Portable case and bluetooth adaptor

[ab8xx]

Hello all.

I have enjoyed using my new AIM 4170 and find myself using it more for Aviation Nav/Com antennas in the 108-137MHz range than the Amateur bands.

Because it gets carried around quite a bit I am considering making the analyzer into a portable rugged package that is self contained. I would like to put the AIM 4170 in a small waterproof Pelican case with a battery, wireless bluetooth adaptor, and a BNC bulkhead connector all protected with foam padding.

Has anyone else done anything similar to this?

I saw somewhere some information about connecting a wireless bluetooth adaptor to the AIM 4170 but cannot find it now. Any advice with using it like that?

It will probably cost about $150 to make this little rugged wireless package so I want to make sure it will work right before I do it.

73 Ryan AB8XX

[Bob]

Hi Ryan,

That sounds like a very interesting project. Let us know how it works out.

Some information on Bluetooth can be found in the AIM Applications file under the "Help" menu. Contact me for more info on how to connect to the internal power bus of the AIM for the Bluetooth adapter.

If you want to replace the BNC with a UHF or type N connector, that can be done too.

73/ Bob

[w7nmd]

I have the same Bluetooth adapter as described in the AIM manual however have not been able to get it to work. The USB module and the Firefly module will not talk to each other. Anyone had success with the Bluetooth adapter?

[ve3ssr]

After reading about Danny, K6MHE Bluetooth Interface in Help file I decided to do the same.
Danny's adapter cost $125, so I have bought on e-bay other Bluetooth - serial adapter (BDT-433) that cost me $69 + shipping.
I have made it sending "Antenna Analyzer AIM4170 by W5BIG......." welcome message to Hyperterminal, however it failed sending K1 command from PC to AIM (as per User manual, p45). Therefore AIM4170 soft refuses communicating with my laptop (Win XT SP2).
After soft ver. 628 is launched I could see "\\.\COM6 port open" message, then after short delay "\\.\Could not open COM6" pops up.
So, no bluetooth communication works so far.... It seems to me I have to troubleshoot and to find out what is going wrong with data transfer from PC to AIM.

I would do appreciate if someone could give me a hint.

I wonder also (and I know, I am not alone) if Bob plans to release an analyzer with USB port instead of COM?
Serial - Bluetooth adapters are expensive, not easy to find and quite often fail to communicate (my case proves that).

73, Evgeny VE3SSR

[edwardsharriman]

I just got things up and working using a firefly/blue tooth connection. Here're the things I ran into:

First:
the default firefly baud rate is 115, no parity, one stop. I had to change this to 57k, no parity, one stop. The firefly manual shows how to do this so no big deal.

Second:
I am running AIM_655. I had to change the cfg file so that the AIM software would not try to increase the baud rate from the initial 57k. (Turns out, the AIM software starts at 56k and then ups the baud rate to 115 when the AIM4170 says it can run faster. Unfortunately, the AIM_655 software cannot configure the firefly so the connection starts to fail... at least I think that is what is going on.)

To alter the 'cfg' file (as indicated by Bob):
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the config file right after a line that says:
// versons 621 and higher:
1 parameter 1 future expansion

Change this line to:

0 parameter 1 future expansion (recommended for bluetooth)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once I did that, things work as expected.... at least so far.

Third:
I couldn't find anywhere in the manual where it says that the AIM4170 uses only GND/RX/TX but Bob indicates that that is the case. Thus, you might have to strap the firefly rts/cts or use the internal jumpers. I strapped the rts/cts pins but I don't really think it is necessary. Still, better safe than sorry; few things worse than a flakey rs232 link.

I'd love to hear from others who've been using the bluetooth approach. Specifically, dealing with the battery and the weight issues. I used to use a minivna (which was pretty nice) and it was very light weight. The AIM4170 is way heavier.

The MINIVNA is a great little quick check kind of device but the AIM4170 is much more precise and trustworthy.

ward
ae6ty