[Elecraft] Connecting a KX2 to a Laptop

[ke1b at richseifert.com]

I am trying to connect a KX2 (which has a standard headphone output and microphone input on separate 3.5mm jacks) to a laptop that has an integrated (4 pin TRRS) microphone input and sound output. I have the adapter than converts the 4-pin 3.5 mm jack to two separate jacks, for a microphone input (to the laptop) and sound out (from the laptop). I connected those jacks to the corresponding jacks on the KX2, using stereo cables. This is the exact configuration as shown in Frank Cady’s KX2 book.

On transmit, everything works fine. I can key the radio from N1MM, send CW (via KY commands), and send digital data (e.g., FT8) to the radio and the radio transmits everything fine. All levels can be adjusted to perfection.

On receive, I’ve got nada. I can’t see any audio coming from the radio into the laptop. If I disconnect the external input, I can actually decode digital data with audio from the radio’s speaker, through the air, to the laptop’s internal microphone. Now, I can deal with the differences in levels, if necessary, but I’m not getting ANY audio from the radio to the laptop via the cabling. What am I missing? I’m hoping to make this work without lots of little adapter boxes, USB hubs, external codecs, etc. for very-portable operation.



Rich KE1B