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Operating & Assembly Manual W8ZR StationPro II

1. Switch Ceram Res BPK DIP hardware Mouser p n 531 PT6KV 5K Price 0 28 ea 0 23 100 0 22 500 Resistor Xicon 5 carbon film 1 4W qty 17 Mouser p n 291 Value RC e g 291 4 7K RC Price 0 09 10 0 044 200 017 1000 Mountain Switch DPDT paddle qty 1 Mouser p n 103 4024 EV Price 2 90 ea 2 62 50 2 47 100 2 32 500 Mountain Switch min toggle SPDT qty 1 Mouser p n 1055 TA2130 EVX Price 2 67 ea 2 23 50 2 02 100 1 84 500 Mountain Switch min toggle SPDT mom qty 9 Mouser p n 108 IMS2T6BIM1IQE EVX Price 2 76 ea 1 93 50 1 80 100 1 72 500 Murata 480 KHz ceramic resonator Mouser p n 81 CSB480J Price 0 81 ea 0 70 10 0 54 100 0 48 500 PIC16C54 LCD serial decoder interface Seetron Electronics BPK DIP Price 9 00 ea threaded spacer hex alum 2 56 x 1 4 qty 4 Mouser p n 534 1797B Price 0 78 ea 0 47 100 C Microcontroller Circuit Board rev BO IC socket C201 C205 24 pin 0 1 uF DIP 24 pin IC socket Mouser p n 517 4824 6000 CP Price 0 21 ea 0 20 25 0 18 100 0 17 200 Capacitor 50V Xicon Z5U epoxy dipped ceramic qty 5 C206 C207 C208 C209 D201 D203 J201 J202 J203 K201 K213 P201 P204 P205 P206 P207 P208 4700 uF 1000 pF 01 uF 1N4005 Connector Connector Relay Header Header Header Header 72 Mouser p n 21RZ310 RC Price 08 ea 069 100 053 500 046 1000 Capacitor Nichicon
2. great this capacitor can be reduced to 1 4 pF by cutting the connecting trace c Drill or punch two 3 8 holes at a convenient location on the opposing sides of the enclosure near the RF pickoff points see photograph below and mount the BNC chassis jacks in the holes d Connect the BNC jacks to the sample pickoff pads on the circuit board using a short length of hookup wire or bare tinned wire Also ground the coax jacks to the ground pads on the circuit board using another short piece of wire This completes the optional step Potter amp Brumfield CHINA _ ev oO 4 GD K c The RF relay unit showing the optional RF sampling circuit with side mounted BNC connector 11 Secure the RF circuit board to the four standoffs on the inside top cover of the enclosure using 4 40 x 3 16 machine screws and internal lockwashers Place the lockwashers between the standoffs and the bottom of the circuit board NOT under the screw heads Hint Stick toothpicks into the holes on the standoffs and lower the lockwashers and circuit board onto the toothpicks Once everything is in place remove the toothpicks and secure the circuit board Lockwashers go between the standoffs and the circuit board and enclosure lid not under the screwheads The lockwashers ensure a good electrical connection between the circuit board ground plane and the enclosure lid and also increase the clearance between the bottom of the circ
3. AMP3 ALC AUX1 13 VII Operating Instructions and Hints 1 Power Up Once the interconnecting cables are installed and a 12V DC power source 500mA minimum is plugged into the 12 IN jack on the rear of the StationPro H control unit the StationPro II can be turned on with the front panel PWR switch The red LED power indicator will light and SP will be sent in morse code while the LCD initializes After about a second the display will briefly show the firmware revision date followed by the previously selected transceiver On its initial power up the StationPro II defaults to TX RX1 On subsequent power ups the StationPro II reverts to the previously selected transceiver The bottom line of the display shows the selected transceiver with a confirming 3 tone beep and the sound of relays clicking The top line of the display will show No Amp to confirm that no amplifier has yet been selected As a safety precaution the StationPro II never selects an amplifier at power up If the user has fabricated an optional solid state relay master power controller see III Rear Panel Connectors Item 9 12V Control Jack for details then all the 120 VAC station equipment will also be powered up at this time At this point the transceiver shown in the display will be on line and ready to operate 2 Transceiver and Amplifier Selection Station transceivers and amplifiers are selected by depressing the appropriate f
4. x 1 1 plastic enclosure qty 3 Mouser p n 546 1591 XXBSBK Price 4 06 ea 3 66 10 3 03 50 2 62 100 zoe cable ties cable ties Ty Wrap or equiv 4 inch qty 15 Pod Conn Connector D Sub 25 pin female R A PCB mount qty 3 Mouser p n 806 KF22X B25S NJ Kycon ferrite filtered Price 4 38 ea 4 09 25 2 99 50 2 63 100 H Miscellaneous Other Hardware amp Accessories Qty 18 No 4x 3 8 sheet metal screws six to secure rear panel circuit board to rear panel and twelve to attach pod circuit boards to their plastic cases Qty 8 2 56 x 3 16 machine screws to attach LCD to front panel circuit board Qty 8 4 40 x 3 16 machine screws to secure PCB to RF relay enclosure Qty 20 4 40 x 5 16 machine screws to secure SO 239 coax jacks toRF relay enclosure Qty 8 6 32 x 1 4 machine screws to secure main circuit board to bottom plate of enclosure Qty 8 No 6 x 3 8 sheet metal screws black oxide coated to attach cover to RF enclosure Qty 28 No 4 internal tooth lockwashers T1 Qty 8 No 6 internal tooth lockwashers Qty 20 4 40 nuts Note additional hardware is supplied with the enclosure for the StationPro II control unit The following items are to be obtained locally by the builder Qty 3 patch cord 3 0 25C serial cable w male female DB25 connectors Qty 1 patch cord 3 6 CATS patch cord w RJ45 connectors p Qty 20 cablie ties 4 nom Ty Wrap or equivalent
5. C310 0 1 uF Capacitor 50V epoxy dipped ceramic qty 1 C311 l uF Capacitor electrolytic 50V qty 1 DS301 DS304 DS308 DS309 LED LED Green qty 6 DS306 DS307 LED LED Yellow qty 2 DS305 DS310 J301 J302 J303 P305 K301 P301 P307 P302 LCD R301 R302 R304 R305 R311 R312 R313 R314 R315 R317 R318 R316 S301 S302 S303 S311 Y301 U301 LED LED bezels Key Jack Phone Jack Phone Jack Header Relay Header Header 16x2 LCD 5 KQ trimpot 2 2 KQ 1000 Q 22 KQ 220 KQ 4 7 KQ 10 KQ 10 Q Switch Switch Switch Ceram Res IC connectors hardware hardware StationPro II Front Panel 19 LED Red qty 2 LED mounting clips qty 10 1 4 in Stereo NO Phone Jack qty 1 1 4 in Stereo NO NC Phone Jack qty 1 3 5 mm Stereo NO NC Phone Jack qty 1 40 pin 0 100 male breakaway header qty 1 P amp B Tyco V23105 DPDT 12VDC qty 1 Molex 26 pin 2x13 0 100 male header qty 2 Molex 4 pin 0 156 PCB connector w locking clip qty 1 Microtips 16x2 LCD carbon trimmer potentiometer Resistor 5 carbon film 1 4W red red red qty 3 Resistor 5 carbon film 1 4W brown black red qty 7 Resistor 5 carbon film 1 4W red red orange qty 1 Resistor 5 carbon film 1 4W red red yellow qty 1 Resistor 5 carbon film 1 4W yellow violet orange qty 1 Resistor 5 carbon film 1 4W brown black orange qty 3 Resistor 5 carbon film 1 4W brown black black qty 1 Plastic DPDT paddle qty
6. Instructions as well as instructions for operating the StationPro and understanding its features You will need to buy three 25 pin computer serial cables male female connectors and one standard 8 pin ethernet cable all available from any computer or office supply store or Radio Shack These cables should be as short as possible consistent with the layout of equipment on your operating desk It is preferable to use a shielded ethernet cable if available 59 2 Custom Interface Cable As noted above the transceiver pods connect to the StationPro controller unit using a 25 conductor computer cable For most situations users will be able to use inexpensive off the shelf serial cables However for a few situations specifically when amateurs want to control two transceivers with a computer that has only one serial port while also operating SSB or AM then it may be necessary to prepare a custom interface cable The purpose of the custom cable would be to prevent coupling of computer noise from the RS 232 data into the transceivers microphone circuits Please refer to Supplementary Assembly Manual Preparing Custom Transceiver Interface Cables for a complete discussion of this topic as well as assembly instructions for making a custom interface cable if you should need one Most builders will not need to make a custom cable 60 PDD TEMPLATES FRONT wep fe align with bottom edge A lt 2 200 2 200 REAR
7. Leave the headers plugged into the connectors they will be soldered into the microcontroller circuit board in a later step 7 Install the Molex 0 156 4 pin male connector with locking clip shown below at P102 The Molex 0 156 male connector with locking clip installs at P102 8 Install the fuse clips at F1 Hint Insert the 1A fuse into the clips to hold them in place and to make sure you don t install the clips backwards 32 Insert the 1A fuse into the fuse clips before soldering them to the circuit board 9 Install the two 26 pin 2x13 male headers at P101 and P103 Solder two end pins first on each header to make certain the body of the header 1s flat against the circuit board Then solder the remaining pins Clean off the flux with alcohol and then check the solder joints with a magnifying glass to make sure there are no solder bridges between pins 26 pin male headers install at P101 and P103 10 Install the six connectors J107 J112 along the rear edge of the circuit board See photo below Make absolutely certain the connectors are seated flat against the board before soldering the pins otherwise they won t fit properly into their rear panel cutouts As before inspect each solder joint with a magnifying glass to look for cold solder joints and solder bridges Some of the connectors have metal mounting tabs and these should be soldered to the ground plane on the circuit board Hint It take
8. you inserted 12 pin headers at P201 P204 and 4 pin headers at P205 P206 into their mating connectors Verify again that these headers are fully seated into their connectors Now set the microcontroller circuit board on top of the main circuit board so that the pins on the six headers extend into their holes on the microcontroller circuit board Do not solder the pins yet 2 Carefully attach the main circuit board and microcontroller circuit board assembly to the rear panel taking care not to let the pins on the six headers slip out of their pads These boards attach to the rear panel with the eight jack screws that secure the three 25 pin DB25 connectors and the 9 pin DB9 connector Before you tighten the jack screws make sure the bodies of the 8 pin RJ 45 RELAY CTRL and 6 pin RJ 25 REM IN REM OUT connectors fit into their rectangular cutouts on the panel The jack screws are rather fragile so do not overtighten them Note do not attach the rear panel circuit board to the rear panel yet The main circuit board and microcontroller circuit board attach to the rear panel with the eight jack screws that secure the DB25 and DB 9 connectors 3 Check again to make sure that the pins on the six headers at P201 P204 and P205 P206 are still in their circuit board pads Then solder the end pins on each header so you can make certain the header bodies are seated flat against the underside of the microcontroller circuit board Now so
9. 1 Min toggle flat lever SPDT qty 1 Min toggle flat lever SPDT mom action qty 9 480 KHz ceramic resonator PIC16C54 custom pre programmed IC 8 pin mic jacks qty 2 threaded standoff round alum 2 56 x 1 4 qty 4 2 56 x 3 16 machine screws qty 8 K EZ R305 Bisan o o Is309 s310 amp 7 ul L ate 0 6R318 gt F oOo of lon Lo DS301 DS30 A S303 Rev A 2009 Front Panel Circuit Board Front View 20 P307 lle E dn Y301 GoD O g i X 1 6 6 CG G iI XE a os oo 1 L 9 Y L MIC1 g l me MIC MIC LES R LL Front Panel Circuit Board Rear View 1 Install the following 1 4 Watt metal film resistors and the 5 KQ trimpot onto the circuit board Note that some resistors mount on the rear side of the board as indicated on the silkscreening Make certain the resistor bodies lie flat against the board before soldering and align all the resistor color codes in the same direction R302 R304 2 2 KQ red red red R305 R311 1000 Q brown black red R312 22 KQ red red orange R313 220 KQ red red yellow R314 4 7 KQ yellow violet red R315 R317 R318 10 KC brown black orange R316 1002 brown black black R301 5 KQ Trimpot 2 Install the following ten blue epoxy dipped capacitors and one electrolytic capacitor onto the circuit board Make sure you install the capacitors on the front or rear side as indicated by the silkscreening and that you o
10. 16V electro 16x25mm qty 1 Mouser p n 140 REA472M1CBK1625P Price 0 83 ea 0 73 10 0 64 100 0 54 500 Capacitor 50V Xicon X7R qty 1 Mouser p n 21RX510 RC Price 0 10 ea 0 084 100 0 065 500 Capacitor 50V Xicon Z7R qty 2 Mouser p n 21RZ410 RC Price 0 10 ea 0 082 100 0 063 500 0 055 1K Fairchild 1A diode qty 3 Mouser 512 1N4005 Price 0 05 ea 0 04 10 03 100 02 250 D Sub 25 pin male R A PCB Mount qty 1 Mouser p n 636 182 025 113R531 Norcomp Price 1 69 ea 1 62 10 1 18 100 1 10 250 1 05 500 RJ25 6 pin PCB side entry shielded qty 2 Mouser p n 571 5555 154 1 Price 0 99 ea 0 78 10 0 71 100 0 62 500 P amp B Tyco V23105 DPDT 12VDC 960 ohm coil qty 13 Mouser p n 655 V23105A5003A201 Price 1 75 ea 1 58 25 1 40 50 1 26 100 Molex KK 0 156 12 pin header qty 4 Mouser p n 538 26 60 2 120 Price 0 77 0 69 10 0 66 100 0 63 500 Molex KK 0 156 4 pin header qty 2 Mouser p n 538 26 60 2040 Price 0 27 0 28 10 0 18 100 0 15 500 Molex 10 89 7262 26 pin 2x13 0 100 male header qty 1 Mouser p n 538 10 89 7262 Price 1 89 ea 1 65 10 1 24 100 0 99 500 Molex 5 pin 0 100 friction lock tin plated Mouser p n 538 22 23 2051 Price 0 48 ea 0 44 10 0 29 100 0 23 500 R201 R202 R203 R205 R204 U201 U202 U203 U204 0 406 500 U205 1000 Q 100 KQ 10 KQ 10 KQ BS2 IC 74HC139 74HC240 ULN2803A 7805 73 Res
11. 3 8 sht metal screws Ge II Microphone Jack Considerations Two 8 pin mic chassis jacks are included with your semi kit and most modern transceivers Kenwood late Ten Tec Icom Yaesu Elecraft Flex Radio will use these jacks Older vintage rigs earlyTen Tec Drake TR 5 7 Johnson Ranger Collins KWS 1 Heathkit etc typically used either 4 pin or 2 pin connectors The mic jacks for all of these vintage rigs also will fit in the 5 8 in prepunched holes in the front panel but must be supplied by the builder Some other vintage rigs for example the Collins S Line the Drake B Line and C Line and the National NCX 5 use 3 16 in or 1 4 in microphone plugs whose mating jacks require a 3 8 in hole If you want to use one of these microphone jacks then you should use insulating washers not supplied to adapt each jack to the 5 8 in hole in the StationPro s front panel Insulating washers will minimize hum pickup see the next paragraph and Appendix A Avoiding Ground Loop Complications 18 Any of these microphone jacks can be used with the StationPro although the two on the left will require washers to clamp them to the 5 8 hole in the front panel You can mix and match microphone jacks in the StationPro e g using one 8 pin and one 4 pin jack Also you can easily configure the SP II so that a microphone wired for say a forty year old Collins KWM 2 transceiver can be used with a mode
