Using the Flex-6300 tune button with an Icom AH-4 external tuner.

Tjerk Lammers

Is my reasoning correct?

The software has provision to set the tune power and use the tune button with an external tuner.

There is a tune button on SmartSDR with a tune power slider. The TUNE power is set to 10W and saved in the 6300 profile settings.

The AH-4 tuner can then be keyed into Tune state with the ground signal from the TX RCA relay jack.

Tjerk ZS1J/ ZS6P

Mike-VA3MW

Hi Tjerk

Yes, that should work.  There is an RCA PTT lead on the radio that you turn on and then it grounds when the radio goes into TX.  If that is all you require you should be good to go.

I haven't played with an AH4 (or was it a 3) since the mid 90's, so I forget how it gets into TX.  I thought it was RF sensing.

Mike 

Tjerk Lammers

Tnx Mike
I will send you the proposed schematic if you are still interested.
Tjerk ZS1J/ ZS6P

Charlie_KB8CR

Tjerk:

The AH-4's "START" line is a momentary closure, which in turn, keys the transmitter by grounding the "KEY" line until the tuning cycle is finished. I guess it would be possible to ignore the KEY line, and just have the PTT output close the START line to start the tuning process, and then manually end it when the tuning is done. But won't the PTT output go to ground every time the rig is in transmit? If so, it'll constantly be starting a tuning cycle on each transmission.

There are several schematics for a manual interface for the AH-4 tuner, but they all require a manual push of a START button. The reason I didn't go that way, is that much of my operation is remote via Smartlink over the internet.

Charlie KB8CR

Charlie_KB8CR

There was a circuit kit from a Japanese ham that fully automated the AH-4, but I think it is now sold out. Here is a link to the kit: http://www.momose.com/hirofumi/jj2pnx/atucont/index.htm

It now says "sold out". I contacted him over a year ago, and he was willing to send a kit to the US, but I wasn't keen on building it to see how it worked. So, I went with a SG-230 tuner, which needs nothing but RF to tune. The SG-239 is a low-cost version (~ $210 US) of the SG-230, which might fit your needs. It isn't weather-proof like the 230, but I've seen it installed in a waterproof box before.

Charlie KB8CR

Tjerk Lammers

" But won't the PTT output go to ground every time the rig is in transmit? If so, it'll constantly be starting a tuning cycle on each transmission."

You are correct Charlie and thus:

I was set up to send both a tune command to the AH-4 as well as the correct 10 W carrier when the Flex-6300 [Tune] button is clicked but when the Flex goes into normal transmit we no longer want that signal from the RCA TX socket.

Can this be set up in the profile, or is there a signal available from the accessory socket that would only be present if the Flex is put into tune?

"There are several schematics for a manual interface for the AH-4 tuner, but they all require a manual push of a START button."

The fully automated JJ2PNX controller is very nice but way above my skills.

I want to do it without RF sensing (KISS principle) but I would still like to go without a push button.

  Tjerk ZS1J/ ZS6P

W4OGP

I'm interested to know if you found an answer to this. I'm using an Icom AH-740 with my Flex 6300 in my Jeep. Currently, I press the TUNE button in SmartSDR or on the Maestro, and then manually press a button I rigged to initiate the tuning operation on the AH-740. This works well, but I'd love to trigger the tuner directly from the software without needing the external manual trigger. I was hoping the RCA output could be configured for this purpose, but unfortunately, it can't be set to trigger exclusively during the tuning operation. Is there a way to accomplish this through any other interface?

Charlie_KB8CR

Using NodeRed, you could trigger a tune cycle on the AH-740 (with a relay or open collector) and start a timed tune transmission from the Flex via the API. I did this on NodeRed to use a Hermes Lite 2 to tune a SCG tuner.