[Elecraft] K2 KIO2 - Serial to USB

[Guy Olinger K2AV]

George,

Just in case it isn't quite clear.

   DO THE SPECIAL CABLE

The special cable is what makes the DB9 jack safe to connect to any of the
RS232 stuff, including the USB to serial adapter.  The special cable, a "Y"
cable, puts the three "safe" RS232 leads on one side of the Y and the
"dangerous" Elecraft proprietary K2 internal voltages on the other side.

If you have no external need for the proprietary voltages, you can just do
the RS232 half of the Y to hook up serial stuff.

There are useful variants of this You can do, such as the RS232 half of the
Y only, with a mini tip ring sleeve stereo plug on the non K2 end. This
with a "bundled" key lead hooks up the K2 to my bitty MicroHam CW Keyer for
portable QRP contest operations. The CW Keyer then connects to my laptop
with a USB cable, adding all the useful Winkey functions.

Good luck and
73, Guy K2AV

On Thursday, August 27, 2015, Don Wilhelm <w3fpr at embarqmail.com> wrote:

> George,
>
> Do not plug the USB to serial adapter directly into the K2 AUX I/O
> connector, plug the adapter into the special cable made to connect to a
> computer serial port.
> The AUX I/O connector contains some non-RS232 signals that are used to
> control external Elecraft devices (KAT100, KRC2, XV series transverters)
> and those signal lines will not withstand RS-232 levels - in other words,
> you can damage the K2.
>
> USB to serial adapters differ, even those with the FTDI chip.  Some do not
> like to run at the slow 4800 baud rate of the K2.  If one does not work
> well, try another brand.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> On 8/27/2015 9:27 AM, George Rebong wrote:
>
>> My K2 has KIO2 RS232. Most of the computers now does not have the RS232
>> DB9
>> port. I wonder if I could use a FTDI serial to USB
>> cable to connect my K2.
>>
>> 73
>>
>
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