Palstar and 6600M

VE3DZP

I am unable to get the LA-1K amp to see the USB cable from my 6600M. Have searched the forums and they all end up in a dead end. Has anyone been successful in getting the amp to see the radio? Mark at Palstar was no help either.

Gary

Alan

I was not successful interfacing the LA-1K to the Flex for band selection even though the manual does give the codes for Yeasu, Icom and Keenwood:

Transceiver frequency control of the LA-1K is not necessary. I found the "RF detect" feature of the LA-1K worked very fast to sense the frequency and tune the amp. Here are the times for sense and switching given in the manual. I used 30ms delay in the Flex TX settings and it worked very nicely.

I no longer use a LA-1K but did build a Node-Red based interface to the LA-1K and the other ham likes it a lot. It is most useful for remote operation, but I would not recommend it for local operation, per my previous positive experience with RF Sense.

Alan WA9WUD

VE3DZP

Hi Alan, ya I have been thru all of this I just want to go direct direct keying to maybe help with QSK

David Decoons, wo2x

The LA-1K should use a straight thru DB-9 male to female cable to a USB to serial cable with FTDI chipset.

Check your baud rate. The other option is using the amp to Raspberry Pi and Pi getting freq info from Flex. The Node Red flow Alan refers to was written by Alan and I to interface the LA-1K to Ham Radio Deluxe for connection to an Icom 756 Pro III.

The other thing is amp firmware needs to be at least 1.03H

Dave wo2x

VE3DZP

Hello David, I have all that ( pins 3,4 & 6 grd.) and the Flex sees the cable ok.

Amp.JPG

David Decoons, wo2x

You should be using the RS232 band control connector, not transceiver connector.

straight through DB 9 male to female to the FTDI USB to serial adapter.

Dave wo2x

David Decoons, wo2x

Also check firmware. Needs to be 1.03h or newer.

Dave

VE3DZP

David I am using the "RS232 band control connector".

W8TZ Ross

Maybe I am doing it wrong but I have my LA1K connected to the Radio Interface connector on the amplifier. Using the Flex FTDI C232HMEDHSL-0 cable. Works fine.

VE3DZP

ROSS! your the man. I think I bought the wrong cable. Digi-Key has none in stock but ordered one from Mouser. Have certainly got enough information now to to publish the correct way of doing it. Will say thanks all who took the time to input info and wish me luck that this one works. Will let everyone know the results.

73 Gary

VE3DZP

VE3DZP

Yes this works fine

Palstar-Amp.pdf