Each of the new Flex Radios has a FlexWire port on the back which provides an interface to PowerSDR. Many applications are possible with this interface. First available data is the band selection from the Transverter page (XVTR). Soon band data from the HF bands will be output allowing antenna selections to be made automatically. At the present time I have all of my bands working automatically from my Flex 5000. The HF bands are switched through N1MM, but when Flex gets the software sending out HF band data, I won't have to depend on an external piece of software for band switching. All of my transverters, 50 - 24192 are switched by the FlexWire port going to this board (it's been a breadboard version for many months) and it makes contesting easier knowing that I won't work someone unless the logging program takes the radio to the band.
At this time only the first 8 bits are enabled in PowerSDR. 16 bits are now (8/2/2011) working in version 2.2 of PowerSDR. Soon HF bands will be available out the FlexWire port. The board is ready, it will just keep getting better as the software (PowerSDR) advances.
We have a small daughter board that will plug on top of the UCB and allow connection to the FlexWire series of radios from Flex. If you have a UCB you can purchase a FlexWire interface adapter for 25 dollars shipped conus.
Legacy UCB Page
We have a stand alone board that plugs into the FlexWire port and provides 16 open collector outputs for driving relays or systems to change antennas, bands and transverters. The complete board with connectors is 40 dollars shipped conus.
The open collectors are capable of handling 50 volts at 500 mA. The output device is a ULN2803a. Since there are 16 outputs most applications can drive their loads (relays or ttl circuits) without decoding. Reference line is provided to protect from relay back voltage.
Each of the FlexWire interfaces comes with a short cable to the FlexWire Port. The board has a 20 pin header for all outputs. 5 volts is supplied along with the Reference line that gets connected to the source voltage for relays that are switched by the open collectors. Addressing of the board is flexible, up to 8 of these devices can be slaved (attached) to the FlexWire port.
The board comes with the DB9 male cable attached, a 20 pin male header on the board and the mating header connector to go to your devices.
When testing remember that these are open collectors. You will not see any voltage on the outputs, they are NPN and so will conduct to ground when enabled. You can test with modern meters using the diode setting where they provide bias for the test. Or an LED with 1K to the +5 volts on pin 1 will light when enabled. Sample circuit will be provided. If you are not going to use TTL circuits then a relay with positive voltage on one side and the open collector on the other will work. Do not exceed the 500 mA rating.
Output Header Pin outsAccess to the settings for the interface is in PowerSDR for the VHF bands now (as of 2.0). These relate to the bands set up in the XVTR form. To bring up the setup form type Ctrl - Alt - U
Paypal is preferred as it's so easy to get the shipping data transposed on to the usps priority shipping documents. Send to phil at k3tuf dot com. For multiple boards, 5 dollars is reserved in the price of each for shipping. Most international locations ship for an additional 9 dollars, please check first however. You may subtract shipping on additional boards beyond the first. For example one for the 5000 is $40 and two would be $75.
Thanks, Phil K3TUF