[Elecraft] KIO2 with KUSB

Don Wilhelm w3fpr at embarqmail.com
Sat Jun 12 18:58:41 EDT 2010


Ed,

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you should *not* have plugged 
that or any other USB to serial cable directly into the K2.
You connected RS-232 level signal to pins on the K2 AUX I/O that are not 
intended to have RS-232 levels applied.  Only pins 2 and 3 can handle 
the RS-232 levels.  You must use the cable wired as described in the 
KIO2 manual, even if it is a short cable.
Depending on the serial number (and if older whether it has the A to B 
mods), damage may have been minimized.

You could *try* a Master Reset to see if that possibley does anything of 
value (but you will have to set up your filters, do CAL PLL and set up 
any other menu items since all will be restored to the default values if 
the reset succeeds.
To do the Master Reset, hold the 4, 5, and 6 buttons down as you power 
the K2 on.  Then power off and back on - if it was successful, you will 
see an info 201 message displayed  for a while before the frequency 
comes up to 7100.00

73,
Don W3FPR

Ed Lambert wrote:
> I built and installed the KIO2 about 6 or 7 years ago, successfully used it
> in one contest and then entered a period of relative inactivity where the
> KIO2 was not used.
>
>  
>
> During the recent CQ WPX, I realized that my old KIO2 - computer serial
> cable was relatively useless to me now because my current computers have
> USB, not serial connections. (And my original KIO2 serial cable has become
> lost.)
>
>  
>
> I purchased the KUSB and carefully installed the Elecraft recommended
> driver. The first problem I noticed was that when I plugged the KUSB into my
> computer (I tried this on two different computers) is that the New Hardware
> Wizard appears. (I wasn't expecting this; I thought that the installation
> was complete). So, the first time I ignored the wizard and tried to connect
> my K2. No good; the K2 is completely locked up. I cannot control it from the
> front panel nor can I control it from the computer.
>
>  
>
> So I uninstalled and reinstalled the driver and, this time did not ignore
> the Wizard. I manually selected the appropriate driver and tried again. I
> got the same result.
>
>  
>
> Has anybody seen a problem like this?
>
>  
>
> Full disclosure: my faithful dog, Chama, became entangled in the wire mess
> under my desk during the contest and dumped the K2 onto a concrete floor. I
> have noticed no changes in the radio's operation and have done some visual
> and electrical checks and found nothing wrong. That doesn't mean, however,
> that my KIO2 wasn't damaged somehow.
>
>  
>
> I welcome any ideas.
>
>  
>
> Ed Lambert
>
>   


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