TS-50 to LDG Z-100 plus connecting cable

Using the infos gathered on the net and showed in my previous post, I'm ready to build a quick-and-dirty cable.

Purpose of the cable:
- DC supply the LDG tuner from TS-50 ACC connector
- enabling the "AT TUNE" button on TS-50

The sketch below shows the circuit (press to enlarge). The ACC conncetor is shown radio side.

The TT and TS lines are connected together via a 3.3 Kohm resistor. The + and - lines are connected to LDG power conenctor via a 1 A fuse on the NEGATIVE path of supply lines.The ACC connector used is a PC surplus connector as shown elsewhere in my blog.

The final result is in the photo below:

Ok, seems like a sort of wire patchwork (green, white, black, red, yallow....) but IT WORKS!

Using the tuner with this cable is simple:

- Press TUNE button on LDG
- Press AT TUNE button on TS-50
- Wait for a match
- REMEMBER to shutdown the carrier pressing again AT TUNE on TS-50

Interfacing Kenwood rigs to LDG Tuners

 

I need to connect my LDG Z-100 plus tuner to my Kenwood TS-50, and googling on the net I've found some useful information in order to understand the Kenwood tuner interface. I'll show the much interesting things I've found, may be useful tu someone. (some of the documents linked are in Italian)

Technical Description of the Kenwood Tuner Interface:
http://www.ham-kits.com/KWTuner/KWT%20technical%20description.pdf

Other interesting things:
http://home.ix.netcom.com/~hmlong/

http://www.arimagenta.it/progetti/pdf_doc/ICOM%20TUNER%20+%20RADIO%20KENWOOD.pdf

http://www.kb2ljj.com/data/kenwood/ts-50.htm (scroll down)

Cheap ICOM tuner connector

Playing around with an LDG Z-100 Plus which I've bought for my Kenwood TS-50, I've seen the ICOM cable which is delivered in the box of the tuner.

If you look at ICOM tuner connector, seems really very similar to Personal Computer hard drive supply connector

The PC molex plug fits near perfectly on ICOM connector! Great, anotter connector for free!

Cheap Kenwood ACC connector

I need an ACC 6 pin connector for my Kenwood TS-50:

The connector seems very similar to ATX power supply connector (the power supply of the modern Personal Computers):

When I'm approaching to do some saw wors to cut six pins from the 20-pins connector, I've found that the LDG ATU cable for Kenwood rigs have only FOUR pins connected:

Looking at Kenwood docs, I've found that the two left pins (Transceiver side...) are the lower not connected and the upper connected at a signal ground. If LDG thinks that the signal ground is of little or no use, I'll follow the boss! I use the 4 pins in the detachable section of the connector (lower in ATX conn. image)

A little work with a screwdriver blade (light and softly!!!) in the middle of pins and...VOILA'! The connector is found for free!