Hi Slater, > Question(s) > -is anyone out there running a similar physical setup? > -Successfully?
1. K2 with KIO2, KDSP2, KSB2, KNB2 2. Mac Mini OS X 10.4.6 3. Rigblaster Plus 4. Keyspan USB to dual serial port with Mac OS X drivers. (This is the one that works right. I suggest that you NOT substitute a USB-to-serial adaptor from another company. Be sure to get the Mac-specific dual serial port with driver disk. Keyspan also makes ports for PCs. (No affiliation with Keyspan. It's just the only I tried that works well.) > -what program(s) do you use for digital modes? Cocoamodem 2.0 with CocoaPTT. I tried four of them and this one seemed to work best at least in my hands. Cocoamodem handles RTTY and PSK31 modes. CocoaPTT is a little program that sits on one of the Keyspan serial ports and asserts the DTR line whenever Cocoamodem wants to key the K2 (to begin ssending PSK31). I have CocoaPTT in my startup file so that it starts whenever the Mac is rebooted. Note that the Mac (mine at least) boots up with DTR asserted. You have to use The CocoaPTT control window to turn it off after you reboot, or you'll key the K2. You need to make a cable to go from CocoaPTT's serial port (DIN-8) to the serial jack on the RB+ (DB9S). Connect only the DTR pin and signal ground. Most everyone makes this cable by buying a Mac printer cable, cutting it in half and mounting a DB9P plug (from RS) on the cut end of one of the pieces. You should mark this cable clearly or even key it somehow to make certain that it is NEVER plugged into the KIO2. http://homepage.mac.com/chen/cocoaModemPage/index.html > -is a Rigblaster necessary to run Mac programs? No, but since you've got one already it would be best to use it. It provides various isolation circuits that improved my PSK31 detection by comparison with straight cables. > -how do you handle audio in and audio out? What is your cabling setup for > this? I use a Griffin Technology iMIC USB "sound card" adapter which has bona fide line level input and outputs (more resistant to overdriving), thus allowing the Mac to send and receive line (1V) signals instead of mic level signals. Other things being equal this puts your audio signal at a much higher level than noise that gets picked up on the cables. The best reason for Using the iMIC is that you can give Cocoamodem it's own set of audio lines and reserve the internal audio lines for music or whatever. This goes a long way toward assuring that you don't inadvertently play Springsteen on 14.070 MHz. Just hook iMic audio out to RB+'s audio input and hook the K2's speaker jack to iMic audio input. I use a Y cable and an external speaker to listen to the K2's audio. If you do SSB, set the RB+'s jumpers up for a K2. Plug the RB+ mic plug into the K2 and plug your mic into the RB+. The RB+ provies automatic mic muting when it's keying the K2 After you're done, you have half a serial cable and a vacant serial port on the Keyspan adaptor that you can use to run MacLoggerDX from Dog Park software. It's a logging, QSL, contest, rig control, etc program supports the K2 and that is more than worth the $90 or so that it costs. No affiliation with the companies mentioned above. 73 Ken _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
