I built one of the first totally Internet Remote amateur radio stations
in VA several years ago when RS232 ports were plentiful on the back of
PC mother boards. Now I'm using USB to RS232 converter cables because
most of the ham gear is still RS232 while the rest of the world has
moved on to USB.
The Intennet Remote station has several control modules but the three
below should provide all functionality requested. It will work from the
CAT next tot he equipment or over the Internet via a PC Anywhere
connection. The station design provide for full antenna switching,
antenna rotation capabilities, as well as
full legal limit amplification on all bands, etc
Good Luck,
dave
wa3gin
====================================================================================.
Remote Coax Switch Control
Ameritron (www.ameritron.com) produces an automatic RC-10 remote coax
switch w/SO239 connectors that can be used to select up to eight
separate coax inputs, etc. There are several manufacturers of these
types of remote coax switches. Prices and quality vary. I find the
Ameritron adequate for my needs.
From an adjunct relay interface board (USB interface to the server)
produced by ECC Inc., a control cable will be installed in parallel with
the Ameritron coax switch control head. In this way both manual and
remote control methods can be used to select antennas or the Ameritron
control head can be eliminated completed for dedicated IRAR service.
The relay interface board selected for the remote automatic coax switch
is manufactured by:
Electronic Energy Control, Inc., Columbus, OH
Phone 614-464-4470 or “www.eeci.com”.
The capability to switch 8 relays rated at 10 amps/125 VAC requires the
following components:
1 - AR-16 Relay Interface
1 - RH-8 Relay Card
1 - CO-USB converter (USB-RS-232)
1 - CC-DE9S serial cable
Remote Antenna Rotator Control
To provision remote antenna rotor control there are several products
available. I selected a universal rotor interface (utilizes the parallel
port) produced by EA4TX. You can find out more about this interface at
www.EA4TX.com/products/ars.htm. Freeware is available to operate the
EA4TX interface via IRAR. You will find all the details at the EA4TX web
site.
LINEAR AMPLIFIERS FOR IRAR
There are several HF linear amplifiers sold on the market today that are
suitable for IRAR. These amplifiers are either solid state auto band
switching or tube auto-tuned/auto-band switching units. Both types are
high-end legal limit amplifiers 160-10/6m linear amplifiers with RS-232
CAT interfaces. These amplifiers come with proprietary CAT software that
is easily utilized in an IRAR application. More details can be found at
http://www.alpha-amps.com/,
http://www.henryradio.com/amp_specs/sshf.htm,
http://www.hfpower.com/ACOM2000A.htm.
Pete Smith wrote:
>I thought I had read, though, that some new-generation laptops do not have
>an LPT port.
>
>73, Pete N4ZR
>
>
>
>
>
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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