Created 6th February 2007. Last edited: 28 Nov 2009
| Please note that DSG group have now discontinued the sale of the Logik IR100 in the United Kingdom from December 2008. As a result, I do not envisage adding any further new content to this web page. |
Contents:
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The Logik IR100 is sold in the UK by the DSG group of companies which includes Dixons, Currys and PCWorld. It was first announced in summer 2006 and became widely available during the months leading up to Christmas. Technical support by these retailers is virtually non-existent and seems to be confined to the usual replacement or refund policies. The Troubleshooting section of the manual is very brief and refers the owner to the Help section of Reciva's website.
The Logik IR100 is a self contained unit designed to operate only off 230V ac mains power, there is no separate power brick unlike most other Reciva radios. The unit measures 25cm wide, 14cm high, 13cm depth or 14.5cm depth including the protruding control knobs.
The Logik connects to your wireless network for internet access. The front, top and sides are finished in black gloss which should make it easy to clean. The audio volume from the mono speaker can be turned up to produce a loud and punchy sound. The headphone jack on the rear also offers stereo output. The buttons on the front have a positive click action but thankfully the Logik also has rubber feet on its base so should keep the unit from sliding about to a minimum. There is a separate volume control knob. The backlit negative blue STN LCD display is easy to read except in strong sun light, and it can be turned off completely when the unit is in standby if desired.
I placed the centre punch-outs from self adhesive Reinforcement rings (which you normally use with Lever arch ring binders) over certain buttons to make them easier to find.
I purchased my IR100 for £79.95 (special offer. RRP £99.99) at the beginning of December 2006 from my local PCWorld store. We wanted it specifically to listen to certain overseas broadcasts without having to use a PC. At this reasonable price, we weren't too concerned about the model's known flaws as it would be used in the kitchen.
(Update Nov'08): Now rapidly approaching two years since the purchase of the IR100 radio. Generally the radio has performed well. Early buffering problems were quickly resolved by changing the make and model of wireless router. Reliability has been disappointing, the shaft encoder started to fail in early 2008. I bought and fitted a refurbished shaft encoder board last summer, this also fixed the known clicking noise when the Scroll knob is rotated rapidly. It has also come to my attention the display is not as bright as it used to be - perhaps leaving the radio on standby for 24/7 when it is not being used has contributed to this fault. I'm led to believe the backlight has perhaps failed on the display panel - the radio's display is just about still readable, so there is no urgency to repair the fault. I now switch off the radio at the mains power socket when it is not in use. The other day, I switched on the radio only to observe it appeared to have lost some of its wireless and static IP address settings, so it failed to connect to my wireless network on first attempt - this has never happened previously, and it may perhaps be a sign of further problems to come ?
My other internet radio is a Vistron MX-200i, purchased in spring 2008.
(Update Jan'09): All the DSG websites stopped listing the IR100 last month. The IR100 had been priced at £69.98 since the beginning of autumn. Any remaining shelf stock within stores of Currys are being priced at £48.97 to clear.
There are three key design flaws which afflict the IR100 after reading the various community forum messages posted in Reciva's community forums.
I started off using my IR100 with a Linksys WAG354G v2 ADSL wireless router for about six months. More recently, I have now replaced the Linksys with a modified BT Business Hub. The router is located near the BT master telephone socket in the lounge, and the Logik is sited in the kitchen at the opposite end of the house about 12-15m away. The wireless signal has to pass through two wafer thin plasterboarded stud (hollow) walls.
The documented fix for the mains hum problem coming from the loudspeaker involves either moving the mains transformer located within the unit from behind the loudspeaker, to the new position behind the display panel. This should eliminate the mains hum emanating from the loudspeaker, but won't totally remove the feint noise from the mechanical vibration that might be heard from the mains transformer.
Alternatively, removing the back panel and turning it through 180 degrees and refitting it upside down, but this also requires making a minor modification to the case to allow the back panel to be refitted.
A fellow Reciva Community forum member 'uncletony' who has performed the rear panel rotation modification, has also suggested loosening the screws slightly which hold the transformer to the back panel to reduce the effect of mechanical vibration from the transformer. He also went as far as inserting some pieces of medium density foam between the transformer and the back panel, but warned that as the transformer runs very hot, it could possibly melt the foam and may pose a fire risk if the wrong type of foam is used.
Reciva community forum thread on IR100 mains hum fix
Another solution is perhaps to move the existing transformer to an external
box. Click here
for thread. Maplin also offer a larger box with better
ventilation.
All methods of course will invalidate the warranty. The mains hum wasn't really an issue for us as the Logik is used in the kitchen and it is hardly noticeable (to us) when listening to music and news broadcasts, but I can appreciate the mains hum would be damn annoying if it was used as a bedside radio. The mains hum doesn't appear to be audible through the stereo headphone socket.
Our Logik is one of the early models with serial number beginning 00007xxx (serial number is found in the menus), the Scroll knob does suffer from a feint clicking noise heard through the loudspeaker when twirled, but again, it's no big deal as we use the buttons to select the 5 preset channels most of the time. In hindsight, we should have taken the radio back immediately to the shop for it to be exchanged, as is did subsequently fail after a year and a half.
Reciva commnity forum thread on IR100 dial clicking noise
Update: July 08: The clicking noise may possibly a sign the rotary shaft encoder is on its way out.
Update Sept 08: The display panel is very dim. It's been suggested the backlight LED has failed. TBC.
When I first started to use the Logik radio, I felt there was a tendency for the audio to suddenly stop for no apparent reason very frequently - I then see the buffer count back up to 100% before audio resumes. I subsequently made a couple of changes to my wireless network and this I feel has reduced the tendency for the audio to drop out. Later firmwares provide a wireless signal strength reading - readings of 65% or better appear to provide good results for us.
Tuned into one of the stations I had stored in 'My Stations' and noticed it hadn't been working all week, so I decided to investigate.
It turned out the URL appeared to have changed, but I still couldn't get the station to work via 'My Streams' although it worked fine in Windows Media Player. Then I noticed the properties of the stream reported it was using WMA9 audio.
I eventually did find a list of supported CODECS on the Reciva website. These are known to be supported on IR100 with v255-c-158 firmware:
MP3
WMA 2, 7, 8
RealAudio 4, 5, 8
AAC
AIFF
WAV
OGG
It has been reported firmware version v 257-a-421-a-057 firmware adds:
AAC+
FLAC
Aaron from Australia contacted me recently regarding AAC+ support. He wanted to know whether Reciva radios truely support AAC+ because the sound quality from a number of AAC+ stations was very poor and he believed Reciva radios may perhaps only be decoding the AAC portion of the AAC+ stream.
I tested two Australian AAC+ radio streams on my IR100 (v257-a-615-a-087) and was disappointed by the sound quality from the 42 and 80kbps streams.
(Rewritten 8 Oct 09)
Reciva appear to have updated and moved their main portal. The old www.reciva.com page seems to be less useful.
