Hello K2 experts!
I have a question about the CAT support - as implemented in the
KPA100. Is there a CAT command
to set transmit power?
The situation is - the K2 is my main CW machine. It has two killer
features: 1) It has true quiet
diode-switched QSK. and 2) It fits perfectly under my two big computer
monitors. So I can log & mill-copy. And also listen to the bands while
I do work stuff.
You'd think that 100W was plenty for CW - but I have gotten some weak
reports from stations that I could hear well. As a ragchewer, I prefer
to be easily copy-able. I have a homebrew 1100W LDMOS linear, but I
could not use it with the K2 - because the linear has no bandswitch.
Instead, it relies on Yaesu "BCD" data from the radio. I wound up with
this for two reasons - 1) Safety of the very expensive LDMOS device and
2) the touch screen that I have has a problem where touch does not work.
So I built a little box. I reverse engineered the Auxbus just enough
to recognize band changes, and my box outputs the 4 "BCD" bits. Yeah I
know that Elecraft markets a similar box, but where's the fun in that?
My box has a Raspberry pi Pico.
Generally, operating barefoot I use 80-100W. But the linear would
prefer that its drive be 17W or so.
It's completely protected; if the drive is too high, it will just shut
down. Then I have to press a button on the front panel to transmit
again.
I was just thinking... if the CAT interface can set the power, I could
have my little box do that. The Pico has a couple of UARTs, and one of
them could talk to the RS232 port. So when I set my linear from
Standby to Operate, it could tell the box, and the box could magically
set the power on the K2 to what's appropriate.
- Jerry, KF6VB
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