[TenTec] Aux I/O connection

[Dick Williams]

Jack,

If you are going to operate RTTY, I would highly suggest you "connect" the 
red and black cables and forget about the soundcard for AFSK.   The O2 is 
much better suited for FSK RTTY; and in fact when you select FSK for the 
mode it switches in the right filters for RTTY.

Additionally you don't have to worry about audio levels, overdrive, and a 
whole "s--tload of other problems associated with trying to use AFSK.

There are several interfaces on the market that work very well for 
interfacing the radio with the computer and save you the "headaches" of 
connecting the radio directly to the computer (you really should use 
isolation transformers - especially on the line sending audio from the sound 
card to your radio).

Ones that I have tried include the RigBlaster, Rig Expert Standard and in 
the near future the Naviagtor;  I believe MFJ also has one too.   All work 
very well with FSK and as far as I know, with all digital modes).  Although 
I learned many years ago NEVER say "all"; there always seems to be some 
exception.

The advantages of the Rig Expert and Navigator are they both have built in 
sound cards,  you only run one cable (USB) to your computer,  both have 
cables that are taylor made for your radio and plug directly into the Aux 
din plug (plug and play - forget about the breakout cable that came with the 
O2), and you don't tie up your sound card with the radio.  There are some 
others too, but the aforementioned are the main ones.

If you like to homebrew,  it is very easy to make a FSK keying circuit (and 
a PTT circuit) using a general purpose NPN transistor and a 1k resistor. 
You hook the FSK line to the colector, the emmiter is grounded, and you "FSK 
key" the transistor base from pin3 of a serial port you assign for FSK (for 
PTT you use the same circuit and pin 7 on the DB-9 com port).

I think you will find that most really serious RTTY enthusists use FSK if at 
all possible.

My two cents worth.

Dick K8ZTT

PS A couple of excellent programs (both free) that I have tried for digital 
are MMTTY for RTTY and Hamscope for PSK31 and RTTY (uses the MMTTY engine). 
I doubt if you can find one guy that will "bad mouth" either;  and that is 
not to say that other excellent programs don't exist, there most certainly 
are, but I have not tried them.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stephen Cannon" <sugar_bears_home at yahoo.com>
To: "'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment'" <tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 6:26 AM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Aux I/O connection


> Jack,
> Are the other two cables from the Orion II Aux I/O port plug (the red and
> black cables) supposed to be connected?
>
>
> Stephen
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> John, if you look at your manual and the I/O cable that comes with the
> Orion, you will note that cable has red, white, black and yellow ends.
> all are phono plugs.
> get a 1/8" adapter for each to plug into the sound card on your
> computer.
> white from the Orion goes to BLUE on your sound card.
> yellow from the Orion goes to PINK on your sound card.
>
> use stereo plugs for the sound card.
>
> jack ak7o
>
>
> the white from your I/O (from the Orion) goes to the On Sat, 2009-04-18
> at 20:48 -0400, John B. Egger wrote:
>> I'm hoping to get started on digital modes (other than CW, that is) but
>> face a problem right at the start. My computer has "Speaker out" (used
>> for its speakers), "Line In," and "Mic In" jacks (all 1/8" stereo). The
>> auxiliary cable's white phono plug is for "Line In", but I have no "line
>> out" on my computer. Does it go (through a phono-to-stereo-plug adapter)
>> to the computer's "Line In" jack?
>>
>> Obviously I'm on the ground floor with this. Other connections, and
>> software (I have Fldigi, Xlog, and Twpsk) issues will come later.
>>
>
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