[EIDXA] Homebrew Band Decoder

[Jason Joens]

When I picked up a pair of Dunestar 600 monoband filters at Dayton, I had to
come up with a way to control them. It's pretty simple though.  You send 12
volts to the box, and ground whichever pin is on the band you're on.  So
really you cound just do it with a rotary switch.  But I decided I wanted it
automated, and the FT-2000 Band Data port made that easy.

 

I took a PICAXE chip, and let it watch the band data jack, comparing the
combination of wires against a list, and it pulls one of its pins high to a
transistor.  The code is very short, and the schematic is pretty much a
piece of cake.  The band data jack provides 13.8 volts to power the whole
thing, so a 5 volt regulator will power the PICAXE chip, and the Band Data
pins themselves are already 5 volt logic, so they can be connected directly
to the chip.  I used an NTE2013 chip for the transistors.  It's a DIP
package that gives you 7 darlington pairs, which can pull the relays in the
filter nicely.  The entire thing posers off the radio itself, and it follows
the vfo beautifully. Here is the code for the picaxe..

 

`===========================================================`

`                                               Yaesu BCD Band Decoder
`

`                                               By Jason Joens KD0MND
`

`
`

`This program uses the band Data jack on the back of the             `

`radio to control a Dunestar 600 monoband filter. Port B                `

`connects to the Band Data jack, and port C controls a set             `

`of Darlington Pair transistors, which ground the correct                `

`relay insite the filter.
`

`
`

`NOTE 6, 12, 17, and 30 meters are present in this code, but`

`as the Dunestar 600 doesn't have filters for any of these             `

`bands, they turn off all outputs, bypassing the filter.     `

`===========================================================`

 

 

`==============================================INITIALIZATION

#picaxe 20x2

#no_table

 

let DirsB=%00000000 `Define all port B pins as Inputs

let DirsC=%00111111 `Define port C pins 0-5 as Outputs

 

start:`=================================================START

 

debug

 

if pinsb=%00001010 then goto band6

if pinsb=%00001001 then goto band10

if pinsb=%00001000 then goto band12

if pinsb=%00000111 then goto band15

if pinsb=%00000110 then goto band17

if pinsb=%00000101 then goto band20

if pinsb=%00000100 then goto band30

if pinsb=%00000011 then goto band40

if pinsb=%00000010 then goto band80

if pinsb=%00000001 then goto band160

let pinsc = %00000000

b0=0

goto start

 

 

 

 

 

`===============================================RELAY OUTPUTS

 

Band6:`--------------Not Equipped

b0=6

let pinsc = %00000000

goto start

 

Band10:

b0=10

let pinsc = %00100000

goto start

 

Band12:`-------------Not Equipped

b0=12

let pinsc = %00000000

Goto Start

 

Band15:

b0=15

let pinsc = %00010000

goto start

 

Band17:`-------------Not Equipped

b0=17

let pinsc = %00000000

Goto Start

 

Band20:

b0=20

let pinsc = %00001000

goto start

 

Band30:`-------------Not Equipped

b0=30

let pinsc = %00000000

Goto Start

 

band40:

b0=40

let pinsc = %00000100

goto start

 

band80:

b0=80

let pinsc = %00000010

goto start

 

band160:

b0=160

let pinsc = %00000001

goto start

 

 

 

Once I got to looking at this thing, I realize that it could also control an
Ameritron remote switchbox, like the RCS-8V or akin.  You would just have to
look at each band, and tell it which relay to fire.  No more forgetting to
manually switch to the correct antenna!  Anyways, it's about $10 in parts,
and it decodes Yaesu BCD Band Data and sinks relays.  Maybe someone here
will find that useful, as opposed to spending $x00 dollars on a Band
Decoder.

 

73

Jason

KD0MND