12. 49 X Assembly of the Transceiver Pods 53 XI Final Instructions cece cece cece eee e ee eens 58 Appendix A Avoiding Ground Loop Complications 62 Appendix B Parts amp Supplier List 0 008 67 download schematic diagrams from WWww w szr net stationpro download A StationPro II Operating Instructions I Introduction The W8ZR StationPro II is a master station controller that integrates seamlessly the switching and control functions of complex amateur stations consisting of up to three transceivers or receiver transmitter pairs and up to three linear amplifiers With the press of a switch the StationPro II transfers to a selected transceiver the operator s key microphone computer interface RTTY packet line in out speaker and numerous other control functions A second switch transfers the transceiver s RF output to a selected linear amplifier along with the amplifier relay and ALC control voltage The StationPro II was designed to be as flexible as possible so as to accommodate almost any amateur equipment from vintage boatanchor rigs of the vacuum tube era to computer interfaced contemporary transceivers Operators need not fear incompatibility between their linear amplifiers and transceivers since the StationPro II includes a fast silent relay driver that can accommodate any amplifier s relay requirements It also incorporates several operator con
13. 91 100 0 83 500 Kobiconn 3 5mm 2 circuit PCB phone jack qty 1 Mouser p n 161 3507 E Price 0 79 ea 0 53 10 0 48 100 Kobiconn triple RCA phono jack R Wh Ye qty 2 Mouser p n 161 4319 E Price 1 37 ea 1 14 10 1 04 100 0 95 500 Kobiconn dual RCA phono jack R Wh qty 4 Mouser p n 161 4219 E Price 0 57 0 44 10 0 40 100 0 39 500 2 5mm DC pwr jack PCB side entry qty 1 Mouser p n 806 KLDX 0202 BC Price 0 46 ea 0 44 25 0 32 100 0 25 500 Molex 10 89 7262 2x13 pin 0 100 male header qty 1 Mouser p n 538 10 89 7262 Price 1 89 ea 1 65 10 1 24 100 0 99 500 Custom 9 x 4 x 7 custom punched silkscreened Molex 5 pin 0 100 crimp terminal housing qty 1 Mouser p n 538 22 01 2057 Price 0 36 ea 0 31 10 0 20 100 0 16 500 75 program port _ Molex 100 crimp terminals tin qty 5 Mouser p n 538 08 52 0123 Price 0 09 0 08 100 0 07 500 P101 to P301 ribbon cable 3M 100 26C molded cable assembly 6 qty 3 P207 to P307 Mouser p n 517 1 M 1010 026 6 P103 to P403 Price 4 72 ea 4 26 5 3 86 10 3 13 200 3 01 1000 Connector Housing Connector Molex 4 pin housing w locking ramp qty 2 Mouser p n 538 09 50 3041 Price 0 25 0 21 10 0 15 100 0 13 500 Molex KK 156 crimp terminals qty 8 Mouser p n 538 08 50 0134 Price 0 08 0 06 100 0 05 500 0 04 1000 Speaker 3 mm x 45 mm dia round speaker Mouser
14. A Main Circuit Board ver CO C101 D101 D107 D109 F101 F101 J101 J104 J105 J106 J107 J108 J109 0 1 uF 1N4005 Fuse Clips Fuse Connector Connector Connector Connector Capacitor 50V Xicon Z5U epoxy dipped ceramic qty 1 Mouser p n 21RZ310 RC Price 08 ea 069 100 053 500 046 1000 Fairchild 1A diode qty 8 Mouser 512 1N4005 Price 0 05 ea 0 04 10 03 100 02 250 Keystone 0 25 3529 PCB fuse clips qty 2 Mouser p n 534 3529 Price 0 14 ea 0 10 10 0 08 100 0 07 500 Fuse 1 Amp 3AG qty 1 Mouser p n 504 AGC 1 Price 0 30 ea 0 24 25 0 22 50 Molex 12 pin 156 top entry header qty 4 Mouser p n 538 09 52 3123 Price 1 75 ea 1 57 10 0 41 100 1 25 500 Molex 09 52 3043 K K 4 pin 156 top entry header qty 2 Mouser p n 538 09 52 3043 Price 0 60 ea 0 52 10 0 33 100 0 28 500 2 5mm DC pwr jack PCB side entry qty 1 Mouser p n 806 KLDX 0202 BC Price 0 46 ea 0 44 25 0 32 100 0 25 500 D Sub 25 pin male R A PCB Mount qty 2 Mouser p n 636 182 025 113R531 Norcomp J110 J111 J112 K101 K113 K114 P101 P103 P102 Q101 R102 R103 R104 R105 R106 Connector Connector Connector Relay SS Relay Connector Connector 2N3906 2 2 KQ 1 KQ hardware 68 Price 1 69 ea 1 62 10 1 18 100 1 10 250 1 05 500 D Sub Kycon 9 pin female R A PCB Mount qty 1 Mouser p n 806 KF22X E9S NJ ferrite
15. Clare Optomos PLA140 solid state relay qty 1 P101 P103 Connector Molex 26 pin 2x13 0 100 male header qty 2 P102 Connector Molex 4 pin 0 156 PCB male w locking clip qty 1 Q101 2N3906 PNP gen purpose transistor qty 1 R102 R103 2 2 KQ Resistor 5 carbon film 1 4 W red red red qty 2 R104 R105 R106 1000 Q Resistor 5 carbon film 1 4W brown black red qty 3 Kk Parts for optional amp relay keying circuit delete K114 R106 if used R101 4 7 KQ Resistor 5 carbon film 1 4W yellow violet red qty 1 D108 1N4005 1A diode qty 1 Q102 IRF610PBF MOSFET power transistor qty 1 777 6 y TP 103 TP1i01 P103 K109 K108 StationPro Main Circuit Board Top View 1 The main circuit board has provisions for a default amplifier keying circuit and an alternate amplifier keying circuit and the builder must choose which circuit to use The default circuit rated at 400V 250 mA AC or DC of either polarity is recommended for nearly all applications The alternate circuit rated at 3 5A 200V positive polarity only should only be used for keying very high current positive voltage relays CHOOSE ONLY ONE CIRCUIT Now install the selected components as illustrated below Note the white dot on K114 Be sure to get the orientation right when you install this component Default Amp Keying Circuit Install K114 and R106 brown black red Make sure the notch on K114 is aligned with the n
16. L Main spkr R Sub COM F Other Single Pin Connectors w shield Conn Type _ _ Pod RCA RED RCA WH 1 8 mono Amp RLY PTT Line In G Unused Pod Connections Unused Unused Unused Unused Unused AUXI AUX2 AUX3 AUX4 Amp ALC 2 Selecting Cables and Connectors for Pods Wiring up multiwire plugs is tedious so it si best to use commercially made cables whenever possible Since you ve already used your transceivers and amplifiers without a StationPro you undoubtedly already have most of the necessary cables But if not since nearly all transceivers have several RCA phono jacks you can buy several three foot stereo cables and cut them in half Similarly you can also buy 1 8 audio cables with molded 1 8 subminiature connectors Ditto for shielded cables with 1 4 stereo or mono plugs In other words it should be possible to purchase most of the needed interface cables for your pods The one exception you will probably have to make your own Pod microphone cable Using purchased cables the pod assembly will be easy and quick 3 Install the connectors on the ends of any custom cables you need and then cut all the cables to length Allow 15 inches for cables that plug into rear panel jacks of your transceivers and 32 inches for cables that plug into front panel jacks Strip and tin 3 16 from the free end of the cable wires 4 Install a 25 pin ferrite filtered D Sub female connector Mouser p n 8
17. Linux 2 Download the latest firmware version for the StationPro II from W8ZR s website http www w 8zr net stationpro Click on the Download Files button on the top banner The file name for the firmware has the form StnPro_code_01_ 27 2011 bs2 where the O1_27_2011 refers to the release date Obviously you should download the latest release date To download right click for Windows the link and save the file to your hard disk The saved file should have the same file name as the original file When you open the file be sure to open it with the Basic Stamp editor and not your browser 3 Open the Basic Stamp Editor Once the Editor is open then go to Files and open the StationPro I firmware file you have just downloaded You should see the firmware program displayed on your screen The Basic Stamp uses a form of BASIC known as P BASIC Note that the code has been extensively annotated in order to facilitate changes modifications and hacking 47 4 The downloaded firmware has default entries for transceivers and amplifiers These are Transceiver 1 Transceiver 2 and Transceiver 3 for the transceivers or receiver transmitter pairs and Amplifier 1 Amplifier 2 and Amplifier 3 for the linear amplifiers You may use these default entries but you probably will want to enter your own station equipment To change the entries scroll down to the second page of the program listing u
18. filtered Price 3 40 ea 2 90 25 2 48 50 2 00 100 DIN 5 pin female PCB side entry qty 1 Mouser p n 161 O0505E Price 1 10 ea 0 92 10 0 76 100 0 69 500 RJ45 8pin PCB side entry shielded qty 1 Mouser p n 571 5555153 1 Price 1 09 ea 0 87 10 0 71 100 0 62 500 P amp B Tyco V23105 DPDT 12VDC 960 ohm coil qty 13 Mouser p n 655 V23105A5003A201 Price 1 75 ea 1 58 25 1 40 50 1 26 100 Clare Optomos PLA140 solid state relay 400V 250mA Mouser p n 849 PLA140 Price 4 34 ea 3 82 25 3 48 50 3 18 100 2 87 250 Molex 10 89 7262 2x13 pin 0 100 female header qty 2 Mouser p n 538 10 89 7262 Price 1 89 ea 1 65 10 1 24 100 0 99 500 Molex 26 60 4040 K K 4 pin 156 header qty 1 Mouser p n 538 26 60 4040 Price 0 44 ea 0 38 10 0 25 100 0 20 500 Fairchild 2N3906 PNP gen purpose transistor TO92 qty 1 Mouser 512 2N3906TA Price 0 04 ea 0 034 10 0 028 100 0 020 250 Resistor Xicon 5 carbon film 1 4W qty 10 min order Mouser p n 291 Value RC e g 291 4 7K RC Price 0 09 10 0 044 200 017 1000 threaded spacer rnd aluminum 6 32 x 1 2 qty 6 Mouser p n 534 3487 Price 0 34 0 24 100 Koko KKK Parts for optional amp relay keying circuit delete K114 R106 if used 22k 69 R101 4 7 KQ Resistor Xicon 5 carbon film 1 4W qty 10 min order Mouser p n 291 Value RC e g 291 4 7K RC Price 0 09 10 0 044 200 017 1000 D108 IN4005 Fairchild 1A diode qty 3 Mouse
19. isolating the microphone audio Some experimentation will undoubtedly be required to see which gives the best results 1 Rewire your microphone and mic connector so that the microphone element does not use the braided shield for its audio return Unfortunately this usually entails replacing the mic cable and connector 2 If you want to use a Collins type two circuit 3 16 in mic plug or a 1 4 in stereo mic plug then you can electrically insulate the mic jack body from the StationPro front panel by using fiber or nylon insulating washers Recall that that these jacks mount in a 3 8 in hole whereas the StationPro front panel has 5 8 in holes for microphone jacks The Collins type 3 16 mic jack ts insulated from the front panel using homemade fiberglass washers on the front and back sides of the panel 65 As shown in the below diagram you should jumper the shield terminal on the Collins type mic jack to the StationPro Mic header pad on the front panel circuit board and then jumper the Mic pad to the GND header pad on the circuit board with a 50Q or 100Q 1 4 Watt resistor Using this configuration the ground loop currents which would otherwise flow through the microphone element are short circuited by the low resistance of the mic wire in the StationPro s interconnecting transceiver cable thus reducing the hum voltage to a negligible value The purpose of the 100Q resistor is to create a voltage divi
20. necessary 5 6 ft or shorter and preferably shielded The free end of the cable plugs into a mating connector on the rear panel of the StationPro Control Unit VI Installation and Hookup The StationPro II consists of a main control unit a remote RF relay unit and three breakout pods for the station transceivers Normally the RF relay unit mounts behind the station operating desk and is connected to the main control unit by a standard 8 wire ethernet patch cable terminated with RJ45 connectors This cable is readily available from any retail store that sells computer supplies The three transceiver breakout pods connect to the main control unit with 25 wire shielded computer serial port cables For most applications inexpensive off the shelf computer cables can be used the kind with molded DB25 connectors on each end one male one female However in some applications involving computer control of multiple transceivers operating SSB or AM the builder may have to fabricate custom interface cables having additional shielding This additional shielding would prevent possible crosstalk between the high level RS 232C data and the microphone audio This topic is thoroughly discussed in the supplementary manual Preparing Custom Transceiver Interface Cables However since wiring cables is tedious the builder should always 12 try acommercial cable first to see if a problem occurs Furthermore there are several workarounds discusse
21. or transmitter In vintage vacuum tube transmitters these might include several amperes of 50 60 Hz filament current ripple currents from power supply filter capacitors and 50 60 Hz AC currents from bypass capacitors on the AC line When a chassis also carries the microphone audio return current the voltages produced by these AC currents can be a significant fraction of the microphone audio voltage This AC voltage adds directly to the microphone audio and appears as hum on the transmitted signal When a microphone attaches directly to the mic jack in vintage transmitters this hum voltage does not cause a problem because there is typically only an inch or two between the transmitter s grounded microphone jack and the grid of the first audio amplifier stage However when a vintage microphone 19 routed to the transmitter through a piece of peripheral equipment such as a VOX adaptor audio speech processor or a switching device such as the StationPro then the AC hum voltage can be quite substantial In these cases the hum voltage is caused by the AC currents that inevitably flow on the outer surface of the shielded cable that ties the peripheral equipment to the transceiver The following diagram shows how these shield currents cause hum when the StationPro is used in connection with a vintage vacuum tube transmitter that uses its chassis for the microphone audio return Transmitter L MIC I N StnPro Gnd Gnd Loop Hum Voltage
22. repeating 10 min ID timer 3 Depressing it while turning on the Pwr switch causes an elapsed time odometer to display on the LCD 7 Swap Switch This scratchpad memory switch recalls the previous transceiver and amplifier selections Repeatedly pressing the switch toggles back and forth between the current transceiver amplifier selections and the previous selections 8 Amp Tune Switch Depressing this momentary action switch injects a pulsed 50 duty cycle 1000 Hz tone into the microphone audio circuit of the selected transceiver Pressing the switch again turns off the tone which otherwise will time out after ten seconds 9 Phones jacks 2 Twin stereo headphone jacks can accommodate either 1 4 in or 3 5 mm 1 8 stereo headphones Left tip Right ring These jacks are connected to the left mainRX and right subRX speaker outputs of the selected transceiver plugging in a set of headphones automatically disables the speakers IV Rear Panel Connections KEY LINE IN LINE OUT KZ REM IN REM OUT TX RX3 eocooceoooceo eo0000000000 RELAY CTRL TX RX1 TX RX2 Qs 12 IN ET ET T ET 0000000900 ET 0000000000 0 0 1 TX RX1 TX RX2 TX RX3 jacks D SUB 25 pin male jacks that connect via breakout pods to the station transceivers The pinouts of these jacks are as follows Pin No Function Pin No Function l Mic 14 Amp Relay PTT 15 Amp ALC 3 Mic 16 Aux Spare 2 4 Mic FNI 17 Aux Spare l
