SPE 1.3/2K

General

DDUtil can remotely control the SPE 1.3/2k amplifier using RS232 serial ports attached to your PC. The following actions can be controlled from DDUtil:

• Power On/Off
• Operate/Stby (toggle)
• PA Temp display
• Antenna selection (toggle: 1-n)
• Output Power (toggle: Low/Med/High)
• Input (toggle: 1-2)
• Tune (initiate)
• Display (reset amp alarms)
• Alarms and Warnings display

Firmware Requirements

The following firmware revisions are the minimum requirements for DDUtil to operate with the SPE amps and are available from the [SPE] web site. Look under Software Update for each amp.

  2K  19_10_15_A_3s.pk1  or later
1.3K  14_10_15_A_15s.pk2 or later

Cable Connections

Two serial connections are required for the SPE 1.3/2K to communicate with DDUtil/Radio. One for Remote Commands and one for Band Switching. And before you ask, there's no option for this. It's set in concrete by SPE.

Remote Commands (DDUtil)

Use either the USB cable furnished with the amplifier or the Port connector on the back of the amp.

USB Connector (recommended)

Follow the manual for connecting this port. Note: the connection is the same as for the SPE Term 2K software.

Port Connector

If the Port connector is used a special cable is required and must be fabricated as follows using standard DB9M/F connectors (ref user manual section 13.5).
***Warning*** DO NOT use a store bought serial cable for this connection! The wiring is wrong and can damage the amp.
Use the following diagram to fabricate the Port connector cable.

Port (DB9M)              PC (DB9F)
----------------------------------
TX232 / 7 <------------< 2 / RX PC
RX232 / 8 >------------> 3 / TX PC
  Gnd / 5 -------------- 5 / Gnd

Band Switching

Fabricate Cable

The SPE 1.3/2K amps require a separate serial connection for band switching and the Cat #1 connector is normally used for this function. A cable must be fabricated as follows.
Note: The DB9F and DB15M connectors are supplied with the amp, but are available from almost any supply house like [Mouser] or [DigiKey].

Cat (DB15M)              PC (DB9F)
----------------------------------
TX232 / 9 <------------< 2 / RX PC
RX232 / 1 >------------> 3 / TX PC
  Gnd / 4 -------------- 5 / Gnd

Setup DDUtil

• Connect the cable you just fabricated to any open PC serial port (you can use any spare COM Port or a USB to Serial port).
• On DDUtil's Ports tab Passive Listener group follow these steps:
  
  • Set the Port drop-down to agree with the port number where the cable is connected.
  • Set the Comm drop-down to 9600 8-N-1.
  • Select the Follow Radio check box.
  • In the Radio Type drop-down select Kenwood.
  • No additional settings are needed and should be left not selected.

The amp should now follow the radio and switch to the correct band.

Setup the SPE1.3/2K Amp

Ref. user manual section 10.1(b).

• Set CAT to Kenwood
  

Note: DO NOT set radio type to Flex Radio.

• Set Baud Rate to 9600 8-N-1

DDUtil Setup

• Open the Setup form's Amps tab.
• Locate the SPE group
• Select the 1.3/2K radio button.
• In the Serial Port drop-sown select the serial port for the Remote Commands setup above.
• Select the Enable check box.

Operation

When DDUtil is connected to the amp and communicating the SPE auxiliary window should look like this.



From the SPE form the following functions/displays are available:

• In the form's Title Bar the amplifier Model and currently selected Band are displayed.
• Mains Power On/Off buttons.
  • Use to turn the amplifier on and off.
• Oper/Stby button.
  • Press to toggle the Oper/Stby function.
• PA Temp display.
  • Displays the amplifiers PA Temperature. The temperature can be selected to display as either Fahrenheit or Centigrade. See the SPE user manual for more information.
• Output Power button.
  • When pressed will step the amplifier through it's three power ranges (Low/Medium/High) and will display on the button face the selected power setting along with a button back ground color for quick recognition.
• Input button
  • When pressed will select which input source the amp will use (1/2) and will display In 1 or In 2 on the button face.
• Tune button initializes the amplifier's Tune function. No other feedback is displayed on the form.
• Display button is used to reset the amplifier after an Alarm has occurred.
  • See the SPE user manual for a discussion on how this is handled. If a Warning or Alarm is received by DDUtil the button face back ground is changed to Pink until the Warning/Alarm is cleared.
• Ant (antenna) button.
  • When pressed will step the amplifier through it's antenna selection (1-6 2K, 1-4 1.3K).
• TX Antenna Selected window.
  • Displays the selected TX antenna and whether the antenna is Tunable (t), ATU bypassed (b) or ATU Enabled (a). See the SPE user manual for more information.
• Message Window
  • This window is used to display Warnings and Alarms experienced by the amplifier. Additionally:
    • If the sound is enabled in DDUtil's Option group a spoken announcement will be played through the PC speakers.
    • The Display button will turn Pink until the Warning/Alarm is cleared.