Elecraft

[KAT500] Looking for a microcontroller project that reads transceiver serial frequency messages and outputs BCD bands

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Dick Dievendorff

[KAT500] Looking for a microcontroller project that reads transceiver serial frequency messages and outputs BCD bands

I vaguely recall seeing an e-mail over the last few months describing a
small microcontroller project that reads Kenwood RS-232 frequency messages
and outputs the four Elecraft / Unified Microsystems / Yaesu TTL level band
lines (sometimes described as a "BCD" encoding) described as BAND0 thru
BAND3 in the K3 Owner's manual description of the ACC connector.

We have a query from a Kenwood transceiver owner that would like to supply
band information to his KAT500 from his Kenwood radio so that the ATU tracks
band changes without requiring transmission.

I believe that a commercial band decoder (very likely one of microHAM's
units) might do this as well.

Can someone help me find the URL of that project description? I recall it
was a UK ham, but my memory is a bit fuzzy.

73 de Dick, K6KR

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Iain MacDonnell - N6ML-2

Re: [KAT500] Looking for a microcontroller project that reads transceiver serial frequency messages and outputs BCD bands

You may be thinking of this:

http://www.geekshed.co.uk/icom-ci-v-or-band-data-to-yaesu-bcd-band-data-converter/

but it doesn't solve the Kenwood problem.

I think the KRC2 *may* be able to output BCD representing band data
gleaned from Kenwood serial traffic, but I'm not sure. W6FB would
know, of course.....

73,

~iain / N6ML

On Mon, Dec 31, 2012 at 12:41 PM, Dick Dievendorff <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I vaguely recall seeing an e-mail over the last few months describing a
> small microcontroller project that reads Kenwood RS-232 frequency messages
> and outputs the four Elecraft / Unified Microsystems / Yaesu TTL level band
> lines (sometimes described as a "BCD" encoding) described as BAND0 thru
> BAND3 in the K3 Owner's manual description of the ACC connector.
>
>
>
> We have a query from a Kenwood transceiver owner that would like to supply
> band information to his KAT500 from his Kenwood radio so that the ATU tracks
> band changes without requiring transmission.
>
>
>
> I believe that a commercial band decoder (very likely one of microHAM's
> units) might do this as well.
>
>
>
> Can someone help me find the URL of that project description? I recall it
> was a UK ham, but my memory is a bit fuzzy.
>
>
>
> 73 de Dick, K6KR
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

Dick Dievendorff

Re: [KAT500] Looking for a microcontroller project that reads transceiver serial frequency messages and outputs BCD bands

Thanks, Iain. This is the project I remembered, but as sometimes happens as
I age, some of the details were wrong.

A similar project might be used to decode the serial data stream from any
number of transceivers, perhaps with the addition of an RS-232 level
shifter.

And of course a small microcontroller with two serial ports might be used to
read frequency information from most any CAT-enabled transceiver (using
RS-232 or CI-V messages) and send KAT500 serial messages to perform "memory
tune" operations to the bin boundary without requiring transmission.

It's amazing what a $5 microcontroller or $30-35 Arduino, Chip-Kit,
Raspberry Pi or a $13 "Stellaris Launchpad" evaluation board can do these
days!

73 de Dick, K6KR

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of iain
macdonnell - N6ML
Sent: Monday, December 31, 2012 1:03 PM
To: Dick Dievendorff
Cc: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [KAT500] Looking for a microcontroller project that
reads transceiver serial frequency messages and outputs BCD bands

You may be thinking of this:

http://www.geekshed.co.uk/icom-ci-v-or-band-data-to-yaesu-bcd-band-data-conv
erter/

but it doesn't solve the Kenwood problem.

I think the KRC2 *may* be able to output BCD representing band data gleaned
from Kenwood serial traffic, but I'm not sure. W6FB would know, of
course.....

