K3 Remote question

[Tom Georgens]

Hello

 

I am contemplating building some remote capability for my station.  I am
early in the process and want to do some basic testing.  Can I just connect
two K3 radios with a Null Modem serial cable or do I actually need the
RemoteRig hardware to make the remote functionality work?  It looks like my
setup is the opposite of the design intent of the RemoteRig and I am
interested in seeing how  the radios behave before I move to the design
phase

 

Thanks and 73

 

Tom W2SC

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[Carl AB1DD]

Tom,

A long hold of the menu button will put the K3 into terminal mode, then one can control another with an RS232 cable.



Carl
AB1DD


________________________________
From: [hidden email] <[hidden email]> on behalf of Tom Georgens <[hidden email]>
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2018 12:53 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] K3 Remote question

Hello



I am contemplating building some remote capability for my station.  I am
early in the process and want to do some basic testing.  Can I just connect
two K3 radios with a Null Modem serial cable or do I actually need the
RemoteRig hardware to make the remote functionality work?  It looks like my
setup is the opposite of the design intent of the RemoteRig and I am
interested in seeing how  the radios behave before I move to the design
phase



Thanks and 73



Tom W2SC

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[k6dgw]

Tom:  The K3 [with latest or almost latest FW] has a TERM mode.  A long
hold on the MENU button will engage it. The K3/0 and K3/0 mini are in
TERM mode all the time.  In TERM mode, two K3's can be used for remote
control by connecting the RS-232 serial ports via a null modem cable. 
Getting it onto the Internet is a bit harder. [:-)

The RemoteRig RRC-1258 MK2 creates 4 virtual COM ports when it's USB
port is connected to the PC.  Conceptually, they provide 4 "serial
pipes" to the remote location.  The RRC puts the control K3 into TERM
mode when it detects power on and transmits commands to the remote K3
and receives status.  With only a couple of exceptions, the control K3
looks and feels just like it is making RF, only in TERM mode it isn't.

Typically, the "serial pipes" are also used for CAT control of the
remote radio from a logger and station automation [antenna switches,
rotator control].  The RRC contains a WinKey USB [not sure if it's a
real one or an emulation] to which you can direct ASCII character
strings from a logger.

The RRC will operate with a multitude of radios.  It is thus somewhat
tricky to get configured.  The remote radio site needs a routeable IP
address [i.e. static].  Beware when buying the RRC's ... the control and
remote ends are NOT the same, however they are both RRC-1258 MK2's.  The
control end has a CW speed pot on the front, the Remote end does not.

The external connections between RRC and control radio's differ some
between K3, K3s, K3/0, and K3/0 mini.  The system works well, just be
aware that there are a lot of "moving parts" in remote operation. 
Single user systems are much easier to keep working than multi-user systems.

73,

Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County


On 3/15/2018 9:53 AM, Tom Georgens wrote:

> Hello
>
>  
>
> I am contemplating building some remote capability for my station.  I am
> early in the process and want to do some basic testing.  Can I just connect
> two K3 radios with a Null Modem serial cable or do I actually need the
> RemoteRig hardware to make the remote functionality work?  It looks like my
> setup is the opposite of the design intent of the RemoteRig and I am
> interested in seeing how  the radios behave before I move to the design
> phase
>
>  
>
> Thanks and 73
>
>  
>
> Tom W2SC
>
>

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[Rick Tavan-2]

Just one addendum to Fred's good advice: You can (I do) use a dynamic IP
address (i.e. not static). MicroBit (the makers of remoterig) operate a
dynamic domain name server that can re-map your radio site on the Internet
when its IP address changes. I don't recall the details of getting started,
but once you follow the directions, you end up with an 8-character coded
string that you enter into the remote rig controller (RRC) pages. From then
on, the radio RRC keeps the DDNS server apprised of its current, dynamic,
IP address so the control RRC will always find the radio RRC. I've also
used the same facility to address other, unrelated devices at my radio site
as <string>.ddns.remoterig.com:<port number>. It's slick!

73,

/Rick N6XI

--


Rick Tavan
Truckee, CA

On Fri, Mar 16, 2018 at 11:10 AM, Fred Jensen <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> The RRC will operate with a multitude of radios.  It is thus somewhat
> tricky to get configured.  The remote radio site needs a routeable IP
> address [i.e. static].  Beware when buying the RRC's ... the control and
> remote ends are NOT the same, however they are both RRC-1258 MK2's.  The
> control end has a CW speed pot on the front, the Remote end does not.
>
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