Lowe receiver interface.

eclectic

Moderator
Not quite OT

I own an ancient and faded Lowe HF-225 (bought new c.1991)
and a "new" s/h HF-150, received today.

I own two AXE027 cables
http://www.picaxe.com/docs/axe027.pdf
(schematic at the end of the pdf).

I've tried both receivers with the HF-150 program
https://www.nick-bailey.co.uk/hf150/index.html
and Axe027 but no luck so far.

There IS an interface schematic using Ar*****
on the site, but it would be nicer to find a Picaxe solution.

I'm happy to buy and to solder.

Thanks e
 
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hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
Some information on what the receiver's interface is will help. If it is RS232 there should be few issues with interfacing an AXE027 to it. If it uses hardware handshaking that may have to be catered for in the interface.
 

Jeremy Harris

Senior Member
Goodness, this thread takes me back! I also bought (and still have somewhere in the loft) a Lowe HF-150, that I bought specifically to print out weather charts, when I used to do a fair bit of sailing. IIRC, I made up a module to convert audio to RS-232, which then fed into an ancient laptop (so ancient it had a monochrome screen) running some software that would very slowly turn the low data rate into weather charts. I remember making the interface module, but can't for the life of me recall where it is.

If anyone wants an old Lowe HF-150, complete with manual, for just the cost of postage them PM me. I've no idea it it still works, as it's been stored in a box for at least 20 years, probably longer.


Edited to add:

Curiosity got the better of me and I went I dug it out from the loft. I've plugged a power supply into it and as far as I can tell it seems to work OK. I've not got a decent HF antenna around, but at least all the functions on the front panel seem to work as they should.

So it's free to a good home, but will need a 12V power supply. If it came with one (I don't think it did) then that's long since been lost, but the battery holders in the rear of the case still look OK, so it could be run on 8 off AA cells easily enough (probably gets through them pretty quickly, though.
 
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hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
Untested but sending the PPM doesn't seem too difficult. Might need to run the PICAXE faster and will need to tweak the times.

It shouldn't be too hard to receive characters over serial, send them. Might be best with an X2 and background receive to handle converting whatever the PC software puts out to what needs to be sent to the receiver.

Code:
Symbol T_PULSE   =  350 / 10 ;  350us
Symbol T_ZERO    = 2100 / 10 ; 2100us
Symbol T_ONE     = 3150 / 10 ; 3150us
Symbol T_GAP     = 6300 / 10 ; 6300us

Symbol TX        = B.7

Symbol reserveW0 = w0 ; b1:b0
Symbol char      = b2

Goto PowerOnReset

SendStartBit:
  PulsOut TX, T_PULSE

SendBit:
  If b1 = 0 Then
    PauseUs T_ZERO
  Else
    PauseUs T_ONE
  End If
  PulsOut TX, T_PULSE
  Return
  
PowerOnReset:
  Low TX

MainLoop:
  Do
    char = "*" : Gosub SendChar
    char = "0" : Gosub SendChar
    char = "1" : Gosub SendChar
    char = "#" : Gosub SendChar
    Pause 10000
  Loop

SendChar:
  b0 = $FF
  LookDown char, ( "0123456789*#" ), b0
  If b0 < $FF Then
    ;            0     1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     *      #
    LookUp b0, ( %0100,%1011,%0111,%0011,%1010,%0110,%0010,%1001,%0101,%0001,%1000,%0000 ), b0
    b1 = 1    : Gosub SendStartBit
    b1 = bit3 : Gosub SendBit
    b1 = bit2 : Gosub SendBit
    b1 = bit1 : Gosub SendBit
    b1 = bit0 : Gosub SendBit
    PauseUs T_GAP
  End If
  Return
 

eclectic

Moderator
Hmm. The chase is interesting, even if I don't arrive.

Attached are pictures of the Lowe remote keypad I received yesterday.
The are getting extremely rare.

Also attached is a photocopy of part of the service manual.

e
 

Attachments

Jeremy Harris

Senior Member
That looks exactly like the keypad option for the Lowe HF-150 from the advertising stuff I got with mine. Mine has a 3.5mm jack socket on the rear marked "keypad".
 

AllyCat

Senior Member
Hi,

Page 16 of the User Manual seems to give all the details for the Keypad Protocol that you might need, except for the exact voltage levels/threshold. Note that TR4 not only has 150 ohms in its collector, but its base is driven from the "input" supply, so it cannot pull down the data/supply rail fully to ground. Maybe the voltage remains high enough to keep powering the microcontroller, but more likely it relies on its supply decoupling capacitor to hold up during the brief "low" pulses.

Cheers, Alan.
 

Mark Ashford

New member
Goodness, this thread takes me back! I also bought (and still have somewhere in the loft) a Lowe HF-150, that I bought specifically to print out weather charts, when I used to do a fair bit of sailing. IIRC, I made up a module to convert audio to RS-232, which then fed into an ancient laptop (so ancient it had a monochrome screen) running some software that would very slowly turn the low data rate into weather charts. I remember making the interface module, but can't for the life of me recall where it is.

If anyone wants an old Lowe HF-150, complete with manual, for just the cost of postage them PM me. I've no idea it it still works, as it's been stored in a box for at least 20 years, probably longer.


Edited to add:

Curiosity got the better of me and I went I dug it out from the loft. I've plugged a power supply into it and as far as I can tell it seems to work OK. I've not got a decent HF antenna around, but at least all the functions on the front panel seem to work as they should.

So it's free to a good home, but will need a 12V power supply. If it came with one (I don't think it did) then that's long since been lost, but the battery holders in the rear of the case still look OK, so it could be run on 8 off AA cells easily enough (probably gets through them pretty quickly, though.
Do you by any chance still have that Lowe reciever? I've been looking for one for ages!
 

John West

Senior Member
Goodness, this thread takes me back! I also bought (and still have somewhere in the loft) a Lowe HF-150, that I bought specifically to print out weather charts, when I used to do a fair bit of sailing. IIRC, I made up a module to convert audio to RS-232, which then fed into an ancient laptop (so ancient it had a monochrome screen) running some software that would very slowly turn the low data rate into weather charts. I remember making the interface module, but can't for the life of me recall where it is.

If anyone wants an old Lowe HF-150, complete with manual, for just the cost of postage them PM me. I've no idea it it still works, as it's been stored in a box for at least 20 years, probably longer.


Edited to add:

Curiosity got the better of me and I went I dug it out from the loft. I've plugged a power supply into it and as far as I can tell it seems to work OK. I've not got a decent HF antenna around, but at least all the functions on the front panel seem to work as they should.

So it's free to a good home, but will need a 12V power supply. If it came with one (I don't think it did) then that's long since been lost, but the battery holders in the rear of the case still look OK, so it could be run on 8 off AA cells easily enough (probably gets through them pretty quickly, though.
Did you ever find a home for your Lowe HF-150, Jeremy?
 

dfas-eu

New member
did anyone ever got a nice, little Interface done to connect the HF150 to the computer? I did Nick Baileys version and it does function very well with his software. Just wonder how the HF150 world is doing?
I am trying to get a arduino with display done as Input .... which I had more time
 
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