[TowerTalk] Ameritron RCS-4 question

[Jim Hargrave]

Charlie,

>From all the post, its obvious that there are many ways to skin this cat.
You can go basic or elaborate, depending on the need: time/budget

I modified an RCS-4 for my Son-n-law. To simplify the switching we installed
a 4 wire control line and eliminated the RF circuit in the control box.
I used an NPN (2n5306) & a PNP (TIP-125) in a Darlington configuration to
pull each relay. I made one circuit for each relay and it also lights up the
Appropriate LED. You could do this with relays in the control box and leave
the remote switch original. We chose to separate the control circuit from
the RF line. If you add relays to the control box, you could install a
transistor to pull each relays using the LPT signals.

He is controlling the switch with "Logger32" which provides Either Decimal
or BCD control (user choice) via the LPT port. Programmed outputs are based
on the radio frequency read by the Logging program.

I use a similiar switching circuit on my TRW 4 pole rotary RF switch.


    73s de Jim
       W5IFP



  > -----Original Message-----
  > From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
  > [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Charlie Gallo
  > Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2011 9:13 PM
  > To: towertalk at contesting.com
  > Subject: [TowerTalk] Ameritron RCS-4 question
  >
  >
  > Hi Gang,
  > I hope this is considered "On topic" as it's antenna system related
  >
  > Back in May, when I put in my new antennas, I put in an
  > Ameritron RCS-4 antenna switch, and I still think it's the
  > right switch for my use (only 3 antennas, so no need for more
  > than that, and not having to run an extra cable for the remote
  > switch was a big factor for me).
  >
  > Anyway, the RCS-4 has no way to automate it for band switching.
  >  Does anyone know of a retrofit kit to add this?  I'm in the
  > middle of designing one, but I'd LIKE to not reinvent the wheel
  > if there is already out there
  > Designing one is  not hard to do for myself (Ardunio and some
  > relay drivers, and a small matter of code), but I'm also
  > thinking of designing one around a BCD decoder chip, 4
  > transistors, a few  relays etc and the like (MUCH MUCH cheaper,
  > and would not take a computer to reprogram), and submit an
  > article to QST
  >
  >
  >
  >
  > --
  > 73 de KG2V - Charles Gallo
  > Quality Custom Machine-shop work for the radio amateur (sm)
  >
  > My Website: http://www.thegallos.com
  >
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