[Elecraft] K2 Firmware: Details on new transverter features

[Wayne Burdick]

PhilipTheis wrote:

> Could someone please elaborate on:
> 
> "Multiple Bands per Transverter: new "ADR" field in TRNx menu 
> entries allows multiple bands to select the same XV-series transverter"

Sure, Phil. I've provided more details on all of the new transverter features below.

73,
Wayne
N6KR

* * *

More Transverter Bands

There are now 6 fully-independent transverter band displays (originally 3). To
set them up, the TRN1-TRN3 menu entries become TRN4-TRN6 by tapping ANT1/2. Any
of the six bands can be enabled/disabled. Those which are enabled appear in the
band list along with the HF bands.

Multiple Bands per Transverter

Whenever you switch to a transverter band on the K2, a transverter "physical
address" is sent on the auxBus. Elecraft's XV-Series transverters each have a
DIP switch that allows you to specify which address it should respond to. When
it sees its address, it turns on. All other transverters with different
addresses turn off. Older K2 firmware maintained a fixed relationship between
transverter bands (TRN1/2/3) and addresses (1/2/3), which didn't provide much flexibility.

Then an XV-Series owner asked if there might be a way to have more than one
displayed band select the same transverter. He suggested that this would be
especially useful with the XV144 (our 2-m transverter), which is often used as
an I.F. for multiple microwave bands.

Since we were already planning to increase the number of transverter bands to 6,
we decided to allow the operator to specify which auxBus address to send out --
from 1 to 7 -- for each band. This is the purpose of the new ADR (address) field
of the TRN1-TRN6 menu entries. You could in theory have up to 6 bands all
enabling a single transverter, or you do a mix. You could have multiple XV144s,
each being used as the I.F. for one or more different higher bands. 

The K60XV low-level transverter interface also provides 3 logic outputs that
could be used to decode the ADR value and activate relays on other transverters
besides our XV series. Our KRC2 universal band decoder also provides three
outputs for this purpose, but rather than just logic outputs, it provides high-
and low-side relay drivers. The K60XV or KRC2 user could externally decode the 3
binary outputs, or just use TRN1, 2, and 4 only, providing a set of three
mutually-exclusive enables (if only 3 bands were needed).

Low-Power Transverter I/O

The TRNx menu entry's OUT parameter now has a dual range: L.01-L1.27
(milliwatts) and H0.1-H12.7 (Watts). In both cases these are upper limits, and
the POWER knob can be used to go down from there. Low-power (.01-1.27 mW) are
only available if the K60XV option is installed. The low-power TUNE display
shows, for example, P1.00 LP, where 1.00 is the power in mW and LP indicates
that the low-power output on the K60XV is selected (high-power path disabled).
Full-scale on the bargraph is 1.0 mW in low-power mode, and still 10 watts in
high-power mode.

100's of MHz Digit Always Displayed (Transverter Bands)

If you select 10 Hz VFO steps on a transverter band whose RF parameter is set
for 100 MHz or higher, the 10-Hz digit is only shown for 1 second, then the
display shifts to the right. This allows the hundreds of MHz digit to always be displayed.

73,
Wayne
N6KR

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