23. silkscreened legend and verify that all 24 pins are properly seated into the socket Take your time nursing the BS2 IC into its socket and do not apply excessive pressure It helps to rock the BS2 IC back and forth slightly while you insert it SASAGKGRARGG J E TTL fm zsa mI x 67 KA Eo be bo Be L P bat Ld E RA KA L Verify that its pins are straight before inserting the BS2 IC into its socket The white dot on the front of the BS2 IC must be aligned with the notch on the silkscreening 14 Clean the flux from the bottom of the circuit board with isopropyl alcohol and Q tips and then inspect each solder joint using a magnifying glass Look especially closely at the multipin connectors along the rear edge of the circuit board the 26 pin header and the pins on the ICs 15 With a pair of wire cutters cut a 1 8 notch at the right rear corner of the circuit board Note that the outline of the notch is silkscreened on the board The notch allows the circuit board to clear the side bracket on the enclosure Use wire cutters to cut a 1 8 in notch in the right rear corner of the microcontroller circuit board 40 16 With the exception of the six headers at P201 P204 and at P205 P206 which have not yet been installed this completes assembly of the microcontroller circuit board VII Final Assembly of the Controller 1 Retrieve the previously assembled main circuit board and recall that during assembly
24. slightly the cutout opening a Slide a 16 pin 0 100 header into position J305 on the front side of the circuit board but do not solder it yet Clip the 16 pins off of a 40 pin breakaway header using wire cutters b As shown below loosely mount the LCD onto the top side of the circuit board using a 1 4 x 2 56 threaded standoff and two 2 56 x 3 16 screws at each of the four mounting holes The top of the J305 header pins should fit into the mating holes on the LCD Do not solder the pins yet You want the screws to be loose enough so you can center the LCD in its front panel cutout in a subsequent step E i 1 i uo we Sy e c uev a wes e aa W y v M S adn p B lm an le L L m CE d D N N N N E The LCD display mounts on four 1 4 threaded standoffs with 2 56 x 3 16 screws and connects to the circuit board with the 16 pin header Be sure to solder both ends of each header pin ZZ 8 Remove all hardware from the nine momentary action toggle switches and discard the flat washers Finger tighten one of the nuts against each switch body and then temporarily secure each toggle switch to the front panel The lockwashers should be behind the panel and the front panel nuts should also be only finger tight IMPORTANT make certain the bat handles are pointing upward on all the switches so that the handles are pressed down to actuate the switch 9 In the same way temporarily mount the SPDT miniature sna
25. table shows recommended pad assignments for common 8 pin microphone pinouts used in contemporary transceivers IMPORTANT if you do not use any of the FN1 4 rows then jumper an unused pad on that row to the GND pad However if a pad such as FN4 is used only on one microphone but not on the other then do NOT ground the unused FN4 pad Now trim the wires from each microphone jack to size tin the ends and solder each wire to its pad according to the table Be especially careful to avoid short circuits from loose wire strands or solder bridges on the Mic pads Pin nos 1 9 and PTT pads Pin nos 2 10 E Common 8 pin DIN Microphone Wiring Table Pad Label Elecraft Yaesu Ten Tec Icom Kenwood MIC Audio Out l 8 8 l l PTT 2 6 6 5 2 MIC MIC GND 7 7 7 7 7 VNT FAST 5 4 FN2 DOWN 4 3 3 FN3 V 6 2 2 2 5 FN4 UP 3 l 3 4 GND 8 5 5 6 N 22 Once you have soldered all the wires from the front panel jacks to their mating circuit board pads then carefully inspect your work to make sure there are no short circuits solder bridges or unsoldered connections 23 Slide six green LEDs through the front panel LED cutout holes so that their leads pass into the mating holes on the circuit board marked DS301 DS302 DS303 DS304 DS308 and DS309 Do not solder the LEDS yet IMPORTANT The flat side of the LEDS the short lead goes down as shown on the silkscreened legend 24 Similarly insert two yellow LEDs into DS
26. that can be used for any control purpose by the user The StationPro routes these jacks to spare pads on the breakout pod associated with a selected transceiver They can be used for e g band data switching 7 SPKR L and SPKR R Jacks The station s speakers should be connected to these RCA phono jacks and are routed by the StationPro to the speaker output ports of a selected transceiver Normally SPKR L would be used for the main receiver s speaker and SPKR R for the sub receiver s speaker These jacks are disconnected when headphones are inserted into a front panel jack on the StationPro 8 PTT Jack This RCA phono jack is wired in parallel with the PTT line on the microphone and also with pin 3 of the Packet RTTY jack Grounding this line actuates the PTT circuit of the selected transceiver A typical use would be to connect a foot switch to this jack Note that some transceivers ground their PTT line when transmitting so that this jack could be used in this instance for e g external receiver muting 9 12 CTRL Jack This RCA phono jack outputs 12VDC when the StationPro s power switch is turned on The 12V is in series with a 1000 Q resistor which limits the short circuit current to 12 mA Because of the series resistor the jack cannot be used to power 12V accessories This switched jack is intended to control a user supplied solid state AC power relay which can be used as a master station power ON OFF relay Below is a sam
27. the front panel two microphone jacks the 1 4 in key jack J301 the 1 4 in headphone jack J302 and the 3 5mm headphone jack J303 As illustrated below bend the solder lugs out flat on the key jack so that they won t touch the printed circuit board when installed Don t mix up the two 1 4 in jacks the J302 jack has a black plastic shell 23 Left to right J303 J302 J301 8 pin Mic Bend the solder lugs on the key jack J301 out flat so they won t touch the front panel printed circuit board If you re installing your own mic jacks with exposed solder lugs bend them out flat too 15 Before starting read carefully through the following steps especially those pertaining to wiring the 8 pin DIN microphone jacks The spacing between wires is very close and it is easy to confuse the pin numbers on the 8 pin jacks It is strongly recommended you download W8ZR s Wiring Tips for Builders from the StationPro Download Files page before beginning Solder a 5 inch length of hookup wire approximately to each pin on all jacks You will trim to size later Important when you solder the wires to the black 1 4 in headphone jack J302 orient the wires so they emerge from the side of each terminal rather than straight out the back See second photo on next page This will increase the rear clearance for this jack which is tight when the front panel is installed in the cabinet Hint a small length of sleeving or
28. www parallax com a Cut a5 ft length approx of 4 conductor cable No shield is required so you can bundle lengths of hookup wire together if you don t have 4 conductor cable Strip each end of the cable wires by about 1 8 inch Hint You can save yourself some time by purchasing a ready made nine wire serial cable with a molded female DB 9 connector on one end Clip off and discard the connector at the other end and then jump to step e below b Assemble the components of a 9 pin serial computer connector Radio Shack part numbers are given below 9 pin D Sub female connector with crimp terminals p n 276 1428 9 pin shielded D Sub hood p n 276 1513 or 276 1539 c Crimp and solder a terminal onto the wires at one end of the 4 conductor cable If your cable has a shield also attach a terminal to the shield Use needle nose pliers to crimp the wires d Crimp and solder a terminal onto each end of a 2 inch length of hookup wire You will use this wire as a jumper in a following Step e As shown above identify one 5 pin Molex 100 nylon connector housing Mouser p n 538 22 01 2057 and five crimp terminals Mouser p n 538 08 52 0123 Crimp and solder a terminal onto the wires at the other end of your cable Note if you are using a ready made serial cable then crimp terminals onto the wires coming from pins 2 3 4 5 of the DB 9 connector Use an ohmmeter to verify the pin numbers Twist and solder together the
29. 0 480 T U 2 OTDD all holes 3 16 L 61 62 Appendix A Avoiding Ground Loop Complications Until about 1975 most amateur microphones such as the venerable Astatic D104 used a two conductor shielded cable one conductor for the microphone audio and one for the push to talk line For such microphones the grounded shield was connected directly to the transmitter chassis and both the microphone audio and PTT return currents flowed through the shield This arrangement generally worked satisfactorily so long as the microphone was plugged directly into a transmitter or transceiver However if used with any kind of switching device or with push to talk circuits that used an AC control voltage these microphones were found to be susceptible to hum pickup This problem was solved with the introduction of microphones that use two conductors for the audio typically called mic and mic and today virtually all amateur microphones use this configuration By using a dedicated mic wire for the return audio currents the low level microphone voltage is not affected by hum currents on the shield or chassis of connected equipment A move toward low impedance microphones 200 ohms is common also provided enhanced hum immunity and also allowed longer cable runs than is possible with high impedance microphones Understanding How Ground Loop Currents Cause Hum Numerous currents flow along the chassis of any transceiver
30. 00 male header qty 1 16 J404 C47 J405 JH 415 1406 5 0 Jile c CIO 5 Pi J407 Dran J409 C4 sAr E aim al r RG GU 5 a 6 b U amp d e br e Se a Rear Panel Circuit Board Components left to right J401 J403 J402 J406 J409 J404 J405 and J410 The 26 pin 2 x 13 header is P403 1 Install capacitors C401 C419 1000 pF 200V capacitors Note that one pin of each capacitor solders to the ground plane so be sure to use enough heat for the solder to flow Then install C420 0 1 uF 50V which is next to J410 on the right side of the board Note that the LOOOpF 200V capacitors have a yellow boxy shape marked 102 while the 0 1 uF 50V is blue and marked 104 2 Install the 26 pin 2x13 pins male header at P403 Solder diagonally opposite pins first to make sure the header is flush against the board 35 3 Install connectors J401 J403 and J410 Make sure each connector is seated flat against the circuit board This is very important because any misalignment will keep the circuit board assembly from fitting properly in its mating holes on the rear panel If any of the pins on J410 the power jack are too tight to fit into the circuit board pads then trim the pins as necessary with wire cutters 4 Install the triple RCA phono jacks at J404 and J405 and the double RCA phono jacks at J406 J409 Again take care to ensure that the jacks are seated snugly on the circuit board They should mount perfectly f
31. 06 KF22X B25S NJ on the pod circuit board Check the solder joints to make sure there are no solder bridges and be sure to solder the mounting tabs to the pod ground plane using enough heat for the solder to flow nicely 5 Solder the cable ends prepared in step 3 to the appropriate pads on the Pod circuit board using the list you prepared in Step 1 Take your time to do a neat job and be careful not to overheat the wires which can cause their insulation to melt Set aside the Pod circuit board Hint for a particularly neat appearance slip a length of heat shrink tubing over the cable sleeves as shown in the previous photograph It is also a good idea to label each cable as shown in the photograph following step 13 6 In the next few steps you will prepare the enclosure for the Pod circuit boards This is a small soft plastic box whose sole purpose is to protect the pod wiring and it is very easy to work on It should take you about 15 minutes to prepare one enclosure The below photograph shows some tools you may find helpful Hint the specified pod enclosure is a Hammond 1591XXBSBK Mouser p n 546 1591XXBSBK but if you need an enclosure right away you can use a Radio Shack Deluxe Project Case p n 270 221 which is nearly the same size 7 Attach the lid to the plastic enclosure and then tape the below templates another template copy which you can cut out 19 at the end of this section on p 59 to the front and r
32. 1 and P103 As shown below orient the cables so that one flat cable emerges out of header P101 toward the front edge of the circuit board while the cable from P103 points toward the rear edge of the circuit board Important Make certain the connectors are aligned properly with their mating pins on the headers and are not inadvertently offset Leave the other ends of the cables free iuui Be certain the ribbon cables are not not accidentally offset from the pins in their mating connectors 15 Set aside the completed main printed circuit board Note that if you selected the default amplifier keying circuit then no components are installed at R101 Q102 and D108 34 V Rear Panel Circuit Board Assembly Identify the rear panel circuit board illustrated below and the components in the following list All components mount on the top side of the printed circuit board C401 C419 C420 J401 J402 J403 J404 J405 J406 J409 J410 P403 C405 J403 Wg to Ehe Rear Circuit Board Components 1000 pF 0 1 uF Connector Connector Connector Connector Connector Connector Header crie Cs Al M Capacitor 200V qty 19 Capacitor 50V qty 1 1 4 in 2 circuit PCB phone jack qty 1 3 5 mm circuit PCB phone jack qty 1 3 5 mm 2 circuit PCB phone jack qty 1 triple RCA phono jack R Wh Ye qty 2 dual RCA phono jack R Wh qty 4 2 5 mm DC pwr jack PCB side entry qty 1 Molex 26 pin 2x13 0 1
33. 14012F SPDT 12A qty 10 C501 C507 0 0luF Capacitor 50V blue epoxy dipped ceramic qty 7 C508 0 1 uF Capacitor 50V blue epoxy dipped ceramic qty 1 D501 D507 1N914A Si gen purpose signal diode qty 7 RF Relay Circuit Board Top View 4 Plug J501 the 8 pin RJ 45 connector into its holes on the rear side of the circuit board but do not solder the pins yet 31 5 Temporarily mount the RF relay circuit board onto the inside of the top cover making sure the center pin of each SO 239 jack extends into its mating hole on the circuit board and that the body of J501 fits through the rectangular cutout on the cover Because of variations in manufacturing tolerances you may need to file slightly the rectangular cutout for J501 to make sure it fits smoothly into the enclosure lid Loosely secure the circuit board to the four corner standoffs with 4 40 x 3 16 screws in order to verify that the holes line up Once you re sure everything fits together properly solder the pins on J501 Do not solder the pins yet on the coax jacks Now unscrew the four 4 40 x 3 16 screws that you just installed and remove the circuit board from the enclosure 6 In the following steps all components mount on the top of the circuit board Install a 0 01 uF 50V marked 103 epoxy coated ceramic capacitor at C501 C507 7 Install a 0 1 wF SOV marked 104 epoxy coated ceramic capacitor at C508 8 Install IN914A diodes at D501 D507 taking care to obser