Go to this new URL where you can search the database for radio stations, register your radio, and manage 'My Stuff'.
The new portal only requires you to enter a registration number on its own to add a new radio.
The 'My Stuff' menu option will eventually appear on the radio's menu after you have added at least one radio station to 'My Station' or 'My Streams' to your account. You must also turn the radio off and on at the mains power socket to force it to obtain a Stations List update - this will also add & update any changes you have made to 'My Stuff'.
Alternatively, go to the main user forum at forum.reciva.com. You can still manage your radios through the old portal by clicking on the prominent 'My Radio' link displayed on the left hand side of the page once you are logged on to the forum. This is by far easier to use imho.
Unlike the new portal, radios.reciva.com, if you wish to add a new radio, you need to enter both the serial number and the registration number from the radio. There are clear instructions on the website for how to obtain this information from your radio.
Tip: It wasn't particularly obvious (well, not to me). If you use the search facility on the website and need to return to the radios.reciva.com page at any time, simply click on the big 'Reciva Internet Radio' logo at the top of the page you are viewing. There is no link for 'back to main page'.
IR100 radios with firmware up to v 255-c-158 are unable to access 'on-demand' content from stations such as BBC Radio 4 via 'My Stations' or from the Preset buttons using official IR100 firmware.
The following applies to firmware v 255-c-158:
If you are listening to on-demand content, it does not appear to be presently possible, to change your radio channel to one of your Preset stations by pressing a preset button. I've observed you have to use a combination of the 'Back' button and the Scroll knob to select an alternative live radio station. Once selected, the Preset buttons will function normally.
On other AE radios, there is usually a 'shift' button. The combination of holding the shift button down and pressing a preset station would override the active on-demand station. Sadly, the IR100 does not have a 'shift' button.
It is however possible to access the BBC on-demand content via 'My Streams' thanks to the work done by Tom and Nigel. Click here.
I'm not able to offer any advice or support regarding the Media Player functionality of the Logik IR100 as it is of no real interest to me, but a few Reciva community forum members do use it and here are some of their comments and the issues they have encountered with IR100 with v255-c-158 firmware.
Using
Tversity uPnP media server TVersity
website
Interesting
TwonkyVision thread
Reciva community forum member, DavidlawUK, informs me he is using Vista Home Premium and had no problems on setup including the media player connection using UPNP following the help screen in Windows. His CDs exceed 600 albums and it handles this well although he says it does of course involve a lot of scrolling.
The use of Windows Shares requires access to UDP and TCP ports 135 - 139 and 445. Windows Media Player 11 will allocate a port number for UPnP media sharing and will configure Microsoft's Windows built-in firewall appropriately. Other firewall software may require configuration for UPnP or to allow particular IP addresses (ie. IR100) to have trusted access.
If you wish to share your experiences with using the Media Player, please by all means send me a short article with some photos along with brief details of your hardware, and I'll be glad to include it on this webpage. Don't forget to include your Reciva forum user name if you have one so you can be credited with the content.
Note that v257-a-421-a-057 firmware has brought new issues not previously seen with v255-c-158.
I don't think the digital clock is particularly accurate. After about two months and I noticed the clock was running about 6 minutes fast. Fortunately, it is quite straight forward to reset the time by simply power cycling the radio at the mains socket.
The IR100 appears synchronises its clock to Reciva's NTP time servers.
As of March 08, Reciva have added some new configurable options:
- Log into the Reciva website
- Click on 'My Radios'
- Click on the serial number of the radio you wish to edit
- You should be presented with two new options.
The option 'Go to standby after power cycle' is useful if your area suffers from occasional power cuts, and your IR100 powers on when you may not wish it to do so when electricity is restored. I observed the changes didn't seem to take effect immediately. I power cycled my IR100 a couple of times the following day and it did eventually go into standby mode when switched on at the mains socket. I now understand the changes are downloaded when the radio updates its Stations List.
The option 'Automatic switch to daylight savings time' is pretty obvious.
The following descriptions were obtained from Sharpfin website.
'Display metadata for all stations that broadcast it' - Depending on the station/stream etc, you get track and artist information as a scrolling line - directly after the "REAL ENABLED" it will read something like "REAL ENABLED - xxxx artist - xxx track" This is totally dependent on the stream/podcast station and what they decide to transmit.
The last option should read 'Dynamic Mute during buffering' - It partially resolves the problem where the IR100 automatically blanks the first few seconds when playing MP3 tracks from say a upnp server. It may however also introduce other side effects. A full description can be found on this Sharpfin web page. Search for 'dynamic-mute'.
I listen to certain overseas internet radio stations belonging to one broadcaster and one thing I've observed is the radio connects initially to the station's Real audio stream at 20kbps. I should mention the maximum bitrate offered by these particular stations appears to be 20kbps when I use a PC.
On many occasions, within a minute or three of listening to the station, the audio will suddenly stop, and buffering starts counting up to 100% on the Logik's display panel. When audio appears again several seconds later, the radio is now connected at 16kbps.
A few minutes later, the same thing happens again but this time, the speed drops to 11kbps. Once at 11kbps, there are no further interruptions to the audio.
I don't observe these symptoms when using a PC to listen to the same overseas stations.
Update Sep'07: Having said all the above, since replacing my Linksys WAG354G last May with the BT 2700HGV wireless router, I only really noticed the other day the bitrate of the above mentioned overseas station starts and remains at 20kbps. Two months of observations, and the IR100 continues to maintain a bitrate of 20kbps. This does seem to suggest the the IR100 was suffering from inferior reception when previously using the Linksys router fitted with an external antenna when listening to this particular Real stream radio station.
Follow this link to some internal photographs I have taken of my unmodified IR100.
- Turn on the radio.
- Ideally, ensure you are listening to a working radio station. Otherwise, wait a minute for the radio to properly start up.
- Press 'Back' button once to take you to the main menu. (Or press the Select knob once)
- Wait 15 seconds.
- Rotate Select dial knob ONE notch clockwise, to take you to Configure menu option, and press the Select knob once.
- Wait another 15 seconds.
- Now rotate the Select dial knob 4 notches clockwise to take you to 'Factory Reset' menu option and press the Select knob once..
- Now rotate the Select dial knob 1 notch in any direction to highlight the 'Yes' option and press the Select knob once.
- The radio should now perform a factory reset.
(Dec 08): Paul wrote to advise that Reciva forum administrator 'pb' had recently posted a far simpler method to perform a factory reset. This may not necessarily work with earlier firmwares.
"Switch it off and on at the mains, wait for "Initialising Network" to appear, then press P4, P3, P5, REPLY in that order and without touching any of the other controls."
The tip was retrieved from the Reciva beta forum thread for Beta v257-a-865-a-040 firmware.
How green is you IR100 you may be wondering?
The top of the case gets awfully hot when in standby mode.
