K2IO and BeaconSee

[Sverre Holm-2]

I am trying to run the BeaconSee program (http://sapp.telepac.pt/coaa/) with
my K2. I get the impression that this program is able to set the K2's
frequency and make it jump between the various NCDXF IARU HF beacons.
However, all I can get it to do is analyse the K2's audio input for a
manually set frequency on the K2. Am I expecting too much from the program
or is something missing in my K2IO setup? Anyone experienced with this setup
who can help?

I run my K2 successfully from Ham Radio Deluxe with full remote control via
K2IO.

73

Sverre
LA3ZA
http://www.qslnet.de/la3za/
 



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[Dave, G4AON]

Sverre

I used to run BeaconSee very successfully with my K2 and it's KIO2. It did switch the K2 to the various frequencies without a problem. Note the following from my post on the subject some time ago:

There is a little trick to driving the K2 that might not be obvious... if
you don't instruct the K2 to use VFO A, then issue a frequency for VFO A
(expecting the K2 to change to that frequency), it will only do so if VFO A
is currently in use. This gives the appearance of an intermittent fault.

The syntax that works correctly is to command the frequency by the following
string:

FR0;FA00014100000;

FR0 selects VFO A, FA000xxx tells VFO A what frequency to select. To use VFO
B, issue the command:

FR1;FB00014100000;

Depending on application, issuing K20;AI0; ahead of the commands may avoid
confusion and doesn't do any harm. Note there are no spaces between commands
in the string.

The above works well with BeaconSee, the default "Kenwood" setting sometimes
worked but lacked the VFO A/B command so could foul up if you had previously
used VFO B. Just rename the Menu Label in BeaconSee to &Elecraft.

73 Dave, G4AON

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[Sverre Holm-2]

> -----Original Message-----
>
> There is a little trick to driving the K2 that might not be
> obvious...
>
> FR0;FA00014100000;
> ...
> Depending on application, issuing K20;AI0;

Hi Dave,

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have tried this now by defining a new
Elecraft setup in BeaconSee. It works ... for a cycle or two as it toggles
every 3 minutes form 14.1 to 18.11 MHz. But then it seems to lose sync, and
when BeaconSee issues a frequency change command, the K2 just beeps and
nothing happens. Perhaps my old Dell laptop is a little tired, but on the
other hand RS232 control with Ham Radio Deluxe works without problems.

I wonder if the beep is a standard error message from the K2 when it
receives an incomprehensible command over the KIO2?

73

Sverre
LA3ZA
http://www.qslnet.de/la3za/
 


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[wayne burdick]

On Apr 5, 2006, at 1:06 PM, Sverre Holm wrote:

> I wonder if the beep is a standard error message from the K2 when it
> receives an incomprehensible command over the KIO2?

There's no beep in response to a garbled RS-232 command, Sverre. The K2
ignores incorrect commands and quickly recovers to process the next
one.

This could be a side-effect of a command buffer overrun, however. Some
programs send a *lot* of data, very fast, without checking for a
response. Rather than hide this problem by buffering huge quantities of
data, we suggest that control programs behave in a civilized fashion  
:)

73,
Wayne

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[Sverre Holm-2]

> -----Original Message-----
> > I wonder if the beep is a standard error message from the
> > K2 when it receives an incomprehensible command over the KIO2?
>
> There's no beep in response to a garbled RS-232 command, Sverre. The K2
ignores incorrect
> commands and quickly recovers to process the next one.

I found the source of the problem, and now BeaconSee does what it is
supposed to do. It turned out that BeaconSee pulses the DTR line at the same
time as it sends the frequency change command. As I use my K2 for occasional
contesting, I had DTR connected to the PTT line for CW keying.

Evidentally the K2 does not like a KIO2 input command at the same time as
the PTT is keyed, but removing the PTT connection solved the problem.

Thanks for input and ideas,

73

Sverre
LA3ZA
http://www.qslnet.de/la3za/
 

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[wayne burdick]

On Apr 5, 2006, at 2:34 PM, Sverre Holm wrote:

> Evidentally the K2 does not like a KIO2 input command at the same time
> as
> the PTT is keyed, but removing the PTT connection solved the problem.

Thanks for the update, Sverre.

Some commands are not allowed in transmit mode, as specified in detail
in the KIO2 Programmer's manual. If such a command is detected, the K2
will return "?", which is compatible with the industry-standard version
of this ASCII protocol. (The K2 implements a superset.)

73,
Wayne
N6KR


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