SMARTSDR BCD on a DB9

Steve Bunting

I would like to use BCD in Smart SDR to control my external band pass filter box. I have a FTDI cable that is terminated in a DB9. I cant find a diagram showing which DB9 pins carry the BCD data. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Or do I need to determine this with a DVM?

Thanks
Steve, M0BPQ 

Mike-VA3MW

Hi Steve

This is the cable you need.  http://cart.flexradio.com/USB-to-Parallel-adapter-for-the-FLEX-6000-series_p_1001.html

Mike

NX6D Dave

Does your bandpass filter accept the DB9 connector?

Assuming it does, you could simply try it.  Configure the cable in SSDR to produce a BCD output and see what happens.  The mapping of band data to the four BCD output pins is reasonably standard.

Failing that, you can simply buzz out the DB9 connector.  Assuming the cable is configured for BCD output, select a band in the radio and note which of the pins has voltage.  Make a little map of pin voltages v. band and it will become obvious after a while.  Note that 60M doesn't map to BCD band data.

The SmartSDR User Guide has a description of the BCD band data values.

Steve Bunting

Thanks Mike - i was hoping to use a cable i have in stock rather than buy more stuff to fill up my shack. 73 Steve

Steve Bunting

Thanks Dave, I can certainly buzz it out with my DVM but I was kinda surprised it isn't documented anywhere. I will build a breakout and post the results. 73, Steve 

Steve Bunting

Thanks Paul. [hear sound of penny dropping] I see the difference between the BIT cable and the USB-serial adapter now. I have ordered a BIT cable to test. 73!