At 240V ac, my IR100 appears to draw the following power from my measurements:
- Standby mode: 7 watts
- Switched on, moderate audio volume: 9 watts
I have observed the wireless is still active (I can ping the radio's IP address) when the IR100 is in standby mode.
A reader from Germany advised me he took some energy readings for his IPdio radio. They were as follows using a Voltcraft Energy Monitor 3000:
- Standby mode: 2.9 watts
- Switched on, moderate audio volume: 7.1 watts
The IPdio cannot be 'pinged' when in standby mode. These figures seem to suggest the IPdio does turn off the wireless when not in use.
It might seem silly I should add a section on this subject. But believe me, when you use the On/Off button on the front of the IR100 to put the radio in standby mode, there are a couple of things you need to be aware of.
If you press the On/Off button and place the radio in standby mode, provided the radio is working normally, the IR100 continues to maintain a wireless connection to your wireless router.
If you reboot your wireless router, you may encounter the 'Low Signal' message when you subsequently switch on your IR100. Under these circumstances, turn the IR100 off and back on at the mains socket. This should resolve the problem.
Similarly if you are trying to set up your IR100 for the very first time and are experiencing problems with the wireless setup, make sure you turn the radio off and on at the mains socket. Pressing the On/Off switch does not turn off the wireless.
If you lose your IR100 manual, you may be able to find a scanned copy of it via one of the three links below.
A New and more convenient PDF version created from my original scanned JPEG files, courtesy of fellow Reciva forum member 'Johnjunior'.
Click here: 1
You can check which firmware service pack is operating on your IR100 radio by going to the 'Configure' menu, and choosing 'Version'.
Official Service Pack Comments
257-a-615-a-087 (19 Apr 08) Latest and most likely the last firmware.
257-a-421-a-057 (30 Jan 08) See below for new features and new issues.
255-c-158 (20 Oct 06) Adds 'My Streams' functionality. Also seems to fix some WEP security problems.
255-c-133
255-c-084 First release.
(Apr' 08) I upgraded the firmware on my IR100 upon hearing of the new 257-a-615-087 release the same day to see if it would solve the Scroll/Select knob problem I was experiencing. The radio automatically rebooted after the upgrade was installed and fortunately, it successfully connected to my wireless network. Unlike previous upgrades, I did not have to re-apply all my settings. But I have read some ppl have had to re-enter their network settings.
Apparently v257-a-615-a-075 has been available to IPdio owners but was withdrawn on 14 Apr 08 according to Sharpfin website.
(Feb' 08) I've been seeing comments on the Reciva forums that an official upgrade may now have been released for the IR100 (v 257-a-421-a-057). There hasn't been any formal announcement on Reciva's own website. Some early adopters appear to be experiencing a few teething problems.
This new firmware is already in use with IPdio radios, and with some IR100 owners who have applied the Sharpfin base patch to enable them to install this newer firmware release.
When you choose to upgrade the firmware, please be fully aware the upgrade process appears to perform a full factory reset of your radio, so all your station presets and wireless and network settings will be lost. Please make sure you have them handy as you will need to enter them later.
When I first tried to perform the upgrade procedure, the radio's screen went completely off after 30 seconds. When it restarted, it was evident nothing had changed. I tried it again. This second attempt was more successful, it took about 1min 30sec to find and download the firmware, then another 1min 30 sec to actually write the new firmware to the radio during which time there was a warning on the display advising not to turn off the electrical power. Afterwards, the radio automatically rebooted. When I turned the radio back on, I had to re-enter all my wireless and other network settings along with assigning my favourite radio stations back to the 5 preset buttons.
I noted preset button 1 is assigned to BBC Radio 1 by default.
The most obvious addition at first glance is the WiFi signal strength meter.
The updated IR100 connects to my BT 2700HGV wireless router using WPA-PSK (TKIP).
Shortly after upgrading, I experienced what appeared to be buffering problems with stations which used Real Audio. There was no problems with WMA stations. This lasted for about an hour. It was subsequently fine later that evening and this morning.
These are some of the expected enhancements with this new firmware release which have been widely reported by other Reciva members who had previously been using this version of firmware courtesy of the Sharpfin modifications to their IR100s.
On Demand content can now be accessed from stations stored in "My Stations".
Wifi signal strength meter has been added.
Changes to the clock/alarm.
AAC+ & FLAC codec supported.
WPA2-PSK (AES) wireless security.
Please note if you make use of Media Player functionality and Podcasts, there
has been some new issues reported, not previously witnessed with the v255-c-158
firmware. Podcast
issues
Wireless reconnection problems when coming out of standby have also been
reported with some models of wireless routers. Click here.
Many of the wireless connectivity issues detailed below have mostly been resolved by the latest and last version of firmware which was officially available for the IR100. Version 257-a-615-a-087. If your radio suffers from extremely bad range (a few metres), then consider the possibility the usb wireless dongle fitted inside the radio may be faulty too.
WPA-PSK and WEP wireless security modes are both supported by the IR100, but upon reading various messages posted on Reciva community forums, some new IR100 owners have experienced connectivity problems with certain makes and models of routers. IR100s with very early firmware (up to v255-c-158), often appears as a 'Wireless error 13' message when they try to connect their IR100 to their wireless network for the very first time.
Later firmwares (after v255-c-158) don't appear to display the 'Wireless error 13' message, but 'Network Error: Timeout getting IP address' or 'Port 80 Connect Failed. Unable to load Stations List' messages are far more frequent.
If you encounter connectivity problems, check the firmware service pack on your IR100 by going to the 'Configure' menu, and choosing 'Version'. If it is not version v257-a-615-a-087 or higher, you should upgrade the firmware. Upgrading the firmware will most likely resolve the problem.
| Reminder: Only 11mbps 802.11b and 54mbps 802.11g wireless networks are
supported by the IR100. There is no support for pure 802.11n networks.
Most wireless N routers allow the owner to configure a 802.11b/g/n mode in which
should be compatible with the IR100. (eg. BT Home Hub v2) To upgrade the firmware:
Don't forget to visit the radios.reciva.com portal and register your radio. If you require technical assistance, visit forum.reciva.com.
|
If your IR100 has firmware later than v255-c-158 and you witness the 'Network Error: Timeout getting IP address' or 'Port 80 Connect Failed. Unable to load Stations List', 'DNS Servers invalid' messages, please try setting up a static IP address.
Given the similarity of all Reciva radios, the wireless network compatibility chart for the Vistron MX-200i may also be of use.
Here are some further tips:
If you are trying to use WPA-PSK (WPA- Pre Shared Key), make sure the router is also configured to use TKIP key encryption if it is configurable.
Where WPA-PSK (some manufacturers may also refer to this as 'WPA1-PSK' or 'WPA-Personal') does not appear to work, you should then try using the more basic WEP security mode.
Generally speaking, WEP is less secure than WPA security. Almost all modern wireless routers can support both 64 bit and 128 bit WEP keys. The Logik IR100 can use either 64 or 128 WEP keys.
