[Elecraft] KPA500 and KAT500 with Kenwood

[Dick Dievendorff]

Barry:

The KPA500 has a dedicated serial port for its PC connection and another
dedicated serial connector for connection to a Kenwood radio.

The KAT500 has one serial port, which is intended for connection to a PC.

The strategy we'd planned for the KAT500 is to band switch on Tx signal or
the BAND lines on the ACC connector, and the KAT500 does that automatically.


But as you point out, KPA500 performs band switch when it receives a serial
Kenwood command, and the KAT500 waits for a transmitted signal.

There are a couple of strategies:

I've heard of small microcontroller projects that listen to a Kenwood radio
serial connection and set the 4 BAND lines on the accessory connector to
band switch.

An alternative might be a microcontroller that has two serial ports, one
that accepts (or at least tolerates) the Kenwood command set, and another
serial port that emits the KAT500 command needed to change frequenices.

While RS-232 is not a "bus" system, you can sometimes Tee off a listener.

I did implement a KAT500 command that accepts FA with an 11-digit frequency,
down to the Hz, and when the KAT500 receives that command, it performs a
"memory recall tune" for that frequency.  This was done for a colleague who
is working on a Kenwood implementation. 

But we didn't design the KAT500 to accept the complete Kenwood command set.
If the Kenwood radio happens to send a command like "AN1;", the KAT500 will
switch antennas to its ANT1.

73 de Dick, K6KR




-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Barry Simpson
Sent: Saturday, March 30, 2013 1:36 PM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Elecraft] KPA500 and KAT500 with Kenwood

Good morning

I have been using my TS590 with the serial cable connected to the KPA500 and
that works nicely to change bands automatically once set up in the menu.

The KPA500 is also connected to my KAT500 using the K3 cables (they are
simply left in place and the K3 is switched off when using the TS590).

However, with the TS590, the KAT500 does not change bands as the KPA500
does, other than with RF sensing. So I have the situation where the KPA500
does change bands with the TS590 but the KAT500 doesn't.

Does anyone know if there is a way to implement auto band change on the
KAT500 with Kenwood equipment so that it changes at the same time as the
KPA500 ?

I await any responses with interest.

Thanks and 73


Barry Simpson  VK2BJ
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