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Echolink Interface

 

Echolink Interface

Filed in Station on Sep.30, 2004

In September 2004, I set up an Echolink link to cover the East Mesa area.  I used my Kenwood TS-790 as the radio, and a surplus audio mixer for the interface.  But I still needed a better way than vox to key the radio.  So I built a simple 1-transistor level converter that takes the RTS line from my computer's serial port, and converts it down to TTL in the correct polarity to key the TS-790. I started with making a hole in the case to accommodate a full size DIN connector to go to the 790.

 
Unibit

Next, I drilled and filed out a hole to put a 9-pin rs-232 connector on the other end.

Hole for db-9 connector

Next, a db-9 connector was mounted on the case.

 
db-9 connector

Then I built the simple circuit on a piece of perfboard.

 
Level Converter Circuit

 And finally, the wiring was completed to the circuit.  On-the air testing showed no problems, so it is still in use today.

Level Converter

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