I have personally used 64 bit WEP keys and stick to using numbers only. It is far easier (for me) to recall and type in my 10 digit 64 bit WEP key, than the horrendously long 26 digit key required for a 128 bit WEP key. If a hacker was really determined to break into your wireless network, I doubt using 128 bit key would be any better than a 64 bit key....
With WEP, there are two authentication modes: 'Open system' and 'shared' key. An open system key is considered to be more secure so some manufacturers set this as the only mode to use by default on their wireless routers. It would appear the IR100 with factory shipped firmware prior to 255-c-158 (Oct 2006) may experience difficulties connecting to some (or all?) wireless routers which are configured to only accept Open system keys.
If you encounter this problem, try changing your WEP security settings on your wireless router to use 'shared keys' if it is available. This will almost certainly resolve the problem in most cases. Unfortunately not all routers present the owner with the option to choose between 'open system' key or 'shared' key when using WEP. As previously mentioned, if you are able to update the firmware service pack on your IR100, it may well solve your Wireless 13 error issue.
Recently, I have observed my IR100 with 255-c-158 (Oct 2006) firmware service pack can connect to my newly acquired BT 2700HGV wireless router using WEP with 'open system' key, WEP with 'shared key' and WPA-PSK (with TKIP key encryption). Fellow Reciva community forum member 'manksman' has also confirmed his IR100 with 255-c-158 firmware can now connect to his existing BT 2110 router using WEP with open system key - he was previously using WEP with 'shared' key when using his IR100 with earlier firmware..
This confirms our suspicions the IR100s with earlier firmware does not support WEP with 'open system' keys.
If you wish to use or try a shared key with WEP security, here are some screen shots from some popular makes/models of wireless routers:
When using WEP security mode, my Linksys router by default has its Authentication type set to 'Auto' so is able to accept both open and shared keys.
screen dump from
my Linksys router showing WEP and WPA-PSK options.
Default
setting is 'Auto'.
If you have a Dlink wireless router, the default Authentication type is set to 'Open'. Try changing it to either 'Shared' or 'Both' as shown below.
If you have a Netgear router, check the Authentication type is set to 'Automatic' or 'Shared key' as shown below.
A fellow Reciva community forum member, 'manksman', reports he too had to change the WEP Authentication type on his BT Voyager 2110 router from 'open' to 'shared' key before he upgraded the firmware on his IR100. After upgrading the firmware, he is now able to use the preferred 'open system' key with WEP.
(Thank you to Reviva community forum member 'manksman' for the above screen dump image)
My new BT 2700HGV business hub.
I can confirm my IR100 with all firmware versions from v255-c-158 and later works with all three wireless security modes.
The Thomson Speedtouch 585 v6 wireless router accepts both open system and shared WEP keys. In the brief time I owned this model of router, I didn't see any obvious menu option which could have permitted me to choose whether I wished to use an open or shared key.
One overseas reader from Switzerland contacted me regarding the wireless error 13 he was experiencing with his Netopia 3347 (single antenna) wireless router provided by his ISP, Swisscom. As mentioned previously, 'open system' WEP keys are preferred by manufacturers as it is a bit more secure than shared keys so it is quite probable this particular router doesn't support shared keys.
Recently, another Netopia 3347NWG owner in Ireland has come across the same problem with this model of router supplied by his ISP, Eircom.net. I contacted Netopia but they were less than helpful, just referring me to their online help pages. I am currently working with this IR100 owner to resolve this issue, but I suspect updating the firmware on the IR100 will solve this Wireless error 13 issue. Watch this space.
They seem to be all coming out of the wood work, as yet another Eircom Netopia 3347NWG owner has been in contact and reports the same problem. He has tried disabling wireless security too but still gets the Wireless error 13 message. His six months old IR100 has 255-c-084 firmware installed and had never got it to work. His MagicBox Imp connects fine to his Netopia. Update: He has since returned his 6 month old IR100 to his local PCWorld store where he purchased it, and they gave him a replacement IR100 (probably has newer firmware) which works perfectly with his Netopia router.
The IR100 has no issues connecting using WEP security to the later model Netopia 2247NWG (twin antenna) wireless router as supplied by Eircom according to another Eircom user.
Netopia routers (inc 3347NWG) appear to include an adjustable firewall. You may need to check its settings. ie. set it to 'Low' to avoid problems.
A reader contacted me recently as they were experiencing difficulties connecting their new IR100 to their existing BT Home Hub with the error '"Wireless Connect Timeout". They eventually spoke to BT who advised them to disable the firewall within the Home Hub. The IR100 connected to the hub thereafter. The Home Hub is based on the Speedtouch 7G.
If you have difficulty connecting your IR100 to an Orange LiveBox wireless router. Please remember to press the '1' button on the base of the Livebox to place the router temporarily in discovery mode - the IR100 should then successfully connect.
If you own a Belkin router and encounter 'Wireless error 00001', did you remember to turn off MAC address filtering?
Where supported, you may also wish to turn off '54G Protection' and 'Turbo Mode'.
Another Belkin user contacted me recently. Nigel's new IR100 encountered 'Wireless Connect Timeout' error message when he tried using 64 bit WEP security. The radio did connect successfully when wireless security was disabled on the Belkin ADSL2+ Wireless G+ MIMO router, model F5D9630-4A with latest v1.00.04 firmware, whereupon he was also able to update the firmware on the IR100 to 255-c-158. The latest official firmware still did not resolve the WEP issue. Turning off the router's firewall didn't make any difference (not that we expected it would). Finally as a result of my suggestion, he switched to using WPA-PSK (TKIP key encryption) and his IR100 connected successfully.
One of the original Reciva Community forum thread on 'Wireless error 13'
I suspect many early IR100 owners who originally encountered the Wireless 13 error condition simply chose to reconfigure their router to use WEP with the less popular 'shared' key setting to solve the problem. They have of course since updated the firmware service pack on their IR100s, but perhaps not revisited the Wireless error 13 issue.
IMPORTANT: Please note that if you were previously successfully using an 'Open System' key with WEP security and you change it to accepting only a 'shared' WEP key on your wireless router, you must also remember to make the same change on any other wireless devices or PCs you use.
Screen dump from Windows XP computer using WEP security. 'Shared' WEP key is highlighted.
Useful tip: If you want to test whether your wireless router supports 'shared' WEP keys, simply reconfigure your wireless PC as shown above and see if it connects. You may need to re-enter the WEP key and reboot the PC.
To summarise:
Compatibility with wireless routers has improved with later releases of firmware for the IR100. If your IR100 has a very early release of firmware, check the following:
If you are using WEP security, try configuring your router to use a 'shared' key if your router permits it.
- Examine your wireless (SSID) network name and keep it simple. Use only letters from from the alphabet and numbers. Avoid the use of symbols or spaces.
- Try enabling SSID broadcasts.
