New HL2 companion board

wa4six
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Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2020 1:34 pm

New HL2 companion board

#1

Unread post by wa4six »

Copied pasted from HL2 Facebook group:
Jim Ahlstrom (designer of the filter board) has designed a general I/O board for the HL2. It allows things like amplifier/transverter interfacing, PureSignal input, dedicated receiver input and a few other bits.
Github:
https://github.com/jimahlstrom/HL2IOBoa ... GAKoj6GIRE

I read through the Readme file & it seems all extras supported by this board are run by the onboard Pico MCU.
Check it out.
I do not think any extra coding is needed to be done by Simon.

Ed
WA4SIX

wa4six
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Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2020 1:34 pm

Re: New HL2 companion board

#2

Unread post by wa4six »

There is a discussion of this board on the HL-2 Groups.io here:
https://groups.google.com/g/hermes-lite/c/fshLREMB6po

Ed

wa4six
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Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2020 1:34 pm

Re: New HL2 companion board

#3

Unread post by wa4six »

There is a discussion of this board on the HL-2 Groups.io here:
https://groups.google.com/g/hermes-lite/c/fshLREMB6po

Ed

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Simon G4ELI
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Re: New HL2 companion board

#4

Unread post by Simon G4ELI »

Let me know if there's anything I should do.

Also i should buy a new, compile HL2 when available.
Simon Brown :shock:
www.sdr-radio.com

Do not send me direct e-mail, thank-you!

wa4six
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Re: New HL2 companion board

#5

Unread post by wa4six »

There is a new run on HL2s in the making.
THank you,
Ed

Max
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Re: New HL2 companion board

#6

Unread post by Max »

Simon G4ELI wrote: Fri Feb 24, 2023 5:23 am Let me know if there's anything I should do.

Also i should buy a new, compile HL2 when available.
I'm not really familiar with this board, and in fact I think it's still a Githib project, not yet manufactured. My understanding is yes, it would require some small (?) software mods to drive it.

https://groups.google.com/g/hermes-lite/c/fshLREMB6po

New HL2 build has no material changes, so if you have one already then no, you don't need another (unless you want another one!).

The only change is to a slight variant to the PA transistors due to parts availability, but will not affect operation in any way.

Max

wa4six
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Re: New HL2 companion board

#7

Unread post by wa4six »

Per the IO board designer, all that is needed is to send the frequency over the I2C bus & 3 header pins on the HL2 board. It plugs in to replace the filter board jumper plug.

Ed

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Simon G4ELI
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Re: New HL2 companion board

#8

Unread post by Simon G4ELI »

Does the new board support different antennas for RX & TX?
Simon Brown :shock:
www.sdr-radio.com

Do not send me direct e-mail, thank-you!

Max
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Re: New HL2 companion board

#9

Unread post by Max »

Simon G4ELI wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 7:24 am Does the new board support different antennas for RX & TX?
Simon, to quickly summarise...... needs TX frequency only sending to the board at maximum rate of once every 0.5 seconds. Nothing else. User programs firmware in board to handle everything else:

From James' GitHub:
https://github.com/jimahlstrom/HL2IOBoard

Modifications to SDR PC Software
Since the HL2 can read and write the I2C bus to communicate with the IO board, it would be possible for SDR software authors (Quisk, Spark, Power SDR, etc.) to write extensive logic to control IO. This is NOT the desired result. Instead users should write new firmware to provide the services they require. It is easy to write firmware for the Pico. Ideally, an owner of a given power amp, for example HR50, would write a custom firmware and provide a wiring diagram for that amp. The only required SDR modification is sending the transmit frequency. The transmit frequency can be read by HamLib CAT in case an external helper program is used.

Do NOT ask authors to modify SDR software! Write new firmware instead!

Transmit Frequency
SDR software must send the transmit frequency to provide band information to power amps, transverters and loop antennas. You can wait for the band to change, and then just send a frequency in the band. For example, if the user presses the 40 meter button, send 7.0 MHz. This is enough to determine the band, but not enough to tune a loop antenna. You can send the exact Tx frequency, but since the user is probably doing a lot of tuning, it is best to limit the I2C traffic. Quisk sends the Tx frequency at maximum rate of once every 0.5 seconds, and only if it changes. The frequency data in registers 0, 1, 2 and 3 are static, and are only used when register 13 is written. So you don't need to re-send them unless they change. Quisk makes no use of this, and always sends all five registers.

Max

Max
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Re: New HL2 companion board

#10

Unread post by Max »

Max wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 8:11 am
Simon G4ELI wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 7:24 am Does the new board support different antennas for RX & TX?
needs TX frequency only sending to the board at maximum rate of once every 0.5 seconds. Nothing else. User programs firmware in board to handle everything else:
Sorry, not 100% true. There is also ideally an option to send data regarding how the separate RX input is used, but this mostly relates to use of PureSignal so not currently relevant to SDRC:

"A mode control to determine how the receive and Pure Signal inputs are used. Mode 0 means that the receive input is not used, but the Pure Signal input is available. Mode 1 means that the receive input is used instead of the usual HL2 input, and the Pure Signal input is not available. Mode 2 means the receive input is used during Rx and the Pure Signal input is used during Tx."

"RF Receive Input
The mode control 0, 1 or 2 is a user setting. There needs to be an option to set this. Quisk has this option."

Max

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