34. 306 and DS307 Do not solder the LEDs and be sure the flat side is down 25 Insert two red LEDs into DS305 and DS310 flat side down Do not solder the LEDs 26 Snap the LED plastic mounting bezels into their holes on the front panel taking care not to let any of the LEDs slip out of their circuit board pads 27 Slide the body of the LEDs into the back of the LED bezels until they click into place Use a small flat blade screwdriver to nudge the LEDs into the bezels Once you have verified that each LED is seated in its bezel and that each bezel is pushed flat against the panel solder all the LEDs to the circuit board Hint if you have trouble getting the LEDs to snap into the bezels try bending the plastic tabs on the bezels out slightly using a small blade screwdriver 28 Plug the PIC16C54 preprogrammed IC into the 18 pin IC socket at U301 Wear a grounded wrist strap or touch a grounded surface to avoid damaging U301 with static electricity IMPORTANT Be sure to align the notch on U301 with the silkscreened notch on the circuit board Make sure none of the IC pins are bent and that all fit into the mating holes in the socket Hint bend the pins on U301 inward slightly by pressing the IC pins against a flat surface This will make the IC easier to install 28 29 Clean the flux from the rear of the circuit board with isopropyl alcohol and Q tips and then inspect each solder connection using a magnifying glass Pay particula
35. 5 Mic FN2 IS Aux Spare 4 6 Mic FN3 19 Aux Spare 3 7 Mic FN4 20 Line IN S Key Ring 2d CAT CTS 9 Key Tip Zz CAT TXD 10 Line Out L E CAT RTS Il Line Out R 24 CAT RXD 12 Spkr L 25 GND 13 Spkr R 2 KEY Jack A key or paddle can be connected to this standard 1 4 stereo jack with normally open contacts Keyer paddles should be wired so that the plug s tip dot and the plug s ring dash An identical key jack on the front panel is wired in parallel with this jack 3 LINE IN Jack This 3 5 mm 1 8 mono jack is typically connected to the output from a computer sound card or a TNC The connected device is routed by the StationPro to the Line In port of the selected transceiver 4 LINE OUT Jack This 3 5 mm 1 8 stereo jack outputs the Line Out port of a selected transceiver Normally the tip would be the left or main receiver line output and the ring would be the right or sub receiver output The jack is typically used to interface a transceiver s line output to the input of a computer sound card or TNC 5 AMP RELAY 3 and AMP ALC 3 jacks These RCA phono jacks should be jumpered use shielded phono cables to the relay and ALC jacks of the station s linear amplifiers Because the Amp Relay outputs are buffered by a solid state switching circuit the user need not fear compatibility problems between a selected amplifier and transceiver 6 AUXI through AUX4 Jacks These RCA phono jacks are spares
36. 63 In the diagram a microphone is connected to the mic jack and chassis of the StationPro which in turn is routed through a shielded interconnect cable to the mic jack and chassis of the selected transmitter Although not shown in the diagram the transmitter is assumed to be connected to a 120 VAC or 240 VAC line and the StationPro is also connected via the shields of its interconnect cables to all the other station transmitters and linear amplifiers each of which is also connected to the AC line sometimes to multiple AC circuits The inevitable ground current loops resulting from all these interconnected radios and amplifiers lead to a small typically a few millivolts AC voltage difference between the StationPro chassis and the chassis of the selected transmitter In essence the small AC current flowing on the interconnecting cable shield is a low impedance hum voltage source From the diagram we see that this hum voltage is in series with the microphone audio voltage and while it may be only a few millivolts that is still enough to be heard on a transmitted signal Note that this hum voltage is not induced pickup e g from fluorescent light fixtures or any indication of inadequate shielding It rather is caused by AC currents that flow on the outer surface of the interconnecting cable shields The diagram below shows why modern microphones with dedicated mic and mic connections do not have this problem In the diag
37. Connects 12VDC from rear panel power jack to StationPro circuitry through a 1A fuse Also applies 12VDC through a series 1O000Q resistor to a rear panel jack for controlling an optional master station AC power relay 2 Mic Sel Switch Switches between two front panel microphones Each microphone can have up to 7 audio control wires The Mic and PTT are independently switched but the other wires Mic FCN1 etc are common to both microphones As shown in the drawing the microphones can have different connector types Instructions for wiring the microphone jacks are given in the next section B Assembly Instructions 3 Key Jack A key or paddle is connected to this standard 1 4 stereo jack with normally open contacts Keyer paddles should be wired so that the plug tip dot and the plug ring dash For convenience an identical key jack on the rear panel is wired in parallel with this jack 4 TX RX Sel Switches 3 Depressing one of these momentary action switches selects a station transceiver or receiver transmitter pair 5 Amplifier Sel Switches 3 Depressing one of these momentary action switches selects a linear amplifier Pressing a switch a second time toggles the selected amplifier off line as indicated by a blinking LED and Amp Bypass on the LCD 6 Elapsed Time Switch This switch has three timer functions 1 Depressing it momentarily starts a one time 10min ID time 2 Depressing it for 1 2 sec starts a
38. National NCX 5 transceiver which uses only a few breakout connections At the other extreme the pod for an Icom 7800 transceiver in a VHF contest station might use most of the 24 control lines Thus builders must decide not only what radios they will control with the StationPro but also what features of those radios they wish to use 54 1 Make a Connector List Before starting to assemble your pods you should make a list of the connectors on your transceivers The list should show the mapping between pin numbers on the transceiver jacks and the circuit board pads on the Pod circuit board Remember you can always add connectors and features at any time as your interests change Here as an example is a connector list for the Elecraft K3 transceiver Elecraft K3 Pod Pinout Listing A Microphone Jack Connector Type 8 pin DIN Conn Pin Pod 6 FN3 8 FN1 function FN2 DOWN FN4 UP GND PTT MIC GND MIC J LA ow S Ln B CAT DATA Jack Connector Type DSUB DB 9 Conn Pin Pod 1 N C 2 RXD ser out 3 TXD ser in 4 N C 5 GND 6 N C 7 N C RTS 8 N C CTS 9 N C C Key Paddle Jack Connector Type 1 4 phone plug Conn Pin Dod Tip DOT Ring DASH Shield GND D Line Out Jack Connector Type 1 8 stereo plug Conn Pin Pod Tip Line Out L Main Ring Line Out R Sub Shield COM E Speakers L R Connector Type 1 8 stereo plug Conn Pin Tip Ring Shield Pod spkr
39. Operating amp Assembly Manual WS8ZR StationPro II StationPro II TRX1 Elecraft K3 AMPe Alpha 87A Mic Sel Pwr 1 Key P 6 E Ea pem a 7 A K Z K M W f Contact Information Jim Garland W8ZR 102 Spur Ranch Road Santa Fe NM 87540 w8zr arrl net www w8zr net stationpro Copyright 2010 13 W8ZR All rights reserved rev 2 14 2013 Contents A Operating Instructions Ts Modicon o 2c5caccesusenccaesieraqssonersosereusernaceons 3 LL SPECI NCAMOMS oc scinenccecnaneradedesiucantatuneradecetoce 3 III Front Panel Controls and Connectors 5 IV Rear Panel Connections 0 ccc cece eee cues 7 V RF Relay Unit Connections 0c cee 10 VI Installation and Hookup 0 e 1 VII Operating Instructions and Hints 5 13 VII A Final Comment from W8ZR 0060 15 B Assembly Instructions I Preparation for Assembly cc cee eeee ees 16 II Microphone Jack Considerations 17 II Front Panel Assembly 00 c cece eee 18 IV Main Circuit Board Assembly 06 28 V Rear Panel Circuit Board Assembly 34 VI Microcontroller Circuit Board Assembly 36 VII Final Assembly of the Controller 40 VIII Programming and Checkout of the Controller 46 IX Assembly of the RF Relay Unit
40. R201 1 KO brown black red R202 100 KQ brown black yellow R203 R205 10KQ brown black orange 2 Install a 10 KQO trimpot at R204 3 Install blue epoxy dipped ceramic capacitors as follows C201 C205 0 1 uF 50V_ marked 104 C207 1000 pF 50V marked 102 C208 C209 0 01 uF SOV marked 103 4 Install 1N4005 diodes at D201 D203 Make sure the diodes bands are oriented as shown on the silkscreened legends 5 Install a 24 pin IC socket at U201 Make certain the socket orientation aligns with the notch on the silkscreened legend 38 6 Install the thirteen relays K201 K213 Begin by soldering two opposing pins on each relay so you can make sure the relay bodies are flat against the circuit board Then solder the remaining pins Be certain not to miss any pins when you solder the thirteen relays to the circuit board 7 Install a 26 pin 2x13 pin header at P207 Solder diagonally opposite pins first to make sure the header is flush against the board and check to make sure you have no solder bridges between pins Be especially careful to avoid solder bridges between the closely spaced pins on the 26 pin header 8 Install the 0 100 Molex 5 pin header with locking clip at P208 Orient the header so that it matches the outline on the silkscreened legend 9 Install a 4700 uF 16V electrolytic capacitor at C206 Be sure to observe the polarity of the capacitor The pad is marked on the silkscreening
41. all speakers is a drugstore or card shop that sells greeting cards that play songs Remove the speaker save the battery in your junk box and send the card to your mother in law Twist together two 12 inch lengths approximately of 22 AWG 44 stranded hookup wire and strip and tin the ends about 1 4 inch As shown below solder one end of the twisted pair to pads O and P on the rear upper corner of the front panel circuit board and the other end to the speaker Either wire goes to either speaker terminal Position the speaker on the bottom enclosure cover underneath the main circuit board it will be held in place by the speaker magnet Note If you want to try out your controller before you install a speaker then you must temporarily solder a 1000 Q 2 2 KQ resistor between pads O and P to use as a load Otherwise your controller will exhibit erratic behavior y The magnet in the miniature speaker holds it in place on the steel bottom cover of the StationPro II enclosure 12 Following the steps below prepare a 4 conductor programming cable for your StationPro II This cable will connect between a serial port on your computer and the program port P208 on the microcontroller circuit board Hint If your computer does not have a serial port you can buy a USB to serial adapter from Parallax Inc the company that makes the Basic Stamp microcontroller for 15 The item number is 28030 and the website is
42. amateurs having very complex stations the details of configuring networked controllers are to be found in a separate maual Networking StationPro II Configuration Manual VIII A Final Comment from W8ZR The philosophy underlying the design of the StationPro H is that an initial investment made in planning and organizing one s station will pay handsome dividends in convenience time savings and operating pleasure The ability instantly and reliably to switch between rigs means that that more time can be spent on the air enjoying the hobby and fewer frustrating hours spent crouched behind the operating desk debugging dead connections and miswired cables and worrying about inadvertently throwing the wrong switch The StationPro II and its little brother the StationPro I have brought for their designer a new enjoyment and satisfaction to amateur radio It is sincerely hoped that other builders will experience this same enjoyment and satisfaction Comments inqiries and suggestions either about this manual or the StationPro II are always welcome Please email Jim Garland W8ZR at w8zr arrl net A great deal of additional information may also be found on the designer s StationPro website at www w 8zr net stationpro and on the StationPro User Group http groups yahoo com group stationpro 16 B StationPro II Assembly Instructions The W8ZR StationPro II SP III consists of the primary controller unit plus an external RF relay unit a
43. bserve the polarity of the electolytic capacitor C301 C307 1000 pF marked 102 blue epoxy dipped C308 C309 47 pF marked 470 blue epoxy dipped C310 0 1 uF marked 104 blue epoxy dipped C311 1 0 uF electrolytic observe polarity when installing 3 Install the 480 kHz ceramic resonator Y301 on the rear side of the circuit board Bend the two tabs down as shown below so the resonator lies flat against the outline on the circuit board 21 4 Install relay K301 on the front side of the board Make certain the relay body lies flat against the board Hint solder diagonally opposite pins first so you can readjust the relay body if necessary EDEN B v23108 as003 a201 Z 5 Install the 18 pin DIP IC socket at U301 on the rear side of the circuit board Make sure the notch on the socket is aligned with the notch on the silkscreening Do not plug in the IC yet 6 Install two 26 pin headers at P301 P307 and the 4 pin 0 156 PCB connector w locking clip at P302 on the rear side of the circuit board Hint solder the end pins first to secure the headers Then after you re certain the headers are seated against the board with the pins perpendicular to the board solder the remaining pins 7 Mount the LCD to the front panel as follows Note the rectangular cutout on the front panel is sized for the recommended Microtips NC S16205DFYSAY display If other brands of LCDs are used it may be necessary to file
44. d in the supplementary manual short of fabricating custom interface cables The diagram below shows how the StationPro II is interfaced to the operator s station It is important to note that none of the rear panel jacks on the StationPro II controller connect directly to transceivers All transceiver control functions and inputs microphone key data speakers PTT etc are made via cables coming from breakout pods which are fabricated during assembly for each model of transceiver The fabrication of breakout pods is treated in detail in the next section B StationPro IT Assembly Instructions The jacks on the rear panel of the StationPro II attach to the station s peripheral equipment such as computer speakers TNC and so forth The StationPro II automatically routes this peripheral equipment to the selected transceiver Each amplifier s relay and ALC lines also connect to the StationPro II rear panel Users should refer to III Rear Panel Connectons for details about connector pinouts V ANT RF OUT TX RX POD1 REAR JACKS TX RX1 RF OUT TX RX TX RX Zz D gt lt LU a4 L a4 TX RX3 v LU 4 a D Y e zZ D U RF OUT Kd O Y oO Z oO L lt Ee U TX RX N ac oO L Z g he LU oe REAR JACKS RELAY CTRL 12 IN lt AUX2 CAT AUX3 LINE OUT AUX4 LINE IN AMP1 RELAY KEY _ lt AMP2 RELAY SPKR L AMP3 RELAY SPKR R AMP1 ALC Kev GEN oN AMP2 ALC PKT RTTY
