[Elecraft] K3 - Steppir interfacing

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

> I made up a Y cable to interconnect K3, SteppIR controller and
> computer. Lots of Googling told me that the connections to SteppIR
> controller should be only DTR and Gnd, so I made sure that was how it
> was wired.
Your Google "sources" are nonsense.  The direct version of this e-mail
includes the schematic for the *STEPPIR* Y cable.


73,

    ... Joe, W4TV


On 2019-08-14 8:47 PM, Ray Albers wrote:
> So a couple of days ago I posted tale of woe, trying to get my newly
> acquired K3 to work with MixW - well, thanks to a few off line e-mails and
> some stumbling around, I got that working. Ditto, got N1MM+ working great.
> 
> Next - how to get the K3 to play with my SteppIR vertical antenna
> controller. Worked fine with my ICOM 746PRO, where I had both MixW and
> SteppIR autotracking working fine with the radio.
> 
> So:  My computer is a Windows XP thing that I bought specifically because
> it has an actual RS232 (9 pin) serial interface, so no need to struggle
> with a serial to USB adapter.  I made up a Y cable to interconnect K3,
> SteppIR controller and computer. Lots of Googling told me that the
> connections to SteppIR controller should be only DTR and Gnd, so I made
> sure that was how it was wired. Other posts point out that the CONFIG
> AutoInf should be set to Auto1 (one post said it should be set to Norm, so
> I tried it both ways). I even tried setting K3, SteppIR and computer to a
> slower data rate (9600) in case the 38k rate was too fast. No joy. Did the
> obvious newbie stuff like turning things on and off, plugging and
> unplugging cables - still NG.
> 
> As I said, my logging program and N1MM are working just fine (one at a
> time, of course), and I could live without having the SteppIR do
> autotracking as I change bands/frequencies, but dagnabbit!!! it's the
> principle of the thing!  I ought to be able to have everything working.
> 
> Any suggestions would be appreciated.
> 
> 73
> Ray K2HYD