- Use the procedure described earlier to check the firmware service pack version on your IR100, and to upgrade it if necessary.
- If you are using WPA-PSK (TKIP key encryption) wireless security, try changing your security key to something simpler made up from numbers only.
- If you still cannot make WPA-PSK work for your IR100, change your wireless router to use WEP security.
- Some routers present you with the option of using 64 bit or 128 bit WEP keys. Try 64 bit first.
- Check the length of your WEP keys. 64 bit WEP keys always require a 10 digit hexadecimal number. 128 bit WEP keys always require a 26 digit hexadecimal number. I personally suggest using only decimal numbers 0-9 but you should be able to use any hexadecimal number 0-9, A-F.
- Try using a static IP address.
There is a router compatibility list contained on my Vistron webpage which may be of interest. Click here
Reciva forum member 'finchlean' has brought to my attention a growing small number of IR100 radios (with 255-c-158 firmware) experiencing problems with WPA-PSK wireless security.
This looks to be due to faulty firmware or setting.
I personally have not encountered any problems using WPA-PSK (WPA1) on my IR100 with any of the 'old' 802.11b or g wireless routers I have tested.
It is worth emphasizing if you have only just acquired your new IR100, you should review the earlier sections of this webpage before condemning your IR100.
The IR100 with latest 257-a-421-a-057 firmware now apparently supports WPA2-PSK with AES key encryption. I have not verified this myself, but hope to do so in due course.
There is a router compatibility list contained on my Vistron webpage which may be of interest. Click here
TCP Port 5000 is commonly used by uPnP protocol. Unfortunately some internet providers block this port number.
Reciva radios also use this port number for downloading the Stations List. Later revisions to firmware available on other radios are able to make use of alternative port numbers.
SupaNet appears to be one UK ISP which blocks port 5000.
At time of writing, I don't know whether the IR100 with 255-c-158 firmware can use alternatives to port 5000.
If you experience rebuffering problems, you may wish to consider opening up the following tcp and udp ports on your router to your IR100 to see if there is any improvement:
80, 554, 1755, 5000 and 7070
RealAudio streams use port 7070 so if you encounter buffering or other problems with RealAudio streams only, check that port 7070 is open on your firewall.
There is a router compatibility table contained on my Vistron webpage which may be of interest. Click here
Reciva radios only support 802.11b 11Mbps or 802.11g 54Mbps wireless modes. There is no support for the new 802.11n standard which is still unratified. In fact, you will probably need to reconfigure the 802.11n wireless router to use either 802.11b or 802.11g modes for your radio to connect successfully to it. This issue doesn't just affect Reciva radios. If you possess any legacy 802.11b or 802.11g wireless devices (eg. notebooks), you will probably have to disable 802.11n wireless mode of your new router.
Once 802.11b or 802.11g modes are enabled, the wireless security options for WEP and WPA1 (WPA-PSK) should hopefully become available. As I understand it, WEP security is not part of the 802.11n specification.
Also, please be aware that many of the current (older) Reciva radios do not support the newer WPA2-PSK wireless security. IR100 firmware up to 255-c-158 does not support WPA2 in any form.
One reader from Abu Dhabi wrote to me recently to say he wasn't able to get his IR100 to work with his Linksys Wireless N router. The Linksys only worked well with WPA-PSK with AES key encryption instead of TKIP. He eventually got around the problem by adding a Belkin 802.11b/g Wireless Access Point to his existing wireless network and configured it exclusively for use for his IR100.
There is a router compatibility table contained on my Vistron webpage which may be of interest. Click here
I had some minor separate issues with my ADSL line which I wanted to try and resolve, so I acquired a Thomson Speedtouch 585 v6 wireless router to test along side my Linksys WAG354G wireless router.
Apart from cursing at the Speedtouch router all day as I didn't realise the login username is case sensitive, compounded also by a known login bug when using Internet Explorer 7, I then also discovered my IR100 wouldn't connect to the Reciva website to pull down the Stations List. I don't believe it is a wireless security issue as the same error appears with security disabled. The error message I witnessed was 'DNS Servers invalid'. Reciva's Help pages only indicated that I should check the DNS server settings. The IR100 was configured (by default) to use DHCP to automatically acquire an IP address and all other settings including DNS servers from the wireless router.
The router shipped with v5.4.0.11 firmware. Upgrading the firmware to v6.1.4.3 (UK edition) cured the problem. The IR100 connected straight away.
It later occurred to me that not all Speedtouch router owners would be able to upgrade their firmware, especially if they possessed an older and perhaps discontinued model.. A Logik owner would then perhaps be faced with the only other option to switch off DHCP on the IR100 and set up the network settings for IP address, gateway, subnet mask and DNS servers manually - this could be quite a tall order for most people.
Here is a dumbed down guide I have produced.
The 'DNS Servers Invalid' error message may also occur if you have a tendency to switch off your wireless router when not using it, and hence powering the router and your IR100 both up at the same time. If you must turn off your router, make absolutely sure when you come to turn on your router, that it is powered up a couple of minutes BEFORE you power on your IR100 at the mains socket (Do not rely on the Standby button on the IR100 to turn the radio off and on)
Unlike the Linksys router, the short swivel aerial on the speedtouch cannot be detached from the body of the router, and replaced with an alternative. Coverage is certainly at the moment inferior to the Linksys with its larger external aerial. It is perhaps comparable to the Linksys in coverage before I fitted the external antenna.
Sadly the Speedtouch 585 wireless router did not last more than two days as it kept rebooting every hour at one point. It has since been returned to the retailer for a refund. Over rated user hostile product imho. I'm now using an unlocked BT 2700HGV Business Hub.
There is a router compatibility table contained on my Vistron webpage which may be of interest. Click here
Quite simply, the Logik IR100 has poor wireless sensitivity. One documented solution is to move the USB wireless dongle fitted within the Logik to the outside by using a short USB extension lead. Obviously such an action will invalidate the warranty.
Reciva
community forum thread on wireless module
Reciva community forum member, DavidlawUK, has recently made modifications to his Logik IR100 as described in the above links. He was kind enough to send me his photos and comments for inclusion on my webpage. Click here for more details.
See also the section 'Alternative USB Dongle'.
I came across this yahoo group where one Logik owner has cleverly relocated the wireless module within the acoustic tube of his IR100.
Yahoo Wi-fi Internet Radio group
It then occurred to me perhaps to improve wireless sensitivity without making any major alterations to the case, all one really has to do is simply to put some distance between the USB wireless dongle and any nearby electronic components. The wireless dongle is presently sandwiched between various circuit boards so it comes as no surprise the wireless sensitivity is pretty awful.
Using a short USB extension lead, I speculate one could just relocate the USB wireless dongle towards the rear of the inside of the case. Follow this link.
If you are reluctant to make any modifications to your IR100 while it is still under warranty, there are a few things you may be able to try before considering any of the above modifications.
