Messages

31

General discussion forum / Fun in Dayton and some feature requests :)

« on: 2012-06-28, 05:56:58 »

Hello group,

I wanted to share some pics from Dayton this year. I had the honor of meeting SM2O and DJ0QN at the Crowne Plaza with a couple a cold ones



SM20 and WW2DX

We actually setup a K3/0 in a empty banquet hall adjacent to the party running over a AT&T 4G LTE card and had a blast operating the W2RE.com contest station all night

Guys operating the remoterig setup, good times!




K3WW running Russians on 20m CW. You can see the 4G LTE card on the table to the right.



OK, so been a busy bee and have some feature requests that I would like put out there for consideration.

1. Enable the power LED to send in morse code the last octet of the IP address if DHCP and/or use the built in CW keyer to send the tones.
    Longer stretch : On the K3/0, the ability for the RRC to generate the CAT commands and send the IP address to the K3's CW Decode display.

2. Move the "Profiles" out of the password restricted area of the menu system. Pretty please with sugar on top.

3. Ability to export EVERYTHING in the RRC config. We have multiple profiles and need to be able to import/export these in the bin files.

4. Possible to sample the serial data passing through the RRC and post radio band/mode/freq in the RRC webpage.

5. Enable the dyndns utility in the LOCAL RRC firmware. Yes, would like to be able to get to the local side as well as the remote side.

6. With the K3/0, use the keyer speed control on the K3 to control the speed control in the RRC keyer.

7. Embed the RRC into the K3/0. Would like to see just a 12v power source and a wifi antenna, thats it.

8. Get the wireless adapter manufacturer to put a fire under it

I hope I embedded the pics correctly.

Thanks guys, 73!

Lee
WW2DX

32

Configuration of Routers, Firewalls, etc / Re: Cannot Reach Radio-RRC

« on: 2012-06-18, 18:34:05 »

Yep, makes perfect sense. Think of it as having two netgear routers "daisy chained" and the first one is not allowing your ports to be forwarded. Since you have your own Netgear device then just have the provider switch their device into bridge mode. Your goal is to make their device invisible to your Netgear router looking at the internet.

Hope this helps.

Lee
WW2DX

33

Configuration of Routers, Firewalls, etc / Re: Cannot Reach Radio-RRC

« on: 2012-06-18, 16:20:38 »

Good Morning,

What seems to be happening is your DSL moden is doing NAT for you already. What you really want to do is call your DSL provider and ask them how to configure your DSL modem to be in "Bridge Mode". This will pass the public IP to your Netgear router. The other option is to see if you can log into your DSL modem and then configure the ports to be forwarded to your netgear router, but you are just adding another layer of complexity and you start jumping through hoops.

Let me know if you make progress here.

73, Cheers!

Lee
WW2DX

34

Configuration, RRC 1258 / Re: K3 Twins - Initial Feedback

« on: 2012-04-25, 00:26:11 »

Hi Mike,

We will chat in Dayton.

I owe you at least 1 beer

73 Lee
WW2DX

35

Configuration, RRC 1258 / Re: K3 Twins - Initial Feedback

« on: 2012-03-28, 14:53:30 »

OK making some progress!

I was able to get CW working as Mike pointed out I needed out2 selected for keyer in the IO settings on the RADIO RRC.

For the audio to work I messed around trying to get my PR-781 to work but not much luck yet, as soon as I plugged in a crummy MFJ hand mic it all just worked so maybe I need to sniff out the pinouts.

Here is a question, how does one set the CW DVR memories remotely? When I try to set them the K3 does not "see" the CW being generated.

Also, is there a "feature request" list someplace or a bug tracker?

73!

Lee
WW2DX
 

36

Hardware, Cabling, Installations / Re: K3 Twins + Expert Amp + Band Decoder + Steppir ..O my...

« on: 2012-03-22, 17:11:02 »

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the quick replies!

Let me soak this in a little.

One thing to note is that we will not have a band decoder and steppir at the same site. I have not purchased a decoder yet so I will take a look at Microham's now and see if I benefit from that over the ArraySolutions.

More to follow.

73 Lee
WW2DX

37

Hardware, Cabling, Installations / K3 Twins + Expert Amp + Band Decoder + Steppir ..O my...

« on: 2012-03-22, 16:37:55 »

Hello Group,

I hope someone can help with some configuration questions. We are in the process of remoting two stations. I have some questions about how to wire up the com ports between multiple devices and making them play well together.
Both stations will be setup in "Twin Mode".

Station 1:

Elecraft K3 + RRC + Steppir + Expert Amp

I assume that I will need a Y cable coming out of the K3 , one side goes to the COM port on the RRC and the other side to the DATA IN on the Steppir Controller then DATA OUT to the expert Amps CAT IN.

Sound right?

Station 2:

Elecraft K3 + RRC + Expert Amp + Array Solutions Band Decoder

Not sure about this one. I figure another Y cable out of the K3, one side to the RRC. I may need to place another Y cable on the Band Decoder then one side of the Y cable on the Band Decoder to the 2nd side of the Y cable off of the K3 and the last connection hanging off of the Band Decoder to the Expert CAT IN?

