[hpsdr] PennyLane CW Transmission Configuration

Mark Leone midnightjava at verizon.net
Wed Dec 21 10:24:29 PST 2011


Thanks to Joe and Dan for off-list suggestions on my CW transmit 
problem. I made some progress, but I'm still not all the way there. I 
think my issue is that assumptions I've made about how phono cables, 
jacks, and plugs are wired are incorrect. I need to ring out the entire 
circuit and see how these things are wired, as I was just ringing out 
the cable I fabricated, and making apparently wrong assumptions about 
the phono cables and connectors. It'll be a couple weeks before I can 
get to this, so I'll post back when I do.

In the mean-time, here's a more detailed description of my setup, in 
case anyone has any ideas off the cuff.

I have a Key and Paddle working with a Kenwood TS-570. They are each 
connected to a cable that terminate in a phono plug (mono for the Key, 
Stereo for the Paddle). I wanted to keep the phono connections for use 
with the Kenwood, so I made a DB-9 to Phono jack adapter cable, 
connecting pin 5 to sleeve, pin 6 to tip, and pin 7 to ring.

When I plug this adapter cable alone into Metis, nothing happens (which 
is good). But when I plug the Key or Paddle cable into the adapter 
cable, PennyLane starts transmitting (if PTT is not disabled). Well I 
also have some extension cables from the Key/Paddle to the DB-9 adapter 
cable. I think they were labeled as Microphone extension cables. When I 
take these out of the circuit, the paddle works properly when plugged 
directly into the adapter cable. But when I plug the key in directly, I 
get the same problem (always transmitting).

So I need to ring these extension cables out and see what they're doing; 
but it's strange that they don't interfere when used with the Kenwood. I 
also need to ring out the circuit when the Key is connected to the DB-9 
adapter cable. I assumed that with my setup I would short the ground to 
either Dot or Dash pin when I keyed down, which should work if Iambic is 
de-selected. But apparently the circuit doesn't connect the way I think 
it does. I get a constant tone (without keying) when I have Iambic 
de-selected, and I get a stream of Dits (without keying) when I have 
Iambic selected. In either case, there is no change when I key down.

Mark - K4XML

 1324491869.0


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