Nov 7, 2009 -- A new beginning for the VHF/UHF/Microwave Station
Nov, 2009 --- During the last several years, after adding VHF/UHF/Microwave bands one at a time, it became
obvious that at some point the station needed to change. As bands were added, it seemed that there was a push
to get the band running and not to add the band to a SYSTEM, since a coherent system didn't exist.
While at the 09 Central States VHF conference, I had a chance to visit with Gene W3ZZ at some length about
his favorite IF rig, the Elecraft K3. I had been looking for a change for some time in the 6m and 222 station
in particular. These bands were operated with a Icom 735 IF rig that was VERY lacking in features. The 735
had no filters etc and exhibited no easy way to integrate a SoftRock panadapter. The seed had been planted.
In August 09 the decision was made to upgrade the entire station and rebuild it into a integrated �system�. All
transverter bands were to be operated from a single IF rig with automatic RF/ sequencer switching. No more
moving the key, headphones etc from radio to radio. Oh sure I could build a audio router, plus this did not
address the panadaptor issue that I consider mandatory for my operations. It was time for a bigger move.
At the CSVHF conference, Dave WW2R described an K3 interface that he designed and built to provide the
automatic RF switching that I desired for the transverter bands. Dave�s design was expanded upon to switch
a common sequencer as well as the RF routing.
WW2R K3 transverter band decoder, relay driver
The RF/Sequencer Controller employs an 8 position RF relay for the routing of the RF signals to and from the transverters. Also eight 4PDT relays are switched for sequencer routing for each of the 8 potential "bands". (The 4PDT relays are under the vector board and can not be seen in these photos.) The sequencer is located in the 10Ghz control box and connects the the RF/Sequencer Controller by a multi conductor cable. Also located in the 10Ghz control box is a coax relay that selects between the 14/28Mhz IF or the 144Mhz IF employed by the transverters.
The K3 provides via ACC connector on the rear panel, 4 binary lines that can be decoded to provide a unique 4 bit binary value for each transverter band. This was where Dave's sweet decoder/ driver design came into play. Two common ICs and a hand full of parts and that part was a done deal. Again select the band on the K3 and all RF/Sequencer switching is transparent.
At this writing the rebuild is essentially complete. The K3 (10watt version) is used for an IF on 50, 222, 902, 1296 and 10Ghz . 2 meters is also supported, but at this time additional switching is going to have to be developed to accommodate a greater power output from the DEM 2 meter transverter to adequately drive the 2m KLM brick. It was hoped that the K3 power control range was going to be adequate for this purpose, but that is not the case.
When I purchased the K3, I purchased the integrated tranvserter interface at the same time. This interface not only provides a low RF level output for the transverters, but also provides a IF signal �sample� for panadaptor use. The IF signal is internally buffered, but it was determined that additional buffering and about 10db gain prior to the SoftRock would be beneficial. A Cliffton Labs buffer amplifier (kit) designed for that purpose was purchased and built. Z10000 Buffer Amplifier Tony KB9YIG of SoftRock fame came through with a new SoftRock Lite III designed also for panadaptor use with the K3. KB9YIG's SoftRock Order Site Initial observations are very favorable and I continue to use Rocky as my primary SDR software. I now have a panadapter on all bands operated by the K3.
Jan 31,2017 Windows 7 and Rocky
Back 18 months or so ago, I felt it necessary to switch to Win 7 due to reduced MS support for XP. When attempting to run Rocky with any Delta 44 driver with Win 7 I found that I could not run at 96Khz. This made the panadapter unusable. So I purchased a Creative Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 USB SINGLE CHANNEL sound "card". It runs Rocky beautify at 96Khz! Problem solved.
Dec 16,2009 Point-Click Tuning for K3
I am now using Ham Radio Deluxe and PowerSDR-IF for computer control and as a panadaptor for the K3. The combination now provides point/click tuning and computer control of the K3 and transverters through 1296Mhz. This is a very handy option for HF - 2meters general panadapter use. The disadvantage is that PSDR's spectrum display is not as good as Rocky's Spectrum/waterfall displays for weak signal detection required above 2 meters. So for most VHF-Microwave operations I will continue to use Rocky for my panadapter software.
July 8,2010 New PowerSDR program for K3
Today I downloaded PowerSDR-IF v1.19.3.5 for use with the K3 and the "SoftRock Panadapter". The K3 interface is much improved with this version and I no longer run HRDeluxe for a "bridge". This version of PSDR allows a "compressed" view of the panadapter window which is very nice as well. Band selection, filter and mode control all available from PSDR. The K3 using some IF frequency shifting as modes change and this is now made transparent by PSDR, a great improvement alone! Thanks to Scott McClements, WU2X, and Chad Gatesman, W1CEG for this modified version of PowerSDR.
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