Of paddles and interfaces...

My new class started. It is a Senior Capstone. Basically I have eight weeks to design a software project. I chose to build a CAT cable for my Kenwood TS-450S and write software to control said radio. I ordered the CAT cable parts from Jameco and built the cable/electronics this weekend. I am happy to say that it works! I am still in the ground stages of writing the software but have had success with reading and writing frequencies to the radio. I will try to post the source when I finish. Overall, it has been an excellent learning experience for me because I have always wanted to control something via the computer's serial port. The board (pictured below) is basically a converter that changes the RS-232 signal which has the logical bits swinging above and below ground to a standard TTL level. It was fairly easy to build and implement.



I was given a big surprise by my fellow amateur co-worker. He dropped off a Bencher paddle at my desk and said "here, this is yours"....!!!! It made my homebrew paddle go obsolete immediately. I must say I was happy to build my own paddle, but having a heavy commercially built paddle wins for me! With that, I have made a few digital QSO's as of late and a few CW QSO's. Most of my time now is spent trying to debug the CAT software.

My new bencher!


Hope to hear you soon!

73

Joe N0NS

Two, thank you...

Only two states left to go for WAS. I confirmed MO for WAS! Yay!

I was off for Christmas shutdown and was busy doing a lot of different things. It is a special time for me because it is the only time during the year that I do not have classes or work so I have the chance to truly relax and get things around the house done too. This break I visited my family in Waterloo a few times and my wife and I are in the process of re-finishing our kitchen floor.

On the radio side of things, I have been having trouble with my digital interface box I built. I suspect the variable pot is bad. This is causing no audio from my computer to reach my radio. The problem is intermittent and the last time I thought it was fixed, it was not working the next day.

I worked Croatia on 80 meters the other night. It was at about 1AM local time (0700Z) and I heard a 9A calling CQ and not getting any responces. When I answered him, he came right back to me. Mind you I am using a 40 meter dipole on 80 meters! I am not sure how I am pulling it off but I am more then happy to work DX late night while everyone else is asleep!

Take care,

Joe N0NS