My original post (below) morphed into a thread on standards, etc ... the discussion was insightful and useful in defining my solution to question #1 below. Thanks.
Question #2 remains. How do I remotely switch between 4 positions on an RX antenna switch (e.g. K9AY switch box) via some kind of Windows based UI. Ideas? Thanks Dennis, K7FL Sent from my iPad Begin forwarded message: > From: Dennis Ashworth <[email protected]> > Date: February 24, 2018 at 2:23:20 PM EST > To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > Subject: Advice needed: Remote Station Enhancement > > I’ve been remoting my K3, KPA500, KAT500 station via the RemoteRig boxes and > K3/0 mini for two years with solid results. Later this year, I want to make > several enhancements, including the replacement of the KPA500 and KAT500 with > a KPA1500. The amp/tuner should be a fairly straightforward hardware > replacement, but it does necessitate a few station changes which I’m not > certain how to implement. Let me explain and hopefully the masses have > ideas/approaches for consideration. > > 1. I feed a HyTower vertical (optimized for 40M & 80M) on all bands. Where > the driving impedance is close to 50 ohms on 40M & 80 (my bands of interest) > there has been no attempt to match the HyTower on other bands. With the > KAT500, matching was not a problem and I reduced mismatch losses on the feed > line by using hardline from the in-shack tuner to the antenna. > > When I switch to the KPA1500, operation on the unmatched bands might prove > problematic. To address this, I plan to provide switchable matching networks > to transform the HyTower drive impedance on each band to something the > KPA1500 can match. I can design the required impedance transformation > networks, but not sure how to automatically select the various (relay based) > impedance networks required for each band. Clearly, I need to grab band data > from the K3, but what’s the best hardware to use for this task? > > BTW, I want to power the KPA1500 ON with the K3, which requires a Y-cable > modification, or perhaps one of the N6TV boxes? > > 2. I want to interface a K9AY RX antenna 4 position switch to some sort of UI > that I can access remotely. I can design an electrical interface to the K9AY > switch, but controlling and monitoring remotely is the issue. Ideas? > > 3. I have a Windows computer available at each end of the radio circuit. The > only other hardware is a SignalLink used for digital mods. > > 4. Configuring the station for future antenna enhancements (e.g. SteppIR if > we live long enough to see sunspots return!) are great if they come without > significant reliability impacts. > > Any ideas how to accomplish the required switching/monitoring? > > Thanks > Dennis, K7FL > Currently in Panama City, Florida > Station in Battle Ground, WA > > > > > > Sent from my iPad ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
