Firmware for HL2 IO board and SPE Expert Amplifier

[Glitsun Cheeran]

Good afternoon,

I have built and added a new firmware for HL2 IO board that works with SPE expert amplifier directly for band switching.

The normal setup is to have a connection from SPE amp to the PC using 2 cables in series(DB15<->DB9 custom cable and RS232 USB cable) to the PC running SDR software (e.g Thetis, piHPSDR) which works fine.

But what I wanted was a direct interface from HL2 to SPE Expert Amplifier so that HL2 can be operated remotely with the amplifier.

As the amplifier I own has inbuilt ATU the ideal way was to send the frequency data to the amplifier instead of the band data, so that the amplifier can use the memory tuning points per frequency. Note that manual tune has to be done prior so that SPE can memorise the tuning points.

SPE amplifier requires RS232 signals, so  I have added a tiny PCB HW-027 that has MAX3232 chip that converts TTL to RS232 and vice versa below the picture of the additional PCB and pin connections.

I have tested on piHPSDR compiled from latest source that supports HL2 IOBoard and Thetis. Once the HL2 is interfaced with the interface cable to SPE amplifier and switched on, by default the amplifier will be band set to 40m. This is done so that the comms between SPE and HL2 is established else CAT Error used to happen. Later when the SDR software(piHPSDR or Thetis) is connected to HL2 then the amplifier will be switched to the corresponding band as per the SDR software.

The firmware and source is now merged to HL2IOBoard repository main branch at https://github.com/jimahlstrom/HL2IOBoard/tree/main/m0hpf_spe

Hope this helps for those seeking out the said firmware.

Thanks to Jim N1ADJ for the source code and wiring mod on IOBoard for Hardrock50 that inspired me in building this firmware and mod.

Thanks to Christoph DL1YCF to have the HL2 IOBoard support in piHPSDR, got just in time for testing the firmware.

Thanks to Jim N2ADR for the wonderful IOBoard and OpenSource repository and supporting custom firmwares.

Best Regards

Glitsun M0HPF

[Peter Other]

Dear Glitsun

I must thank you for this piece of development.  I installed the board today and updated the firmware and it is working very well.  I have been looking for a solution such as this for a while and I am so happy you have come up with this, well done!

Kind Regards

Peter

VK3OJ

[Glitsun Cheeran]

Thank you Peter for the flowers and glad to hear that the firmware for IOBoard is working well.

Yes did spend a while with code but gave up in the first few months earlier this year as SPE wasn't responding what IOBoard was sending(wrong data). 

Then gave a bit of time to learn and diagnose (no oscilloscope yet :) )and finally arrived with the said approach.

My daily driver of HL2 and SPE is with the same firmware on IO Board as well and so far didn't find any hiccups on both piHPSDR and HL2 version of Thetis

Best Regards

Glitsun M0HPF

[Peter Other]

Hi Glitsun,

I installed Thetis  2.10.10.3.5 today (using the msi release) and I noticed this feature no longer works.  I was previously using  2.10.10.3.3.  Do the code changes need to be merged into 2.10.10.3.5?  Any thoughts?

Kind Regards

Peter

[Glitsun Cheeran]

Hi Peter,

I have verified on Thetis from 2.10.3.5 MSI install downloaded from https://github.com/mi0bot/OpenHPSDR-Thetis/releases/download/v2.10.3.5/Thetis-v2.10.3.5x64-HL2.msi and no issues. 

Also checked on the beta release 2.10.3.6-beta1 and no issues

One thing to check is the HL2 I/O Board setting in  H/W Select tab in Setup.  If this is unchecked the IO Board will not work. 

Regards

Glitsun M0HPF

[Glitsun Cheeran]

Hi Peter,

Forgot to mention,  my 2.10.3.5 version is a fresh install on a new PC (Windows 11Pro, Intel i5 14400, RTX4060).

It would be good to check  https://groups.google.com/g/hermes-lite/c/xbqXGG0q3c4/m/HgstIgjxAAAJ  installing the new MSI and how to mitigate database issues.

Regards

Glitsun M0HPF

[Peter Other]

Hi Glitsun

I managed to get it working, it appears a few things happened.  I imported my backuped database and you were correct, the I/O board setting was unchecked in Thetis.  To add to the complications, the SPE became "frozen", I couldn't change the display, settings, operator mode etc, nothing worked except the on/off button.  I tracked this down to EXITTER output being shorted to ground, I'm not sure how this happened, but I re-seated the RCA connector on the back of the Hermes which fixed the problem.  

It seems to be working as expected, but I will need to make a few contacts on air to confirm.

Thanks again for your help

Kind Regards
Peter

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