Need an "Audible Frequency Announcement Feature"

Mon Dec 17 14:02:05 CST 2012

Stupid fingers!  The rig interface is at PIEXX (piexx.com), not Pied.  I have just as much trouble with keyboards, so I can’t blame the iPad too much.
Terry

From: WB4JFI 
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2012 2:40 PM
To: 3t3 
Cc: AMRAD reflector ; ddyer1 at gmail.com 
Subject: Re: Need an "Audible Frequency Announcement Feature"

I sent a follow-up email that had a little mor info regarding the rig interface.  Pied has a version of the interface available if the rig does not already have one installed.  It costs $89.

It appears to me that the rig is too old to implement the Kenwood TS2000 CAT protocol, but you can get the rig's status by sending it a string, I think it is IF; or if;.  You can then parse the long resulting string and obtain the tuned frequency.  This would take some actual verification with a TS-140.

Regarding readout, since the two proposed methods attached both use an audible morse code readout, that should be fairly easy to implement on the Arduino.  There are morse code sketches out there already.

Messing with getting into the guts of the rig and tapping an oscillator may not be a great solution. The oscillator will be off freq by the rig"s first IF, so some sort of magic would need to be done for the correct frequency readout.  Might as well implement a small micro to do it all.

This might be a good project for a Pi, Arduino, STM32 Discovery, or other favorite development board.

If voice readout was wanted, the main shield that I saw that does that is not available from Sparkfun, maybe permanently.  The main IC is still available from a few sources, so a speech shield could still be made.

The project sounds doable, but I'm too far away to get directly involved.  I could help some, however.

73,
Terry, WB4JFI
Sent from tfox iPad

On Dec 17, 2012, at 12:51 AM, 3t3 <3t3 at comcast.net> wrote:

  ALCON -

    1.. Terry & Frank - I did some research on the potential solutions that Danny first offered for consideration - the two PDFs are attached. 
    2.. Danny - Please check to confirm that the blind ham's transceiver (the Kenwood TS-140) is capable of responding to "CAT" commands being sent to it via an RS-232 cable.  
    3.. Danny  Please email me your observations. 

  Thanks & 73 de 

     Terry McCarty
    3t3 at comcast.net
        wa5nti

  wb4jfi at knology.net wrote: 
    OK Frank.
    I figured that part of this would be easily doable, I have also seen some basic voice synthesis shields for the Arduino, and a Raspberry Pi could easily do this as well, I think.  That is, if the Pi is proven to be reliable enough, which right now I’m not too sure about.

    Querying the rig for operating freq may be easy, there is an FA?; command to do that in the Kenwood CAT protocols.  Converting the ASCII result to voice may not be difficult.  Depends on the quality of the synthesizer required, and how often freq updates need to be announced.

    I was put off helping by the suggestion of specific “things” that I have no idea what they are (FreqMite and Stinger Singer), and I wasn’t sure about that tapping an oscillator in the receiver chain either.  If the rig is new and smart enough to have a micro there, and if that micro talks CAT via RS232, I think the project would be much simpler than the proposed method.  If no micro, or no RS232 CAT, then it seems like a lot more work, and something that I could only help in the periphery with.

    I think a desktop would be overkill, but I’m not “tuned into” this project’s requirements as much as I would like to be, before offering an “expert” opinion.

    I’m heavy into a complete kitchen remodel right now, but will do a little research as I can find the time.
    73,
    Terry, WB4JFI

    From: fgentges at mindspring.com 
    Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2012 11:15 PM
    To: tacos at amrad.org 
    Subject: Re: Need an "Audible Frequency Announcement Feature"

    Terry,

    I have looked at the marketing sheet for the Kenwood TS-140.  There is an optional PC interface unit that can create an RS-232 interface.  Then, we could write or modify software to control the radio and report what is needed by voice synthesis.  No indication is made of a voice synthesizer option.

    What we need to find is what Kenwood calls the IF-232C/IF-10C Interface Unit.   I checked eBay and did not find one listed.  We might find enough signals coming out of the radio to generate our own interface unit.  I think we could use a used desktop computer and Ubuntu to do the rest of the job.  There are a bunch of ham radio control programs with source code out there that could be used and modified as needed.  In addition there are speech synthesizers that run under Linux and Ubuntu. 

    Danny is only asking for an audible frequency announcement feature so we should be able to do that and more with this type setup.

    Anyway, these are some thoughts on how we could help Danny. 

    I have a whole bunch of work going on so I want to find someone in the group to get this together.  I have several small desktop Dell computers that should work for this task and I would be glad to donate one.

    Frank K0BRA

    On 12/15/12 9:56 PM, 3t3 wrote:

      TO: Anyone at AMRAD interested in helping Danny Dyer (WB4IDU):

      Danny is looking for a way to get an "audible frequency announcement feature" added to a Kenwood TS-140 transceiver for a blind ham.

      His original request for help follows:
      xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
      Is there A place Anywhere in either the RX or Oscillator chain, to tap and read-out, Somewhere on the TS140, with a either a FreqMite, or Stinger Singer, so as to be able to read the tuned frequency, or a useable multiple there of, so that a blind OP, can determine received freq? 

      I realize that, if necessary, a lower power xmit read out is doable, but somewhere in the RX chain would obviously be better !  Any suggestions are welcome ! 

      Your forwarding this to any lists you're part of which might be helpful is fine as well ! 

      To All On These Lists, For All You Are And All You Do,

      Many Thanks From,
      And Please Reply Direct To,
      Danny Dyer, Wb4idu 
      ddyer1 at gmail.com
      xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

-- 
     Terry McCarty
    3t3 at comcast.net
        wa5nti

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  <Programmable Morse Code Frequency Readout.pdf>
  <NC_Stinger_Rev1.pdf>

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