LinkSprite R4 Relay Board Antenna Rotator Web Controlled

Attention!
This project is (obsolete) due to the LinkSprite R4 Relay Board being unavailable. There will be a new project posted using a available ESP8266-12 based relay controller.

This post is about how to remote control a amateur ham radio antenna rotator with a LinkSprite R4 Relay board - ESP8266-12F WiFi module. There are many 4 channel WiFi relay boards available on the Internet make sure that the one you select uses the ESP8266-12F WiFi module.

This is a project in progress...

LinkSprite LinkNode R4 ESP-12f ESP8266 WiFi Relay Controller

The Antenna Rotator

The amateur ham radio antenna rotator were going to try to control remotely is a old CDR HAM-M which was purchased for $ 25.00.

Link to CDR HAM-M Rotor Manual

Programming

To program the ESP8266-12F will use the Arduino IDE 1.6.7 for Windows with ESP8266 Add-on installed.

Libraries
  1. ESP8266WiFi.h 1.0.0
  2. WebSocketsServer.h
  3. index.h

LinkNode R4 Board Setup
  1. Ardunio IDE 1.6.7
  2. Board: "Generic ESP8266 Module"
  3. Flash Mose: "QIO"
  4. Flash Size: "512K (64K SPIFFS"
  5. Debug Port: "Disabled"
  6. Debug Level: "None" "HTTP_SERVER"
  7. IwIP Variant: "v2 Lower Memory"
  8. Reset Mode: "ck"
  9. Crystal Frequency: "26 MHZ"
  10. Vtables: "Flash"
  11. Flash Frequency: "40MHz"
  12. CPU Frequency: "80 MHz"
  13. Builtin Led: "1"
  14. Upload Speed: "115200"
  15. Erase Flash: "All Flash Contents"
  16. Post: "your come port"
  17. Programmer: "Arduino as ISP"

USB Programmer

This module is a USB programmer for ESP8266 modules of type ESP-01 will use this to program the ESP8266-12F on the LinkSprite R4 Relay board.

LinkSprite LinkNode R4 ESP-12f ESP8266 WiFi Relay Controller

LinkSprite LinkNode R4 ESP-12f ESP8266 WiFi Relay Controller Pins.png

LinkSprite LinkNode R4 ESP-12f ESP8266 WiFi Relay Controller Pins.png

Relay Assignment

  • S4 = GPIO12 LED D10 = CW
  • S5 = GPIO13 LED D8 = CCW
  • S3 = GPIO14 LED D4 = BRAKE & ROTOR SWITCH
  • S2 = GPIO16 LED D3 = ANTENNA 1-2

Schematic

Ham Radio Remote CDE HAM-M Rotor Schematic

Arduino IDE Sketch


#define rotator_analog_az A0 // reads analog azimuth voltage from rotator

// Set Relay Pins
int rotate_cw = 12; // relayS4 CW
int rotate_ccw = 13; // relayS5 CCW
int brake_az = 14; // relayS3 BRAKE & ROTOR SWITCH
int antenna = 16; // relayS2 ANTENNA 1-2

//Set relay pins to outputs
pinMode(12,OUTPUT);
pinMode(13,OUTPUT);
pinMode(14,OUTPUT);
pinMode(16,OUTPUT);

ADC Modification

The ESP8266-12F WiFi module on the LinkSprite LinkNode R4 Relay board, will need a small modification. To access the ADC (A to D converter) will have to tap a voltage divider onto pin 2. Because the ADC in ESP8266-12F is only 0-1V the voltage divider will need to be calibrated for the antenna rotator.

LinkSprite LinkNode R4 ESP-12f ESP8266 WiFi Relay Controller ADC.png
LinkSprite LinkNode R4 ESP-12f ESP8266 WiFi Relay Controller ADC.png

Schematic

Ham Radio Remote CDE HAM-M Rotor Schematic

Conclusion

.

Links

  1. CDE HAM-M ROTOR Manual
  2. LinkSprite LinkNode R4 Relay Controller
  3. LinkNode R4: Arduino-compatible WiFi relay controller
Simple Ham Radio Remote

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Last updated: 09/30/2024
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