Description

Auxiliary USB-A cord for DR-891 and GPS receiver for off-grid geolocation and time synchronization.

• Quickly swap the downlink USB connection in Digirig DR-891 for use with a range of dongles including GPS, Flash drives, Mice/Keyboards etc.
• Use included GPS dongle for off-grid navigation and time synchronization required for correct operation of many digital modes including FT8
• Use DR-891 for audio and CAT control of transceivers with USB connector but no sound card such as (tr)uSDX.

Using GPS receiver for time sync

When plugged in (either directly into computer’s USB-A socket or through the DR-891 with auxiliary cord), the GPS dongle creates a serial port on the computer. Refer to the device manager to determine the COM port number. The entry for GPS receiver will have description “USB Serial Device” with VID/PID 0x1546/0x01A7.

The red LED indicates that the dongle receives power. Periodic green LED blink indicates a successful GPS lock. If there is no lock after several minutes, try moving somewhere with the view of the open sky.

Download, install and configure a software that will use GPS signals for time synchronization. The dongle in this kit was successfully tested with BktTimeSync free app on windows. There may be an objection from Microsoft Defender about the installation which you will have to override to proceed.

When app starts select Serial Port from the list that matches the entry in the Device Manager. Uncheck Enable NTP and Check Enable GPS to sync time while offline. All other settings can remain unchanged.

Note that the app displays WW locator based on the coordinates so this can save the trouble of looking it up for the amateur radio application config. There is also an option to send it to WSJT-X directly from the app.