45. der using the resistance of the mic wire as the other resistor in the divider If the mic wire has a resistance of say 192 then the hum voltage in series with the microphone element will only be about one percent of the hum voltage between chasses Also the shield of the microphone is still effectively grounded to the StationPro chassis through the 100Q resistor a low enough resistance to permit the PTT circuit which also uses the shield in most vintage microphones to function Transmitter Gnd Loop Hum Voltage VA StnPro Gnd 3 Two conductor mic jacks that mount in a 5 8 in hole commonly used in vintage transmitters from the 1950s pose a special problem because one can t insulate them from the StationPro s front panel as in the previous step For this situation you can replace the 2 pin mic connector with a 4 pin mic connector as used in some vintage Ten Tec and Drake transceivers and wire the connector as in the above diagram Alternately you can use a Small audio interstage transformer to decouple the microphone from the ground loop currents as shown in the diagram below With this transformer the ground loop AC voltage appears only as a common mode voltage on the transformer windings and does not result in any hum A suitable subminiature transformer is the Model XT 1 sold by Heil Sound at http www heilsound com amateur products hc104 index htm This tiny transformer may be used to convert a modern low Z mic to t
46. ds the antenna connectors of transceivers that are not selected 2 AMP IN AMP1 AMP2 AMP3 Jacks These SO 239 UHEF coaxial cable jacks should be connected to the RF Input jacks on the station linear amplifiers using 50 Q coaxial cable RG 58 or RG8X cable can be used for these jumper cables Note that the StationPro grounds the inputs of amplifiers that are not selected 3 AMP OUT AMP1 AMP2 AMP3 Jacks These SO 239 UHF coaxial cable jacks should be connected to the RF Output jacks on the station linear amplifiers using 50 Q coaxial cable For legal limit amplifiers it is best to use RG 8 RG 213 LMR 400 or similar coaxial cable for these jumper cables Note that the StationPro grounds only the input of non selected amplifiers The output of non selected amplifiers is left floating as a precaution even though the StationPro will not allow non selected amplifiers to be keyed up Note also that a bypass relay in the StationPro RF Relay unit routes RF from the selected transceiver directly to the OUTPUT connector when no amplifier is selected 4 OUTPUT Jack This SO 239 UHF coaxial cable jack should be jumpered to the station antenna or antenna switch The coaxial cable should be rated for the maximum power of any of the station linear amplifiers 5 CTRL Jack This RJ45 jack is used to control the RF relays The jack accepts a standard 8 wire ethernet type patch cable with RJ45 connectors The cable should be no longer than
47. e Connectors owner s choice two 8 pin standard supplied 12 Headphone Connectors 1 4 in amp 3 5 mm 1 8 stereo automatic speaker disconnect 13 Transceiver Control Lines 24 maximum per transceiver plus GND Microphone Mic Mic PTT four functions 7 Speakers Phones L R 2 Key Paddle 2 Line In mono 1 Line Out L R stereo 2 Amp Relay 1 Amp ALC 1 Computer Serial TXD RXD CTS RTS 4 Aux Spare 4 14 Transceiver Interface Cable 25C shielded w 25 pin D SUB connectors 15 Transceiver Control Relay Ratings max switched current 3A derate as switched voltage increases max switched voltage 125 VDC 25 mA 150 VAC 100mA 16 Optional RF Relay Power 30 VDC maximum 2 5mm DC power jack 17 Switched DC Output 12 VDC in series with 1000 Q resistor General Specifications 18 Power Requirements 12 VDC 400 mA nominal 2 5 mm DC power jack Fuse internal 1A 3AG 19 Dimensions Control Unit Height 4 2 10 7 cm excluding feet Width 9 5 24 1 cm Depth 8 0 20 3 cm including front rear connectors amp switches RF Relay Unit Height 5 0 12 7 cm Width 7 5 19 1 cm excluding mounting flanges Depth 1 5 3 8 cm excluding connectors 20 Weight Control Unit 5 lbs 2 27 kg RF Relay Unit 1 Ib 10 oz 0 74 kg Ill Front Panel Controls and Connectors Elapsed Am StationPro II Tine Swap fune Amplifier Sel 1 Pwr Switch
48. ear sides of the enclosure The bottom of the templates should be aligned along the bottom edge of the enclosure Hint using an artist s spray mounting adhesive available at any arts and crafts store makes a convenient removable non slip way to attach templates to enclosures PDD TEMPLATES FRONT REAR all holes 3 16 L 2 200 2 200 57 8 After center punching the two holes on the front template any pointed object will work then drill or punch two 3 16 holes as indicated The plastic is soft enough that you can probably drill the holes by just holding the bit in your hand 9 Using a sharp knife or single edged razor blade scribe a scratch along the edge of the cutout for the DB 25 connector Now remove the template from the front side of the enclosure 10 Drill one or more starter holes inside the area of the cutout and then use wire cutters to remove the plastic up to the cutout lines which were scratched into the plastic on the previous step Use small files to smooth out the jagged edges of the cutout Hint don t worry if your cutout isn t a work of art The cutout has no structural importance and once the computer cable is plugged into the pod any imperfections in your workmanship won t be noticeable 11 The row of holes along the rear of the enclosure will be made into slots in the next step and are intended for the transceiver cables to feed through Generally two or
49. ff of a 12V power supply then use that same power supply to power your StationPro If your power supply has floating positive and negative output terminals do not tie the negative terminal to the power supply chassis or to the AC ground terminal on the power supply 3 Be careful if using a wall wart to power your StationPro because these often have high AC ripple voltages on their 12V outputs Obviously to minimize hum you need a clean 12V power source 4 Bond the case of the StationPro to the cases of all of your transmitters receivers linear amplifiers and power supplies with short braided ground straps It is best not to daisy chain these ground straps from one rig to another and it is important to use short lengths and as large a conductor as possible For a given ground loop current a large diameter conductor will result in a lower hum voltage than a small conductor Listen to your transmitted signal on a dummy load and pick the configuration of ground straps that minimizes hum Because all station layouts are different trial and error is the only practical way to find the optimal configuration Steps to Take If All Else Fails If the above steps don t reduce hum to acceptable levels and you still want to route a vintage microphone through your StationPro then you will have to take additional measures to isolate the microphone audio from the hum voltage produced by ground loops Here are suggestions for
50. he StationPro II and remove the programming cable 10 Mount the rear panel circuit board to the rear panel The circuit board is attached to the panel by the hardware on the Key Line In and Line Out jacks and by six No 4 x 3 8 sheet metal screws Make certain that the RCA Phono jacks are properly centered in their holes on the panel before you tighten the sheet metal screws Note that the black plastic washer on the key jack goes under the nut on the outside of the panel The rear panel circuit board attaches to the rear panel with six No 4 x 3 8 sheet metal screws and the hardware on the jacks 11 Plug the free end of the ribbon cable coming from P103 on the main circuit board into P403 on the rear panel circuit board The cable should not be twisted 12 Attach the top cover to the enclosure using the black No 10 self tapping screws supplied with the enclosure This completes the assembly of the StationPro II control unit Interior view of the completed SP II Control Unit IX Assembly of the RF Relay Unit Preparation for Assembly The RF relay enclosure shown below consists of two interlocking aluminum pieces powder coated with an extremely durable graphite colored finish Unfortunately the powder coating process has an unavoidable overspray into the interior of the enclosure Before beginning assembly therefore the builder should use the small strip of emory cloth provided with the hardware packs to sand the powde
51. he high Z output required by most vintage rigs It may be mounted on the rear of the StationPro s front panel circuit board with double stick foam tape Suitable 1 1 interstage audio transformers are available from other sources Transmitter MIC a uel rom Mic In OTT V4 TX Gnd Gnd Loop StnPro Gnd Hum Voltage 66 4 And finally if you don t want to bother with any of the above measures then you can always bypass the StationPro s microphone jacks and plug your vintage microphones directly into their mating transmitters For vintage radio collectors this might be the preferred and certainly easiest solution anyway since one can then pair a Collins microphone with a Collins KWM 2 transceiver a Drake microphone with a Drake TR 4 transceiver and so forth 67 Appendix B StationPro II Parts amp Supplier List This list does not contain required SP II network kit components Notes 1 Primary supplier is Mouser Electronics www mouser com 2 Secondary and alternate suppliers are Digikey Electronics Allied Electronics All Electronics Jameco Electronics 3 Patch cables 1 CAT 5 w RJ45 connectors 3 25C w DB25 connectors are listed without suppliers since lengths depend on user s station Should be obtained locally 4 Note that Mouser part numbers and prices change frequently Equivalent substitutes are nearly always available for parts Mouser has on lengthy backorder email W8ZR
52. heat shrink tubing slipped over each pin of multipin mic jacks will make a neat looking job not shown in below photo This would also be a good time to read FAQ No 11 about hookup wire on the WSZR StationPro website Different wire colors make it easy to keep track of microphone jack pin numbers 16 Loosely attach all the jacks to the front panel and then secure the printed circuit board to the front panel with the toggle switch hardware If necessary adjust the AC power switch so that its pins fit into their mating circuit board holes As before there should be a nut and lockwasher behind the panel for each of the miniature toggle switches Feed all the jack wires though the access holes in the circuit board as shown in the following two photos 24 Detail showing wires from Jacks threaded through the access holes on the front panel printed circuit board Be sure none of the wires interferes with the jacks operation 17 Make sure none of the jack wiring interferes with the insertion of plugs If you have provided your own 1 4 or 3 16 microphone jacks be certain that their tabs do not touch the rim of the circuit board holes You will need to insert a plug into the jacks to verify adequate clearance since the plugs bend the tabs out slightly If any tabs touch the hole rims then file the hole rim with a small needle file to provide clearance No filing will be necessary if you use the supplied 8 pin mic jacks or other
53. istor Xicon 5 carbon film 1 4W qty 3 Mouser p n 291 Value RC e g 291 4 7K RC Price 0 09 10 0 044 200 017 1000 PIHER 6mm carbon trimmer potentiometer qty 1 Mouser p n 531 PT6KV 10K Price 0 28 ea 0 23 100 0 22 500 Parallax Basic Stamp model BS2 IC Mouser p n 619 BS2 IC Price 49 00 ea 44 00 10 41 25 25 STM dual 4 to 2 line decoder DIP 16 Mouser p n 511 M74HC139 Price 0 39 ea 0 34 10 0 30 100 STM octal bus buffer DIP 20 Mouser p n 511 M74HC240 Price 0 41 ea 0 32 10 0 29 100 STM darlington 8 NPN array DIP 18 Mouser p n 511 ULN2803A Price 0 55 ea 0 504 100 0 462 250 STM 5V voltage regulator TO 220AB Mouser p n 511 L7805CV Price 0 24 ea 0 22 10 0 206 100 74 D Rear Panel Circuit Board rev A3 C401 419 C420 J401 J402 J403 J404 J405 J406 J409 J410 P403 E Chassis Misc program port 1000 pF O 1uF Connector Connector Connector Connector Connector Connector Header Enclosure Connector Capacitor 200V Mallory qty 19 Mouser p n 539 CK05102K Price 0 27 ea 0 21 100 0 19 500 0 18 1000 Capacitor 50V Xicon Z5U epoxy dipped ceramic qty 1 Mouser p n 21RZ310 RC Price 08 ea 069 100 053 500 046 1000 Neutrik 1 4 in 2 circuit PCB phone jack qty 1 Mouser p n 550 20301 Price 0 66 ea 0 60 10 0 51 100 Kobiconn 3 5mm circuit PCB phone jack qty 1 Mouser p n 161 3520 EX Price 1 50 ea 1 00 10 0
54. jacks that fit the 0 625 front panel holes 18 Rotate the jacks so that their wires are oriented adjacent to the matching lettered pads on the circuit board The indent on 8 pin microphone jacks should face downward and the washer should be behind the panel Flat washers on 1 4 in jacks go in front of the panel There are no washers on the 3 5 mm headphone jack Note that the clearance behind the black plastic 1 4 in headphone jack will be tight once the front panel is installed so do not use a second nut behind the panel on the jack Now tighten all the jacks to the front panel and also tighten the plastic nut on the AC power switch Take care not to scratch the panel 19 Solder the pins on the plastic AC power switch S301 to the circuit board 25 20 Trim the wires from the headphone jacks J302 and J303 and key jack J301 to size no longer than necessary tin their ends and then solder them to their mating pads on the circuit board see photo drawings and tables below If you prefer you can route the wires from the 3 5 mm phone jack J303 around the edge of the circuit board rather than through the access hole IMPORTANT double check to make sure you have identified all the wires correctly MIC CONF IG gt j MIC a s ns Seer i Trim the wires to size keep them as short as practical and solder each to its mating pad on the circuit board Instructions for wiring the microphone jacks in this pho
55. lder the remaining pins 4 As shown below attach the left and right side enclosure brackets to the rear panel using the 6 32 x 3 8 screws supplied with the enclosure not with the hardware packs Do not use any washers Note that the lip on the side brackets will fit into the notches previously cut into the two circuit boards 4 5 In the same manner attach the front panel assembly to the left and right side brackets Use the four black 6 32 x 3 8 machine screws supplied with the enclosure with no washers NOTE When you attach the front panel to the side brackets inspect carefully the lugs on the back of the 1 4 in headphone jack to make sure they don t bump into the 4 pin Molex header at P102 on the main PCB If they do carefully bend the interfering lugs out of the way These lugs are brittle so bend them slowly to allow stresses to equalize no more than necessary and avoid sharp bends 6 Identify the curved bottom cover of the enclosure It is the cover that has two small holes that line up with the two threaded standoffs closest to the front of the main circuit board 7 Press the four adhesive backed feet supplied with the enclosure onto the underside of the bottom cover 8 Attach the bottom cover to the side brackets using the black No 10 sheet metal screws supplied with the enclosure and secure the two threaded standoffs to the bottom cover using 6 32 x 1 4 machine screws and No 6 internal lockwashe
