[Elecraft] Bluetooth and Elecraft Rig Serial Comms

Sat Apr 13 05:12:31 EDT 2013

Phil,

if you know how to tell the hot from the cold end of a soldering iron you 
can build one yourself. I already described it in the German FUNKAMATEUR 
magazine back in 2011 and FUNKAMATEUR is also selling a kit. It plugs 
directly onto the RS-232 port of the K3 (power taken from the RCA connector) 
but of course can also be put into a small plastic enclosure and wired 
externally. Works like a charm with my KX3, too! K(X)3 utility works with 
it, too, of course. ;-)

Sorrily I did not find the time yet to put it in English on my website 
(http://www.dh8bqa.de/). Hope to be able to do it this summer, there are a 
lot of projects developed and built and a few of them published, too, that 
are not up there yet ... time, time, time. ;-)

Concerning the OS: There are no dependencies to the OS from the BT adapter 
itself! As soon as you detect it from your PC, MAC, etc. the OS will install 
a virtual COM port that can be used then. Drivers are normally included in 
the OS yourself or the BT adapter software on the PC side. This way I am 
doing real wireless contesting using N1MM and the K3 internal voicekeyer 
started through CAT commands, no wires between notebook and radio. :-) A few 
DXpeditioner's I know already switch over to the BT adapter, too, after they 
experiences trouble with USB interfaces during their expeditions in the 
middle of nowhere. They are happy campers now. :-)

Besides the radio side you can also use it on the PC end if the latter does 
not incorporated a BT module yet. A BT USB-adapter is another choice there, 
too.

You can find it in FUNKAMATEUR's German webshop at 
http://www.box73.de/product_info.php?products_id=2384 SMDs are all 
premounted so not really much to do yourself. For the kit building manual 
take a look here: http://www.box73.de/download/bausaetze/Baumappe_BX-132.pdf 
(the pictures should be good enough to give you an idea about it all).

Sorrily it's only in German right now but at least for the webshop Google 
translator should help. For the moment it is not in their special US webshop 
yet that you can find at http://www.box73.com/ If there is enough interest 
from oversea's buyers I am sure they could/would include it there as well. 
But you can also buy from the original German shop, of course. ;-)

Vy 73 & have fun, Olli - DH8BQA
K3, KPA500, KAT500, KX3, etc.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Hystad" <phystad at mac.com>
To: <don at w3fpr.com>
Cc: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, April 13, 2013 2:23 AM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Bluetooth and Elecraft Rig Serial Comms

> Don,
>
> I may try it but I was hoping someone had done some work to thin the field 
> a bit.  There are a number of different RS232/Bluetooth devices with a 
> very wide price range from my brief googling.  Wide is $25 to $150. 
> Actually, only one I found at $150 and most seem to be in the $45 to $75 
> range.
>
> I am also preferring Mac versions and most of what I find seem to offer on 
> Windows (not surprising) but a few on Linux and Mac but again I am 
> wondering if anyone else has experience.
>
> 73, phil, K7PEH
>
>
> On Apr 12, 2013, at 3:30 PM, Don Wilhelm <w3fpr at embarqmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Phil,
>>
>> Why do you not try it and report the results?  If the bluetooth 
>> connection is good and the bluetooth to RS-232 adapter is of good 
>> quality, it should work just fine.
>> I have not tried it, but in theory it should work.  The only caution that 
>> I can state is that the quality of some consumer devices is wanting for 
>> something more robust.  Find one that is sufficiently robust and it 
>> should work.
>>
>> Unfortunately, many PC type devices do not conform to true RS-232 levels 
>> and speeds, and will work with some devices over short distances, but 
>> fail on other devices that expect the minimum RS-232 switching voltages. 
>> Others do not work at slow speeds - note the reports of USB to RS-232 
>> adapter failures on this reflector - some work, and others do not, 
>> particularly with the slower data rate used by the K2.  Adapters designed 
>> for industrial applications will likely work, but some of those offered 
>> for the consumer market may present problems.  My Edgeport-4 will handle 
>> anything I have connected to it so far, but a garden variety Prolific 
>> adapter is very picky and fails at slow data rates.
>>
>> 73,
>> Don W3FPR
>>
>> On 4/12/2013 6:09 PM, Phil Hystad wrote:
>>> Has anyone used a Bluetooth to RS232 Serial adapter, such as the dongle 
>>> style that could plug into a 9-pin connector (but, it does not have to 
>>> be dongle style).
>>>
>>> This would be instead of using a Serial to USB adapter.  I think, though 
>>> I am not positive, that such devices come with driver to define 
>>> additional serial COM ports.  I was wondering if such a configuration 
>>> would work with the Elecraft utility programs.
>>>
>>>
>>
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