Serial CW Sender Kit

NK0E
Serial CW Sender Kit

PIC microcontroller interfaces your Palm PDA (running GOlog contest logging software, etc.) and your HF rig to automatically key the transceiver with the contest's QSO information. PIC also contains keyer software that accepts paddles input to keys the rig manually.

Completed Serial CW Sender pc board and enclosure (included in kit)

Here’s a fun and useful accessory to take along on your next Field Day operating adventure. The Serial CW Sender connects between your Palm PDA and your transceiver to provide automated CW keying while using the GOLog contest logging software on the PDA. Additionally, by plugging a standard paddle into the Serial CW Sender, you can manually key your transmitter to help nab those elusive stations!

The NKØE Serial CW Sender was designed specifically for use with the GOLog ham radio contest logging software for handheld computers running the PalmOS operating system. The Serial CW Sender allows GOLog users to automate contest CW keying while contesting from the field. It was developed primarily with the QRP contester in mind. The GOLog software is available for free from http://home.earthlink.net/~golog .

Besides using it for handling keying for GOLog, you can plug a paddle into the Serial CW Sender and handle the manual keying that you must inevitably do during most contests.

The PC board is one of the best-yet produced by the NJQRP Club. It's double-sided plated-thru holes with solder mask and silk screened component guides.

Assembled PC board holds all components

To use the Serial CW Sender with your PDA, you’ll need a serial cable connection between your handheld computer and the Serial CW Sender circuit. Palm, Inc. sells serial HotSync cables for all of its handheld computers and these should work for connecting the Sender to your Palm PDA.

Use of the Serial CW Sender requires a serial HotSync cable for your handheld. USB cables will not work.

New! The Serial CW Sender now works with HandspringT VisorT handhelds! The Serial CW Sender must be modified slightly to work with the Visor, by connecting pin 8 of its DB9M connector to +5V through a 270-ohm resistor. This provides power to the Visor serial cable, enabling the TTL-to-RS232 level conversion circuitry. You must use GOLog version 1.2.3 or newer if you want to use the Serial CW Sender with your Visor.

Serial CW Sender in operation with N2APB portable setup.

The Serial CW Sender Kit comes with a pre-programmed PIC16F84 micrcontroller. All components are supplied with the pc board. A small plastic enclosure is supplied with the kit. The PC board was designed specifically for this case and it fits like a glove! All you need to do is drill, nibble, grind or file some basic holes according to the cutting template provided in the kit and the assembled PC board slips right into the ABS plastic case. A template of the "top panel label" is provided - just cut it out and glue it on the top of the case.

A neat thing about this NJQRP kit is that it works great as intended with the Palm PDA, but some guys have reprogrammed it and also find this NK0E project useful as:

a standalone keyer (no PDA req'd)
as a keyboard keyer (computer plugged into DB9 serial port)
as a "commander" controller for an HF rig CI-V serial port (radio serial port connected to DB9)

As it turns out, this is a great little general purpose experimenter's board for PIC programming! And it also happens to have a ready-made software library for talking to a Palm PDA application (whose source code is also available from the NK0E website.) It's a digital homebrewing ham's dream platform!

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Last Modified: January 13, 2004