VK2AN ICOM Arduino Based Keyboard Interface

[VK5MCH]

An interesting article in the current WIA AR magazine is a DIY project by Peter Elekessy VK2AN for ICOM owners whose rig can operate using CI-V commands. It's an Arduino based keyboard interface project to allow you direct access to those ICOM rigs compatible with the CI-V command set.

As the owner of a 7300 and the low cost of the project I thought I might build one. With only 13 parts as the author pointed out this could be a great introduction to the capabilities of the CI-V commands helping you gain further insight to this great little radios features.

If anyone else is interested it would be great to hear from you and see how you intend to implement this. Many thanks to VK2AN for this project.

[VK5MCH]

I have made contact with the original author Peter Elekessy VK2AN and he has replied with the following.

Some issues have come up already with the Arduino development environment (IDE) and libraries required as follows:

1. The "Softwareserial" library does not need to be installed, as it is built in to the IDE now when you select the appropriate board. The declaration still needs to be left in the code.

2. The latest "PS2Keyboard" library by Paul Stoffregren etc. seems to have lost the Ascii definitions for the F keys (why do they do this stuff?). I have attached a "PS2Keyboard.h" that should be used in place of the one that comes with the library, but I am thinking it may be easier to manually install the correct library in the IDE rather than downloading the latest one. If anyone wants a copy of this, please let me know.

Anyway, good luck with it and let me know how you go. I am also developing a version that will drive my Watkins Johnson receiver - a Yaesu version would also be possible, so I think this may just be the beginning of a very useful accessory. Another user is working on a version to use the same keyboard to drive a number of different Icom rigs by changing CI-V addresses on the fly.

[VK5TOM]

Looks good Mick, I was playing with civ on an arduino a few years ago and I believe the cable I made for it is still there in a shoe box somewhere.

I'll have to dig it out and put the software on it.