Over the last few weeks I have really enjoyed operating the basement shack from the three-season room at my home. The weather has been great, so spending some cool evenings with iced-tea and DX has been relaxing for sure.
But, just like in every problem-solving-endeavor, as you solve one problem you discover the next. My remote-control station is all together and working just as described in the previous posts: FT-991a Remote Rig Setup and Ham Radio Deluxe + HDSDR + FT-991 Putting it all Together. So running the rig, supporting all the modes, chatting on SSB with my Heil headset — Check! Switching antennas for a better signal? — Oops.. I guess I overlooked that one.
The station antenna selector I use is an Ameritron RCS-8V. This is an industry work-horse, that has been around “since the Earth cooled.”
The system is simple. A rotary switch, some LED indicators, and uses some rotator-cable to carry 12VDC signals to a remotely located relay box. My goal became to create an easy-to-install add-on/upgrade to the existing control-box to allow the antenna selections to be made over the LAN.
Development
Along with the latest tech supporting the internet of things (IoT) and the ubiquity of great software libraries through Arduino comes — the ESP32. This little “Lego-brick” of technology brings WiFi and Bluetooth, on a fast CPU core with lots of memory and other resources. Arduino libraries exist for the ESP32 that support all sorts of LAN connectivity including web client/server operations, and even email.
I used KiCAD to develop a schematic and PCB, and Visual Studio Code with PlatformIO for the Arduino-based software. The resulting assembly easily fit within the existing control box.
Operation
The upgraded antenna selector uses the switch position as the default choice. So, when I am in the shack I can operate the selector manually — just as before. When an antenna is selected remotely, using a browser, that selection overrides the front-panel. If a change then occurs at the front-panel, the selector reverts to manual again.
There are web-pages in the tiny on-board website, delivered by the ESP32, that allow setting up the SSID-Wifi addressing and access, as well as to set the names of the antenna buttons on the browser screen. (Because when it comes to antennae, change is inevitable.)
Detailed information and source files on this LAN-based Antenna Selector can be found on Github at: https://github.com/ldocull/WR9R-Wifi-Enabled-Antenna-Selector
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