[Elecraft] Product suggestion

Tue Feb 5 12:44:57 2002

Well, you're going to need band and antenna info too. I guess they could =
put a band switch on the In-Shack box, and the 9-volt supply, and light =
it up for either a "Band" button or a "Tune" button. The 9 volt would =
come up (to tell the tuner's uProc to wake up, and then a band and =
(possible) tune command would flow on the power line. If the tuner is =
powered by a medium capacitor, the +9 line (and rf - it's the center =
conductor of the Coax) can have zero volt pulses to trigger. So the =
sequence would be:

Press TUNE button:

  In-shack:
    Bring 9v up
    ...pause...
    send TUNE command.
    ...pause...
    drop power.

  On Tuner:
    Wake up, charge capacitor
    decode TUNE command
    Find a match, save on the "Last-Used" band.
    ...pause...
    drop power.

Press a Band button:

  In-shack:
    Bring 9v up
    ...pause...
    send BAND command.
    ...pause...
    drop power.

  On Tuner:
    Wake up, charge capacitor
    decode BAND command
    Set relays to last match on the new Band
    Save "Last-Used" band.

Press an Antenna button:

  In-shack:
    Bring 9v up
    ...pause...
    send ANTENNA command.
    ...pause...
    drop power.

  On Tuner:
    Wake up, charge capacitor
    decode ANT command
    Switch to desired Antenna
    Find a match, save on the "Last-Used" band.

So to tune a new Freq, you press:

  Band
  Tune
  Key rig
  Wait til ref power needle quits jiggling
  Unkey rig.

To Use a new band, you press:

  Band x.

To Use a different Antenna, you press:

  Ant x.

To do a combination, do Ant first, then Band, then (if necessary) Tune.

The box will need beeps or memory to buffer commands entered too close =
together. The TUNE function may need to be sent before the rig is keyed =
(shouldn't matter, but I'm no RF engineer).

Commands:

  A command is a coded by cycling of the power. Power is +9 DC on the =
coax center conductor.

A zero pulse (.2ms wide, .4 ms rate: +-4800 baud) is the 9 volt going to =
zero and is listed below as a binary 0. A one pulse is deduced from =
timing, as the 9 volts stays at +9, and is listed below as a binary 1.

  0010 for framing.=20
       No other command contains this string.=20
       Any command not beginning with 1101 will be ignored.
  1111 Antenna 0
  1110 Antenna 2
  1101 Tune
  1100 160 M
  1011  80 M
  1010  40 M
  1001  30 M
  1000  20 M
  0111  17 M
  0110  15 M
  0011  12 M *
  0001  10 M *

  xx   Parity.
       Any received command not matching the computed parity is ignored.

* Codes 0100 and 0101 are not used as the final bit of the framing plus =
the first 3 bits of these codes is 0010, which is not to be used. 0010 =
likewise is not available. The only other code (for a purpose I've not =
imagined) is 0000. Of course, there may be no need for this much error =
checking in a 10-bit data stream, but there's RF loose out there!

Of course, if a K2's in the shack, just code it up like AUX Bus =
(whatever scheme that is).=20

Dan / WG4S / K2 #2456

btw: I run ladder line from the shack. Way easier, cheaper and more =
efficient!
 =20
 =20

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 11:44 AM
To: Elecraft
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Product suggestion

My thought was that this would not be a simple repackaging of the =
existing tuner, but a new tuner that would work with any rig. Internal =
9-volt battery and only an RF connection to the radio (no aux buss). =
Perhaps a remote "tune" button so you can start the tune process without =
having to use battery power all the time to sense the presence of RF. =
Perhaps the remote "tune" button could connect via the RF cable so it is =
not necessary to run a seperate cable. The box with the "tune" button =
would connect between the tuner and the radio.

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