The Yaesu Quadra VL-1000 HF Amplifier has the ability to have 2 radios connected to it independently. Each input has an RF connection, PTT , ALC control and band switching.
In my situation I use my Icom IC-756pro3 on input 1 and band switching is achieved using my Icom (CI-V or band Data) to Yaesu BCD Band Data Converter to convert the IC-756pro3 band data (CI-V or voltage) to Yaesu BCD which switches the Quadra band automatically. This left port 2 available to other radios and as the Quadra does not have UP/DOWN band switches on the control panel I needed a way to do do band switching externally when a radio was connected t this port – due to my experimenting nature this radio could be anything for an SDR to an FT-817.
Talking with William M0ZXA he had a similar issue at G6UW and so he done a quick first pass a coding something using an 8 pin PICAXE-08m2 which could control the Quadra band using simple [BAND] UP and DOWN buttons. I optimised the code slightly to reduce the number of actions and added some additional code for switch de-bounce ‘protection’.
Hardware
William also provided me with pre-built circuit in a box with 2 buttons ([BAND] UP and DOWN) with a lead terminated in a 15 way D-Sub used for for the Radio 2 input on the Quadra. Unfortunately there is no +v output on the Quadra so you also need provide a separate +12v, or +5v, input.
The inside showing the circuit. No programming components were included (R1, R2 & J1) allowing for a smaller footprint.
NOTE: This design will not work with a non M2 PICAXE-08 part due to the lack of ‘DISCONNECT’ support for the Serial In pin (pin 2) to allow it to be reassigned to a input.
Code
Download the schematic (ExpressSCH) and PICAXE code.
#PICAXE-08m2 ' Required, as the serial in pin is repurposed as an input. OUTPUT 0,1,2,4 SYMBOL Band = B0 SYMBOL Old = B1 SYMBOL Quadra = B2 SYMBOL UpBand = PIN3 SYMBOL DnBand = PIN5
#rem Manual band select controller for Yaesu Quadra VL-1000, by M0ZXA and M1BXF #endrem Disconnect ' Disconnect the programming pin so it can be used as an output read 0,Band ' Load the last band used on power-up from the eeprom in BAND If Band > 10 then ' This if statement is to catch an invalid value loaded from the eeprom Band = 10 endif goto Change_Band ' On power up goto the Change band routine to configure the pins to the eeprom value ' To reverse the UP and DOWN buttons, switch the SYMBOLs UpBand & DnBand at the top. main: If UpBand = 1 then: Inc Band: Endif ' Increment band If DnBand = 1 then: Dec Band: Endif ' Decrement band If Band = 11 then: Band = 00: Endif ' Have we gone past the Highest band? If so change to lowest band If Band = 255 then: Band = 10: Endif ' Have we gone past the Lowest band? If so change to Highest band If Band <> Old then goto Change_Band ' If BAND doesn't match the OLD [BAND] value update the PINs goto main ' We didn't see any changes so Loop back to MAIN to see if a button is pressed Change_Band: ' Select the band BCD from the appropriate position Lookup Band,($01,$02,$03,$04,$05,$06,$07,$10,$11,$12,$17),Quadra Pins = Quadra ' Make the output pins match the band data. Old = Band ' Make Old = Band for checking for changes later. write 0,Band ' Save chosen band to eeprom hold: if pin5 = 1 or pin3 = 1 then ' Require button to be released goto hold ' Loop while the button is still pressed endif pause 100 ' De-bounce goto main #end
Hi Gavin. I am Samir A41MO. I need the manual switch for Quadra. I want to use Kenwood ts 590 SG with it. I do not know how to order one or how to contact you.
My email is a41mo@hotmail.com. Thanks