Apache Labs Community Forum

Hi
I've looked through the amps & tuners Q & A,but can't find how to connect the G2 Ultra MkII to my Spe Expert. I want to make a Cat cable to send info from radio to amp. I'm using the radio with the internal piHPsdr,so is not connected to a pc,as prefer to use the radio as a standalone most of the time.
Is it possible to use the 9 PIN OC connector ? if so,i can't find any info on configuration,so would really appreciate some help,thank you.

Nick

You need a USB to serial adapter, and then a cable from that to the SPE in accordance with this post:

viewtopic.php?p=17288#p17288

As for how to configure a serial port in Raspberry PI Linux and piHPSDR someone else will have to help

Half of the question is easy. A USB serial adapter will create a a new serial device in the /dev folder. I can't tell you what the device name will be - it depends on a lot of things - so you will have to look to see a new device appear.

if you are using piHPSDR, you will then need to establish a CAT / Rigctl connection to that port; look in the piHPSDR manual for details of how to do that.

If you want to use thetis, then the CAT commands need to get to your PC. If the PC is adjacent to the radio, then just plug the serial adapter into the PC instead. If it's not adjacent to the radio, then there isn't a solution yet.

We have now got several examples of CAT commands being "tunneled" through p2app and the ethernet interface, so they can be executed on Thetis. We don't yet have a generalised way to do that for any device. Such an upgrade might be possible, but it won't be quick!

In an effort to make this clearer...

Use Case #1: piHPSDR running on the G2

You need a USB to serial adapter, and then a cable from that to the SPE in accordance with this post:

viewtopic.php?p=17288#p17288

A USB serial adapter will create a a new serial device in the /dev folder. Look in that folder to find the name of the new device.

In piHPSDRestablish a CAT/Rigctl connection to that device; look in the piHPSDR manual for details.

Use Case #2: Thetis running on a Windows PC

You need a USB to serial adapter, or an old-fashioned RS232 COM port, and then a cable from that to the SPE in accordance with this post:

viewtopic.php?p=17288#p17288

The port will show up as available in the list of ports in Setup > Serial/Network/Midi/CAT > Serial. Choose any of the four instances available and choose the settings per the SPE manual. Additional Thetis settings are not required, again per the above link.

Use Case #3: Thetis running on a Windows PC that is not anywhere near the G2 and SPE amp

You need a USB to serial adapter, and then a cable from that to the SPE in accordance with this post:

viewtopic.php?p=17288#p17288

A USB serial adapter will create a a new serial device in the /dev folder. Look in that folder to find the name of the new device.

No need to wait for a tunneling solution to be built into p2app. You use the built-in Linux tools like netcat or socat to bridge the serial device to a network port, then use the "TCP/IP CAT Server" interface in Thetis, which can be found in Setup > Serial/Network/Midi/CAT > Network. The specifics of this are a bit lengthy, and I do not have a G2 here to practice on, so again I am wimping out on the directions, but it is definitely doable.

Thanks everyone for the replies,i will get a usb-serial adapter and try to get my head around the piHPsdr manual,so expect more questions
thank you

Nick