Can a Rockmite RTTY? Rapid Prototyping with ChatGPT

Can a RockMite send RTTY without a modification? Maybe.

There are are two reasons it might not be able to. First, the keyer might not quite work the way I'd like for it to. What I need the keyer to do is to allow me to hold the key down in straight key mode while changing the FSK frequency of the rig by tapping the programming button. The second reason is that the frequency shift on RockMite's is between 500 and 700 Hz. Meanwhile, most rigs on the ham bands use a 45.5 baud rate with a 170 Hz separation. However, the German weather teletypes transmit at 50 baud with a separation fo 500 Hz, so there's a precedent for recievers that could decode RockMite RTTY if a RockMite could RTTY.

The nice thing—the thing that got me thinking about teletype at all—is that RockMites have a built in, controllable FSK. Consequently, I asked ChatGPT to write microPython code to pull the FSK line on the RockMite. What I hadn't thought through was that KO6BTY, or I still needed to add a relay to the Project TouCans control board to pull the FSK input on the RockMite's keyer. Since KO6BTY is looking at finals week, and I'm deeply embroiled in work and planning summer vacation, I had really cool code that was burning a hole in my pocket, so to speak.

Red solder breadboard with a Darlington array, a white latching relay to control power, and a black relay to control the RockMite's keyer's straight key. In the foreground, the rig's USB-C to 15 V DC converter can be seen.

Before long, I came up with a bit of a solution. I could prototype using the audio on my phone! I asked ChatGPT to convert the code to JavaScript and wound up with this. The bit blinker and a frequency display were ChatGPT's idea. Once I said that yes, I did want those, it cranked out the code. Here's the entire transcript. The video below shows the app running at 50 baud with 450 Hz spacing. DroidRTTY is running in the bottom pane, listening to the microphone of the phone, successfully decode the apps tones output from the phone's speaker!

Try it yourself right here in the blog!

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