Seems a little scary with Y cables, collisions?

Thanks, 73!

Lee
WW2DX

38

Configuration, RRC 1258 / Re: K3 Twins - Initial Feedback

« on: 2012-01-28, 01:27:58 »

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the quick reply.

Hi

First don't tyy to use the local K3 for anything else then controlling the remote, at least until everything is working.

I have both of the K3's working correctly in the Twin mode. The control radio perfectly matches the remote K3 and all is well there. If I power off the local K3 the remote K3 powers off as well, same for powering on. So I feel I have this part of the process working.

Do not use the terminal button, The RRC will take the controlling K3 into the right mode automatically.

What/where is the "Terminal Button"? Yes the remote control seems to be working fine.

The local K3 will never transmit there is no way it could and you do not need any dummys.

Wow! OK I must have read something somewhere about using a dummy load on the local side, maybe with the Yeasu twins? Good to know.

 Of course I asume you have connected the paddles and the microphone to the RRC not to the controlling K3.

Yes, this is correct, paddle and mic connected to the RRC and NOT the local K3.

You must remove power from the RRC if you later want to use the local K3.

OK, maybe possible to get this in a feature request list? Would be perfect if it "Acted" like the 706 heads, power off the head and the RRC disconnects.


 Start from that and lets see.

If its easier, I can make a movie and upload to youtube.

73 Lee
WW2DX


73 de mike

39

Configuration, RRC 1258 / K3 Twins - Initial Feedback

« on: 2012-01-27, 22:42:17 »

Hello Group,

Just setup the K3 twins and my initial response after holding down the Config key on the Control side was....WOW

Things are looking great but I have a few questions and I have experienced some unexpected behaviors.

CW/SSB problems:

1. CW is not working yet.
     When in CW mode, I start sending CW with the paddle, both radio's go into TX but no CW is sent. What is really strange is if I place the K3 into "Data" mode then the paddle sends CW perfectly.

2. Microphone is not passing audio.
     I have an adapter that I use for the front mic connector that goes from the 8 pin mic connector to a 1/4" PTT(not used) and a 1/8" Audio. When this adapter is plugged directly into the front panel on the K3 the audio works fine. When I plug into the RRC there is no audio passed to the remote K3.



I followed the settings in the manual for the K3 twins for the RRC configs.





Unexpected Behaviors:

1. The local K3 uses ANT1 connected to a dummyload when used in Twins mode. ANT2 is used for the local station amp/tower/antennas etc. This is very nice to be able to switch between local antennas and "remote" antennas.
     
        a. Perhaps its possible to simply not TX real RF on the Control side via Firmware?
 
        b. When the Control side K3 is NOT in TWIN mode, and the Control K3 is powered off, the remote (Radio)  K3 still powers off.
Ideally, when the control K3 is taken OUT of TWIN mode I would expect the RRC to be completely invisible. When the Control K3 is taken out of Twin mode, you still hear the Radio K3's audio.  Better yet, I would love to see the connection between the two RRC terminated all together. When the Config button is held down and the Control K3 enters Twin mode, the RRC's would attempt the connection. We will be using this in a situation where multiple users will be connecting to the Radio K3 at a mountain top QTH at different times.

I am running latest Elecraft firmware MCU 4.47 on both K3's .

RRC-Control:

Info

Name   Value
Company   Microbit
Product   1258
PID   4
Hardware   6
Software   2.50
Bootloader   1.9
Compiler   4.1.2 (WinARM 4/2007)
Build   Dec 15 2011 15:15:54
ROM/RAM   372540/50740
ETH-RAM   2944 (max 3kB!)
ResetSrc   0 [3]
Uptime   6874
    
Serial number   4003
MAC address   00:1e:fd:01:86:43
IP address   10.0.10.227
Netmask   255.255.255.0
Gateway   10.0.10.1
DNS   10.0.10.1


RRC- Radio

Info

Name   Value
Company   Microbit
Product   1258
PID   4
Hardware   6
Software   2.50
Bootloader   1.8
Compiler   4.1.2 (WinARM 4/2007)
Build   Dec 15 2011 15:15:54
ROM/RAM   372540/50740
ETH-RAM   2944 (max 3kB!)
ResetSrc   0 [3]
Uptime   7097
    
Serial number   3706
MAC address   00:1e:fd:01:85:1a
IP address   10.0.10.228
Netmask   255.255.255.0
Gateway   10.0.10.1
DNS   10.0.10.1

OK, let me stop here. I would like to get the SSB/CW working first obviously.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

73 Lee
WW2DX

40

Configuration, RRC 1258 / Re: IC-706mk2g separation cable cw configs and other questions

« on: 2011-12-05, 17:37:11 »

OK Got it!

I had to crank the sidetone all the way down (too bad you can't actually silent it totally) on the 706 with the pot on the side of the radio. Then I had to increase the sidetone of the RRC and now it works PERECT!! Wow! Been running at 25-30wpm and its been great.

I also was able to turn the Green Heron controller using COM2 on the RRC's and using the RT-21 setup software running on a local PC. Next will be testing out logging software and computer generated CW.

