SWL REMOTES© 2006 by Ed Muro K2EPM The item every radio buff needs in order to never leave his easy chair. Has your scanner ever gotten stuck on a birdie and all you hear is squawking coming from the speaker...now you have to get up out of your chair and walk across the room just to hit the scan or lock-out button. Then, 2 minutes later.....the kids next door start yapping on their GMRS radios.... now you have to get up again and lock-out that channel. Boy, this can get tiring. Well, look no further than www.swl-remotes.com for the answer to your prayers. Now you can control your receiver, transceiver, or scanner with the SWL IR Remote and a Universal TV Remote from the comfort of your easy chair. Yes, you heard me right. The folks at Swl-remotes out of Cincinnati, Ohio have developed a way to tie in the features of your radio with the convenience of a remote control! The SWL IR Remote consists of a small control unit that connects to the computer interface (REMOTE, CAT, Interface, or KEYPAD port) of your radio with an included cable. It uses the built in radio computer control or keypad commands to control your radio using a standard TV Universal Remote control. What SWl-remotes is providing you with is the control unit and the interface, you have to provide the actual remote. You can use any Universal Remote that can be programmed for a Sony TV. The remote needs to have Power, digits (0-9), Volume (or VOL) ±, Channel (or CH) ±, Mute, Last (or Previous), and Enter keys for complete control of the radio. I have recently seen them as inexpensive as 5-bucks at National Wholesale Liquidators. However, SWL-remotes can supply you with a Universal Remote at a very reasonable additional charge. If I were buying the unit, I would probably opt for the one from SWL-remotes just to be certain that I would not encounter any compatibility issues. However, that is totally up to you....like they say, any remote will work as long as it meets the previously mentioned parameters. From their web site: Theory of Operation The SWL IR Remote consists of a control unit, a wall power supply, and a cable specific to your radio or scanner. Connection to the radio is made using the supplied cable. The wall adapter supplies power to the SWL IR Remote control unit. The SWL IR Remote can optionally be powered with a 9-12Volt DC source at 100ma. Any Universal Remote that can be programmed for Sony TV codes should work with the SWL IR Remote as the remote control. The Universal Remote does not need any other modes but TV to work with the SWL IR Remote. You can use your own Universal Remote or one of the Universal Remotes found at Radio Shack or Wal-Mart. A very simple remote is best. Inside the SWL IR Remote control unit is a 20 MHz microcontroller that contains the logic (in firmware) for the remote operation. The control interprets the pulse stream from the Universal Remote and communicates with the radio to perform the desired operation. The built in Computer Interface (KEYPAD port on Lowe receivers) is used to interface the remote. No soldering or modifications are required on any radios for the SWL IR Remote to work. Two-way communications to the radio is used whenever possible so the remote is reliable and stays fully synchronized to the radio. This translates to very fast, reliable, and robust operation. Today's Shortwave and Scanner Radios are very sophisticated and have most features controllable by an external device such as the SWL IR Remote. Features particular to each radio are implemented on the Universal Remote control using the Power, digits (0-9), Enter, Mute, Last (or Previous), Volume (or VOL) ± and Channel (or CH) ± keys. An LED on the front panel provides status indications so you can get feedback on the operation of the remote. The SWL IR Remote is quite intuitive and easy to operate. The advantage of the SWL IR Remote is that you can easily control the operation of the receiver very much like operating your TV’s remote control from the comfort of your easy chair. With the addition of the optional RS-232C Level Converter to the SWL IR Remote, you can also have computer operation of your receiver transparently through the SWL IR Remote and you won’t have to purchase a separate level converter or change any cables to operate the receiver from your computer. The SWL IR Remote connects to your receiver or scanner with an included cable. The cable type depends on your radio. We do not provide a cable for the BC895XLT. Getting started is easy. Just connect to your receiver’s Computer Interface, or KEYPAD port, plug the wall power supply into the SWL IR Remote and you are ready to enjoy remote control of your radio. If you purchased our optional Universal Remote, then you are ready to immediately enjoy remote control of your radio. The optional Universal Remote comes complete with batteries and is preprogrammed for proper operation with the SWL IR Remote. You will be up and running in just a few minutes. If you have the optional RS-232C Level Converter, just plug your computer into the back of the SWL IR Remote using a standard RS-232C DB9 cable (straight cable - not a null modem cable) and you are ready to use your favorite software to control the receiver. Operation with other Receivers, Transceivers, or Scanners Drake ICOM If you are looking for a basic R75 control, this version will give you basic control of the R75. It does not have the advanced features of the full R75 version. Kenwood Lowe The SWL IR Remote for the HF-225 only works with the HF-225. The HF-150 version only works with the HF-150. Yaesu Uniden The Uniden Scanner protocol is reasonably standard and the SWL IR Remote is compatible with the BC780XLT, BC895XLT, BC785D, BCT8, BC898T, and the BC796D. The remote has been tested with the BC780XLT, BC895XLT, BC785D, BCT8, BC898T and the Radio Shack PRO-2052. We will keep you updated when other Uniden Scanners have been tested. Unfortunately, the only Radio Shack scanner covered is the Pro-2052, I'll assume that unit must have been produced by Uniden. This really is a product that I immediately fell in love with, yes for certain radios it does have some limitations based upon the particular radio's protocol, but even given those limitations the convenience of this set up will have you jumping through hoops. SWL-remotes provides excellent product support as well as maintaining a comprehensive knowledge database on their website. They have pdf versions of user's manuals up on the website and it might not be a bad idea to check out before you buy so you will know exactly what can and can't be done. The manuals are available at: http://www.swl-remotes.com/pages/11/index.htm For more information you can contact SWL-remotes at: Swl-remotes, LLC or by phone at: 513-236-0646. Back |