Comm Spec TS64 Woes

[escomm]

Let me preface this post by noting that Comm Spec does not support their products any more. No technical support, no troubleshooting, no warranty repairs, and so on. So, be wary dealing with a company that won't stand by its products, they won't be able to help you out with your product, just separate you from your money.

That said, I have 3 TS64s that are not properly decoding PL. I have confirmed my station is passing the PL through flat audio, and it is present on the green wire (PL input). I have also tried generating PL straight out of my IFR, so the issue is not with PL not making it to the TS64. We found it as far as the IC on the mainboard.

Sadly, the white wire is not pulling to ground when the PL is present.

It should pull to ground, right? That's what their manual says. There are no other adjustments that can be made, except changing the tone and adjusting the PL encode levels, neither of which are applicable

Any ideas? Bad product from a company that's now got a bad attitude? Comm Specialists used to be reputable. Can't tell you how pissed I was when the guy told me they only sell the products and don't support them anymore. I guess ethics are not as important as money to these fine human beings!

[kcbooboo]

There is a jumper JP7 that configures whether the RX AUDIO MUTE OUTPUT (white wire, pin 5) is active high (default) or active low. You still need a pull-up resistor on the output though.

I'm guessing all the units are good. Have you tried pulling the white wire up to +12V through a 1k resistor and monitoring the voltage there? I bet it goes high with a proper tone and is low otherwise.

If you want pin 5 to be low with a tone and high without one, add a jumper across JP7.

Also, the Hang-Up Monitor input can cause the receiver to be unmuted all the time, and that could inhibit the indication of PL detection.

There may not be any adjustments but there are certainly configuration items you need to take care of.

Bob M.

[RFguy]

Also, the Hang-Up Monitor input can cause the receiver to be unmuted all the time, and that could inhibit the indication of PL detection.

+1

I haven't used TS64's in years, but just used 2 in a linking project. I had to add the hang-up jumpers to have the outputs active (otherwise the board thinks it's "off hook" all the time).

[escomm]

BTW, to give some background on my project, I am wanting a 12V LED to illuminate upon receipt of a given PL, and to turn off when the PL goes away. My TS64 will do this for me. Ultimately there will be several LEDs and several potential PL tones for the project, but once I get one figured out I have the rest figured out as well.

OK, we have some progress and I now have some changes in logic states.

My wiring is as follows:

White lead from TS64 to the ground wire of my LED

Purple lead grounded (this is new)

Red lead of my LED wired to 12V via a 1k ohm resistor (also tried a 10k ohm resistor for grins & giggles) (this is also new from my previous set up)

JP7 is OUT

With purple grounded, my LED is illuminated all the time. Upon receipt of a valid PL, the LED gets noticeably brighter, although not significantly brighter. Loss of a valid PL leads to the LED dimming about a quarter second later (this is the 350ms hang time I reckon).

With JP7 IN, the LED is gets noticeably dimmer upon receipt of a valid PL.

So my transistor is working.... somewhat, although the LED is remaining illuminated all the time and its intensity is only slightly affected by the logic state change coming from the TS64

I should note that everything functions identically as above when the resistor is removed, only the LED gets much brighter, so I am not entirely convinced the pull up resistor is needed? Seems I needed to ground the purple to begin with.

BTW, with purple ungrounded and JP7 OUT, none of the above happens. With purple ungrounded and JP7 IN, the LED is bright all the time, and its state never changes when PL is applied

So I am almost there. What else am I doing wrong? I felt pretty certain I didn't have 3 bad order units all experiencing the same exact issue. Why can't comm specialists say in their manual that a pull up resistor is needed??? Is a pull up resistor even a requirement? Seems it is not. Plus, it seems this is all something that could have been solved with 5 minutes on the phone with someone who knows how these things work. It's unfortunate CSI didn't lower the prices commensurately when they stopped supporting the products they sell!!!

Thanks guys!

[escomm]

OK, success!!! Turns out to be a combo of the purple wire not grounded, and a bad TS64. The second 2 are working perfectly, thanks for the heads up. In retrospect, the manual does kind of say it should be grounded in a round about way.

Turns out the resistor doesn't appear to be needed. I will ohm out the LED later tonight to see if perhaps the resistance from the LED is sufficient. In any event, I ended up using a 10k ohm resistor to bring the intensity of the LED down a little bit, without it it's going to be far too bright.

[MassFD]

In any event, I ended up using a 10k ohm resistor to bring the intensity of the LED down a little bit, without it it's going to be far too bright.

You always need a series resistor to current limit the LED, without it you are applying a dead short to the TS64 output that would most likely blow the output.
The pull up should not be needed as your LED is acting as the pull up. If you were connecting to a logic device (as in a PTT circuit) you may need the pull up.

Most likely you blew up the output in the first TS64 operating it directly into the LED.