New rig Yaesu FTDX10

[CatSnoutSoup]

So I decided to get my Palstar (Kessler) AT-Auto tuner out and see if I could interface that 2007 vintage unit with the new DX10. Well, let's just say that union is a work in progress.

But on a side note my incentive for getting the tuner out was because I wanted to put up an 80m doublet with balanced feed all the way to the shack, and that tuner has an auto switched balanced feedline input with a built in 1.5kW 4:1 current balun. But of course before bringing a line into the house I want some form of lightning protection, so I started searching the web for arrestor devices for balanced line feed. I saw offerings from DX Engineering and Array Solutions both based on an ICE design. Now I have Array Solutions devices mounted at the base of my tower and trust them so I was leaning that way.

Twin line (open wire line) Surge Arrester.

Open wire line, ladder line or "twin line" arrester. Protects from energy surges on your transmission line. Bleeds static to ground reducing noise in your antenna system. No. 10 stainless hardware.

www.arraysolutions.com

But I wondered to myself where was the company all these guys were copying their current product designs from, Industrial Communication Engineers LTD (ICE)?
Well it turns out unknown to me ICE founder Mike Koss W9SU went SK in 2011.

Owner of Industrial Communications Engineers Mike Koss, W9SU (SK)

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.

www.arrl.org

That was all I could find until I happened upon another webpage that told the story of ICE being taken over by Mike's brother Bob W9ETA under the name Morgan Manufacturing. Then apparently in 2018 the company changed hands and now named Morgan Systems is manufacturing in Utah. And they are using an internet URL totally unrelated to any of the company names past or present.

https://www.surgestop.com/index.html

Now here is what I consider the funny part of this and why I am writing. I decided to think on it and wait till tomorrow to order anything.
In the mean time I went out to the garage to rummage around for some coax and connectors to make a jumper cable.

What do you think I found while searching? None other than a brand new, still in the bag, original ICE Model 309H balanced line lightning arrestor. It has to have been sitting in the garage for 15 years. Honestly I do not remember buying this and I would have happily ordered someone's modern copy of it later today.

 

[CatSnoutSoup]

So I decided to get my Palstar (Kessler) AT-Auto tuner out and see if I could interface that 2007 vintage unit with the new DX10. Well, let's just say that union is a work in progress.

I had to set this aside for a few days. But back at it now.

Arranging things in the shack I see I am going to need a 10 foot long serial cable, so I just ordered the fixings to make one up. Solderless DB9s because my old eyes really have a tough time focusing for detailed work.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09B28B3JM/
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082MJRNTL/

I will use three conductors between tuner and radio (on pins 5, 2><3) then jumper pins 7 and 8 in the radio side connect as per the tuner manual.

https://www.kesslerengineeringllc.com/download/at-tuner/autotuner_02_15_23.pdf

We will see what happens.

I was testing it and despite sitting on the shelf for years the tuner works great with sensing RF, resolving the frequency, finding a match, and committing the match to memory, but without the ability to track the radios VFO the tuner is continually updating those matches every time you change frequency and transmit which is a less than optimal way to operate. Much better the way it is meant to work were the tuner's stepper motors adjust the coil and capacitor as it tracks the VFO changes so when you go to transmit you are already tuned.

 

[UJay]

Much better the way it is meant to work were the tuner's stepper motors adjust the coil and capacitor as it tracks the VFO changes so when you go to transmit you are already tuned.

Does that thing have an sort of serial interface? Is that what the cable is for?

UDP broadcasts from the logging software keeps the antennas/tuners/amplifiers in check here.
What model tuner?

UJay

 

[CatSnoutSoup]

Does that thing have an sort of serial interface? Is that what the cable is for?

Yes DB9 on tuner and DB9 (RS-232C) serial port on the radio. Tuner just use three of the standard pins TX, RX, and GND the first two of which need to be crosswire (null modem type cable) to the corresponding pins on radio. Question is, because the tuner does not use RST, will it work by simply turning off RST in the radio menu or will RST and CTS at the radio need to be shorted together at the radio side of the cable.

What model tuner?

2007 vintage Kessler AT-Auto (badged Palstar). See the PDF manual linked in the post above.

 

[CatSnoutSoup]

Solved the tuner connection.

The Palstar (Kessler) AT-Auto tuner is now tracking band changes and VFO frequency adjustments as designed.

Ended up using a prefabricated "3 wire null modem cable" and there was no need to jumper serial port pins 7 and 8 at the radio.
www.amazon.com/dp/B07T3MB87V/

Settings on the FTDX10 were serial port baud rate 38400 and RTS off.
Settings on the tuner were baud rate 38400, 8-N-2, and the radio type setting was for FTDX101. Make sure the firmware flash jumper is open inside the tuner.

I paired them at that baud rate simply because it was the same rate set for CAT on the radio's USB port which is running at the same time. Not sure if lowering it on the serial port would benefit the radio's processing resources in any meaningful way but I might lower it just because it will not effect tuner performance (the Icom use to run at 19200).