Interesting Dick. I have two TopTen Band Decoders, switching my Array
Solutions Sixpak plus Dunestar 600 bandpass filters. I had the original
source driver boards in the decoders and experienced occasional
switching problems. Dave N3RD supplied me with the new source driver
boards that don't have the same voltage drop and they work well. The K3
drives them fine also.
(A photo may appear in the next issue of RSGB Radcom since they asked me
for a photo of the K3 setup!)
Chris G3SJJ
Dick Dievendorff wrote:
I've purchased but not yet installed one of these. I have also heard that
the pull-ups are required.
Good choice, especially at that price!
I considered a pair of these, perhaps built in to the Array Solutions SixPak
controller, to drive the SixPack antenna switch and Hamation bandpass
filters.
I've decided to use a pair of Top Ten BD-Y-SD decoders because I want the
manual override capability at two different operator positions and I'm
sourcing 12V to an Array Solutions SixPak and a pair of Hamation bandpass
filters. The combined current draw might tax some sourcing drivers and the
voltage drop of the transistor source drivers in the new Top Ten decoders is
supposedly quite low, and the device's data sheet says it'll switch 5 amps.
The low voltage drop is important to me because I'm warned that the Array
Solutions SixPak switch really needs most of 13V to switch reliably, and you
don't have to add very many 0.7V drops together to get into trouble. I may
jumper the steering diode in the TTD decoder to further reduce voltage drop,
and I think this will be safe because all the 12V at my station is coming
from one big supply. If I mix in an ICOM radio I have I'll have to be
careful where the +12V is coming from.
A perhaps cheaper solution (which I may do if I do this again) might have
been to use the W9XT BCD-10 (or a circuit much like it) to drive some small
DIP relays and switch the high current source driven devices with the little
relays and avoid the transistor voltage drop. Array Solutions sells a $100
"level converter" which essentially does this. Somehow using relays to
switch relays seemed clumsy, but it may well be the most cost effective
solution. DIP relays aren't very expensive.
73 de Dick, K6KR
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dave Hachadorian
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 8:44 AM
To: Elecraft Reflector
Subject: [Elecraft] W9XT Band Decoder with K3
Is anyone successfully using a W9XT Band Decoder with the
K3? Anticipating arrival of my K3 in May, I've just received
the decoder and want to mount it into a box. I've seen
fragments of conversation on this reflector that 10K pull-up
resistors to the 12V supply may be needed on the BCD input
lines. If resistors are needed, I want to add them now,
rather than later, when the decoder is in the box.
Thanks!
Dave Hachadorian, K6LL
Yuma, AZ
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