Listed here is some of the built in capability for SO2R. To do SO2R the second receiver must be present. Here is a screen shot of the radio on 40M in the first receiver, and the antenna setup for 40M
Note the red square at the base of VFO A, and note that the antenna selector is in expert mode. With this setup my radio will receive on RX1 and transmit on the freq displayed in VFO A. The antenna will be ANT 1 on both receive and transmit.
My station is designed using a patch panel. Presently my patch panel has all 3 outputs from the F5K, the RX1 input and the RX2 input. Any of these 5 ports can be patched to any of my 4 antennas. As well I have 4 amplifiers presently coming out to the patch panel and any of the 4 amplifiers can be patched into the line of any of the 3 outputs of the F5K. Also I have a seperate little patch panel that allows me to hook up any of the 3 TX outputs of the radio to any of the 4 amps. So for example on 40 M I can select my Alpha 78 and put that is antenna line 1 and hook up TX 1 to the Alpha. I then hook the 40M 1/2 wave end fed vertical to the Alpha.
So the hookup is F5K ant1-->Alpha 78---> LP-100 watt meter--> 40M half wave vert
If I hit the code key I will get 1500 watts out on 40M
My patch panel also has output from my Flex 3K my SDR-1000 and one of my antenna tuners that has 3 outputs. I use the coax from my Johnson match box as one of the antennas since that is always connected to the open wire line and is not patch into anything so it basically is one of the antennas. I used to use switches to try and do all this but it is far too complex and the patch panel is MUCH more configurable and I highly recommend it as a solution. For a contest you would simply set up the station before hand how ever you like and forget it.
Here is the shot when I want to transmit on 80
On 80M note the red box is now on VFO B. To get to 80M I simply click this box. The 80M antenna is on F5K antenna line 2. To that line I have connected my Amp supply LK800 TNY. To that amp I have connected an 80M 1/4 wave vertical on another part of the property and the TNY is hooked up to TX 2. The signal path is
F5K ant 2 --> TNY --> a second LP-100 watt meter --> 80M 1/4 wave vertical.
When I switch to this band I have the audio set up in RX2 such that the audio in RX 1 is largely muted. This is done by adjusting the pan control in RX 2 and the relative volumes in each RX. I hear 40M in both ears and 80M in my right ear (mostly)
When I hit the code key 1500W of RF is pumped into ant 2 signal path and out the 80M vertical.
Note all I did to switch from 40 to 80 is click the box under VFO B
If I had a tribander I would click on 20M for example and here is what I would see:
Note the antenna is now on F5K ant 3 and TX 3 line. To this antenna line I would add my ACOM 2000a since it is frequency agile and I would hook up the tribander. Then when I hit the key the ACOM would auto tune to the band I was on and send out 1500W to the antenna of choice. Note to switch to 20M all I did was click on 20M and the system is all set to transmit
This is how the I would set up 20, 15 and 10 in the antenna box of PSDR
DDUTIL has the ability to direct several amps that are frequency agile including the Quadra the Acom the PW-1` and the SPE
Also if I had 3 mono band beams like 20 15 and 10 I could use the LPT port of my computer and this board to direct antenna traffic between beams.
This $19 board from Unified Microsystems turns BCD band data into discrete antenna outputs to run relay boxes. It also links from DDUTIL
If I had a Steppir I could use DDUTIL to run that antenna freq agile
This screen also allows you to use the Microham station control boards using the repeater function displayed here
Of course DDUTIL allows also several programs to talk to PSDR at one time
In addition DDUTIL can limit power on a given band so If I am running the Alpha on 40M and I need 70W to drive 1500 I can set that up in DDUTIL, and if I need 50 W on 20, 60W on 15, and 55 W on 10 with the Acom I can set that up.
So SO2R is already pretty advanced in the F5K and its attendant Swiss army knife DDUTIL. There is much more you can do. DDUTIL allows macro functions to control several things at once, for exaple you could use the some pins on the LPT to control a 4 square or something like that. Presently LPT will run up to 2 of the relay boards. There are a few things that need some refinement like outputting both receivers into a VAC configuration and it might be nice to add XIT and RIT to the second RX and maybe some other muting options but that is just fine tuning
I use this kind of set up often to be able to DX on 2 bands at once, or be in a SSB ragchew on 75 while working DX on 40 or 160
Pretty powerful stuff, and I haven't scratched the surface of what could be possible
73