There are only a dozen or so wifi channels available and if any of your neighbours have a wireless network, it is possible you may be getting some interference from them if they are using the same channel number as your own wireless network. Unfortunately Microsoft Windows itself doesn't provide any useful utility to help you ascertain what channel numbers are being used.
If you have a notebook running Windows and a compatible wireless card, you can install a nifty utility called Netstumbler 0.4.0. I should point out that Netstumbler does not work with all wireless cards.
http://www.netstumbler.com/downloads/
| Update (2009): Alternative Wifi network scanning utility which works on XP and Vista. It requires Netframework 2.0 or higher from Microsoft. |
After installation of the software, remember to refer to the 'Device' pull down menu and select a wireless adaptor. If you cannot get Netstumbler working at all, then it is most probably not compatible with your wireless card.
The screen dump below shows netstumbler in action and you can see it has identified three wireless networks in the area on channels 1, 2 and 10. Simply ensure the wireless channel number you choose to use does not clash with any other wireless network. You should use netstumbler with your own wireless network switched off, and try it from different parts of the house near an external window, external door and/or party wall.
Virtually all wireless routers sold today are 54Mbps (802.11g) models, which is fine if you do need the full 54Mbps bandwidth. But if you only have a broadband connection not exceeding 8Mbps and you don't move massive files wirelessly between different PCs on your own network, you may find changing your router's settings to use only 11Mbps (802.11b) wireless mode might result in a significant improvement in wireless coverage around the house. This I certainly found to be true with my Linksys router as one of my PCs located upstairs only had mediocre reception signal strength of 2 out of 5 which suddenly shot up to 4 out of 5 when using only 802.11b mode according to Windows XP.
The above shows a screen dump from my Linksys router showing the 11Mbps 802.11b and 54Mbps 802.11g network modes.
My Linksys WAG354G v2 router features a built in antenna but there is an option to connect an external antenna. I tried a 10cm long antenna from an old Dlink router and found it didn't really offer much improvement. If anything, I felt it was worse when using netstumbler to monitor signal strength.
I also tried a 20cm long antenna I bought on eBay for £5 including delivery from a Far East seller. There was a slight improvement but nothing worth writing home about.
It was only when I tried another 20cm long antenna removed from a Linksys WMP54G PCI wireless card, I saw a dramatic improvement in wireless signal strength around the house.. My PC upstairs now sees excellent signal strength, 5 out of 5, and never drops out.
shows
a Linksys antenna (from WMP54G card) screwed into the optional external antenna socket.
nb. The Linksys WAG354G v2 has recently been discontinued by Linksys, and is replaced by the new WAG200G which features a large external antenna.
For anyone out there who uses a WAG354G v2 UK Annex A wireless router, I was using v1.01.54 firmware. It works with WEP and WPA-PSK with my IR100. One of the gripes I had with the router is it often froze or stopped working after a week or two and required a reboot. (I've since learned this may be due to firmware issue with DNS which Linksys have failed to fix). So I thought I'd upgrade to v1.01.58 firmware but discovered almost immediately it has serious wireless issues, possibly when using WPA-PSK. Similar symptoms of poor wireless range and authentication issues have also been reported with v1.01.57 firmware. I installed a modified v1.01.58 firmware which uses the wireless driver from v1.01.54 firmware which worked fine during the 10 days I tested it. A new modified firmware has since been released which also fixes the DNS problem, however, I've had enough of this router as it doesn't address another problem I have where it often loses line sync overnight, less frequently during the daytime because of my noisy ADSL line. The Linksys isn't solely to blame, but it isn't helping.
I've just taken delivery of a BT 2700HGV wireless router to replace my troublesome Linksys WAG354Gv2 router. Early indications are it connects to my broadband provider at higher speeds than any other router I've previously owned, and more importantly it doesn't drop the connection (5+ days and counting). The wireless coverage is even better too than any router I've previously owned. My IR100 connects to it without problems.
Information regarding the USB wireless dongle fitted inside the IR100 can be found in these threads
Reciva
community forum thread on the make & model of the wireless module
From the above threads, list of compatible USB wireless dongles which have found to apparently work in the IR100 include:
- Edimax EW-7318UG, EW-7318USG,
- Edimax EW-7317UHG(***)
- Bluenext BN-WD54G
- Hawking HWU54D
- Sweex LW053
Reciva forum member 'M0AUR' recently contacted me with information and photos he wanted to share with other IR100 users. He purchased an Edimax EW-7318UG usb Wireless dongle and has attached it to the top of his radio using Velcro. An extension lead connects the dongle to the USB socket within the radio. He chose the position on top of the radio for best omindirectional reception. The Edimax performs just as well as the original bare USB dongle removed from within the IR100 and positioned on top of the radio too.
He has just upgraded to the Edimax EW-7317UHG with its directional 6db mini-dish.... Click here for link to message thread.
*** = Unfortunately, M0AUR reports his two week old IR100 has now died. It is unclear whether use of EW-7317UHG has contributed to its premature demise, or if it was merely a coincidence.
Another Reciva member has used the Edimax EW-7318USG adaptor. Click
here for link to a photo.
(Added 10 Aug 09): Another more recent
elegant modification using same Edimax adaptor by Reciva member 'GSUM'.
Click here
Reciva member 'caliston' has also derived a further list of possible compatible adapters sharing the same FCC ID code as the Edimax EW-7318Ug. The list below is derived from information from this thread.
| Trade name | Model number |
| Edimax | EW-7318Ug, GWU-E18G |
| Conceptronic | C54RU+ |
| PLANET | WL-U356R |
| CANYON | CN-WF518 |
| SANDBERG | 130-97 |
| GEMBIRD | NICW-U1 |
| Levelone | WNC-0301USB |
| Hawking | HWUG1 |
| Sitecom | WL-113v1 002 |
| JAHT | WN-4054UM |
At the time of writing, Play.com sell the Edimax EW-7318Ug if you are looking for a direct replacement for internal fitting.
I was perusing MoneySavingExpert website and came across this thread where someone had successfully replaced the wireless dongle within their IR100 with a USB to ethernet adaptor, thereby enabling them to attach their IR100 to a hardwired ethernet network.
They had purchased and fitted a Startech USB1100S Mini Ethernet Adapter. The adapter utilises the Realtek RTL8150 chipset.
I've since found another thread on the Reciva forums.
I came across this thread
where Reciva member, ajb, has successfully used a SMC 2206USB adaptor with his
Reciva radio.
Reciva member, JohnFoster, has also connected a
Dynamode USB adaptor to his IR100. Model USB-NIC-1427-100.
Sold by Amazon and ebuyer. Click
here to read thread. In the same thread, Reciva member, simbo99,
reports success with Belkin F5D5050 10/100 ethernet usb adapter. Note the
Belkin product appears to be discontinued but you may be able to find one on
eBay.
A reader from Germany advises the Farallon Netline USB Ethernet adapter 10/100 is also compatible with the IR100.
