N9LMV
Bill Nasuti
Greetings, My name is Bill Nasuti and I am posting this website to share my experiences with my Kenwood TS-480 SAT HF Transceiver. This website will demonstrate how I interfaced it to my Ubuntu Linux based computer using Wine.
I recently returned to Ham radio after a 10+ year absence. I was so excited to learn that it was possible to upgrade my license without being able to copy code at 20 WPM. That was very inspirational for me, as I was now going to get access to the lower DX frequencies of the HF bands. Ironically, I love morse code and am trying to improve on my copy skills. My dream is to work the world with CW QRP.
I first started in ham radio with a Ten Tec Triton IV, an absolutely awesome radio. I sold it ten years ago and regret that decision to this day. I needed to purchase a new HF radio. I spent a lot of time on eham.net/reviews reading various reviews and was very close to purchasing an ICOM 718. The Icom 718 was less expensive, but did not have the functionality I desired.
I fell in love with the Kenwood TS 480 SAT for two main reasons:
The built in antenna tuner. I had decided that I was going to build an Carolina Windom, 80-10 antenna. It is fairly resonant on most of the bands I want to operate on and with the antenna tuner built in, I was sold. I wanted to be able to tune my radio on various bands without switching knobs.
The Kenwood supplied free ARCP-480 software package. This was the icing on the cake for me, I would love to operate my radio from my computer. There was only one, hiccup here, I run Ubuntu (Linux) not windows so I would have a challenge getting that to work with my operating system.
I purchased my radio from the Ham Radio Outlet as they had a facility in Virginia close to my QTH. The process went very smoothly and they got it right out to me appropriately packaged. They also had a very competitive price and shipped it for free. In the mean time, I was vigorously studying for my potential upgrade from General to Extra. After all, I wanted to get at those lower portions of the bands that were previously reserved for only the fastest fists of 20+ WPM. The studying was going very well and I was fortunate to pass the extra exam on my first sitting with some new Ham friends I made in Gastonia, a special thanks goes out to Cy Rowe K1CY and the Gaston County ARS for making the test available in the Charlotte area.
To get on the air, I needed an antenna. Something the neighbors would not be able to see and unleash the heavy handed draconian homeowners association on me. This ruled out the beam antenna I had been drooling over. It also ruled out the verticals as well, I was back to hiding wires in the attic and along the eaves of our house. I purchased some thin stealth wire, a 4:1 current balun some coax, a lightning arrestor and I was off to the races. The antenna went up very easily and now I was ready to get back on the air.
IMHO The Carolina Windom is the best antenna you can make and use for excellent HF coverage. Unlike the G5RV it is resonant at many frequencies and really does not need an antenna tuner on most of the HF bands. I cannot speak highly enough regarding this antenna. You only need a 4:1 current balun, about 135 feet of wire, a surge suppressor, and some coax. There is a ton of information on the web regardging windoms and OCF antennas. They are very inexpensive if you make one yourself and if not, there are plenty of very nice manufactured versions.
The TS-480 turned out to be much more complicated or should I say capable than my Ten Tec, but fortunately the manual is very thorough and well laid out. I was very excited about the Noise Reduction, DSP, Auto CW tune, and too many other features to mention. I am still learning how to operate it effectively. Everything worked great, sometimes not the first time, but usually the second after I referred to the manual. I calibrated the voice processor and was ready to make my first contact. I chose the night watch net (http://nightwatchnet.net/) on 40 meters (7.190) as, when I listened to them they seemed like a nice bunch of guys. My first contact was Wilbert, W3DBP on January 16th. He gave me an excellent RST report which just warmed my heart. The radio, antenna, voice processor, and transmitter were working well, life is good. I have been checking in to nightwatch more regularly, a very nice and friendly net.
At this point, I decided to figure out how to go about interfacing my TS-480 to my Ubuntu, Linux based computer. The free program from Kenwood, only is supported for Windows OS's. I did some research and decided to install Wine (http://www.winehq.org/download/ubuntu). The installation went very smoothly so I went ahead and downloaded the ARCP-480 program from Kenwood (http://www.kenwood.com/i/products/info/amateur/ts_480/arcp480.html). (To install the program under windows from Ubuntu using wine, just go to a terminal window, change to the directory where you downloaded the Kenwood program and type “wine A480101.exe” and it will launch the installer and you can follow the prompts to install it under wine. Once the installation was complete, I fired it up and everything was working well with only one issue.
