If this appears to be a bit anal, so be it, but I want to make sure my
conclusion is correct, so I turn to this body of expertise!
During the past year I made my second venture into SO2R on cw, using
mechanical switches. While I found again that it was just too cumbersome,
ability to use a second receiver to spot band openings and mults made the
effort worthwhile.
I finally decided it was time to try using some automation to do SO2R and
I'm heading that direction in phases. The first phase of the project was to
switch keying on cw (low power/QSK) between radios as part of the A/B
selection function in WL. So I put a nifty little Radio Shack relay and a
transistor in my keyer to direct the keyer output between the radios. Works
great, and I can see where it's going simplify things so my ole brain may
even be able to use 2 radios to transmit as well as receive.
I'm using two different radios. The IC746 is to the left, partly because is
a bit smaller, so it leaves more room on the bench for the keyboard. The 746
is also the predominently used radio. The radio to the right is a TS850.
Here's the rub. I would like the radio on the left to be keyed through the
normally closed relay contacts. There are two reasons for that. First, if I
have some sort of failure, so the a/b function stops working, I'd like to
have the predominent radio available. Second, it just seems to make sense
that the more active radio would be used with the relay in the normally
closed state.
>From what I can tell, the software is set up so that the right radio icon is
tied to parallel port pin 14 in the non-asserted state (relay is normally
closed). Which means that when the left radio is selected, the left radio
icon illuminates, and pin 14 is asserted.
Does this make sense to any of you out there in radioland, and can any of
you think of any way of changing it. While I've looked high and low through
documentation and help files, I'm finding nothing!
Once I have completed this, it's on to an SO2R box that will switch mikes,
transmit audio, PTT, keying and maybe even ear phones. Between the WL,
AA5AU, K9JY and other webs sites as well as my trusty old NA software
documentation, there's a plethora of info on going to SO2R, and it doesn't
have to be an expensive proposition if you don't mind a little homebrewing.
Then again if you are a QCAO (quarter century appliance operator), the
interfaces available from the WL folks, WX0B, N3RD and ZS4? all appear to be
great ways to go.
73 de Larry K7SV
|