The 'Asix AX88172' is another adapter reported to work
with the IR100. Click here.
The Asix part number appears to be for the 'USB to ethernet' chip used within
the adapter and is not necessarily for the adapter itself.
List of other possibly compatible ethernet USB adaptors. I cannot guarantee that any or all the adaptors listed will work with the IR100.
A reader from Germany sent me some photos of his modified IR100 which he wanted to share with others.
Above photo shows a memory stick protruding from the rear of the IR100.
Max has added an On/Off toggle switch on the rear of his IR100. You can see the regular IR100 wireless dongle to the far right of this photo. Next to it is a USB hub.
The item marked 'network connector' is a Farallon Netline USB Ethernet 10./100 adapter.
Both the Farallon and original wlan usb adaptors have been cannibalised and hard wired to the ports on the USB hub. The positive supply voltage feed to each USB adaptor is however passed through a miniature slide switch labelled 'switch (wlan/cable)'. The slide switch is used to determine which USB adaptor is to be powered on.
The procedure for switching between WLAN or ethernet cable operation is simple. Power off the IR100 using the mains switch. Toggle the 'wlan/cable' switch to the correct setting. Then switch the radio on.
Reciva appear to have recently re-instated their webpage for allowing registered Reciva
users to access to
latest beta release of firmware for their radios.
There is more up to date information in this Reciva forum thread.
Owners simply need to ensure their radio is registered on the Reciva website,
and agree to the terms and conditions displayed on this
webpage: https://www.reciva.com/beta
Please read the terms and conditions carefully as
use of beta firmware could be detrimental to your radio and will invalidate the
warranty as it is not officially supported by the radio's manufacturer.
Install at your own risk.
Do not assume the latest beta firmware will be 'better' than whatever
official firmware may already be installed on your radio. The beta
firmware and corresponding beta users forum, are primarily intended to help
Reciva iron out bugs in their future firmwares.
Please do not contact me regarding problems with use of beta firmwares.
You should post any issues you have discovered on the Reciva beta forum.
With the official release of new v257-a-421-a-057 firmware for the IR100, new issues are slowly starting to appear.
One problem being reported is the radio won't reconnect when it is brought
out of standby. 'Connecting' or 'Loading' message is displayed on the
screen. Power cycling the radio at the mains socket resolves this
problem. Click here
for thread. Click
here for for another interesting observation on same subject.
Listed of affected routers:
- 3Com 3CRWDR100A-72
- D-Link DSL-2640B
This may have been fixed in v257-a-421-a-091 firmware installed using
Sharpfin method. Click here.
If you see the message 'Low Signal' appear on the screen, there are usually two reasons for this message.
- The wireless signal literally is low. ie. your IR100 is too far away from your wireless router. Consider all the suggestions mentioned earlier to see how you may be able to improve the wireless sensitivity of your IR100.
- You have another wireless or network device using the same DHCP supplied IP address as the IR100. This message often occurs if you have restarted your wireless router and failed to go round and restart all your network and wireless devices. Make sure your wireless router is up and running for a few minutes. Ensure all your wireless devices including your IR100 are powered OFF at the mains socket, then power each wireless device back ON one at a time - this should resolve the problem. You can consider setting up a static IP address on your IR100 to discourage the message reappearing in future if you do often have to restart your wireless router or turn it off when you are not using it.
A reader recently contacted me to advise me of another reason why they thought the 'Low Signal' message may appear. Their IR100 had the very latest firmware already installed and had been working faultlessly as an internet radio. To cut a long story short, they were without a working broadband connection for a few weeks, so they used their IR100 as a media player in that time to play music from their external hard drive. What they discovered was the radio worked fine initially as a media player, but after a week they started observing 'Low Signal' error messages and the radio wouldn't work as a media player any more. There had been no changes to their wireless router and they tried moving the radio but still couldn't get it to work.
Eventually, their broadband connection was restored, and their IR100 was able to connect and perform a Stations List update. The radio has worked fine ever since. They speculate if the IR100 is without an active internet connection for a long period of time, it may become unusable even as a media player.
I was surfing the net one morning and suddenly there appeared to be a momentary power outage. It caused everything to go off for a second. When my desktop PC came back on, I found I could no longer access the internet. I checked the Speedtouch router and according to the manual, it was basically broke. Whipped out the Linksys router and managed to get back online.
Then I noticed the display on the Logik radio lights up okay when switched on but after a few seconds it goes extremely dim when it starts to connect to a radio station. The radio actually worked but the display was virtually unreadable. I checked the screen brightness settings and even performed a factory reset but it was all to no avail. It was bad enough having the speedtouch router break after less than one day, now the Logik is broken too??
I continued to fiddle with both the Speedtouch router and Logik but it was hopeless. Then suddenly the electricity went off again, this time for about an hour. When power was eventually restored, the Speedtouch router and Logik were both functioning perfectly again.
It later occurred to me the mains adapter for the Speedtouch router and the power supply unit within the Logik are based on conventional transformer designs and these would be susceptible to any big drop in mains voltage. We have 240V AC in the UK and an unexpected drop to say below 200V could render quite a lot of electronic appliances inoperative. It is probable when mains power was lost momentarily, it was not returned at full 230-240V ac. As a consequence, my PC, monitor and Linksys router continued to work as normal as they are fitted with switched mode power supplies which can tolerate operating at lower voltages. Whereas the speedtouch router would not work at all, and the IR100 functioned okay but with an extremely dimmed & virtually unreadable display.
20 months on, and when I look at the display, I am convinced the brightness of the display has deteriorated. Even at maximum brightness setting, it is barely readable under normal day light. It is certainly no where near as bright as the display fitted to my Vistron MX-200i. This deterioration may well be a consequence of leaving the Logik switched on albeit mostly on standby 24/7.
Above photo on left was taken when the radio was brand new. Photo on right was taken recently, 20 months later.
(Update: 30 Sep 09)
Click here to open new page for an update
Saw this problem described on the Sharpfin website.
The photo is
reproduced from the Sharpfin webpage
The suggested solution is to resolder the crystal mounted on the Barracuda module
I became aware there was a minor problem with the scroll/select knob on my Logik recently while testing it along side the new Vistron MX-200i.
When I rotated the scroll knob, the radio's display didn't always respond accordingly.
For example, I might try to rotate the knob 3 positions slowly clockwise, and the selection on the display would not change, or only advance one position, or even go backwards one position !
I contacted Steve who advised it was either a dry solder joint or a worn/faulty rotary shaft encoder.
The newest firmware for the IR100 had also just been released, so I took the plunge and upgraded. It made no difference to the scroll knob operation, thus confirming it was a hardware fault.
I don't use the scroll knob during normal radio listening, and it is still working sufficiently to enable me to make changes to the radio's settings for the moment, so I will live with the fault for now.
Update (July 08): Many months later, I managed to acquire a spare Rotary encoder board off eBay and fit it myself.
