Posted: 11/11/2014 11:19:53 AM EDT
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I'm not an electronics whiz, so I figured you guys may be able to point me in the right direction.
I have an LDG YT-100 hooked up to my FT-857D. It has a physical button on the front to tune; it also has a 3.5mm jack on the back to connect your own button. I've done that by wiring up a push button so it's more convenient than reaching around my other gear to the box (I've got the head remotely mounted & away from the radio / tuner). This works great when I'm sitting in my shack. But... what I'd really like to do is find a way to electronically push that button. I occasionally operate remotely, so unless I can push that button remotely, I'm stuck on whatever band I tuned up on before I left. I reached out to LDG, and they basically said "sorry - the radio's not built to do that". Ok - understood. But shouldn't it be possible to use something like a USB>Serial adapter hooked to the wire going to that 3.5mm jack to close the circuit? Appreciate it if you can point me in a constructive direction :) |
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Yes just wire a serial connector RTS or DTR pin to a transistor that pulls the circuit to ground.
However I think there there is a functionality similar to this already built in. My Elecraft T1 tuner has a jack that can interface with the FT-817. I would think there would be something similar on the 857. I will let a more knowledgeable Yeasuer sound off on it though. |
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Quoted:
Or just buy this http://www.donnerstore.org//index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65_86&products_id=207 This looks promising... I'm surmising that the CW interface, when wired to my 3.5mm cable, would simply close the circuit (...accomplishing the same thing as the button press). Naive follow-up question... what would I use to remotely trigger that - software or the CW circuitry in the radio (drawback of me being a no-code operator - not only don't I know code, I don't know how to trigger the code  ).
I suppose a different antenna would be one way to accomplish what I'm after, but I'm pretty happy with my G5RV Lite. I'm getting decent enough results for now on 10 - 80m; I've worked from Europe to Korea, and Alaska to Antarctica with it from Las Vegas. I also have a 20m dipole that works a little better than the G5RV Lite does on 20m but I'd just use that when I'm home. Redoing my otherwise acceptable antenna setup seems like a tougher path if I can cobble together something to trigger that button relatively easily. |
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I think I found a direct solution... digging deeper into the remotehams software, they have support for antenna rotators and switches... they include an interface for this USB relay inside the remote software: http://sigma-shop.com/product/67/usb-relay-controller-one-channel-pcb.html, or it has software to make a manual button available.
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