18 July 2013

XT60 connectors

After assembling my own Li-X battery packs I realised I needed a safe way to use their energy, and finally solve my fear of inverting DC polarity of my 12V power cables.

Discussions on some mailing lists I read mentioned Anderson Power Poles and XT60 pairs. I went for the latter and ordered 20 pairs, which should be enough to wire all my polarity sensitive devices.

09 July 2013

Windows 8.1 and Bluetooth SPP

According to recorded videos from //build/ 2013 conference, Win8.1 will support (again) I/O devices. Fortunately MS offers a Win8.1 Pro preview installation ISO (lasts until January 2014), which does work on VirtualBox VM, so I could quickly test it out.

Even though I didn't spend more than 5 minutes fiddling with it, (virtualised) Win8.1 could pair with the CAT-to-BT adapter (HC-05 derivative), correctly assign two COM ports and Ham Radio Deluxe connect to the radio.

The whole process still seems a bit buggy as OS level, but at least this kind of I/O will be possible with newer computers too.

08 July 2013

Windows 8 and Bluetooth SPP

Bluetooth-to-CAT dongles for FT-817/857/897 use the Bluetooth SPP protocol ("Serial Port Profile") which does not seem to be available on MS Windows 8. At least in the preview version I have been able to try (Win8 Enterprise build 9200).

Device is found. Pairing with PIN works, a "serial-in" and "serial-out on Dev. B" device are created but no COM port is allocated on the system, therefore the serial-over-Bluetooth device is not reachable from the PC application.

Serial-over-Bluetooth HC-05 device is found and paired. But then...
Is this a Win8 limitation. Has it been solved with newer releases? Comments (moderated) are open, please write your experience if you land on this page looking for Win8/SPP information.