56. lush onto the board and not tilt or lean in any direction Be certain the modular RCA phono jacks are seated flush on the circuit board before you solder their pins Otherwise the jacks won t fit into the cutouts on the rear panel 5 Clean and inspect all solder connections Note that there are three unused pads labeled J411 J412 and SPARE J411 and J412 are in parallel with two of the RCA Phono jacks J406 and J407 respectively and can be used if builders wish to add other types of connectors to the rear panel e g banana jacks or terminal strips Set aside the completed rear panel assembly Completed rear panel circuit Board For future reference note the orientation of the ribbon cable which has not yet been installed 36 VI Microcontroller Circuit Board Assembly Identify the microcontroller circuit board pictured below and collect all of the components in the following list Refer to the master parts list for additional details about each component Note that all components will install on the top side of the circuit board except for the the headers at P201 P204 and P205 P206 These headers have previously been inserted into their mating connectors on the main circuit board IC socket C201 C205 C206 C207 C208 C209 D201 D203 J201 J202 J203 K201 K213 P201 P204 P205 P206 P207 P208 R201 R202 R203 R205 R204 U201 U202 U203 U204 U205 Microcontroller Circ
57. more cables will fit through a single slot so you will probably not need to use all the holes After you decide how many feedthrough slots you will need drill or punch 3 16 holes where indicated on the templates If you prefer you can omit the holes and just go directly to step 9 12 Remove the lid from the enclosure Using wirecutters cut vertical slots into the plastic above the holes from the previous step as illustrated below If you didn t drill holes in the previous step then bend the flaps inward the pressure on the cables from the bent flaps will help secure them 58 Completed enclosure with five slots which hold a total of ten cables for a Yaesu FT 2000 transceiver 13 Mount the pod circuit board on the four posts of the enclosure using No 4 x 3 8 sheet metal screws Carefully route the cables through the slots in the rear of the enclosure using cable ties Ty Wraps as strain reliefs Then install the cover on the enclosure using the flathead screws provided with the enclosure This completes the pod assembly Completed pod for an FT 2000 transceiver XI Final Instructions 1 You have now completed all the required modules for the StationPro II All that remains is for you to connect together the Controller Unit the RF Relay Unit and the transceiver pods and then to connect your transceivers and linear amplifiers to the StationPro II Hookup information is contained in A StationPro II Operating
58. morse code and the timer will turn off If the Elapsed Time switch is held down for a half second then a repeating timer is activated In this case the LCD will show a symbol in the lower right corner and the controller will send ID in morse code every ten minutes until cancelled An active timer is cancelled by pressing the Elapsed Time switch with K being sent in morse code to confirm the cancellation If the Elapsed Time switch is held down while the StationPro II is powered up then the LCD will briefly show the number of accumulated hours and minutes of StationPro I use One application of this feature is to track the yearly hours of station operation For example the operator can reset the timer to zero on January 1 and twelve months later have a record of total station activity for the year The timer is reset to zero by turning on the StationPro II while holding down the AMP1 switch 4 AMP TUNE function Momentarily pressing the AMP TUNE switch injects a pulsed 1000 Hz tone for ten seconds into the microphone input of the selected transceiver The purpose of this pulsed tone which has a 50 duty cycle is to permit the operator to tune up safely a selected linear amplifier without fear of exceeding the amplifier s power rating The plate current grid current and power output meters of the amplifer which read average values will show roughly half of their normal values while the pulser is engaged While the p
59. nd three transceiver interface pods that attach to the controller unit with standard computer cables The controller unit contains four printed circuit boards 1 a main circuit board 2 a front panel circuit board 3 a rear panel circuit board and 4 a microcontroller circuit board The RF relay unit handles all of the RF switching for the user s transceivers and amplifiers The transceiver pods are simple breakout boxes that interface to each connected transceiver or receiver transmitter pair Builders should allow about 14 16 hours to wire and test a complete SP II You ll maintain focus and avoid mistakes if you break up the work into segments Note If you received this manual with your W8ZR kit then please verify that the revision date on the Contents page corresponds to the revision date of the manual at www w8zr net stationpro download The W8ZR website will always have the latest revision number for all documentation and firmware I Preparation for Assembly 1 Tools To build the StationPro II you will need the following tools and small items hookup wire 22AWG 50ft approx small tip soldering iron 1 32 diameter resin core solder isopropyl rubbing alcohol amp Q tips magnifying glass Assembly Hints 1 Make sure your workbench surface is clean and free of clutter 3 Inventory and sort parts and read small needle nose pliers small flush cut wire cutters phillips screw drivers small am
60. ntil you see something like the following on your computer screen OWNER SUPPLIED DATA enter station equipment and fill out with spaces to make all descriptions exactly 15 characters Note that quotation marks around each description are required DATA 030 Amplifier 1 E Enter AMP1 Info in quotes DATA 040 Amplifier 2 Enter AMP2 Info in quotes DATA 050 Amplifier 3 Enter AMP3 Info in quotes DATA 060 Transceiver 1 Enter TRX1 Info in quotes DATA 070 Transceiver 2 Enter TRX2 Info in quotes DATA 080 Transceiver 3 Enter TRX3 Info in quotes Now enter your own station equipment on each of the six lines between the quotation marks There must be exactly 15 characters between the quotation marks so that shorter descriptions must be padded out with spaces Here is an example of a completed table DATA 030 Alpha 9500 P Enter AMP1 Info in quotes DATA 040 QRO HF 2500DX Enter AMP2 Info in quotes DATA 050 Drake L4 B S Enter AMP3 Info in quotes DATA 95060 Elecraft K3 d Enter TRX1 Info in quotes DATA 070 TenTec Orion II Enter TRX2 Info in quotes DATA 080 Collins S Line Enter TRX3 Info in quotes Next scroll down to Part II of the Owner Supplied Data section which gives you the option of locking out specific amplifier transceiver combinations Follow the directions in the program listing or skip this step if you do not want to lock out any amplifier selections When y
61. nting clips qty 10 Mouser p n 593 CLP125 Price 0 09 ea 0 08 10 0 07 100 0 06 500 unused 1 4 in Stereo NO Phone Jack qty 1 Mouser p n 568 NYS230 Price 1 08 ea 0 98 10 0 88 100 0 82 500 1 4 in Stereo NO NC Phone Jack qty 1 Mouser p n 502 L 114BX Price 4 66 3 80 10 3 10 25 2 65 100 3 5 mm Stereo NO NC Kycon Phone Jack qty 1 Mouser p n 806 STX 3150 5C Price 1 03 ea 0 69 25 0 65 100 0 56 500 SIP 40 pin 0 100 male breakaway header qty 1 Mouser p n header 517 6111TG Price 0 90 ea 0 82 50 0 78 100 0 74 500 P amp B Tyco V23105 DPDT 12VDC 960 ohm coil qty 1 Mouser p n 655 V23105A5003A201 Price 1 75 ea 1 58 25 1 40 50 1 26 100 Molex 10 89 7262 2x13 pin 0 100 male header qty 2 Mouser p n 538 10 89 7262 Price 1 89 ea 1 65 10 1 24 100 0 99 500 Molex 26 60 4040 K K 4 pin 156 header qty 1 Mouser p n 538 26 60 4040 tin Price 0 44 ea 0 38 10 0 25 100 0 20 500 Microtips 16x2 LCD Ye Gr backlight 36x80mm Mouser p n 668 NC S 16205DFYSAY Price 11 51 ea 9 86 10 8 49 50 7 40 100 alternate Microtips 16x2 LCD gray backlight 36x80mm Mouser p n 668 NC S 16205DFGSAY Price 11 51 ea 9 86 10 8 49 50 7 40 100 R301 R302 R304 R305 R311 R312 R313 R314 R315 R317 R318 R316 S301 S302 303 S311 Y301 U301 71 5 KQ trimpot PIHER 6mm carbon trimmer potentiometer 2 2 KQ 1000 Q 22 KQ 220 KQ 4 7 KQ 10 KQO 10Q Switch Switch
62. o user supplied external RF relays This jack is not used with the standard RF Relay unit Some users however may prefer to build their own RF relay units using e g surplus vacuum relays which typically operate at 24 28V In this case the StationPro will automatically connect the relays to this external power source 11 REM IN amp REM OUT Jacks These RJ 25 jacks are used only when multiple StationPro IIs up to a maximum of three are networked together Download the StationPro II Networking Manual for additional information Users who have only one StationPro II can ignore these jacks 12 CAT Jack This female D SUB 9 pin DBY connector is configured as a standard serial port and should be connected to a serial port on a computer or other peripheral equipment The required cable is an ordinary 9 pin serial cable having male and female DB9 connectors The StationPro routes this port to the selected transceiver The industry standard pinout of this connector is as follows UBS l 5 DB9 CAT Connector Pin No Function 1 N C 6 6 a l 5 a b 3 TXD 4 N C 5 GND 6 N C 7 RTS 8 CTS 9 N C 10 13 RELAY CTRL Jack This RJ45 jack is used to control the StationPro s remote RF relays The jack accepts a standard 8 wire ethernet type patch cable with RJ45 connectors The cable should be no longer than necessary 5 6 ft or shorter and preferably shielded The free end of the cable plugs into a mating connector on the RF
63. otch on the silk screened outline Note the white dot near pin K114 looks like a 6 pin IC E ols i a 16 lZ sx 1 k Mi R105 uga D103 R101 D108 and Q102 should NOT be installed if the default keying circuit is selected Alternate Amp Keying Circuit Install D108 Q102 and R101 yellow violet red Match the band on D108 to the circuit board pattern and bend the leads on Q102 so they line up with the holes in the circuit board Position Q102 about 1 4 in above the board Note that the silkscreened component IDs for these parts are in parentheses 2 Install the remaining 1 4 watt resistors making sure the resistor bodies are flat against the circuit board and that color codes are aligned in the same direction R102 R103 2 2 KQ red red red R104 R105 1KQ brown black red 3 Install IN4005 diodes at D101 D107 and D109 and the 0 1 uF blue dipped epoxy capacitor at C101 Make sure the diodes bands are oriented as shown on the silkscreened legends and do not confuse the value of the capacitor with others that look the same A 104 marking on the capacitor indicates a 0 1 uF value 4 Install the 2N3906 transistor Q101 taking care to get the orientation correct Bend the leads to align them with the holes on the circuit board The transistor should sit about 1 4 above the board 5 Install the thirteen relays K101 K113 Begin by soldering two opposing pins on each relay so you can make sure the relay bodies
64. ou are done press Ctrl S to save your program You may revise the table as many times as you want as you change your station s equipment 5 Connect a 12V DC power source to the power connector on the back panel of the StationPro II Then plug the programming cable into P208 on the microcontroller circuit board and connect the other end of the cable to your PC serial port Note that pin 1 of P208 is indicated on the silkscreened legend so don t hook the connector backwards 6 Turn on the power switch on the StationPro II The red Pwr LED should light and also one of the yellow microphone LEDs Other LEDs may or may not be lighted The LCD display should be backlighted but do not be alarmed if you do not see displayed text Check the voltage at TP204 on the left rear of the microcontroller circuit board to verify that it is 4 9V 5 1V 7 If all seems normal press Ctrl R on your keyboard to upload the firmware into your StationPro II After a few seconds your computer display will indicate a successful upload 48 8 Turn off the StationPro II for a few seconds and then turn it back on After a second or two you should hear a melodic beep and the sound of relays closing Now adjust the contrast trimpot R301 on the back of the front panel circuit board until you see text on the LCD display Having now seen text displayed on the LCD this is a good time to celebrate and take your spouse out to dinner 9 Turn off t
65. p medium small flat head screwdriver sharp knife or single edge razor blade 3 16 in drill bit 5 mm approx small flat and round files optional set of nut drivers optional regular tip soldering iron optional 1 4 in heat shrink tubing optional transceiver cables see Sec X through the assembly nstructions before you begin construction Read the FAQs page on the W8ZR StationPro website 2 Use a high intensity light and magnifying glass to inspect your solder joints and to look for solder bridges 4 To give your work a professional appearance install resistors and capacitors so their color codes and markings all face the same way 5 Work carefully and methodically and take your time Take pride in your workmanship and if you complete a step and it doesn t 2 Hardware The hardware to assemble your SP III is supplied in two hardware packs with the W8ZR semi kits look good then do it over 17 Note additional cabinet hardware is packed with the enclosure for the SP II control unit Threaded aluminum standoffs are supplied by Mouser Electronics as part of your component order HARDWARE PACK 1 Qty 8 2 56 x 3 16 screws Ja Qty 20 4 40 x 5 16 screws T Qty 28 No 4 internal lockwashers mM Qty 20 4 40 nuts HARDWARE PACK 2 Qty 8 4 40 x 3 16 screws Qty 8 6 32 x 1 4 screws DI Qty 8 No 6 internal lockwashers ee Qty 18 No 4 x 3 8 sht metal screws o gt Qty 8 Black No 6 x
