Thank you John! John K1AE
-----Original Message----- From: volt-nuts [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John Ackermann N8UR Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2015 10:20 AM To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement; [email protected] Subject: [volt-nuts] TASS Computer-Controlled Switch System Every so often, I hijack the list to do some shameless self-promotion when I think it would be of interest to the 'nuts community. I've spent the last several months developing a computer-controlled relay switch system. The impetus was failure of the old HP 59307A GPIB switches in my PPS measurement system and discovery that replacement relays are unobtainium. The only similar remote switches I could find cost >$1K, which seemed a bit rich. So, I decided to roll my own. We ended up with an 8 port switch board controlled by an Arduino. I think it will have lots of T&F applications as well as usefulness in ham shacks. Like virtually everything I do, it ended up as a TAPR kit. There's an introductory video at https://youtu.be/P-TUM2dOi4c The relay board kit is $119 and we have a shield for the Arduino Mega 2560 that can control 4 relay boards and costs $19. The software is open source.The boards are now available from TAPR at http://tapr.org/kits_tass.html (BTW, I contribute my designs to TAPR and don't have any financial interest in sales.) Special thanks to time-nuts Bob Camp and Tom Holmes for a lot of engineering assistance. Here's the TAPR product announcement: " Now Available: The TASS Computer-Controlled Switch System The TASS (Totally Awesome Switch System) is a general purpose 8 port DC-150 MHz relay-based switch. The hardware is designed to be very generic, with an inexpensive processor such as an Arduino providing the system logic. Control is via USB, with ethernet and other interfaces also available. The TASS can be configured several ways, and multiple boards can be combined to create large switching systems. The TASS has many uses, from switching signal sources on a test bench or in a laboratory, to selecting receive antennas and filters in a ham or SWL station. The TASS system has two boards: * The TASS-R relay board, which does the mechanics of signal switching and provides a very simple 10-pin interface. * The TASS-SHIELD board for use with an Arduino Mega 2560 microcontroller. The TASS-SHIELD allows up to four TASS-R boards to be controlled simultaneously. Both boards are available now from TAPR as kits. They use through-hole parts and don't require any special assembly techniques. The final component is open source software for the Arduino that acts as an interface between a host computer or other input system, and the switching hardware. The software is available for download from TAPR. An introductory video is available at https://youtu.be/P-TUM2dOi4c or from TAPR at http://tapr.org/~n8ur/TASS/TASS_Intro_26Sep15.mp4 Software and documentation can be downloaded from http://tapr.org/~n8ur/TASS. You may order the TASS-R and TASS-SHIELD boards by visiting http://tapr.org/kits_tass.html " _______________________________________________ volt-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volt-nuts and follow the instructions there. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus _______________________________________________ volt-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volt-nuts and follow the instructions there.
