7000DLE interfaced with MFJ-998 Tuner?

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WM4CH
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7000DLE interfaced with MFJ-998 Tuner?

Postby WM4CH » Mon Dec 19, 2022 11:44 am

Has anybody interfaced the MFJ-998 Auto Tuner with an ANAN radio to band follow or especially being able to bypass the amp with the tune function while causing the transceiver to put out a tune signal?

I can't find any data on the MFJ-998 pin out or data function to push the tune button and cause the radio to initiate a tune signal and also cause not key the amp with the key by interrupting the key loop.

Or do you just put the amp in standby manually and use the tune functon on the Anan?
or keep the amp online and use very low tune power through the amp to get tuning power.

I think both would work but not ideal.

My radio is getting delivered today!
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w-u-2-o
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Re: 7000DLE interfaced with MFJ-998 Tuner?

Postby w-u-2-o » Mon Dec 19, 2022 1:49 pm

The easiest (but maybe not best or most desirable) way to use a 998 with a radio that does not have a compatible tuner interface is to put it in automatic mode and manually operate the amp operate/standby state as required.

If you want fully automatic, closed-loop tuning, you will have to engineer a solution that converts the analog discrete signals on the 998 tuner interface to the appropriate CAT commands and issue those CAT commands to Thetis. You can also loop the amp PTT line through the amp enable connections on the 998 to suppress amp operation automatically.

The manual documents the available tuner interfaces supported: "The Radio Interface works with radios that are compatible with Alinco EDX-2, Icom AH-3 and AH4, Kenwood AT-300, and Yaesu FC-30, FH-1 and FH-2."

Documentation on these interfaces can be found by searching the internet. The AH-4 interface is perhaps the best documented, here is an excellent description of how it works: https://hamoperator.com/HF/AH-4_Design_and_Operation.pdf

For a fully automated, totally closed loop solution, what you'd want to do is to get something like an Arduino, attach it to the AH-4 compatible signals from the 998, then have the Arduino do the following:

- Read a momentary switch that starts the tune cycle.
- When the switch is depressed assert the START signal as defined in the above reference.
- When the KEY signal goes low have the Arduino issue a TUN ON CAT command to Thetis over a serial or TCP/IP connection.
- When the KEY signal goes high for more than 30ms have the Arduino issue a TUN OFF CAT command to Thetis over its connection.
- Optionally process the failed tune indication signaling and have the Arduino turn on an LED indication to denote failed tuning.
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DL2XY
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Re: 7000DLE interfaced with MFJ-998 Tuner?

Postby DL2XY » Mon Dec 19, 2022 7:20 pm

WM4CH wrote:Has anybody interfaced the MFJ-998 Auto Tuner with an ANAN radio to band follow or especially being able to bypass the amp with the tune function while causing the transceiver to put out a tune signal?

I can't find any data on the MFJ-998 pin out or data function to push the tune button and cause the radio to initiate a tune signal and also cause not key the amp with the key by interrupting the key loop.

Or do you just put the amp in standby manually and use the tune functon on the Anan?
or keep the amp online and use very low tune power through the amp to get tuning power.

I think both would work but not ideal.

My radio is getting delivered today!


Just use an OC Pin for keying the AMP with this configuration:

Tune w.o. PA.png
Tune w.o. PA.png (27.35 KiB) Viewed 2900 times
rdwing
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Joined: Sat May 21, 2022 2:05 am

Re: 7000DLE interfaced with MFJ-998 Tuner?

Postby rdwing » Thu Mar 23, 2023 7:03 am

Just wanted to let everyone know you can control the MFJ-998 from the OC outputs. The tuner side is an ethernet plug. If you put the tuner in Kenwood mode and pull the right 2 wires to ground, and send tuning power, the tuner will run a tune cycle. Easy peasy. I forgot to write down the pins, but it was the blue and brown wires.
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WM4CH
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Re: 7000DLE interfaced with MFJ-998 Tuner?

Postby WM4CH » Fri Oct 13, 2023 9:17 pm

rdwing wrote:Just wanted to let everyone know you can control the MFJ-998 from the OC outputs. The tuner side is an ethernet plug. If you put the tuner in Kenwood mode and pull the right 2 wires to ground, and send tuning power, the tuner will run a tune cycle. Easy peasy. I forgot to write down the pins, but it was the blue and brown wires.

My issue is that I am using OC pins 104 to send band data to an am, ALS-1306.

I don't think I can use the MOX/TUNE/2TONE transmit selections to pull pins 5,6 or 7 to ground and use the OC pins for band data to the amp at the same time, unless I am mistaken, and I very well might be, I am operating at or above my current understanding of how this stuff works and there is little to no documentation that I can find on how the OC pins work but obviously the band data pins 1-4 work, but the transmit pins are all the default value MOX/TUNe/2Tone and they do nothing at the moment. maybe I am missing something.

Nevermind, you answered in the other thread, thanks

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