[amsat-bb] g-5500 gs-232b trouble
larryg at amerion.com
Mon Nov 2 08:47:22 PST 2009
I have a G-5500 and GS-232B being commanded from SatPC32. These items
used to work fine 5 months ago while I was using a temporary antenna set
up. Since then, I've been building a new permanent antenna system.
Now, SatPC32 transceiver controls work, but not the rotor controls.
The G-5500 control box works fine as long is it's not connected into the
computer via GS-232B. I can run the antennas up and down and left and
right and the meteres display the correct values.
When I connect the GS-232B into the G-5500 using the supplied AZ/EL
cable, the control box still works and displays correct Azimuth and
Elevation on the G-5500 meters.
But when I next connect the GS-232B into the serial port on the
computer, the Azimuth meter suddenly goes to zero setting. The
Elevation meter displays the correct value. If I then disconnect the AZ
half of the cable from the GS-232B, both meters display correctly. This
is true whether the power on the GS-232B is On or Off.
The GS-232B manual shows 10 wires going from the G-5500 to the GS-232B
AZ/EL connectors on the pin-out diagram. My cable has only 7 wires
total. What's with that?
In any case, computer control of the G-5500 from SatPC32 is not working.
I'm wondering if I may have fried the GS-232B. Right now, I'm letting
SatPC32 control the rig and I'm manually adjusting the AZ/EL rotors to
values SatPC32 has displayed; it's tricky.
Any help in troubleshooting this system will be greatly appreciated.
Later today, I will make certain that the computer serial port is still
73, Larry W7IN, Plains, Montana DN27.
More information about the AMSAT-BB