66. p action toggle switch S302 to the front panel The switch mounts sideways in either direction 10 DO NOT attach the plastic DPDT AC power switch to the front panel It will be installed later 11 Temporarily attach the circuit board to the front panel adjusting the switches as necessary to make sure their pins fit into the mating holes on the circuit board and that the LCD fits into the square cutout on the front panel Use the slight bit of wiggle room on the LCD mounting screws to center the LCD into its cutout When you are certain the switch bodies are snug against the circuit board and that the LCD is flush with the front of the panel and after you have double checked that no switches are mounted upside down then solder all the switch pins to the circuit board Now tighten the LCD mounting screws on the rear side of the printed circuit board 12 Detach the front panel from the circuit board taking care not to lose the outer nut and lockwasher from each switch Hint note that the nuts on S302 are slightly smaller than the nuts on the momentary action switches so don t get them mixed up Now tighten the top screws on the LCD spacers and solder all the pins on both ends of J305 32 solder connections in total 13 Mount the plastic DPDT AC power switch S301 on the front panel it goes either way The nut should be finger tight Now set the front panel aside AC Power Switch S301 14 Identify all the jacks that mount on
67. p n 665 ASO04508MR3R Price 2 66 ea 2 49 25 1 87 100 F RF Relay Switching Unit ver A2 Sae Enclosure Custom silkscreened prepunched Alternate not silkscreened or punched Hammond 7 4 x 4 7 x 1 3 die cast w flange qty 1 Mouser p n 546 1590DDF Price 26 58 ea Coax In Out Connector UHF SO 239 AIM Cambridge chassis qty 10 Mouser p n 601 25 7350 Price 1 33 ea 1 21 10 1 06 25 1 01 100 0 95 500 J501 Connector RJ 45 8 pin top entry shielded PCB mount qty 1 Mouser p n 571 6116202 1 Price 2 41 ea 2 19 25 2 02 50 1 95 100 K501 K510 Tyco Schrack RTB14012F SPDT 12A qty 10 Mouser p n 655 RTB14012F Price 1 73 ea 1 51 25 1 36 50 1 20 100 alternate preferred for VHF 76 Panasonic JWIFSN DC12V SPDT 10A qty 10 Mouser p n 769 JW LFSN DC12V Price 2 76 ea 2 53 25 2 30 50 2 07 100 C501 C507 0 0luF Capacitor 50V Xicon Z5U epoxy dipped ceramic qty 7 Mouser p n 21RZ410 RC Price 08 ea 069 100 053 500 046 1000 C508 0 1 uF Capacitor 50V Xicon Z5U epoxy dipped ceramic qty Mouser p n 21RZ310 RC Price 08 ea 069 100 053 500 046 1000 D501 D507 1N914A Fairchild Si signal diode DO 35 qty 7 Mouser 512 1N914 Price 0 03 ea 0 02 10 0 015 100 0 01 250 hardware threaded spacer rnd aluminum 4 40 x 1 4 qty 4 Mouser 534 2025 Price 0 34 ea 0 19 100 G Transceiver Pods Rev BO Quantities are for 3 pods Enclosure Hammond 4 4 x 2 5
68. ple circuit diagram using an SPST solid state AC relay Any solid state relay that operates with a DC control control voltage of 3 15V or more can be used The relay should have a load current rating of at least 25A A DPST solid state relay can be used if the builder wishes to switch both sides of the 120VAC line A convenient way to make this relay master power controller is to mount the solid state relay in the bottom of a deep duplex outlet box available at Home Depot or any electrical supply store An ordinary duplex outlet two 120VAC receptacles 19 mounted on the face of the box and a heavy duty AC power cord exits through one of the side holes A fuse holder and an RCA phono jack mount on the other side of the outlet box A shielded phono cable connects this phono jack to the 12V SWITCHED jack on the rear panel of the StationPro and an outlet strip for the station equipment plugs into one of the two duplex receptacles The other duplex receptacle can be wired directly to the 120V line to provide an unswitched 120VAC outlet for station clocks computer UPS supply etc TO 120 VAC G pmi 120VAC Station Outlet Strip Outlet 1 Outlet 2 Outlet N 12V lo SWITCHED 01 StationPro 50v MASTER STATION 120 VAC POWER CONTROLLER Note that the 01 uF 1000V bypass capacitors should be 240 VAC line rated 10 24V RLY IN Jack This 2 5mm DC power jack may be used to connect an external DC power supply 15V to 30V t
69. r 512 1N4005 Price 0 05 ea 0 04 10 03 100 02 250 Q102 IRF610PBF MOSFET N chan 200V 3 3A Mouser p n 844 IRF61O0PBF Price 0 48 0 39 10 0 35 100 0 3 1 500 B Front Panel Circuit Board StationPro H Version A2 IC socket 18 pin DIP 18 pin IC socket Mouser p n 517 4818 3000 CP Price 0 22 ea 0 21 25 0 18 100 0 17 200 C301 C307 1000 pF Capacitor 50V Xicon X7R qty 7 Mouser p n 21RX510 RC Price 0 10 ea 0 084 100 0 065 500 C308 C309 47 pF Xicon Z5U epoxy dipped ceramic qty 2 Mouser p n 21RD747 RC Price 10 ea 082 100 063 500 055 1000 C310 0 1 uF Capacitor 50V Xicon Z5U epoxy dipped ceramic qty Mouser p n 21RZ310 RC Price 08 ea 069 100 053 500 046 1000 C311 l uF Capacitor Nichicon electrolytic 50V qty 1 Mouser p n 647 UFW 1HOIOMDD Price 0 08 ea 0 06 25 0 05 50 0 04 100 DS301 DS304 DS308 DS309 LED GR Lumex LED Green 5mm qty 6 Mouser p n 696 SSL LX5093LGD Price 0 12 ea 0 10 100 0 08 500 0 07 1000 DS306 DS307 LED YE Lumex LED Yellow 5mm qty 2 Mouser p n 696 SSL LX5093LYD Price 0 15 ea 0 12 100 0 10 500 0 08 1000 DS305 DS310 H302 J301 J302 J303 P305 K301 P301 P307 P302 LCD LED RE LED bezels Header Connector Connector Connector Header Relay Header Header 16x2 LCD 70 Lumex LED Red 5mm qty 2 Mouser p n 696 SSL LX5093LID Price 0 15 ea 0 12 100 0 10 500 0 08 1000 LED mou
70. r attention to the grounds on the LEDs and switches make sure solder has flowed onto the circuit board groundplane and isn t beading up on the pad 30 Set aside the completed front panel assembly Note that Header H302 is unused and that no wires are soldered yet to the two speaker holes labeled O and P in the upper left of the board IV Main Circuit Board Assembly Identify the main circuit board pictured below and collect all of the components in the following list Refer to the master parts list for additional details about each component Note that all components will install on the top side of the circuit board Main Circuit Board Components C101 O 1 uF Capacitor 50V epoxy dipped ceramic qty 1 D101 D107 D109 1N4005 1A 600PTV diode qty 8 F101 Fuse Clips PCB mount fuse clips qty 2 F101 Fuse Fuse 1Amp 3AG qty 1 J101 J104 Connector Molex 0 156 12 pin top entry female header qty 4 J101 J104 Header Molex 0 156 12 pin male header qty 4 J105 J106 Connector Molex 0 156 4 pin top entry female header qty 2 J105 J106 Header Molex 0 156 4 pin male header qty 2 J107 Connector 2 5mm DC pwr jack PCB side entry qty 1 J108 J109 Connector D Sub 25 pin male PCB side entry qty 2 J110 Connector D Sub 9 pin female PCB side entry qty 1 J111 Connector DIN 5 pin female PCB side entry qty J112 Connector RJ45 8pin PCB side entry qty 1 K101 K113 Relay P amp B Tyco V23105 DPDT qty 13 K114 SS Relay
71. r coating off all the screw holes on the inside of the top cover Doing so will ensure good electrical contact between the metal cover and the ten SO 239 coax jacks and also between the metal cover and the four threaded standoffs that secure the printed circuit board It is a good idea but not strictly necessary also to sand off the paint on the lip of the top cover where the black sheet metal screws secure the two parts of the enclosure together 1 Identify the top cover of the RF relay enclosure and mount ten SO 239 UHF coax jacks to the inside surface as shown below Use two 4 40 x 5 16 machine screws with internal lockwashers and nuts on each of the SO 239 connectors The lockwashers go 50 under the nuts There is a slight bit of wiggle room in the mounting holes so use it to line up the connectors so their sides are parallel to one another 2 Mount four 4 40 x 1 4 threaded standoffs on the corner holes of the inside top cover as shown above Use 4 40 x 3 16 machine screws with internal lockwashers under the standoffs 1 e between the standoffs and the enclosure not under the screw heads 3 Identify the RF relay circuit board and collect the components that mount on the board listed below If necessary refer to the master parts list for more details about each component RE Relay Circuit Board Components J501 Connector RJ 45 8 pin top entry shielded PCB jack qty 1 K501 K510 Relay Tyco Schrack RTB
72. ram there is still an AC voltage caused by ground current loops but this voltage is no longer in series with the microphone audio and therefore causes no hum on the transmitted signal The bottom line is that StationPro owners who want to use vintage microphones with simple shielded cables and no separate mic wire must take careful steps to minimize audio hum in their AM or SSB transmissions Transmitter StnPro Gnd Gnd Loop Hum Voltage How to Diagnose Ground Loop Problems The easiest way to diagnose a potential ground loop problem with your StationPro is to jumper the microphone audio pin mic to the ground pin or shield on one of the StationPro s mic connectors Then key up your transmitter or transceiver and listen to your transmitted signal on a separate receiver If you hear hum on your signal even with the mic audio shorted to ground then you have a ground loop There is no need to worry about this ground loop if you are using a modern microphone with a separate mic wire but if you wish to use a vintage microphone having a simple shielded cable then you will definitely have to deal with it Basic Steps to Minimize Ground Loop Hum 1 Make sure all of your station transceivers or transmitter receiver pairs are connected to the same AC circuit and not to separate circuits Of course this will not be possible when using 120 VAC transceivers and 240 VAC amplifiers 64 2 If your transceivers operate o
73. rcuit board a Cut four 6 inch lengths of 22 AWG stranded hookup wire and strip each end about 3 16 inch If available it will be convenient to use different color wires b As shown above identify two 4 pin Molex 0 156 nylon connector housings Mouser p n 538 09 50 3041 and eight crimp terminals Mouser p n 538 08 50 0134 Using needle nose pliers crimp a terminal onto each end of the hookup wires prepared in the previous step Hint it s a good idea also to solder the wires to the terminals Use the smallest amount of solder necessary for a good connection 43 c Snap the terminals into each connector housing Use a small flat bladed screwdriver to push each terminal into the housing The terminals only insert one way and will click into place Be sure you re inserting the terminals into their correct hole on the housing because once installed they are difficult to remove Important Make sure the wires don t cross 1 e pin 1 on one housing should mate with pin 1 on the other housing Note that pin 1 is identified on the silkscreened legends f 4 d Plug one end of the cable assembly into P102 on the main circuit board and the other end into P302 on the front panel circuit board Again be sure not to cross the wires One end of the prepared cable plugs into P302 on the front panel circuit board 11 Identify the miniature round speaker Mouser p n 665 ASO04508MR3R Hint a local source of sm
74. relay unit Builders of custom RF relay units should refer to the StationPro schematic diagram for the connector pinout 14 PACKET RTTY Jack This standard 5 pin DIN jack is used to connect RTTY Packet and PSK31 peripherals to the StationPro The pinout is shown in the diagram Note that all of the pins on this jack are in parallel with similarly named pins on other jacks on the StationPro The AUX4 pin is not designated for any specific purpose but may be configured by the user for an additional function e g squelch etc STT oe ad le er Z OND Se LINE IN ts AUAY So LINE OUT F 15 12 IN Jack This DC power jack accepts a standard 2 5 mm DC power plug center pin positive which should be connected to a 12V nominal regulated DC power supply This power supply can be a station 12V supply used to power other equipment e g a VHF UHF FM transceiver the accessory 12V port on the rear panel of most transceivers or even a dedicated wall wart supply The power supply should be rated at 500 mA or greater and have good filtering V RF Relay Unit Connections r AMPLIFIER TRANSCEIVER OUTPUT INPUT ANTENNA 4 11 1 TRX1 TRX2 TRX3 Jacks These SO 239 UHF coaxial cable jacls should be connected to the antenna jacks on the station transceivers using 50 Q coaxial cable Because most transceivers are rated at 200W RE or less RG 58 or RG8X cable can be useds for these jumper cables Note that the StationPro groun
75. rn Elecraft K3 transceiver even though the mic connectors are different Note however that vintage microphones using a single shielded cable to carry audio signals as opposed to modern microphones having dedicated mic and mic conductors are particularly susceptable to hum caused by ground loop currents Before installing jacks intended for such microphones such as the 2 pin 5 8 in jack second from the right in the above photo you should carefully read Appendix A Avoiding Ground Loop Complications at the end of this manual III Front Panel Assembly The front panel is the most complex part of the entire assembly process so we will get it out of the way first Begin by reading through these instructions Then identify the front panel circuit board and referring to the parts listing shown below collect all of the components Additional information about each component is in Appendix B SP III Parts List at the end of this manual Also photos of most components are shown in the step by step directions that follow Note that components mount on both the front and rear sides of the front panel circuit board as indicated by the white silkscreened legends Also note that Header H302 is unused even though its outline is shown on the circuit board SPII Front Panel Parts List IC socket 18 pin DIP 18 pin IC socket C301 C307 1000 pF Capacitor 50V epoxy dipped ceramic qty 7 C308 C309 47 pF Capacitor 50V epoxy dipped ceramic qty 2
76. ront panel momentary action toggle switches A green LED indicator will illuminate above each activated switch and the LCD will show the selections as illustrated in the below figure for a vintage Collins transceiver and amplifier 14 If the switch of a selected amplifier is depressed a second time the amplifier will be taken off line and the green LED indicator will blink The top line of the LCD will show BYPASS to confirm that the amplifier is in a ready mode but is currently off line Depressing the amplifier select switch a third time will bring the selected amplifier back on line The SWAP switch provides a convenient way to recall previous transceiver and amplifier selections Pressing this switch toggles between the currently selected transceiver amplifier selections and the previous transceiver amplifier selections The SWAP feature provides a handy way to make A B comparisons between rigs or to recall instantly a prior transceiver amplifier combination Being able to call up completely different rigs automatically transferring all RF coax cables microphone key etc in a tenth of a second is guaranteed to impress one s ham buddies 3 Elapsed Time Features Momentarily depressing the Elapsed Time switch starts a one time ten minute timer A beep confirms the selection anda symbol appears on the lower right corner of the LCD to show that the timer is running After ten minutes the controller will send ID in