I also made a second OPC cable for an additional 706 head we had and tested using 2 706 heads with one radio remotely. When a head is in use you get a beeping tone to alert you that you can't turn the radio on. This is behavior we expected but we wanted to confirm it.

Thanks again! Will keep you posted as we make more progress.

73 Lee
WW2DX

41

Configuration, RRC 1258 / Re: IC-706mk2g separation cable cw configs and other questions

« on: 2011-12-01, 16:29:55 »

Thanks for the reply.

"The sidetone for the Internal CW keyer is generated in the Control-RRC and you should hear it without even switching on the IC-706."

Interesting, this does not work for me. If I have the 706 powered off, I do not hear the sidetone on the RRC with the paddle plugged into the back of the RRC and the speaker plugged into the SP on the RRC. Maybe missing a setting?

"Then when starting to test with the IC-706 remeber to turn down the CW-sidetone with the pot on the side of the IC-706 body"
I have the keyer in the "OFF" setting on the 706, so I assume I should not have to do anything else with the radio itself?

I will play around with the settings some more and see what I can come up with. I may take a video and post it to show exactly what is going on if I can't figure it out.

73!

Lee
WW2DX

42

Configuration, RRC 1258 / IC-706mk2g separation cable cw configs and other questions

« on: 2011-11-30, 21:40:46 »

Hello group,

I have been testing out the remoterig for the past week or so and things have been working very well! A very elegant solution indeed.

Here is my first contact with it with ZS6CCY Thanksgiving night when I tweaked the final firewall rule.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeLc-b3UEek

What works:

SSB works flawlessly. The current test setup consists of the following setup.

Operating Shack: Pawling, NY FN31en with the face of the IC-706MK2G with the RR between the Separation cable.

Transmitting station is in Summit, NY W2RE.com a contest station in the northern catskills mountains of NY about 120 miles away.
We have the 706 at this end connected to a IC-PW1 and on the 4 antenna ports on the amplifier we have

Port 1 - 5/5/5 on 10m
Port 2 - 5/5/5 on 15m
Port 2 - C321Xr @ 35m
Port 4 - 3 ele mono 40 @ 35m

As you can imagine its completely insane! The real win with the Summit QTH is there is ZERO QRN and being at 700m ASL does not hurt either.

I spent a number of months looking at options on how to remote the station and settled on the remoterig because of its elegant solution and moreover its "unique" method of doing CW which is the preferred method for us.

What Doesn't work (so well).

CW:

I am having a heck of a time getting CW to work properly. Let me start off with the specs of the RR boxes.

Both boxes are running 2.46 Firmware

Control side:

Info

Name   Value
Company   Microbit
Product   1258
PID   4
Hardware   6
Software   2.46
Bootloader   1.9
Compiler   4.1.2 (WinARM 4/2007)
Build   Nov 3 2011 13:11:42
ROM/RAM   368932/50680
ETH-RAM   2944 (max 3kB!)
ResetSrc   0 [3]
Uptime   60255

Serial number   4259

Radio Side:

Name   Value
Company   Microbit
Product   1258
PID   4
Hardware   6
Software   2.46
Bootloader   1.9
Compiler   4.1.2 (WinARM 4/2007)
Build   Nov 3 2011 13:11:42
ROM/RAM   368932/50680
ETH-RAM   2944 (max 3kB!)
ResetSrc   0 [3]
Uptime   61678
    
Serial number   4045

I have the CW keyer in the 706 disabled (OFF).

On the control side I have these I/O settings:
IN0 mode   I/O
OUT0 mode IO   
OUT1 mode I/O   
OUT2 mode Keyer   
USB RTS as PTT     Disabled
USB DTR as CW    Disabled

On the Radio side I have these settings in I/O:

OUT0 mode   I/O
OUT0 on/off   Off
    
OUT1 mode   I/O
OUT1 on/off   Off
    
OUT2 mode   Keyer
OUT2 on/off      Off

In the Keyer settings I have:

PTT activated by Keyer   No


At the present time I can send CW with the paddle but its horrible. First off the delay is too great and there is no way to get the timing right with the paddle with the sidetone coming from the remoterig. I do have the speaker hooked to the 706 face and not the RRC-1258 (Just thought of this while writing). Also I get a "Buzzing" sound along with the sidetone when transmitting. If I send a series of dits then transmit fine and same for a series of Dah's while some of them will "mold together". I have played around with the LF delay and Key delay, trying different combinations but no luck. My ping times look like this:

8 packets transmitted, 8 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 79.470/81.679/83.668/1.386 ms

So I hope someone can enlighten me on what I may have misconfigured or needs to be tweaked so that CW is useable.


Looking forward:

I have a Green Heron RT21d connected to the COM2 port on the back of the Radio end. I would like to know how people control rotors and other devices on the control end using these ports. My assumption is I hook at PC to com2 then run some rotor control software and magic happens?
Also can I hook the PC to com1 and have the logging software read band data in the similar way? I would enjoy hearing about how others are using these com ports.

OK, enough for my first post! Thanks for a really cool product!

Looking forward to seeing it grow.

73 Lee
WW2DX