Thanks for this! I wrote some code to tell my radio and the KAT500 to walk over the bins and my antennas and essentially "push" autotune. It worked OK but not great and I think I see why now.
This is a simple scheme and simple is good.. I'm not sure how much flash or EEPROM is available [1]. I can imagine some slightly more complex but space efficient and MCU-friendly data structure that could store more per frequency and per antenna granularity on an as needed basis that also spreads the LRU eviction behavior over the entire data store for least user impact. This is starting to sound like a good interview question .... :-) -ch 73 de AI6KG On Sun, Mar 8, 2020 at 3:51 PM <w...@jetbroadband.com> wrote: > > > GA All, > > > > Around last December, I posed the question on how does the KAT500 actually > works. This is the answer I received from Dick at Elecraft, the person who > designed the software for the KAT500. Most likely he probably wrote it too. > There was, however, a request from Eric, Elecraft CEO, when the info was > sent to me and I had wanted to know if it was ok for me to pass this info > around. > > > > Hi Jerry, > > > > Eric, our CEO says > > > > >>> Sure. But note that Dick does not have time available to answer > questions on this as he is tied up on other work. << > > > > Thanks for asking in advance. > > 73, > > Doug > > > > So please do not ask Dick anymore about this subject. As you will see, > Dick went into great detail on how the KAT500 works > > > > From: Dick > Date: Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 1:40 AM > Subject: RE: Question about the KAT500 capability. > To: Elecraft Support <supp...@elecraft.com <mailto:supp...@elecraft.com> > > > Here is how the KAT500 storage allocation works. > > EEPROM storage for ATU settings is pre-allocated by frequency. I’ve > called “the storage area for the six ATU settings for a given frequency > segment” a “bin” because the word is often used in the program and > documentation. > > Each “bin” has room for 6 ATU settings. Each of these 6 ATU settings > contains bits for the ATU relays (L, C, side, ATU bypass and ANT relays) > plus an SWR measured when the ATU was bypassed. The antenna number (ANT > relay bit settings) is included in the ATU setting, so we don’t need to > preallocate something like 2 ATU settings for ANT1 and 2 ATU settings for > ANT2 and 2 ATU settings for ANT3 in a 6-setting bin. > > Thus you can have 5 ATU settings for ANT 1 in the bin for 1801-1810 and > one ATU setting for ANT2 in the same bin. The next bin for 1811 thru 1820 > might have 3 settings for ANT2 and 2 settings for ANT3 and one empty. > > The most recently used ATU setting is moved to the front of the bin when > you tune to that setting. When you have a “full” bin, all 6 entries have > ATU settings, and do another tune, it might push out the oldest setting. > No duplicate settings are stored in any given bin. > > There is bin storage pre-allocated for all frequencies between 1.501 and > 60 MHz. We have MARS, CAP, and a few other commercial/military customers. > We didn’t know ahead of time what the frequencies would be for all these > customers. MARS customers aren’t always allowed to tell us the exact > frequencies they use. So we allocated storage assuming a continuous range > between 1.5 and 60 MHz. The ATU isn’t a transmitter, we aren’t constrained > to the ham bands. > > > > For 80 meters the “bin width” is 20 kHz. > > Bin 1 is 3001 thru 3020 kHz > > Bin 2 is 3021 thru 3040 > > Bin 3 is 3041 thru 3060, etc. > > > > The 80 meter ham band is 500 kHz wide (3500-4000). At 20 kHz per bin, > there are 25 “bins” for the 80 meter ham band. > > > > 3481-3500 one bin, 6 ATU settings. > > 3501-3520 one bin, 6 ATU settings > > 3521-3540 one bin, 6 ATU settings. > > > > The ATU overall from 1.5 to 60 MHz has room for 1530 “bins” each > containing up to 6 ATU settings. That’s just over 12,000 ATU settings. > But most of these are outside the ham bands. > > > > Here’s an excerpt from a planning spreadsheet: Our “160 meter band” goes > from 1501 through 3000 kHz, 80 meters goes from 3001 through 4800, etc. > > > > The frequencies ranges and band names match the K3. > > > > > Band > Name > > Ham > Band > Start > > Ham > Band > End > > Ham Band Width > > Lower Limit > > Upper Limit > > Band > Width > > Bin > Width > > > > Bin Count > > > > > > > > 160 > > 1800 > > 2000 > > 200 > > 1501 > > 3000 > > 1500 > > 10 > > > > 150 > > > > 80 > > 3500 > > 4000 > > 500 > > 3001 > > 4800 > > 1800 > > 20 > > > > 90 > > > > 60 > > 5330 > > 5405 > > 75 > > 4801 > > 6000 > > 1200 > > 20 > > > > 60 > > > > 40 > > 7000 > > 7300 > > 300 > > 6001 > > 9000 > > 3000 > > 20 > > > > 150 > > > > 30 > > 10100 > > 10150 > > 50 > > 9001 > > 13000 > > 4000 > > 20 > > > > 200 > > > > 20 > > 14000 > > 14350 > > 350 > > 13001 > > 17000 > > 4000 > > 20 > > > > 200 > > > > 17 > > 18068 > > 18168 > > 100 > > 17001 > > 19000 > > 2000 > > 20 > > > > 100 > > > > 15 > > 21000 > > 21450 > > 450 > > 19001 > > 23000 > > 4000 > > 20 > > > > 200 > > > > 12 > > 24890 > > 24990 > > 100 > > 23001 > > 26000 > > 3000 > > 20 > > > > 150 > > > > 10 > > 28000 > > 29700 > > 1700 > > 26001 > > 38000 > > 12000 > > 100 > > > > 120 > > > > 6 > > 50000 > > 54000 > > 4000 > > 38001 > > 60000 > > 22000 > > 200 > > > > 110 > > > > > > > > 73 > > > > My de Dick, K6KR > > Best regards, > > > > Jerry, W1IE > > > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Message delivered to c...@murgatroid.com ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
