I have been a fan of the Mobilnkd since I got the TNC3. It’ managed to get it work on an older tablet running Windows 11, but my new Dell XPS 13 just won’t work with the TNC3. (Maybe my TNC3 is dead?) I decided to upgrade to the newest TNC4, and I’ll say I’m very happy with it so far. Getting the TNC4 to work on Windows 11 is slightly different than how I always did it with Windows 10, so I wanted to show you how I did it and write out exactly how it works.
The first thing you’ll notice with the TNC4 is that it’s no longer a quick press of the button to turn it on or off. Rather, you hold the power button for a couple seconds until you see a blue light and release. The next thing you’ll notice when you do a bluetooth scan for the TNC4 is that it’s not there! I scanned for it both on Windows 11 and on my iPhone running IOS 17. Neither one of them saw it even though it was turned on and right next to my devices.
I decided to give a known good program a try: RadioMail. I’ve always known RadioMail to be able to find my TNC3 with no trouble at all and it was the same for the TNC4. I did a quick send/receive test via that program to confirm that the TNC4 was in fact working.
Then I went back to the Windows 11 Bluetooth device settings. I noticed an option below all my devices labeled, “More devices and printer settings”. So just by total chance I decided to go that route to add the TNC4 and wallah! It works! NOTE: It will show up as a “network infrastructure device” while it’s being added.
Once the TNC4 was recognized by Windows, I went to the old device manager to find the Bluetooth ports that are created when you add a TNC4. I made a note of the port numbers and tried them one by one. In my case, it was the higher of the two, port 5 that worked, and it was flawless. I didn’t have to tweak any audio settings at all to get this device to work. But NOTE: I did run the Mobilnkd TNC Config app for IOS to change the audio output settings > PTT Style to Multiplex since I know that’s necessary for most Yaesu devices.
For my quick “out of the box” test, I used a Dell XPS 13, a Yaesu FT-60 and the new TNC4. I was indoors about 6 miles away from the RMS Gateway. It worked on the first attempt. So, if you have been struggling to get your TNC4 working in Windows 11, I hope this information helps you out. See the video below for a demo.