[Elecraft] Re: Favorite K2 Remote Program? (g4ilo@qsl.net)

[Charles Greene]

Julian and All,

Referring to VHF repeater control.  This is what a well designed repeater 
control system would have.  Some of this may apply to the control of a HF 
rig on remote.

A separate control link is provided different from the normal control link 
that operators use in accessing the repeater, that the control operator can 
use to access the repeater controller and shut it down if necessary.  We 
first used a telephone line and control was done by the use of touch tones 
that the repeater controller responded to.   As the telephone line had to 
be dedicated and was expensive, we replaced it with a UHF receiver that the 
control operator could access with a UHF transmitter and touch tone pad.

The hardware also had a count down timer that turned the transmitter off it 
it got stuck in transmit or if some operator held it in transmit too 
long.  It would reset after about a 30 seconds, and it would restore the 
repeater to use without control operator intervention.

Back to the K2 remote, you could have a fail safe relay that if the 
computer did not periodically reset it , would open killing power to the 
transmitter.  The control hardware should provide for that.  A count down 
timer that started when the transmitter went on and shutdown the 
transmitter after a period of time like the VHF repeater would also 
work.   With the VHF repeater we always had to worry about some person with 
a grudge or maybe just to see it he could do it, holding the transmitter in 
transmit.  You could get around this by the use of a password, and only 
give the password to persons that you trusted.  With one of these 
safeguards, I don't see a need for a separate control link.

At 02:01 PM 4/29/2005, Julian, G4ILO wrote:
>When people first contacted me about using K2Net to access their radios 
>over the net, I got a bit scared. Computers can crash. Software can crash. 
>What do you do if your K2 is stuck in key down at 100W due to some 
>malfunction and you're 40 miles away?
>
>Although my software could technically be used to operate the radio from 
>miles away I really wrote it originally so I could use my K2 from the 
>garden via my wireless network on one of our all-too-few sunny days. I 
>later added password protection for open access, because I thought that 
>some K2 owners might put their radios online for others to access, just 
>for fun or to hear what the bands sound like from another part of the 
>world. That's why the program has an RX-only mode. You can allow TX too, 
>but I wouldn't personally advise anyone to use it unless there is someone 
>present in the shack.

73,  Chas,  W1CG