77. rs The lockwashers go underneath the screw heads The remaining four standoffs are not attached to the bottom cover 9 Plug the free end of the previously installed 26 conductor ribbon cable from P101 on the main circuit board to P301 on the front panel circuit board When properly installed the cable should not twist It should emerge down from the lower end of P301 as shown below Don t forget to check the alignment of the connector with the pins on P301 to make sure the pins are not inadvertently offset 42 im mM Rn 0 i iri w m fan oi in og ra e 1 0 s i gt i m m i ru me N iy When properly installed none of the three ribbon cables should be twisted and all should line up nicely with their mating headers 10 Plug one end of a six inch 26 conductor ribbon cable into P207 on the microcontroller circuit board and the other end into P307 on the front panel circuit board The ribbon cable should point from P207 toward the front of the controller circuit board and from P307 toward the bottom of the front panel circuit board The cable should not twist Check the alignment of the connectors at both headers At this stage of the assembly two ribbon cables should be installed fully and the third ribbon cable from P103 should be hanging free 11 Following the steps below prepare and install a short 4 conductor cable to connect from P102 on the main circuit board to P302 on the front panel ci
78. s extra heat to solder pins and tabs to the ground plane of the circuit board Be sure to use a large enough soldering iron and make certain that solder has flowed onto the ground plane From left to right J108 J109 J110 J112 J111 J107 11 Clean the flux from the circuit board with isopropyl alcohol and Q tips and then inspect each solder joint using a magnifying glass Look especially closely at the multipin connectors along the rear edge of the circuit board and the two 26 pin headers 12 With a pair of wire cutters cut out 1 8 notches at each rear corner of the circuit board Note that the outline of the notches is silkscreened on the board These notches allow the circuit board to clear the side brackets on the enclosure 33 H val TRR 1 H Al 01 _TP100O U EEE 5 D106 _ 0108 is a pLa ols Kuve Q102 OD l lt Te VIG 4 2 R105 anne 7 Q101 D103 t aS if e R101 12V DC 1310 W8ZR er Rev CO 2010 StationPro 4 a Note the notch cutouts silkscreened on the rear corners of the main printed circuit board 13 Install 1 2 No 6 threaded standoffs at the six locations five along the sides and one behind J112 the 8 pin RJ45 jack on the bottom side of the circuit board Use a 6 32 x 1 4 machine screw and a 6 internal lockwasher under each screw head Tighten the screws securely 14 Plug six inch 26 conductor flat ribbon cables into headers P10
79. seat flat against the circuit board Then solder the remaining pins Solder these one at a time or vou l never get them positioned properly 2 AXICOM PT cand l i Be certain not to miss any pins when you solder the thirteen relays to the circuit board 31 6 Referring to the photos below identify the four 12 pin Molex female connectors you will install at J101 J104 and the two 4 pin Molex female connectors to be installed at J105 and J106 Now identify the 12 pin and 4 pin straight male headers whose pins will mate with these connectors BE B S 7 N i Ba Sl bes m _ b S l ED ir gt SA A l s BR I bae 1 L a C am ls f T i _ j a 12 pin Molex 0 156 female PCB connector and matching 12 pin header As shown below push a matching male header into each of the six connectors long pins go into the connector making sure the headers are seated fully into the connectors Now solder the pins of all six Molex connectors NOT the header pins to the main circuit board 56 pins in all Be sure you orient the connectors to the silkscreened outline on the circuit board and be sure the connector pins go into holes in the round pads in the circuit board and not in the square pads Hint Solder an end pin on each connector first so you can make certain the connector bodies are seated flat against the main circuit board Then solder the remaining pins
80. to are given in Step 21 below 3 5 mm Headphone Jack Pads J303 J303 o B CD AE A Tip B Tip norm closed contact C Ring D Ring norm closed contact E Common ground 26 1 4 Headphone Jack Pads J302 Tip norm closed contact Ring Ring norm closed contact Common ground NOTATI Key Paddle Pads J301 no drawing shown L Tip dot M Ring dash N Common ground 21 Microphone Jack Wiring The microphone wiring table silkscreened onto the rear of the circuit board corresponds to the sixteen pads that are centered between the two microphone access holes Although some microphones have numerous features UP DOWN etc at a minimum all have at least three conductors an audio output wire Mic a PTT wire and a ground shield wire If a microphone jack has a separate Mic Gnd or Mic wire then connect it to the Mic pad and not to GND Note that there are four rows of pads labeled FN1 FN4 on the silkscreened table These pads along with the Mic pads differ from the Mic and PTT pads because both pads in each row FN1 for example are jumpered together on the circuit board You can assign the other microphone wires e g UP DOWN V etc to FN1 4 in any order you like but be sure to assign the corresponding wires on each microphone to the same pads In other words if you assign FAST to FN1 for Microphone 1 then you should also assign FAST to FN1 for Microphone 2 The following
81. uit Board Components 24 pin 0 1 uF 4700 uF 1000 pF Ol uF 1N4005 Connector Connector Relay Header Header Header Header 1000 Q 100 KQ 10 KQ 10 KQ BS2 IC T4HC139 T4HC240 ULN2803A 7805 24 pin IC socket qty 1 Capacitor 50V blue ceramic marked 104 qty 5 Capacitor 16V electrolytic qty 1 Capacitor 50V blue ceramic marked 102 qty 1 Capacitor 50V blue ceramic marked 103 qty 2 1A 600 PIV diode qty 3 D Sub 25 pin male R A PCB mount qty 1 RJ25 6 pin PCB side entry shielded qty 2 P amp B Tyco V23105 DPDT 12 VDC qty 13 Molex 0 156 12 pin header qty 4 prev installed Molex 0 156 4 pin header qty 2 prev installed Molex 26 pin 2x13 0 100 male header qty 1 Molex 5 pin 0 100 friction lock Resistor 1 4W brown black red qty 1 Resistor 1 4W brown black yellow qty 1 Resistor 1 4W brown black orange qty 2 carbon trimmer potentiometer qty 1 Parallax Basic Stamp model BS2 IC IC dual 4 to 2 line decoder 16 pin qty 1 IC octal bus buffer 20 pin qty 1 IC darlington 8 NPN array 18 pin qty 1 IC 5V voltage regulator TO 220 3 pin gty 1 37 TP203 TP20 TP201 gt Ye K211 K210 K209 K208 K207 K206 K205 K204 K203 P204 W8ZR StationPro II Controller Microcontroller Circuit Board Top View 1 Install all of the 1 4 watt resistors making sure the resistor bodies are flat against the circuit board and that color codes are aligned in the same direction
82. uit board and the SO 239 connector bodies Note that the lockwashers on the SO 239 jacks go under the nuts 53 12 Make sure all the hardware securing the ten SO 239 jacks is tight and then solder all ten center pins of the SO 239 connectors to the circuit board pads Use enough heat to make certain the solder flows nicely but use no more solder than necessary for a good connection You ll have to unsolder these pins if you ever want to remove the circuit board so don t make the job harder by using too much solder 13 Attach the cover to the RF relay enclosure using eight No 6 x 3 8 black sheet metal screws This completes the assembly of the RF relay unit fr AMPLIFIER OUTPUT INPUT TRANSCEIVER ANTENNA b The completed StationPro RF relay unit X Assembly of the Transceiver Pods Three Required Each transceiver or receiver transmitter pair connects to the StationPro control unit via a single 25 wire computer type serial cable The free end of this cable terminates in a pod which is a small breakout box Short cables go from this breakout box to the jacks microphone key data etc on the rear and front panels of the transceiver Modern transceivers have many different jacks some of which may not be of interest to all users For example most hams will use the microphone and key jacks but many will not use the band data packet and transverter jacks The below photograph shows the pod for a vintage
83. ulsed tone is active an LED indicator next to the AMP 15 TUNE switch blinks rapidly and the TRX and AMP LEDs are turned off Depressing the AMP TUNE switch before the pulser times out immediately terminates the pulsed tone A tune level trimpot on the microcontroller circuit board in the StationPro II control unit sets the appropriate audio level for the pulsed tone The correct procedure 19 to place the selected transceiver in the SSB mode and turn on the pulser The level trimpot 19 adjusted to give a mid scale ALC reading on the transceiver s ALC meter 5 Networking Multiple StationPro Is Up to three StationPro IIs may be networked permitting a total of nine transceivers and nine amplifiers to be controlled three on each operating desk Selecting any of the nine rigs will transfer control to that rig while taking the other eight rigs off line The antenna coax line 1s automatically transferred to the selected radio and the key microphone speakers etc on the relevant station desk are transferred to the selected radio The StationPro IIs on the other desks are deselected and their status is displayed on their respective LCDs Pressing any transceiver or amplifer switch on an off line desk will activate that StationPro II and take off line the previously active StationPro II There are additional considerations associated with networking multiple StationPro IIs Because this topic will be of interest to only a small number of
84. ve the diode polarity The banded end of the diodes is indicated on the silkscreened legend 9 Install RF power relays K501 K510 Install these one at a time and make sure the body of each relay is flush against the circuit board before you solder the pins 10 OPTIONAL STEP The printed circuit board has provisions for sampling the RF output from your transceivers and linear amplifiers Most builders will probably not need this feature and can omit this step Note that implementing the RF sampling feature will require drilling or punching two holes in the RF enclosure in order to mount two BNC coax jacks If desired users can substitute two RCA phono jacks Necessary parts to be supplied by builder BNC Chassis Jacks qty 2 Capacitor 15 pF 500V dipped silver mica qty 1 Capacitor 330 pF 500V dipped silver mica qty 2 Hookup wire or bare tinned wire 6 in approx a Install the following capacitors C509 15 pF S00V qty 1 C510 C511 330 pF 500V qty 2 b Note that the circuit diagram shows a high voltage capacitor C which is part of the capacitive voltage divider that samples the RF from the selected amplifier This capacitor is built into the circuit board copper pattern and has a value of 2 8 pF Physically this capacitor consists of two copper pads each having a capacitance of 1 4 pF and connected in parallel by a copper trace If in very high power applications it is observed that the sampled voltage is too 52
85. venience features including an ID timer and an amplifier tune up pulser Easy firmware upgrades not only allow additional new features but permit the operator to customize and upgrade the StationPro II as station equipment changes The RF relay circuits in the StationPro II introduce negligible VSWR from 1 8 54 MHz and are conservatively rated at the U S legal power limit II Specifications RF Relay Circuits 1 Frequency Range DC 54 MHz 2 Nominal Impedance 50 Q unbalanced SO 239 connectors 3 Insertion VSWR 1 1 or less DC 30 MHz 1 2 or less 54 MHz 4 RF Power Rating U S amateur legal power limit 1500 Watts Note tested at 2500 Watts below 30 MHz 800 Watts at 54 MHz Relay contacts rated at 12A DC continuous 5000V dielectric rating to coil 5 Relay Control Voltage 12V DC supplied by control unit 6 Relay Control Cable Ethernet CATS cable with RJ 45 connectors Data DC amp Audio Control Circuits 7 Transceivers or Receiver Transmitter Pairs 3 maximum 8 Linear Amplifiers 3 maximum 9 Amplifier Relay Control switching time 3 mS maximum on mS maximum off control voltage open circuit 12VDC control current closed circuit 5 mA relay keying limits Option A or B selected during assembly Option A 400V AC or DC of either polarity 250 mA maximum Option B 200V positive DC only 3 5Amperes maximum 10 Microphones 1 or 2 up to 7 wires plus GND per microphone 11 Microphon
86. whereas the side is marked on the capacitor 10 Install connectors J201 25 pin and J202 J203 6 pin along the rear of the circuit board Check that these connectors lie flush against the circuit board before you solder the pins The spacing between pins is very close so inspect your work to make certain there are no solder bridges Don t forget to solder the ground plane pins using extra heat if necessary 11 Install integrated circuits as listed below Wear a grounded wrist strap or touch a grounded surface to avoid damaging the ICs with static electricity Be sure to align the notch on the ICs with the silkscreened notch on the circuit board Before you solder the pins make sure none of them is bent and that all fit into the holes on the circuit board Hint bend the pins on the ICs inward slightly by pressing the IC pins against a flat surface This will make the ICs easier to install 39 U202 74HC139 U203 74HC240 U204 ULN2803A 12 Install the 7805 5 Volt regulator at U205 Bend the leads on the 7805 to align with the pads on the circuit board The body of the IC should sit about 1 4 above the circuit board The 7805 voltage regulator is vertically mounted and sits about 1 4 above the circuit board 13 Plug the Basic Stamp BS2 IC into the socket previously installed at U201 Wear a wrist strap or touch a ground while you handle this component Make certain the BS2 IC is aligned with the notch on the
87. wires coming from pins 6 and 7 PC Serial Port Prog Connector Programming Cable Wiring Diagram f Install the terminals in accord with the above wiring diagram The jumper wire you prepared in step d goes between pins 6 and 7 on the DB 9 connector Note that the numbers are as viewed from the rear side of the connectors e g the side that the cable emerges from 46 The programming cable connects to a standard 9 pin DB 9 serial port on your computer VIII Programming and Checkout of the Controller Before you can use your StationPro II you must first program the Basic Stamp BS2 IC microcontroller Fortunately doing so is very easy and takes but a few minutes Note Although I would prefer you do it yourself as a service I will program your StationPro for you The price is 15 Email me for instructions You begin by downloading two programs into your PC The first is a free editor program from Parallax Inc and the second 19 the StationPro II firmware from the W8ZR StationPro website Once these two programs are downloaded into your PC the firmware can be transferred to the StationPro II in a few seconds Here is the step by step procedure 1 Download and install the free Basic Stamp editor into your PC from http www parallax com tabid 441 Default aspx Choose the version of the editor for your particular operating system Versions are available for early and late Windows Operating systems and also Macintosh and

Operating & Assembly Manual W8ZR StationPro II

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Operating &amp; Assembly Manual W8ZR StationPro II

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Operating & Assembly Manual W8ZR StationPro II