Did you notice the screen is dark? Well, I think I need to connect the computer to the radio. The RS-232 port on the Kenwood was the old fashioned DB9 and my computer only has USB serial ports – bummer! So I went to Amazon.com and did a search for “USB to Serial Adapter” and found this one: http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Adapter-Prolific-PL2303HX-Chipset/dp/B00425S1H8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1328469236&sr=8-2 which is the Plugable USB to RS-232 DB9 Serial Adapter (Prolific PL2303HX Chipset) made by Plugable Technologies. This chipset is very powerful and is automatically recognized by Ubuntu versions 10+. Once it arrived, I realized I needed a gender changer to get from the radio to the adapter, so I purchased a DB9 F/F gender changer from Amazon. This solved the problem and my computer was now connected to my radio. I fired up the Kenwood Program and clicked on the “Con” button and received this error:
This is indicating that the computer is not able to communicate with the radio. So I decided to try and post for help at the manufacturer's website:
http://support.plugable.com/plugable/topics/usb_to_serial_how_to_enable_a_com_port_in_wine In a nutshell I asked how to make the USB port visible in Wine. They got back with me very quickly and solved the problem:
Hi
bnasuti,
Thanks for your post about using the
Plugable USB to Serial cable with Ubuntu 10.04 and WINE.
First,
make sure the cable is set up correctly in Ubuntu using a terminal
program like minicom and another serial device. We'll be happy to
help with this if you want, just let us know!
Once its set up
properly on the host, there are a few configuration steps necessary
to tell WINE where to look for the serial port.
Because COM1
defaults to /dev/ttyS0 you'll need to change the device to reflect
the correct ttyUSB device. To find out which one that is, use a
command like:
dmesg | grep tty
Then, create a
symbolic link in the .wine/dosdevices directory that points to the
correct /dev/ttyUSB from the dmesg output above. Here's an example
ln -s /dev/ttyUSB0 com1
That's all that's required
for PUTTY, you configure it as usual to use COM1 or which ever COM #
you assigned above, other programs may differ.
Here's a link
with more detailed information:
http://wiki.jswindle.com/index.php/Ad...
Let me know how it goes, and if it's not working post details
of your setup like the program you are using, and the device or
program you are connecting to.
I hope that does the trick!
Jerome Myers
Plugable Technologies
Jerome was very thorough, the only difference from his solution was I had to fully resolve the path names. In my particular case, I had to type the full path names like this: /home/bill/.wine/dosdevices when setting up the symbolic link.
Now when I fired up the program and click on the “Con” button and then the “Power” button it looks like this:
SWEET!
I absolutely love this program. It has a built in morse keyer to send code from the computer (how cool is that). It also provides one more digit of resolution on the display when compared with the radio. The memory keyer is built in and easy to set up from the computer. I am also able to use the built in keyer by disabling the transmitter through the TX inhibit function and then it is ready for straight or iambic keyer practice. This is one very nice setup, I am very impressed with how far the technology has come. I am no longer missing my Ten Tec, well almost no longer missing my Ten Tec.
Total cost (excluding the computer) for the radio, antenna, cabling, adapters, and power supply about $1,250. For that I have a a fully operational station transmitting from 80-6 meters (I need an antenna tuner to transmit on 160 meters), a keyboard keyer, automatic antenna tuner, and a whole bunch of new friends. (of course the new friends are priceless!!!!)
Feel free to email me with questions and comments. If you have any tips on becoming proficient in morse code or are wiling to practice with me on the air, I would greatly appreciate it! And if you already are an accomplished fist, pls go easy on N9LMV, I am trying!
73,
Bill
N9LMV
Here is a link to the ARRL review of the Kenwood 480: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rep.pt%2Fpdf%2Freview_ts480sat_ts480hx.pdf&ei=z-MuT_LGHubI0AH-7-j5Cg&usg=AFQjCNFvu81WuwWI014ruGlEAcB1I-OdaQ