BC780XLT: BC780XLT wireless control/programming

[KevinC]

With the success on my BCT15 I decided to try it on my BC780XLT. The display has been slowly getting dimmer and dimmer and was almost unreadable. Connected the BT serial adapter, changed the baud rate on both to 19200 (that's the fastest the 780 will do), started ProScan, picked the proper model and baud rate and off it went. Just waiting on the BT transmitter.

Hopefully the cheaper BT serial device will do what the AirConsole is.

I have to get reacquainted with the 780 as it's been years since I've used it, but this brought it back life since the display is failing.

 

[KevinC]

Serial-to-BT device is working just fine. Now on to researching a BT adapter for audio.

 

[Ubbe]

I can see on the circuit board that the USB ports data pins are used. Is it for programming of settings or are the BT data coming out there so you can use a computers USB port without it needing a legacy RS232 serial port?

For the audio BT most adapters have a sleep mode that it turns off the BT transmission if no audio are sensed for a while. That's fine for cellular use but for scanner use it needs to be able to transmit continuously or the start of all audio will be cut for a second or two while the BT devices resync.

/Ubbe

 

[KevinC]

I can see on the circuit board that the USB ports data pins are used. Is it for programming of settings or are the BT data coming out there so you can use a computers USB port without it needing a legacy RS232 serial port?

For the audio BT most adapters have a sleep mode that it turns off the BT transmission if no audio are sensed for a while. That's fine for cellular use but for scanner use it needs to be able to transmit continuously or the start of all audio will be cut for a second or two while the BT devices resync.

/Ubbe

I have no idea what you're asking. The only place USB is being used is to supply power to the BT serial adapter. My computer has no "legacy RS232 serial port", the adapter (connected to the 780 serial port) gives me a Bluetooth SPP on my laptop, then I connect to that port in ProScan and away I go.

Maybe you're asking about configuring the adapter. If so a simple USB-to-serial adapter is what I used (I have about 6 of those laying around so not an issue for me and they even work on Win11 with several being over 20 years old). But 9600, N81 (the default) works just fine for my purposes.

And I appreciate you keep trying to shoot my idea down (first telling me it wouldn't work and now seemingly scoffing at the need for a simple to overcome RS232 port).

 

[mancow]

That's pretty slick. I could see using them for my FT8900 and FT857 for remote programming instead of having to dig around inside the back of the vehicle.

 

[KevinC]

That's pretty slick. I could see using them for my FT8900 and FT857 for remote programming instead of having to dig around inside the back of the vehicle.

My only complaint is they aren't long-range devices. About 30' is it (but this is upstairs to downstairs and through 2 walls and a ceiling/floor).

 

[Ubbe]

Connected the BT serial adapter, changed the baud rate on both to 19200 (that's the fastest the 780 will do)

Maybe you're asking about configuring the adapter. If so a simple USB-to-serial adapter is what I used... But 9600, N81 (the default) works just fine for my purposes.

If I look at the BT devices picture I can see that the data pins for the USB connector are connected to the PCB and the trace goes somewhere to the circuit, it is not only its power pins that are used. If you connect the USB to your computer, do you do the configuration thru that? It seems a bit odd if you do configuration from the RS232 port.

Did you change from 9600 to 19200 or not, and if you did that, did you use a USB-to-RS232 adapter to do it from its RS232 port? You set it to its OFF state when configuring it?

As the BT adapter can be set to either master or slave I though you needed two, one at each end, and you set both to 19200. But you used your laptops own BT function? I don't have BT on my laptop or desktop so don't really know what its capabilities are.

/Ubbe

 

[KevinC]

We're not getting anywhere. Maybe read up on BT SPP to find out how it works.

Here's quick blurb about it...

Serial Port Profile (SPP)​

If you're replacing a serial communication interface (like RS-232 or a UART) with Bluetooth, SPP is the profile for you. SPP is great for sending bursts of data between two devices. It's is one of the more fundamental Bluetooth profiles (Bluetooth's original purpose was to replace RS-232 cables after all).

Using SPP, each connected device can send and receive data just as if there were RX and TX lines connected between them. Two Arduinos, for example, could converse with each other from across rooms, instead of from across the desk.

And here's the BT Wikipedia page...

Bluetooth - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And pretty much every one of these devices is configured through RS232. What speed I did or didn't use has no bearing on anything. It's really not that difficult or complicated, which is evidenced by the fact that even I got it to work.

 

[KevinC]

And yes, I used the BT built-in to my laptop so I only needed one device (on the scanner side).

 

[GTR8000]

I think the trouble is that BT is digital, and you should obviously be using something analog because it's way superior especially on the fringe of coverage! Go analog and double your range, duh!