"While an internal mute would be handy, there's some logic level driven relay boards available on the web that one could used for this purpose . The good news is that they're remarkably cheap. It's not an audio mute, but at least it should be capable of protecting the input of the kiwi."
What I have done in the past with the oridinal KiwiSDR was use the antenna screw terminals which were provided beside the antenna input. My KiwiSDR has it's own dedicated RX antenna. I built my own linear power supply so I made provision in there to have an RCA jack which I connect to a PTT signal in my shack. This controls a PNP transistor which sends 5v to a small external SMD relay whose N.O. contacts are connected by very short wires to the screw terminals so the Kiwi's input gets shorted to ground when my transmitter is running. There is just enough leakage that I can still monitor my own transmit signal on the kiwi if desired but it is well protected. I see the new KiwiSDR2 has no more screw terminals :( I can still use this technique but I will just have to make a little board with SMA connectors to put inline with the antenna input.
Kiwi 2 works normally after installation. Since it came with a reverse proxy by default, the setup is rather simpler and eliminates the need to apply for one more ddns account.
Comments
"While an internal mute would be handy, there's some logic level driven relay boards available on the web that one could used for this purpose . The good news is that they're remarkably cheap. It's not an audio mute, but at least it should be capable of protecting the input of the kiwi."
What I have done in the past with the oridinal KiwiSDR was use the antenna screw terminals which were provided beside the antenna input. My KiwiSDR has it's own dedicated RX antenna. I built my own linear power supply so I made provision in there to have an RCA jack which I connect to a PTT signal in my shack. This controls a PNP transistor which sends 5v to a small external SMD relay whose N.O. contacts are connected by very short wires to the screw terminals so the Kiwi's input gets shorted to ground when my transmitter is running. There is just enough leakage that I can still monitor my own transmit signal on the kiwi if desired but it is well protected. I see the new KiwiSDR2 has no more screw terminals :( I can still use this technique but I will just have to make a little board with SMA connectors to put inline with the antenna input.
An audio mute can be achieved by adjusting the slider control in the admin / config page
"Passband overload mute 0 dBm (S9+73)
When the signal level in the passband exceeds this level
the audio will be muted. The icon will replace the
mute icon in the control panel. Useful for muting when
a strong nearby transmitter is active."
Regards,
Martin
I am not just thinking of audio muting, but the front end. I know there are diodes, but I don't like to rely on that.
My audio mute suggestion was to be used in conjunction with external RF switching, so that you don't get audio feedback when transmitting.
It will save you having to switch or mute the speaker with some other type of control signal.
I should have made that point clearer in my post.
Regards,
Martin
Kiwi 2 works normally after installation. Since it came with a reverse proxy by default, the setup is rather simpler and eliminates the need to apply for one more ddns account.
It’s really great, thumbs up. 👍️