73,

~iain / N6ML

On Mon, Dec 31, 2012 at 12:41 PM, Dick Dievendorff <[hidden email]>
wrote:

> I vaguely recall seeing an e-mail over the last few months describing
> a small microcontroller project that reads Kenwood RS-232 frequency
> messages and outputs the four Elecraft / Unified Microsystems / Yaesu
> TTL level band lines (sometimes described as a "BCD" encoding)
> described as BAND0 thru
> BAND3 in the K3 Owner's manual description of the ACC connector.
>
>
>
> We have a query from a Kenwood transceiver owner that would like to
> supply band information to his KAT500 from his Kenwood radio so that
> the ATU tracks band changes without requiring transmission.
>
>
>
> I believe that a commercial band decoder (very likely one of
> microHAM's
> units) might do this as well.
>
>
>
> Can someone help me find the URL of that project description? I
> recall it was a UK ham, but my memory is a bit fuzzy.
>
>
>
> 73 de Dick, K6KR
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email
> list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

Jack Brindle-2

Re: [KAT500] Looking for a microcontroller project that reads transceiver serial frequency messages and outputs BCD bands

In reply to this post by Iain MacDonnell - N6ML-2

As usual, Iain is correct. The KRC2 normally outputs standard BCD (check the KRC2 manual for details) for the band that is currently selected. The serial input selection does read Kenwood/Elecraft serial data, outputting it to the decoder terminals as well as the BCD terminals. It should work quite well in this application.

73!

Jack B, W6FB

On Dec 31, 2012, at 1:02 PM, iain macdonnell - N6ML <[hidden email]> wrote:

> You may be thinking of this:
>
> http://www.geekshed.co.uk/icom-ci-v-or-band-data-to-yaesu-bcd-band-data-converter/
>
> but it doesn't solve the Kenwood problem.
>
> I think the KRC2 *may* be able to output BCD representing band data
> gleaned from Kenwood serial traffic, but I'm not sure. W6FB would
> know, of course.....
>
> 73,
>
> ~iain / N6ML
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 31, 2012 at 12:41 PM, Dick Dievendorff <[hidden email]> wrote:
>> I vaguely recall seeing an e-mail over the last few months describing a
>> small microcontroller project that reads Kenwood RS-232 frequency messages
>> and outputs the four Elecraft / Unified Microsystems / Yaesu TTL level band
>> lines (sometimes described as a "BCD" encoding) described as BAND0 thru
>> BAND3 in the K3 Owner's manual description of the ACC connector.
>>
>>
>>
>> We have a query from a Kenwood transceiver owner that would like to supply
>> band information to his KAT500 from his Kenwood radio so that the ATU tracks
>> band changes without requiring transmission.
>>
>>
>>
>> I believe that a commercial band decoder (very likely one of microHAM's
>> units) might do this as well.
>>
>>
>>
>> Can someone help me find the URL of that project description? I recall it
>> was a UK ham, but my memory is a bit fuzzy.
>>
>>
>>
>> 73 de Dick, K6KR
>>
>>
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> Elecraft mailing list
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>>
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

Joe Subich, W4TV-4

Re: [KAT500] Looking for a microcontroller project that reads transceiver serial frequency messages and outputs BCD bands

In reply to this post by Dick Dievendorff

Dick,

> I believe that a commercial band decoder (very likely one of
> microHAM's units) might do this as well.

Of course it will <G>.

Station Master can be used either by programming one of the antenna
switch ports to generate BCD or by using the amplifier control port
as if one were driving the KPA500/FL-7000/Quadra.

73,

... Joe, W4TV

On 12/31/2012 3:41 PM, Dick Dievendorff wrote:

Dick Dievendorff

Re: [KAT500] Looking for a microcontroller project that reads transceiver serial frequency messages and outputs BCD bands

And I'm embarrassed to have had to be informed that our own KRC2 will
perform a similar function.

But what I was really looking for was the under $20 PIC project URL that
N6ML found for me.

And it might even be easier to do with a PIC that has two serial ports, one
speaking Kenwood (or ICOM CI-V, or Elecraft K3), the other speaking KAT500.
Maybe a couple of level shifters.

73 & Happy New Year, Joe!

Dick

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Joe Subich, W4TV
Sent: Monday, December 31, 2012 2:54 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [KAT500] Looking for a microcontroller project that
reads transceiver serial frequency messages and outputs BCD bands

Dick,

> I believe that a commercial band decoder (very likely one of
> microHAM's units) might do this as well.

Of course it will <G>.

Station Master can be used either by programming one of the antenna switch
ports to generate BCD or by using the amplifier control port as if one were
driving the KPA500/FL-7000/Quadra.

73,

... Joe, W4TV

On 12/31/2012 3:41 PM, Dick Dievendorff wrote:

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______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
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Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:[hidden email]

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
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