Friday 8 December 2017

ICOM718 Digital INterface

PTT circuit

Here is the working ICOM "SEND" or PTT circuit. The PC or Mac is connected to the interface using a serial USB <-> RS232/TTL interface cable - costing just a few pounds on Amazon... The signals output from the adaptor that I bought are 3.3V logic, and there is a 5V power supply. I use the negative logic (active LOW) RTS signal to drive the gate of the BS170 MOSFET, when HIGH the 3.3V turns it on and a LOW level turns it off. The output of the BS170 stage is used to drive the diode input on the 1N35 optocoupler, thus giving an active LOW output to the ICOM SEND (PTT) line.

RTS PTT

The Audio circuits have yet to be tested and will be published here later. The box that has been made is shown below, Front and back.

IMG 1639

IMG 1640

The front has a switch which will be used to disable the computer PTT/RTS signal to prevent it being accidentally activated during system set-up, along with volume controls for the IN and OUT audio channels. The back has a cable with USB plug (containing the USB <-> RS232/TTL adaptor), the DIN connector to the ICOM718 (using a custom made cable to the rear ICOM 13 pin Input/Output, a Jack for CV-I control signals and two audio jacks for connections to the soundcard of the PC or Mac (I use a small plug-in USB sound interface).

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