Email over HF – WinLink with TS-990s problem solved

This note for TS-990s geeks who are running WinMail and RMS Express.

It is natural to use the Data menu item in position one for Voice (via microphone). On-screen, this will show as “USB”, top left of the monitor. Upon holding the button “Data” for a second or two, you can confirm that the microphone is selected for this position.

  • See the problem below

Demo of RMS Express at bottom of this article

In the event that you use RMS Express with a TS-990s, you will find it necessary to use the TS-590 driver (until we are lucky enough to have a specific TS-990s driver released in the future).

However, when you “Open Session” from RMS Express, the radio will immediately change from any previously stored Data parameter (eg USB-D1) to the default USB audio routing. If your microphone has been stored in this position, you will also likely have your processor on as well (although the reset command from RMS Express takes the processor off at this point).

Although you can manually reset the Data state, each time you connect or select another station, these status commands will be sent to your radio, which removes the potential to have the processor accidentally left on etc. You will not be able to transmit any audio tones in this state, although your radio will show TX. It is possible to quickly hit the Data button when the rig goes into TX, however, the first blast of carrier will not be transmitted, only the second.

To get around this issue, re-configure your radio so that all your digital programs work via audio routing and PTT of USB (not the D-1 through D-3 menu items). Change your microphone input to one of the other positions and remember to change the state of the processor for each. For me, I only use two of the inputs, so USB is for RMS express and all my digital requirements and USB-D1 is for voice.

A simple Demo of RMS Express working follows: