K40 CW Keyboard User Manual
Contents
1. K1EL CW Keyer and Keyboard Kit K 40 Introduction The K40 is a single board Morse keyer with a built in IBM AT keyboard interface It can be used as a keyer only or as a CW keyboard All keyer configuration and control is entered through the keyboard This is a kit product consisting of a double sided PCB two PIC microcontrollers memory board mounted components and keyboard connector A 2 line by 16 character LCD display can be added as an option Through hole components are used allowing easy assembly This document describes how the K40 works how to assemble one and how to operate it Features Built In PS 2 AT Keyboard Interface lambic CW Paddle Interface PTT Output Open Collector low true Key Output Open Collector low true Adjustable lead in and tail delays Adjustable Speed 5 99 WPM Adjustable Weighting Adjustable Keying Compensation Built In Sidetone Generator On Board Speaker Optional LCD Display Rotary Encoder for fast WPM change 12 Message memories Message pushbutton Assembly Instructions The assembly of the K40 is very easy all you need is a low wattage soldering iron some solder a few pieces of hook up wire a decent pair of wire cutters and small pliers 4 A VoltOhmMeter is handy for debug but not essential if you take your time and assemble the kit carefully You will also need some sort of power supply that provides a voltage between 8 to 18 VDC 12VDC is optimum at about 252. They occupy space in the message slot so be careful in using them when the slot is close to being full Review the SHIFT F1 command to learn how to record a message When F1 or some other message key is referred to in the examples this just means you press the F1 or whatever key Following is a list of the commands including descriptions F1 F12 Jump to message As mentioned previously message keys are buffered commands which are sent as they are taken out of the FIFO buffer The ability to jump from one message to another is very useful Here s a simple example Load Slot F1 with co co F3 Load Slot F2 with QRZ QRZ F3 Load Slot F3 with DE K1EL K Message F1 will be sent as CQ CQ DE K1EL K Message F2 will be sent as QRZ QRZ DE K1EL K Jump can be used to make a message loop here how Load Slot F1 with CO CQ CQ CQ DE K1EL K1EL KIEL F1 After sending CO CO CQ CQ DE KIEL KIEL KIEL we loop back to the beginning and send it again This will repeat forever until the ESC key is pressed CTL C lt F1 F12 gt Call a message The call command will jump to the specified message send that message and after the message completes the stream will return to where it was called It is more flexible than a jump to message An example of this command is Load slot F1 with C F2 C F2 de C F3 C F3 BTU OM KN Load slot F2 with WALABC Load Slot F3 with KIEL Message F1 will play as WALABC WAIABC DE K1EL K1EL BTU OM KN This illustrates a po
3. so if 10 mSec of key compensation is selected 10 mSec will be always be added regardless of speed So be careful at high speeds with large values of keying compensation dits and dahs may run together with no spacing at all l l l Letter R without compensation l Dik lt Letter R with compensation ALT LEFT nn Set Key Weighting The keying weight can be adjusted in percentage from 25 to 75 When set to 50 the dit time is equal to the inter element time which is normal Values less than 50 reduce weighting while values greater than 50 increase weighting Note that weighting does not affect sending speed because any increase in keyed time is subtracted from spacing time Reduction in weighting results in a thinner sound while increased weighting results in a heavier sound Since weighting will track speed one weighting setting will sound the same at all speeds LST LOT Le 25 weighting T LI LA L 50 weighting J LI UL 8 weighting ALT UP Increase Sidetone Frequency ALT DOWN Decrease Sidetone Frequency Sidetone frequency can be adjusted in fixed steps The steps are specified in the following chart 400 Hz 571 Hz 1000 Hz 444 Hz 666 Hz 1333 Hz 500 Hz 800 Hz 2000 Hz HOME Return Display to Home Position END Fast Callsign Entry revision E only You can quickly and easily enter a message in slot F12 by pressing END It s intended to be used to enter a callsign on the fly When you have entered your text hit r
4. sure the connector body is flush against the PCB before you solder it in place Install potentiometer R6 with screw adjust close to the silkscreened R6 see page 20 Test the keyboard interface Plug in a PS 2 style keyboard into J1 Please don t use an old IBM XT keyboard with an adapter as it won t work and may damage the K40 USB keyboards with a PS 2 adapter are Ok Turn on power and you ll hear the KEYER PIC send an R At the same time the lights on the keyboard should turn on and then go out in any case the lights should be off after power up Now press the NUMLOCK key and the NUMLOCK light on the keyboard should turn on Press it again and it ll turn off Press any letter key and it will be sent in Morse sidetone with the PTT and KEY lines activated as well That s it After reading through the theory of operations it s on to the command section to learn about the K40 command set K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 2 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard Theory of Operation This section will help you learn how the K40 works As shown in the block diagram two PIC processors share the task of converting keystrokes to Morse code U3 the console PIC is responsible for retrieving keystrokes from the keyboard and determining what to do with them U2 is the Keyer PIC which is a slave to the console its main task is to generate Morse code and monitor the keyer paddle inputs It throttles the Console PIC via the fl
5. leads L1 and L2 attenuate RF from coming in on the keyboard data and clock lines to the Console PIC These components also reduce RF radiation from the K40 Some keyboards can produce RF emissions on their own that can cause interference on your radio receiver Additional filtering may be required on the keyboard itself usually a large ferrite bead on the keyboard cable post note most keyboards manufactured within the last 5 or 6 years must meet stringent RF radiation requirements and are seldom a problem K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 15 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard Revision E amp F Changes In February 2006 the revision E K40 chipset was released Revision F was released shortly after The primary difference between older revisions and F is the addition of the RTTY module You need to have revision E or F to run the K40 PCB with the K40 RTTY Filter board The start up display will tell you which revision you have The revision F display looks like this K40 vF WK40 vF Other changes found in revision F are 1 Addition of Fast Call entry mapped to END 2 Shift TAB clears both LCD display windows 3 ESCcan be used to exit Morse status readout 4 Core clock frequency of both PICs changed to 8 MHz 5 Improved practice operation 6 Fixed PTT dropout on TUNE bug 7 Allow speed change up to 149 WPM using UP arrow or Speed encoder 8 Fragmented messages fixed 9 Persistent Beacon bug fixed 10 Allow ESC abort on
6. ll be turned off if it s off you ll turn it on SHIFT F6 Toggle Sidetone This is how you turn sidetone on and off If you would rather use the sidetone already provided by your transceiver just disable the K40 sidetone it s not required This command is both an immediate and a toggle command SHIFT F7 Toggle Transmitter Muting This command allows you to temporarily disable the Key and PTT outputs Sidetone is not affected by this command Transmit muting is useful for verifying a message off line or for code practice This is both an immediate and toggle command SHIFT F8 Tune Toggle Use this command to force transmit keying to a constant key down condition Both the KEY and PTT outputs are turned on Press SHIFT F8 again to cancel tune ESC will also cancel a tune command SHIFT F9 through SHIFT F12 Fast WPM Keys In contesting or just general QSO hunting it s handy to have several preset CW speed settings that you can select with a single key press One key press and the operating speed is changed You learned how to program these keys in the SHIFT F1 section ALT Commands The ALT command keys are configuration commands that setup K40 operating preferences In most cases you ll set these once save them to memory and not think about them again Remember to use the SHIFT F1 P command to save these settings in EEPROM so that they will be loaded next time you power up K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 7 K1EL K40 CW Keye
7. mappedto QSL is mapped to DN is mapped to SK idsmappedto KR No lt gt r ismappedto QRZ ismappedto ac ismappedto MN ismappedto vu ismappedto KN ismappedto kK ismappedto RR jsmappedto WG ismappedto DU ismappedto UK ismappedto os ismappedto AR Keyboard Paddle Two keys on the keyboard are mapped as the dit and dah paddle These keys are only found on newer WindowsXP keyboards They are located on the lower right of the layout in the same row as the space bar between the Alt and Ctl keys The left key is the Windows key the right key is the listbox select key Due to slow keyboard response these only work well below 18 WPM or so but are useful in a pinch High Speed CW Operation The K40 supports HSCW operation by being able to send character strings at 200 WPM speeds and higher HSCW is primarily used to work other stations using Meteor Scatter propagation The method of operation calls for short bursts of characters to be sent repetitively at high speeds for a predetermined period of time The receiving station listens and records the sporadically received bursts and plays them back at a slow speed to decipher the Morse message See http www nitehawk com rasmit ws1_15 html for more information Rotary Encoder The K40 provides an interface to a rotary encoder speed control It will change the speed by 1 WPM for every click of the encoder The connection to the encoder supplied with the K40 kit is as
8. shown ENC1 C GND Dh ENC2 L J LCD Display Interface The K40 provides an interface to an optional 16 by 2 line LCD It is not a requirement and all built in functions of the K40 can be accessed without a display The display allows the user to see what he is typing when preparing out going text and also monitor transmitting progress It does this by providing two display windows that can be selected by the TAB key The default view is the keyboard entry window hitting the TAB key will toggle the view over to the outgoing window The user can type well ahead of outgoing Morse in the entry window toggle over to monitor outgoing progress and then toggle back You can tell which buffer is which by the presence of a underline cursor the cursor is only displayed in the keyboard window Use the PGUP and PGDN keys to scroll back and look at previous lines Home returns you to the entry line Messages appear in the keyboard window as a single token character while the expanded message will be displayed as it is sent in the outgoing window Messages are mapped to lower case letters as follows Fl a F2 b F3 c F4 d F5 e F6 f F7 g F8 h F9 i F10 j F11 k F12 m Buffered commands are represented by several tokens are shown below E D f kK ue 5 z call msg load delay inc s n dec s n key down load loop set speed decsz K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 14 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard Other tokens are fo
9. will flash When you are all finished and want to save the message press the ENTER key and the CAPS LOCK light will go out If you want to review your message without actually sending it hit the Transmit Mute key SHIFT F7 followed by the desired message key and your message will be played in sidetone only Don t forget to turn off transmit mute when you are ready to go live again The following chart shows the sizes of the 12 message buffers in letters commands F1 192 F4 192 F7 192 F10 112 F2 192 F5 192 F8 112 F11 32 F3 192 F6 192 F9 112 F12 32 K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 5 K1EL CW Keyer and Keyboard Kit K 40 Fast WPM Keys Four command keys SHIFT F9 through SHIFT F12 are assigned as Fast WPM change keys You can program these keys to speeds of your choice To set these keys simply press SHIFT F1 followed by the desired Fast WPM key and a two digit number from 5 99 For example to set the SHIFT F10 key to 14 WPM enter the sequence SHIFT F1 SHIFT F10 14 NOTE Fast WPM settings are not automatically saved in EEPROM to save them you need to enter the Preserve Settings command SHIFT F1 P described in a later section Custom Prosigns You can permanently assign 11 custom prosigns A prosign in this context is simply any two normal characters concatenated into a single character The 11 abbreviation keys amp are reserved for custom prosigns Several common prosigns such a
10. 0 ma These instructions will take you through a step by step process that will test portions as you go This will make debugging much easier since if a problem arises you will be able to locate the source right away First off inventory and identify all parts ahead of time using the Bill of Materials on Page 18 This will allow the assembly to proceed smoothly You might want to verify resistor values with an ohmmeter if you are 5 color impaired like am After inventory carefully inspect the PCB for any solder shorts between etches it s easier to find one now First install the 1 4 watt resistors It s easiest to start with R1 and do them in order skip R5 it s not installed Observe the silk screen 6 to make sure you are placing them correctly Install the 6 pin R network the end with the No crystals or oscillators Operating Voltage 8 18 VDC On board regulated 5 volt supply Current Draw 5 ma less keyboard Embedded commands in messages lambic A B and Bug keyer modes Built in CW practice modes Autospace First Dit Dah adjustable correction HSCW QRSS Output Capability Farnsworth speed mode Extensive RFI filtering Keyboard Paddles dot goes in the square hole After soldering trim the resistor and R network leads Next install the 01 uF capacitors followed by the 001uF capacitors skip C11 it s not installed Then install the 47uF electrolytic cap The long lead is the plus lead look for t
11. ALT F6 Select Paddle Mode applies to paddle input only The K40 supports four keying modes lambic A B Ultimatic and Bug manual keying modes In iambic mode the K40 makes both dits and dahs automatically based on which paddle you press but in bug mode the K40 makes the dits and you make the dahs You also can use bug mode to operate in straight key mode or if you want to key through the K40 with a different keyer simply set bug mode and use the dah input to key the K40 In either iambic mode alternating dits and dahs are sent while both paddles are held closed In mode B an extra alternate dit or dah is sent after both paddles are released In Ultimatic mode when both paddles are pressed the keyer will send a continuous stream of whichever paddle was last pressed Everytime you hit ALT F6 the K40 will cycle to the next keying mode lambicA gt lambicB gt Bug gt Ultimatic gt lambicA ALT F7 Toggle Autospace applies to paddle input only Here is how autospace works If you pause for more than one dit time between a dit or dah the K40 will interpret this as a letter space and will not send the next dit or dah until a full letter space time has been met The normal letter space is 3 dit spaces but by using the ALT LEFT and ALT RIGHT commands you can modify this The K40 has a paddle event memory so that you can enter dits or dahs during the inter letter space and the K40 will send them as they were entered With a little practice autospace will help
12. Morse status dump K40 RTTY operation is described in the K40 FILT Manual Support and Warranty The K 40 is fully guaranteed and if you are not satisfied please return the kit for a full refund Any questions will be handled by snail mail or e mail via these addresses Steven T Elliott K1EL or e mail K1EL k1el com 43 Meadowcrest Drive Bedford NH 03110 USA Watch the K1EL Website for latest updates and new products http www k1el com While best efforts have been made to insure the K40 design is as complete and reliable as possible it is still possible to cause equipment damage or incur personal injury if the K40 kit is not used as intended is connected incorrectly or modified in any way K1EL can not be held responsible in these events K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 16 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard Immediate Commands Key Normal Shift AT Status Buffered Commands D Serial 1 Ip UI Serial t TM DP Passe ARS T K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 17 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard Bill of Materials PK40PCB_ kao Printed Circuit Card FC Board v LM7805 5 volt Regulator T0220 f uz PICi6F688 Keyer Red Dot 14 Pin DIP U3 4 J N1 Ot Q2 2N2222 or 2N7000 transistor 3 2N2222 transistor Cl C2 C3 01 uf 100 VDC capacitor ceramic disc CZ C87 EE C107 O12 47 uf capacitor electrolytic C6 1 001uF capacitor cii L1 02 SPKR Piezo Spea
13. appens is this When CTL L is processed the K40 loads the count and stores it then it outputs the message The CTL Z command tells the K40 to decrement the loop count and test to see if it is zero if it isn t zero the K40 jumps back to the beginning of F1 If the count is zero the K40 skips over the jump and just outputs the SK Remember that the CTL L command is ignored after the initial load Longer delay example Load Message Slot F1 with BCON DE K1EL F3 Load Message Slot F3 with L10 w60 Z F3 F1 Results when F1 is pressed BCON DE K1EL will be repeated every 10 minutes In this example the message is sent followed by a jump to F3 which waits for 60 seconds 10 times which gives us 10 minutes After the 10 minute wait we will jump back to F1 and do it all over again More Message Examples Load F5 with Count is N D W05 F5 Assuming the serial number has been preset to 100 the F5 message will be sent in sequence with a delay of 5 seconds in between as Count is 100 Count is 99 Count is 0 Here s an example of a message that runs at two different speeds K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 13 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard Load F1 with S10SLOW SPEED S20FAST SPEED Here s an example of a QRSS beacon message Load F3 with SQ2 K05 EL FN43 F5 Additional Key Assignments There are several other key assignments that are treated just like letters and are buffered is mapped to BT is mapped to AR is
14. applies to paddle input only ALT PGUP Increase Paddle Sensitivity This controls when the K40 will start looking for a new paddle press after sensing the current one The K40 doesn t wait for a dit or dah to finish before looking for the next paddle action This means there needs to be a delay to allow you to get off a paddle before it s latched again If there were no delay the keyer would send dits or dahs continually if there is too much delay it bogs you down because you can t get ahead of the keyer The default value is one dit time and is adjustable in units of 1 1 0 of a dit time Faster operators report a setting somewhat less than default is more pleasing Use the ALT HOME command to check the setting The delay is calculated with this formula DELAY TIME SENSITIVITY DIT TIME 10 where Sensitivity is a value between 5 and 33 10 is default ALT HOME Status Hitting this key will cause several status values to be sent in Morse Hit ESC to cancel revision E only The following values are sent Console Software Revision single letter Keyer Software Revision single letter WPM Setting S one or two digits 5 99 Sidetone Freq Q one or two digits 0 10 Weighting W two digits 10 89 PTT Lead In Delay L one or two digits 0 99 PTT Tail Delay T one or two digits O 99 1 bit Adjust X one or two digits 0 99 K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 9 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard Key Compens
15. ata being sent out of the circular buffer when you press the paddles the two may collide and give you unexpected results If you want to pause the K40 in order to use the paddles just press the Insert key When you press a command key that requires additional parameters the CAPS light on the keyboard will turn on to remind you that more keystrokes are required to finish the command When recording a message or other stored information the CAPS light will stay on until recording is ended When the K40 is in pause state via the INSERT KEY or by the P buffered wait command the CAPS light will flash to remind you the K40 is paused and waiting for user intervention press INSERT to continue The SCROLL LOCK light is used to signify when either a message buffer or the type ahead buffer is full more on this later Most of the information on how to use the keyer revolves around the command set so we will dive right in Command Description by Key Note SHIFT F1 means F1 pressed while the shift key is held For clarity a space is placed between commands and values in the following examples in reality no spaces are used in any command Likewise argument values shown enclosed with are entered without the So an example like SHIFT F2 45 should really be entered as SHIFT F2 4 5 F1 through F12 Send Message Messages are assigned to the twelve function keys Hitting one of these keys will cause a message to be queued up and sent after the c
16. ation K one or two digits 0 99 Farnsworth F O if off 18 if on Paddle Sensitivity J two digits 10 90 Dit Dah Ratio R two digits 10 90 CTL ALT DEL Clear EEPROM and Restart This causes the K40 to clear all of EEPROM and reload the factory settings Be careful when using this because it will erase all of your messages prosigns and numeric mappings The factory settings are Speed 15 WPM Extra Space 0 Shift F9 13 WPM Autospace off 17 Extension 0 Shift F10 15 WPM lambic B KeyComp Weighting normal Shift F11 18 WPM PTT Delays 0 Ratio normal Shift F12 20 WPM Known bug only one of the two delete keys on the keyboard will work for CTL ALT DEL UP ARROW Increase Speed by 1 WPM DOWN ARROW Decrease Speed by 1 WPM ALT RIGHT lt nn gt Set Key Compensation Keying Compensation allows a fixed amount of time to be added to the length of all dits and dahs QSK keying on modern transceivers can cause shortening of these elements which is especially noticeable at high speeds The K12 allows the length of the elements to be increased uniformly to compensate for this The adjustments can be made in one millisecond steps The maximum adjustment is 31 mSecs Key compensation is very similar to Weighting in that any adjustment added to the dits and dahs is subtracted from the spacing so the resulting speed is not changed The difference between weighting and keying compensation is that compensation is independent of speed
17. ctice SHIFT F4 E4 selects Level 4 echo practice Receive Practice Description Random characters from the selected level are sent in groups of five Practice will continue until the ESC key is pressed Echo Receive Transmit Practice Description The K40 will send a character from the selected level and you must respond by echoing the character back on the keyboard If you get it right the K40 will repeat the first character followed by a new character Now you must echo back both characters The K40 will continue to add characters until it reaches five after which it will start with a new set If you miss a character the K40 will send 8 dits and start over with a new sequence of characters When you want to end this practice hit the ESC key and the K40 will send an SK to let you know it s done Known Bug If you hit a message key during Echo practice the K40 will send random characters for the length of the message and then go back to echo practice SHIFT F5 Toggle Farnsworth Sending Farnsworth spacing is useful for CW practice because it encourages you to learn characters by sound not individual dits and dahs In the K40 Farnsworth is implemented by sending letters at a fixed rate of 18 WPM regardless what the WPM sending rate is Spacing between characters is determined by the sending rate When the WPM rate is set above 18 WPM Farnsworth is automatically disabled It s a toggle command which means if Farnsworth is on when you press SHIFT F5 it
18. e from 1000 to 8000 can be picked although only a handful of them are actually used by radio amateurs In the US common rates are 1000 2000 4000 and 6000 lpm while in Europe 1000 3000 4000 lpm are common The syntax for the QRSS command is S lt Qn gt where n is a single digit number 1 4 representing the QRSS rate 1 QRSS3 3 second dits 2 QRSSE 6second dits 3 QRSS30 30 second dits 4 QRSS60 60 second dits For example SQ1 selects QRSS3 or 3 second dits and SQ4 selects 60 second dits NOTE Remember to put a buffered speed command at the end of a message that contains either a QRSS or HSCW command to restore normal CW operation when the message is completed K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 12 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard HSCW Operation Hints In running HSCW mode a common practice is to key the transmitter when sending and feed keyed audio tones into the microphone input You can use the K40 sidetone output directly as a tone source as this is a keyed 2000 Hz tone in HSCW mode Alternatively you can use the K40 key output to key an external tone generator In either case the PTT output of the K40 should be connected to the PTT input of the transmitter You have a choice of either inserting an HSCW QRSS command into a message or use it on the fly while you are typing It is not very useful on the fly though and is intended to be used in a message Use ESC to leave HSCW QRSS mode CTL W lt NN gt Wai
19. eturn to save Pressing the END key will bring up a small text entry window in the upper left hand corner of the LCD display This allow you to see what you are entering while referencing the rest of the display handy for picking out a callsign K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 10 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard SHIFT TAB Clear Keyboard Display Clears the keyboard display the transmit display is not cleared In revision E both displays are cleared ESC Abort Clear Buffer This can be pressed at any time to abort a message abort a command or to clear the typeahead buffer If this is pressed during message entry the message buffer will be cleared and you effectively can start over at the beginning Note You need to press enter to exit message entry mode ESC just clears what you have entered and starts you over INSERT Pause You can put the K40 into pause with either of these keys Sending will stop immediately and will not resume until Insert or Tab is pressed again While the K40 is paused the CAPS Lock light on the keyboard will flash DEL Send Error Dits Eight dits will be sent to signify a CW error Right Arrow Increment Serial Number Left Arrow Decrement Serial Number Buffered Command Language A simple yet powerful command set is provided that allows you to assemble complex CW messages The language revolves around 13 basic commands These commands can be inserted into a message to perform various functions
20. he silk screen to verify where it goes 00 00 0000 Next install the three DIP sockets Orient them so the little notch in the top aligns with the notch in the silk screen This will make it easier to correctly install the ICs later on It s easier if you bend two legs over on the back to hold them in while you solder them in place If you do this just make sure that the bent over lead doesn t accidentally short to an adjacent trace Now we will install and check out the 5 volt regulator Orient VR1 as shown in the fol lowing diagram heat sink facing board edge K40 User s Manual 7 26 2007 Page 1 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard 7 Blk Red Next strip and tin the ends of two pieces of hook up wire one red one black Install the black wire as shown in the G hole and the red wire in the B hole These are our power supply input leads To test the regulator connect the power leads to a power source that can provide something in the range of 8 to 16 volts DC Connect the red lead to the positive power terminal and black to the negative Turn on the power and measure the voltage between pin 1 and 14 on U2 with a voltmeter Pin 1 should sit at 5 volts relative to pin 14 if it doesn t recheck that VR1 is in correctly and there aren t any solder shorts Remove power after testing Install Q3 observing that the flat face of the transistor lines up with the silk screen Next install the speaker make sure
21. itch back to receive If it has it ll require a new first element correction on the next sequence The K40 uses the PTT tail timer to determine this set the tail timer to roughly match the transmit to receive changeover time of the transceiver and things will work fine It takes some trial and error to get it set up right so make sure you save the values in EEPROM when you re done using the SHIFT F1 P command Normal R Increased 1st Dit ALT F11 nn Set Dit Dah Ratio Default is 50 for standard 1 3 Smaller values decrease ration larger values increase ratio This causes an intentional distortion of the Morse waveform Some ops use this option to make their CW sound less machine like Purists myself included recommend that you should always leave the ratio set at 1 3 which is the universal standard Increased Dit Dah Ratio Max Value Allowed is 66 Normal R Min Value allowed is 33 Decreased Dit Dah Ratio ALT F12 Start Persistent Beacon When this command is issued the K40 will send the message in slot 1 F1 repetitively A jump to message F1 command is not required at the end of the message The message can contain any valid command and calls or jumps to other messages will be honored It is called persistent because if power is lost and then restored the beacon will continue to cycle The beacon is ended by hitting the ESC escape key ALT PGDN Decrease Paddle Sensitivity
22. ker O y R Vertical mount U 02 U3 K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 18 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard Rx ENC2 Tx Tone RN2 5V 1 Vcc Gnd 2 PTTO DAH 3 KeyO DIT RY LI 6 4 RY ENC1 7 O Key1 PTT1 U2 Keyer PIC16F688 Q3 2N2222 en L AF 047uF lt C KEY R2 4 7KQ c3 01 uF 5V RN1 RN2 RN3 RN4 RN5 LK r Q Q Q Q Q 10 K Resistor Pullup Pack e 2N2222 or 2N7000 a 01 uF Q1 2N2222 or 2N7000 C12 01 uF PB 5V O U4 EEPROM U3 Console roce PIC16F688 5V R L1 Regulator C2 PS 2 E du Keybd 6 G B Ww K40 Schematic Rev A K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 19 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard K40 PCB Silkscreen Checkplot and top bottom layers c5 DAH DIT Co Gg CEZ CCS Ji AF G G RY ENG ENI G CS ToS 7654EWRBVG K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 20 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard Manual Revision F Removed R6 Potentiometer replaced with Jumper K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 22
23. o different speeds the first at 15 WPM and the second at 20 WPM By placing a buffered speed command between the words the speed will not be changed until the first word is completely sent Not all but many of the immediate commands can be entered as buffered commands Most often buffered commands are used in messages This will be covered in the message entry section Key Processor Key Input Command Bypass Output to Keyer PIC The K40 provides a low level filtered near sinewave sidetone audio output which can be fed into the microphone of a transmitter By keying the transmitter with the PTT output you have AF driven CW MCW The PTT output is open collector and in most cases can drive the transmitter PTT input directly Full control over PTT is provided to compensate for transmit changeover delay and hold keying between letters and words j m i PTT PTT In K40 Transceiver K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 3 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard Paddle status is read directly through input pins on the console PIC The K40 also has a built in speaker driver that can drive either an on board Piezo speaker or an external 8 ohm speaker The volume is fixed by an on board resistor The K40 provides an interface for an optional LCD display The interface is fixed format at 16 characters by 2 lines The interface is compatible with most if not all LCD displays based on the Hitachi HD44780 controller LC The display allo
24. ow control signal The 4 kilobyte EEPROM memory stores up to 12 messages system settings and holds the keyboard type ahead and LCD display buffers Serial Transmit Data Keyboard 5885868 EISE ES ES Der Keyer Paddle U3 Console There are two types of keyboard inputs Commands and Data Commands modify the K40 s operation in some way for example changing operating speed turning off sidetone recording a message etc Data are letters numbers or prosigns that are to be sent in Morse Commands and data are processed differently by the K40 Data is put into a type ahead buffer that allows the user to type faster than the Morse that is being sent The size of this buffer is about 200 characters and is a FIFO which is an acronym for First In First Out This means that characters are taken out in the order they were put in Since there can be a considerable delay from keyboard input to Morse output commands bypass the input FIFO and are sent to the Keyer PIC immediately This allows changes to be made immediately while sending is underway The command bypass also allows one message to be sent while another is being entered Since there are times when you don t want commands to take effect immediately the K40 allows commands to be buffered This means that the command is placed in the typeahead buffer and won t be acted on until it comes out of the buffer An example of the use of a buffered command would be to send two words at tw
25. owing items will be saved in EEPROM memory Speed Paddle Swap Paddle Sensitivity Weight Sidetone disable Fast WPM keys Character Spacing Sidetone Frequency Numeric mapping lambic Mode PTT delays Pin Configuration Autospace Setting Serial number SHIFT F2 Change Sending Speed This immediate command will set the current WPM speed to whatever you desire The syntax for the command is SHIFT F2 nn where nn is a two digit decimal speed from 05 to 99 WPM Two digits must be entered or the command will be ignored Note that you can also change speed in increments of 1 WPM with the UP and DOWN arrow keys and the rotary encoder See the section on buffered commands to learn how buffered speed changes are made K40 User s Manual 7 26 2007 Page 6 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard SHIFT F4 Morse Code Practice A dual mode multi level code practice program is built into the K40 It s accessed via the SHIFT F4 command key There are two styles of practice receive only and echo receive respond practice There are four levels of practice organized by easy to difficult letter groups The four levels are Level i E TANIMWSGDUKOR Level2 COP JF BV YHXZL including level 1 Level3 1 234567890 including level 1 amp 2 Level4 AR SK BT AS including level 1 amp 2 amp 3 The syntax for entering a practice mode is SHIFT F4 style level where style is R for receive or E for echo practice SHIFT F4 R2 selects Level 2 receive pra
26. r and Keyboard ALT F2 PTT Lead In Delay Time The K40 provides a transmitter PTT output that can be used to switch a transmitter over to transmit mode in advance of actual CW keying You have control over the time delay between when PTT is asserted and when CW keying will start The format for the command is ALT F2 nn where nn is a two digit number calling out the delay in 10 s of milliseconds nn 26 selects 260 milliseconds The maximum delay that can be set is 99 or 990 milliseconds ALT F3 PTT Tail Delay Time Time delay to PTT deassertion is programmed in units of 10 mSecs The syntax is the same as ALT F2 Lead in Delay Tail Delay PTT lt The letter A ALT F4 Set Serial Number For contesting the ability to send and keep track of a serial number is indispensable This command allows you to preset the serial number to any 4 digit number from 0000 to 9999 Just hit ALT F4 wait for the CAPS LOCK to light and enter 4 numbers If you make a mistake hit ESC to cancel and re enter the number in other words backspace won t work on this guy Any non numeric entered will cause the K40 to simply ignore the command and not change the serial number Once the serial number is set you can increment decrement and send the serial number using buffered commands CTL I CTL D and CTL N respectively ALT F5 Toggle Contest Spacing By default the spacing between words is 7 dit times this will toggle to 6 dit times
27. r merge Q for pause and X for serial number These tokens also show up when you enter them in a message They act just like single characters in that you can backspace over them but they represent more content than single characters Command transactions will be displayed as entered parameters can be entered but backspace is not supported hit ESC to cancel the command leaving the parameter unchanged To record messages follow the normal procedure after selecting the message the first line of the current contents of the slot are displayed If you want to leave it alone simply press the esc key Turning the speed pot or using the arrow keys to change the serial number will be noted on the display in a temporary message in the upper right hand corner LCD Hook Up The K40 provides a parallel interface to drive a standard 16 character by 2 line LCD character display based on the Hitachi HD44780 controller IC The interface is run in a 4 bit write only mode The following table calls out the pin connections K40 Pad Name LCD Pin K40Pad Name LCD Pin 7 j Daa7 E Eme 6 Diop W Wie 5 Daa5 R RegiserSelect 4 1 Daa4 B DisplayBias VB V co j G Ground O The display bias level is controlled by a potentiometer on the K40 PCB this controls the display contrast Use a voltmeter to set the B pad to zero and then turn the pot to move towards 5 volts At some point the displa
28. rom EEPROM and be ready to use Messages will be preserved from your last session as well as any setting you may have saved Important Note Some older keyboards draw a significant amount of power and can cause the 7805 regulator to overheat A heatsink maybe required in some extreme cases Office Max and Staples as well as others sell AT style keyboards made by Belkin and Fellowes which work great with the K40 and can be bought for 5 with rebate They draw a tiny amount of current and allow a couple of months of typical operation with a 9 volt battery Shift ALT CTL Keys This is basic stuff but the Shift Ctrl and Alt keys allow multiple key functions to be assigned to a single key If you are not familiar with these keys here s how they are used 1 Press and hold the CTL key then press the letter A for CTL A 2 Press and hold the ALT key then press the letter A for ALT A 3 Press and hold the SHIFT key then press the letter A for SHIFT A K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 4 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard 4 Press the A key by itself for the letter A In this User Manual SHIFT key refers to a key pressed with Shift SHIFT F1 for example ALT key refers to a key pressed with Alt ALT PGUP for example key refers to a key pressed with Ctrl C B for example General Information The K40 accepts input from a keyboard or iambic paddle you can switch between them whenever you want Just remember if there is d
29. s 047 If a number has been mapped using the sHIFT F1 M command the mapped value will be substituted CTL P Pause Output Until Insert Key Pressed K40 output keying will be paused indefinitely until the INSERT key is pressed While paused the CAPS LOCK light on the keyboard will flash to let you know that pause is in effect This command is used to insert a pause into a message to allow you to insert something manually For example you might make a message up that looks like this UR RST IS P NAME HR IS STEVE After playing UR RST IS the K40 will pause to allow you to enter an RST after which you hit the INSERT key which releases the K40 to continue with the rest of the message Note that the ESC key also cancels a pause but will kill the remainder of a message in progress CTL S nn Change Speed to NN WPM nn 05 99 HSCW QRSS Speed Set You can build a message that has a speed change in it with this command This command is also used to run HSCW or QRSS speeds Load Message Slot F1 with S 10 CQ CQ DE KIEL KIEL S 22 CQ CQ DE KIEL F1 F1 will repeat until ESC CQ CQ DE K1EL at 10 wom CQ CQ DE KIEL at 22 wom The K40 supports both HSCW High Speed CW and QRSS Extremely Slow transmit rates through the use of this buffered command The syntax for the HSCW command is S Hn Where n is a single digit number representing the lpm rate divided by 1000 For example SH2 selects 2000 lpm and SH4 selects 4000 lpm Any rat
30. s AR SK BT And DN are already assigned see page 13 so you don t have to add these One application of this feature could be adding special European language characters or uncommon prosigns Note that _ and can not be remapped To illustrate how the command works let s assign AS to the 9 key just enter the following sequence SHIFT F1 QA S From this time on anytime you press AS will be sent Custom prosigns are automatically stored in EEPROM after they are entered Numeric Mapping Numeric Mapping allows you to substitute a letter for a number when sending a serial number T is a popular mapping for zero but you can choose what you like for 0 and any other numbers 1 9 To record a mapping press SHIFT F1 followed by M After the CAPS light turns on press the number you want to map followed by what you want it to map to So to map 0 to T you enter the sequence SHIFT F1MO T NOTE Only 0 through 9 can be mapped Numeric mappings are not automatically saved in EEPROM to save them you need to enter the Preserve Settings command SHIFT F1 P described below Preserving Settings The basic settings of the K40 reside in EEPROM so that they are preserved when power is shut off When the K40 is powered on for the first time a default set of values are loaded into EEPROM You can customize these defaults very easily When you have the K40 setup the way you like it just press sHIFT F1 followed by the letter P and current settings for the foll
31. t for NN Seconds NN 01 gt 99 This command is used to insert a fixed pause into a message it s well suited for building a beacon message Load Message Slot F1 with vvv K05 BCON DE K1EL W60 F1 When you press F1 three V s will be followed by a keydown for 5 seconds then BCON DE K1EL will be sent followed by a wait of 60 seconds after which the whole thing will be repeated This beacon will repeat until you hit the ESC key Longer delays than 99 seconds can be derived by looping a wait command in a DECSZ loop an example is given in the CTL Z command description CTL Z lt F1 F12 gt Decrement Loop Count and Skip Message if Zero This command allows you to control looping in a message The structure of the command consists of the CTL Z command followed by a message key F1 F12 There must be a load loop command in the message stream somewhere ahead of the CTL Z command When the CTL Z command is encountered the loop count is decremented by one and if the result is not zero the message is jumped to If it is zero the message is skipped The first time the L command is encountered the count is loaded and subsequent CTL L commands are ignored until the loop count expires this allows a loop count load and loop count test to reside in one message The best way to describe the command further is with a couple of examples Load Message Slot F1 with L02 CQ CQ DE KIEL ZF1 K Results when F1 is pressed CQ CQ DE K1EL CQ CQ DE K1EL K What h
32. urrent contents of the FIFO buffer have been sent in other words they are buffered There is no way to send a message immediately except to first clear the FIFO buffer with the ESC key and then send the message If you hit the message key of an empty slot nothing will happen See below for instructions on how to load a message SHIFT F1 Save Something in Memory The K40 has the ability to store messages and other items in non volatile memory Non volatile means that the memory contents are preserved even if power is turned off Recording begins by pressing the SHIFT F1 key the following chart shows all available recording options SHIFT F1 followed by F1 F12 Record a message SHIFT F9 F12 Set a Fast WPM key SHIFT 0 9 Record a Custom Prosign M Map a numeric P Store current settings as the power on default Message Recording Message recording is easy let s say you want to put a new message in slot F4 first press SHIFT F1 then press F4 The CAPS light will come on to let you know that you are in record mode and you can then enter your message If you make a mistake you can back up using the BACKSPACE key At any time you can abort by pressing the ESC key Any alphanumeric key or prosign can be put into a message as well as any buffered command The message slots are fixed in size when you get to within 8 entries of the slot being full the SCROLL LOCK light will turn on When you reach the end of the slot Slot FULL the SCROLL LOCK light
