The AT-200PC by LDG Electronics
is an automatic antenna tuner that is similar to their AT-200 Pro, but
has no buttons or display. Instead, it is controlled by the serial port
(or USB port) of a PC, and so is ideal for a PC-controlled radio. The
AT-200PC is a discontinued product. It was
available from W4RT Electronics, but they are out of stock as of November 2012.
My control software is a single file at200pc.pyw
that runs on both Windows and Linux, and provides a stand-alone control
interface.
Many thanks to Chris, KB3CS, for contributing additional code and
features.
September 2019:
NEW CODE AVAILABLE!
New code on github by Chris, KB3CS.
November 2013: These tuners are no longer available.
February 2010: Bug fix by Chris, KB3CS.
January 2010: New version with additional features by Chris,
KB3CS.
June 2008: First version.
Windows
To use it on Windows, first download and install the Windows version of
Python. Use the Windows
installer instead of compiling from source code. Choose the most
recent version, although the exact version does not really
matter. Currently (July 2008) Python 3 is in beta, and Python 3
is slightly incompatible with previous Python versions. I will
update my code for Python 3 if needed.
Next download and install the win32all module. Look for the link
to win32all on the same Python download page. Win32all is a
module by Mark Hammond that adds extra Windows capability to
Python. The version of win32all must match your Python version.
Next download and install the pySerial module.
Again, use the Windows installer version.
Last, download the single file at200pc.pyw
and put it in a folder somewhere. I use S:/Python for all my
small Python programs. You can use your Documents folder, your
desktop, or any other folder.
The program uses "COM4" as the default port for the AT-200PC. If
that is not the correct port, carefully edit the program file, and look
for "TTY_NAME" at the top of the file. Change the name to the
correct name. If you don't have an AT-200PC, choose a port that
doesn't exist.
To run the program, use Windows Explorer and navigate to the
folder. Look at the file at200pc.pyw, right click it. The
options should include "Edit with IDLE", "Edit with Pythonwin" and
"Run". Choose "Run" to start the program. You can create a
shortcut to the program when you want. The IDLE and Pythonwin
options are used for debugging.
Linux
To use it on Linux, start a terminal window and enter "python".
You should get a Python command prompt. Enter "import Tkinter"
(note capital "T") to make sure the tkinter package is installed.
Enter Control-D to exit. Linux almost always has Python
installed, and whatever version you have should be fine. Next use
your Linux package tool to install the python-serial package.
This is the pySerial project from SourceForge.
Last, download the single file at200pc.pyw
and put it in a folder somewhere, perhaps in your home directory.
The program uses "/dev/ttyUSB0" as the default port for the
AT-200PC. If that
is not the correct port, carefully edit the program file, and look for
"TTY_NAME" at the top of the file. Change the name to the correct
name. If you don't have an AT-200PC, choose a port that doesn't
exist.
To run the program, start a terminal and change directories to where
you put the file. Then enter "python at200pc.pyw". I
created a launcher with the command "python /S/Python/at200pc.pyw".