: There are two possible reasons for this.  One, if your computer has sleep mode or power settings that suspend the USB devices, you will need to go into your power settings and disable Selective Suspend on the USB devices.  You also should go into each USB hub and driver in the device manager and disable any power management.  The second reason is RFI. It appears that the Silicon Labs USB devices are prone to disconnecting when there is any RFI present (even milliwatts!).  Make sure your USB cable is short, and is an FT240-31 which is a 2″ OD mix 31 with several turns of the cable through it. Beads are useless!! Also make sure that you have proper grounding.  A sure sign of RFI is that the disconnection will not occur at low power but rather as the power increases.

  5. Cannot see a spectrum: The baud rate of the radio must be at 115200 otherwise no spectrum is displayed.

B) ClubLog issues: 

  1. If you receive a message that Clublog is down, then in some cases it is because of an outdated entity file.  Close Win4 and then go into your documents\Win4IcomSuite and delete the files cty.gz and cty.xml.  If Win4Icom still does not work in the Clublog screen, then it might be that it is really down.

C) 3rd Party Software and Hardware interface:

  1. Never split the main port of the radio!!! Win4Icom has its own fully managed virtual radios using com0com.

  2. COM0COM is shown as not working in the Windows Device Manager or the ports do not show up in Win4Icom.
    If you have installed com0com version 3, then the com0com install program will not work with current Windows 10 and 11.  However com0com version 2 does and the driver is the same. The issue is, to install version 2 after you have installed version 3, you must uninstall version 3 the right way.

    Open the Device manager on your computer (type device in the windows search bar).
    Near the top you will see com0com version 3 listed.  It will have an exclamation mark since it did not install correctly.
    Right click on a com0com entry and select uninstall.  When the dialog box opens there is a check box.
    On Windows 10 it says “Delete driver software”
    On Windows 11 it says “attempt to remove device” (or something to that effect)

    Check the box.  If you don’t then when you install version 2 of com0com Windows will just use the version 3 setup which does not work.
    Do this for each com0com entry.

    Install version 2 at this link: https://sourceforge.net/projects/com0com/files/com0com/2.2.2.0/

    There are no signing issues with com0com.  If you get one that says it is not signed then you have the wrong one.

  3.  

    It is advised to use Omni-rig as the rig: in all cases where the software supports it.  For example, in WSJT there is an entry for Omni-rig.  If you use Hamlib (drivers with the exact radio name) it may or may not work.  They are constantly changing things and frequently break them.                                  
  4. SDRPlay: It is important that the sdrplay.dll file in Win4Icom’s executable folder matches that used by the SDRPlay API.  If you have installed a beta version of SDRUno or a brand new release of SDRUno it will not work with Win4Icom and you will receive an error when the IQ spectrum opens.  In that case you will need to copy the sdrplay.dll file from c:\Program Files\sdrplay\api\x86 into the executable folder of Win4Icom.  Do not copy the file from x64!

D) Sound issues:  Win4Icom does not use sound in any way except for the network server. 

  1. To hear sound on your computer:
    Open the Windows control panel and select Sound.
    Click on the recording tab
    Select the sound codec that corresponds to your radio (It will be something like Microphone – USB Codec)
    Click on Properties
    Next click on the listen tab
    At this point check the checkbox “Listen to this device” and then Playback through your headset speakers.
    Click apply and it should now work.                                                                                                         
  2. To send sound from your headset microphone: 

    Open the Windows control panel and select Sound. Click on the recording tab for your radio codec. Click on Properties.
    Next click on the listen tab
    At this point check the checkbox “Listen to this device” and then Playback through your USB Codec of the radio, something like Speakers, USB Audio Codec
    Click apply and it should now work.

E) Win4Icom Remote client server

  1. Make sure that the MOD IN in Tools, Input Output Menu is set to USB. Also the USB Mod Level should be set to not overload the radio.  On the IC-9700 and IC-7100, a 12% drive is good.  Other radios may need higher levels.

F) Spectrum from the IQ out or SDRPlay

  1. You want to increase the amplitude of the signals, watch the video on How to use the Spectrum Scope under Documentation Video Tutorials. Pay attention to drawing the little box!!!

G) General Issues (Display, Software does not start, Multiple radios)

  1. Whatever you do, never, ever use Microsoft OneDrive to put the default MyDocuments folder in Windows into the cloud.  You will forever have issues with your computer and non-Microsoft applications!!

  2. Fonts are in the wrong size or the spectrum is shrunk

    You are using a font scaling that causes issues with Windows.  Scaling of 100%, 150% and 200% work fine.  125% can have issues.

  3. If you start the software and it doesn’t appear to start, check the task bar.  If you see the icon for Win4Icom then it is most likely just off screen.  This can happen if you a multiple monitor system and monitors are off or were started in a different sequence.  To correct this do the following:

    a) Hover your mouse over the icon and when the little window appears move your mouse over it and right click

    b) Select Move

    c) Before anything else, press an arrow key on your keyboard.

    d) Use your mouse to move the window into position.

  4. Never use font scaling that is not 100%, 150% or 200%.  Odd sizes like 125% or 175% cause issues with the graphics elements in the display. This is a long standing flaw in Windows that they have been trying to fix.  The latest releases of windows botch this up even more.  At 125%, use of the mouse wheel will resize the whole application and cause white out areas of the graphics.

  5. I have more than one radio.  How can I control both with different settings?

    Download both the 64 bit and 32 bit versions of the software.  They are identical except have different version numbers and install in different folders.  The settings are distinct. Rename the short cuts for your radio.