33. werful feature you can build up complicated messages that can be reused by substituting different callsigns in a called slot In this example the complicated message is in slot F1 and the called slots are F2 and F3 Even though F2 and F3 are called by F1 they can still be sent individually K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 11 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard CTL D Decrement Serial Number The four digit serial number is decremented by one If equal to zero the serial number is not decremented CTL I Increment Serial Number The four digit serial number is incremented If equal to 9999 it is not incremented CTL K lt nn gt Key down for nn seconds The transmitter will be held in key down state until the timer expires CTL L nn Load Loop Count nn 01 99 This command works in conjunction with the CTL Z command A loop count is entered with this command The CTL Z command will decrement this loop count and will repeat a message until the loop count reaches zero See the CTL Z description for more info CTL M lt C1 gt lt C2 gt Merge Next Two Letters into a Prosign You can build on the fly prosigns with this command Just press CTL M followed by two letters or numbers and they will be merged together MAR is sent as AR Note that nothing will be sent until both letters have been entered CTL N Send Serial Number The four digit serial number is sent in Morse A leading zero is suppressed so 0047 is sent a
34. ws the user to see what is being typed in while sending and do basic editing It is also possible to Scroll back to view the last 14 lines typed in The outgoing viewport can be selected by hitting the TAB key which allows the user to see outgoing Morse as it is being sent The outgoing buffer is much larger at 125 lines A cursor is shown when viewing the edit buffer the cursor is not shown in the outgoing buffer Using the K40 The following diagram illustrates a basic K40 set up The paddle is optional and is not a requirement Likewise the K40 could be used without the keyboard but it would not be possible to enter commands or play messages The PTT output is used primarily in HSCW and AF keying modes A PTT connection would not be required for normal CW keying of a transmitter or transceiver The on board keying circuit on the K40 PCB is only capable of keying positive voltages up to 60 VDC It is not compatible with negative keying voltages and external circuitry is required lambic Paddle GND 8 18 VDC To XMIT Key Input To PS 2 Keyboard K1EL K40 PCB The sidetone SP output can drive an 8 ohm speaker in a situation where you need more sidetone volume The 100 ohm resistor R8 fixes the volume level and can be adjusted to suit In most configurations you will use the sidetone built into your transceiver but it s nice to have it for practice or testing purposes When the K40 powers up it will automatically load its settings f
35. y will come into view then adjust for best contrast K1EL has tested LCD displays from several different manufacturers with success Make sure you use a display you know is working and one that supports the HD44780 standard interface Beware of used or low quality surplus displays Following are tested manufacturers Optrex Sharp Hitachi Datamedia Samsung LOOK FOR HD44780 CONTROLLER Also make sure you obtain the correct LCD pinout and pin numbering for the exact display you are using For the most part all manufacturers use the same signal ordering GND 5 VB GND RS W E DO D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 but some start with Pin 1 others start with pin 14 To be safe Get A Datasheet AF Keying Interface The K40 PCB has an onboard audio filter attenuator used to convert the square wave sidetone into a low level smoothed output that is suitable to feed into a transmitter s mic input The values listed in the bill of materials for R3 R7 C6 C10 produce a level of approximately 5 millivolts depending on load impedance Other values can be chosen to either increase of decrease the level or a potentiometer can be used to allow an exact level control 0 e 5 mVolts K40 PCB Tor RF Immunity There are several RF filters included in the K40 circuit design Caps C1 and C3 on the keying and PTT lines prevent RF from coming back through the keying lines C6 and C7 shunt any RF arriving over the paddle leads and C8 and C9 filter the rotary encoder
36. you put the long speaker lead or plus side through the hole with a sign next to it Next we will install all three ICs Carefully install U2 the 16F688 PIC with the red dot in the socket next to the R network Align the 1 14 U2 little circular notch on the IC and with the socket s notch Now install the 16F688 Console PIC U3 no dot observing pin 1 alignment Finally install the 24LC32B EEPROM UA Note that all ICs on the boards are oriented the same way 10 11 11 Now we will test the Keyer PIC First of all install two lengths of hook up wire in the PCB holes marked DAH and DIT these will be your paddle keying leads Connect a third wire to the G hole next to the AF hole This will be the common return from the keyer paddles Turn on the power then touch the keying leads to the keying ground lead you should get dits dahs and alternating dits dahs if you hold all three together If there is a problem here the first place to check that Q3 amp R4 are in right Poor soldering is the most common source of assembly problems Remove power after testing Now install the keying transistor Q1 and the PTT transistor Q2 We are now at the keyboard interface First install L1 and L2 these consist of a ferrite bead on a resistor lead ns 12 Next install the keyboard connector J1 the 13 14 15 holes are a tight fit but if you take your time you ll find it will slide into place NOTE Make
37. you to send perfectly space Morse ALT F8 Modify Output port You can operate the K40 to run in a SO2R mode This command will toggle between three modes Mode 1 Key Output Key PTT Output PTT normal default LCD Displays K1P2 Mode 2 Key Output Key PTT always deasserted LCD Displays K1 Mode 3 Key always deasserted PTT Output Key LCD Displays K2 ALT F9 Swap Paddles applies to paddle input only You can swap paddles with the command This is a nice feature to have when right and left handed ops want to share the same keyer ALT F10 Set 17 Extension The K40 addresses problems often encountered when keying older transceivers with slow break in response Due to a slow receive to transmit changeover time the first dit or dah of a letter sequence can be K 40 User s Manual ver F 7 26 2007 Page 8 K1EL K40 CW Keyer and Keyboard chopped and reduced in length Adding a fixed amount to the first element of a sequence can compensate this for In other words if an R is sent the first dit will be elongated but the subsequent dah dit is sent normally The compensation amount is transceiver dependent and is generally independent of sending speed Note though that this is usually only a noticeable problem at higher CW speeds gt 25 WPM ALT F10 nn where nn is a two digit number 0 99 calling out the delay in milliseconds A challenge in this scheme is to determine when sending has stopped long enough to cause the transceiver to sw
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