Sunday, May 8, 2011

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

I wonder if either of the followers of this blog wonder what happened with the Signalink unit I had ordered as mentioned in my April 2nd posting.  It arrived and I did manage to attach the self stick, non-skid feet to the bottom of the unit just before I left for NE PA to move my mother to assisted living here in Ohio.  Between the move and a number of ER visits with both mothers, little time has been available to play with the new toy.

I had acquired a MFJ TNC/MIC switch with a PK232 TNC at a hamfest which of course I never got hooked up.  I thought it would be perfect for switching between the Signalink and a mike.  Downloaded the manual and removed the cover from the switch box.  Totally different.  Manual was for Revs 8 & 9.  My switch box must have been Rev 0.  Checking continuity indicated that the switch box was jumpered for a Kenwood and I planned on using it with ICOM rigs.  I searched the web and from different sites downloaded   many copies of the manual.  All turned out to be for Revs 8 & 9.  Even checked with MFJ.

Finally bit the bullet and started to reverse engineer the unit.  After I had a schematic of my unit, the next challenge was to figure out how to configure for ICOM 8 pin round plug.  Mission accomplished, I think.  I still have to change the connector on the switch box TNC cable to an 8 pin round connector to mate with the  cable form the Signalink.  At this time, the connectors are sitting on my desk waiting for me to fire up a soldering iron.

I attempted last night to check into a SATERN net that is on the Summit County ARES repeater.  The FT-8900 that I have been using as net control for the ARES net on the repeater had changed settings for unknown reasons and I could not get in.  I made a quick switch to the backup ICOM IC- 48A and I still had problems.  After a few minutes of panic, I remembered that I had the switch box connected to that rig and sure enough, the switch was in the TNC position, not the MIC position.  Mike PTT works in either switch setting.  I did get checked into the net, some what embarrassed by my technical difficulties.

After the net I had to figure out how to get the FT-8900 out of the "Internet Connection Feature" mode that it had gotten into.  Once I read in the manual how to get into that mode, it was obvious how I got there and how to get out of it.  For future reference, the "Internet Connection Feature" mode (WIRES) is toggled on/off by pressing the 'left volume knob'.  Since selecting the right or left dual receive display for transmit is done by pressing the 'channel select knobs' which are above the volume knobs, I assume I got into the unwanted mode by pushing the wrong knob trying to select the left side which I leave on the ARES repeater.  It would be real nice if you could lock out unwanted features on radios.

Stay tuned for further updates on this saga.  Also, leave me know if you need a schematic showing configurations for ICOM and Kenwood on a MFJ 1272BX unit with a single 30 pin header and no silk screened labels on the board.

zeke, AB8OU

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