The replacement board has fixed the scroll/select knob fault. It also seems to have cured the clicking issue that was previously audible when rotating the scroll knob.
The original and replacement boards look virtually identical. Capacitor C3 near the volume potentiometer may also be larger in physical size on the new board, but don't quote me, as I am comparing the old board against a photo of the replacement board - this may or may not be a 'fix' for the clicking noise issue.
Here's an interesting thread on the Reciva forum about one used Logik radio suffering from intermittent or no audio. It is most likely to be a loose connection or dry solder joint on or relating to the audio amplifier board. One of the wires that make up the grey ribbon cable does carry a Mute control signal.
If you power on your IR100 and it gets stuck with the screen displaying only:
Reciva Radio
ARM Powered
There is a possible fix for this problem which involves removing the USB wireless dongle and re-inserting it.
For more details, follow this link.
Click here for Reciva forum thread.
Added Nov 09.
I discovered recently when I program any of the five presets with a radio station, then remove mains power from the radio, the presets revert back to a previous settings. Also the radio has been starting up with the same radio station when switched on at the mains power socket.
It seemed there is a problem with the flash memory on the Barracuda board.
Looking on the Reciva forums, a number of owners have experienced similar symptoms.
As a test, I also tried changing and saving the display brightness settings. This was successful. The new settings remained intact even after temporarily removing mains power from the IR100, so clearly the Barracuda board was not a total 'write off' just yet.
Referring back to the Reciva forum threads, one owner found he was able to resolve the problem by using Sharpfin method and repeatedly flash between two different versions of firmware and carry out factory reset. But others have reported this method didn't resolve the problem for them.
I happen to join the Reciva beta testers programme when it was first launched a few years ago, so took the opportunity to use it to upgrade the IR100 from official v257-a-615-a-087 to v257-a-865-a-400 beta.
This resolved the problems of the station presets.
I then successfully downgraded back to v257-a-615-a-087
after Reciva forum administrator 'pb' intervened to resolve a problem at their
end. but this failed. The radio displayed the message 'Downloading' but after
half a minute, the screen went blank and the radio reboots. The beta
firmware remained on the radio. Apparently, this is not normal
behaviour.
Member 'Jlb' also added that a couple of beta testers have reported not being
able to remove the beta firmware and return to the last known official version
of firmware available for the specific radio. Fortunately, the radio
with beta firmware can be upgraded to newer betas as they appear.
In response to a query I posted on the Reciva forums, member 'Gary63' mentioned:
A fellow Logik owner recently informed me how he has got Last.FM personalised radio services streaming through his PC to his Logik radio.
Link to The Bug-Eyed Chronicles
Accessing OnDemand material can be a bit tricky using the IR100. With firmware v 255-c-158, it's not possible to conveniently access your favourite OnDemand radio channels via the Preset buttons or via 'My Stations', so fellow Reciva member 'NigelCliffe' has created podcasts containing archives from Radio 4's "In Our Time" and "In Business".
Simply copy and paste the URLs provided by Nigel into 'My Podcast' page.
You can find more information and podcast URL's on Nigel's webpage here
Link to Reciva forum thread.
Update (28 Dec 07): With help from Nigel, Tom has developed a list of XML Feeds for BBC Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Click here for the new podcast links on Tom's webpage. The following picture shows BBC Radio 4 podcast being added:
If this is the first time you have used 'My Podcast', please remember to be patient and to power cycle your IR100 at the mains socket for 'My Podcasts' to appear in the 'My Stuff' menu of your radio.
Vincent informs me of his website where he maintains a directory for up to date list of active UK and Irish radio stations without the clutter.
For Reciva radios, he currently has 5 categories of radio stations which you define as podcasts on your Reciva radio: RealPlayer, WMP, Streaming MP3, Irish stations, and Community radio stations, in UK and Ireland.
Click here to visit his website. You need to register before you have access to the URLs. Click here for YouTube demo
A while ago, 'Rdk' dropped me an email to tell me he had successfully hacked his IR100.
wireless dongle and flash memory stick can be seen connected to the USB hub.
He will be adding more details to his blog which can be found here: Internet
Radio Exploration He wanted me to point out, that the pictures on the
blog make the hack look pretty extreme - taking the flash chip off the board etc.
But he only had to do that to find out how the firmware update mechanism worked.
He says it will be possible to enable shell access just by using a DNS server,
web or ftp server and a little firmware update script. This to me looks
like a big leap forward.
Saw this interesting thread by Reciva community forum member 'unicks' which links to his photo slide show of his hacked IR100.
Here is the link to the Sharpfin project where its goal is to gather information about the 'Barracuda' radio module currently used in all Reciva internet radio products, so as to be able to develop alternative open source software for the radio.
On this website, you will find a link to 'Enabling Login' where there are some useful video guides to show how to install the Sharpfin base patch.
Once the Sharpfin base patch has been installed onto the radio, you are then able to access your radio by a number of different means, and carry out operations such as installing newer firmware.
Warning: If you decide to patch/upgrade you IR100 radio, you do so at your own risk. Your product guarantee will also be invalidated. If you brick (damage) your IR100, there is no way of recovering the radio.
There are also some pages dedicated to hardware mods for the IR100.
My list of other Reciva radios
List of internet radios provided by Fred.
Manufacturer of the IR100 (URL fixed Dec 08)
My Vistron MX-200i Resource page
Sharpfin hardware mods for the IR100
A YouTube video of Logik IR100
Other websites of interest:
Link to The Bug Eyed Chronicles
If your IR100 is still within its 1 year product guarantee and it is or appears to be faulty, return it to the DSG store you bought it from along with proof of purchase, to have it replaced, or a request a refund. They do not have the time or facilities to test the radio in store, and will not offer to repair the radio. (Returned radios are simply 'sold on for spares or repair' by DSG and most end up on eBay.....)
Steve contacted me to advise he had successfully repaired a number of IR100s in his spare time. Some of the faults include:
Dead radioDisplay faults (Not physically broken, just lines missing or breaking up)No audioFreezing after a few minutes of useWon't link to wireless
(update Nov 08): He has now recently perfected the process to enable him to take on some de-bricking repairs.
He is offering his part time repair services on the condition any costs are reimbursed.
Steve is located in Surrey and can be contacted through this email address if you have an IR100 which is out of warranty and needs attention.
ir100repairoXoavtsuk.com (replace the 'oXo' with an '@' symbol)
Please note this is not a personal endorsement of his services, and any negotiation and/or contract of services is between yourself and Steve.
Link to Reciva
forum thread
(Added 22 Jul 09): HorstedKeynes.com can also offer to repair radios and are also able to sell brand new replacement shaft encoders for the IR100. They were offering them for £9 inc. UK delivery on eBay. Replacing the shaft encoder does involve soldering.
If you have a query about your Logik IR100, please post the question on the Reciva Community forums.
