I bought my MB1 this week & I am in process of trying to set it up. I want to be able to connect to the following devices:

1 A Linear Amplifier (Elecraft KPA500)
2. A high power antenna tuning unit (Elecraft KAT500)
3. The SDA100 controller for my 3-El SteppIR Yagi
4. My antenna switch (Antenna Genius from 4O3A)

I believe I understand how I will connect up the PTT's from the MB1 for the amp & tuner but not sure about band changing?

Previously with a Flex, band changing was accomplished with USB/Serial adaptors from the Flex to the devices (Amp & Tuner & SteppIR controller)

The Antenna Genius at the base of my mast works via a CAT6 cable (from the Flex6500 via the router) and with a K3 by using BCD (Binary Coded decimal) to a DE15 VGA connector on the antenna switch.

I suspect that I can connect MB1 to the Amp, Tuner & SteppIR controller using USB/serial adaptors but what about the Antenna Switch?
Is BCD data available in the MB1?
Are there other solutions to the problem of auto band changing & antenna selection by band?
Grateful for any help or guidance
73 Ray G3XLG


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Hello Ray,

1,2, and 3 are no problem from the MB1 by the method you state for CAT and PTT. The MB1 has enough PTT outputs and CAT to your devices is via splitting the initial CAT port in VSPE.

The Antenna Genius is harder to integrate because, of all the CAT protocols, the Kenwood CAT is the only one that does not offer any kind of band identification. At this point, I defer to those who know more than I do. I can say that some users utilise a band-decoder, such as available from Array Solutions, that can converts Kenwood CAT to band data. The Antenna Genius can be controlled via a Windows App as well but that is, I presume, not an ideal solution. Hopefully other replies will help with the AG question.

Erik EI4KF.

Thanks Erik
The Antenna Genius is now working by manually clicking on the AG Ap in Windows using the Cat6 cable for communicating to the remote switch at the mast.
But, I really want to find a way to integrate the antenna switching by following the CAT information from the MB1

Ray G3XLG

I contacted the Antenna Genius designers and heard that the AG does infact have a built in BCD decoder. (see the 4O3A website here:
www.4o3a.com/index.php/products/station-automation/antenna-genius/)
I asked Expert if I could use the X switches in the MB1 CTRL socket & Roman replied as follows:
Yes, you can use BCD interface to control the antenna switch from the MB1.
You should understand that Ext CTRL switches are open collector and can give you either open line or shorted to ground lines.
If you want to get TTL level 0 V or +5 V (+12 V), you should tie serial resistors 1-10 kOhm.
When the switch is on - it gives logical "0", when off - logical "1". You can adjust the Ext CTRL table for the required band combination.
If you need 5 V TTL levels, you can use 5 V zener diode from each line to GND and put resistors with diodes into Ext CTRL connection box.
Dragisa at 4O3A then kindly confirmed the following necessary connection details for me
Ray G3XLG
Our developer looked into documentation and this is his reply:
AG needs high level (positive logic) on BCD inputs, simplest way to connect it to MB-1 is to connect i.e. Ext Ctrl outputs X1-X4
directly to BCD inputs on AG, and then you pull up each line, using resistors to 12V which is available at pin 14 of MB-1 Ext Ctrl. You can use 1KOhm resistors. Then, you should configure ExtCtrl in application with inverted logic. See the picture below.



Hope you will be able to set it up. If you need more help we are at your disposal.
73
Dragiša 4O9ITT

It shows connecting a 1KOhm resister between Pin 14 (12V) and each of the other 4 wires X1, X2, X3, & X4 which in turn connect to the AG BCD Pins A, B, C, & D. You need to configure the MB1 accordingly
I will try this out over the next few days & report back to this Group.
Ray G3XLG