Thanks to you both, much appreciated.
Colin I'll get in touch when I have the radio and the parts to do build the interconnect/extension boards
MD9600 Remote Head.
Re: MD9600 Remote Head.
Fantastic! I've been wondering of someone was going to do this. Nice work Colin!
Re: MD9600 Remote Head.
My PCB's have arrived and the parts should be here in a few days. Will post progress.
Re: MD9600 Remote Head.
I finally got around to converting one of my MD-9600 to remove head yesterday
I dusted off my old 3D printer which hasn't been run for several years and remarkably it worked and I was able to print off both covers.
I didn't have a CAT 7 cable, but I did have a 10m long CAT 6 cable and it worked fine. I don't really need 10m, its just what I had in the cupboard.
I still need to find some small screws for the front part of the remote head, to hold the cover in place.
BTW.
The next release of the MD-9600 will have the remote head support in it, as I updated the master copy to include Colin's remote head code a few days ago
Re: MD9600 Remote Head.
That's encouraging. I haven't tried a 10m cable before, the longest I tested was 5m.
The serial data speed is 250000 Baud but there are no line drivers, so the capacitance of the cable will be the limiting factor.
The recommendation to use CAT 7 cable is really just to try to ensure the screening is as good as possible. It should still work OK even with CAT 5 cable but it might be more sensitive to noise pickup. However if you are connecting the microphone to the radio body then there is no audio in the cable so any noise pickup should be minimal.
And before anyone asks, no it won't work over a network. Although it uses RJ45 cable it is not using ethernet.
Colin G4EML
The serial data speed is 250000 Baud but there are no line drivers, so the capacitance of the cable will be the limiting factor.
The recommendation to use CAT 7 cable is really just to try to ensure the screening is as good as possible. It should still work OK even with CAT 5 cable but it might be more sensitive to noise pickup. However if you are connecting the microphone to the radio body then there is no audio in the cable so any noise pickup should be minimal.
And before anyone asks, no it won't work over a network. Although it uses RJ45 cable it is not using ethernet.
Colin G4EML
Re: MD9600 Remote Head.
The mic was connected to the body of the radio, I didnt try it into the front part of the radio yet.
BTW. I managed to find some small screws at the local DIY store for the front panel, but I need to put some epoxy glue into 2 of the holes in the orignal plastic so that the screws have something to grip to.
BTW. I managed to find some small screws at the local DIY store for the front panel, but I need to put some epoxy glue into 2 of the holes in the orignal plastic so that the screws have something to grip to.
Re: MD9600 Remote Head.
If you connect the mic to the front panel you will almost certainly get noise pickup. Not much I can do about that as it is due to the common ground with the processor.
It is OK for using the keypad though.
I did consider adding locating pins to the top of the front panel cover. But they would be tiny and probably not print anyway.
Regarding modifying the original plastic, I didn't do that. I tapped the screws into the new plastic and left them as locating pins which just went Into the holes on the original. The front panel was then held in place just by the bottom screws.
Colin.
It is OK for using the keypad though.
I did consider adding locating pins to the top of the front panel cover. But they would be tiny and probably not print anyway.
Regarding modifying the original plastic, I didn't do that. I tapped the screws into the new plastic and left them as locating pins which just went Into the holes on the original. The front panel was then held in place just by the bottom screws.
Colin.
Re: MD9600 Remote Head.
Boards complete (except for JP1 which I may not use), will test with the new firmware when it's ready. Also ordered a cat7 flat cable of 3m but I have a few cat 6 ones around as well. Those ribbon cable connectors were a bit of a challenge but they came up ok. Just need to wash a bit of flux off to tidy them up. I bought parts for 5 sets of boards so there may be 4 others available (if this one works ok! 
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Re: MD9600 Remote Head.
That looks good.
JP1 is probably not needed. It was originally included so that you could use the microphone audio from the front panel, but in practice this is quite noisy, so I would not recommend using it.
Yes the FPC connectors are a bit fiddly to solder, but plenty of flux usually helps.
I have just fixed a small bug in the Raspberry Pi Pico code and updated github, so if you have already downloaded it you may need to do it again.
In the process I tested a quicker way of programming the Pico, so you no longer have to install the Arduino IDE. Details on github.
Roger will be including the firmware in the next release.
Colin G4EML
JP1 is probably not needed. It was originally included so that you could use the microphone audio from the front panel, but in practice this is quite noisy, so I would not recommend using it.
Yes the FPC connectors are a bit fiddly to solder, but plenty of flux usually helps.
I have just fixed a small bug in the Raspberry Pi Pico code and updated github, so if you have already downloaded it you may need to do it again.
In the process I tested a quicker way of programming the Pico, so you no longer have to install the Arduino IDE. Details on github.
Roger will be including the firmware in the next release.
Colin G4EML
Re: MD9600 Remote Head.
Thanks Colin, I used the 'quick' file load method to do the original firmware load yesterday so I'll update it again now.
Or in doing that have I already uploaded the latest version?
I wonder is there an sense in adding an audio buffer/amp at the head end to bring it up to a level where noise isn't an issue, then padding it down to mic level again at the radio end? Possibly not worth the trouble unless you really need the mic plugged into the head.
Colin
ZL2FL
Or in doing that have I already uploaded the latest version?
I wonder is there an sense in adding an audio buffer/amp at the head end to bring it up to a level where noise isn't an issue, then padding it down to mic level again at the radio end? Possibly not worth the trouble unless you really need the mic plugged into the head.
Colin
ZL2FL