Having recently acquired an ATS-20+ and reading a whole bunch of mis-leading info on the internet regarding changing firmware and modifying it, I decided to write this to help some others and to remind myself of the process!
To change the firmare (software) in the ATS-20+, I simply needed to upload a (hex) file or use the Arduino IDE to compile the firmware and upload.
I found the best firmware that suited my needs is the 'goshante' ATS_EX_v1.18
The original goshante firmware is available here:
https://github.com/goshante/ats20_ats_ex
There seems to be a lot of people struggling to upload this hex file so I have made a zip file of the needed software, including the goshante firmware,
The software I use is called xLoader and I have tweaked it to simplify the setting for either ATS-20 with old or new bootloader.
Download it below, but read this first...
Download and extract the xLoader app and files, maybe extract it on your desktop for now.
You simply need a USB cable to plug into the rear of the ATS-20/ATS-20+.
As soon as you do this, Windows should recognise it and add a COM port in device manager.
A simple way to find the correct COM port is to first open device manager and click on Ports (COM & LPT) to expand the options.
Now, once you have this open, plug the USB cable into the ATS-20, the COM port should now appear!
There is no need to fiddle with any of the COM port settings, leave them at their default.
Once you have determined the correct COM port for the ATS-20, use that port number in the xLoader application.
Open the xLoader app inside the xLoader folder and when opened:
Browse to the HEX file you want to flash (I have included two in the xLoader folder)
Choose the Device from the dropdown - I've named 2 typical types and each will set the correct Baud rate in the Baud rate field
Select the correct COM port you found as above
As I understand it, the old bootloader requires a Baud rate of 57600 and the new bootloader requires 115200.
Once you are happy all settings are correct, hit the Upload button and wait a while whilst it uploads.
Your ATS-20 should reboot at the end of flashing.
Unplug the USB cable and power off the ATS-20.
Now, press and hold the rotary 'TUNE' knob on the front of the ATS-20 and turn the power on, once it starts you can release the knob. It will reset all Eprom data and then start the new firmware. ** This is a very important step, so don't forget to do it**
The xLoader interface is so much simpler to use...
Inside the unzipped xLoader folder, I have put the original goshante v1.18 firmware and also a slightly tweaked version, named goshante-ATS_EX_v1.18-G4ZAL.hex where I have reduced the number of SW frequencies and made it so they only reflect the Amateur radio bands, which I find faster to move up and down the bands with. I made no other changes to the firmware. Use it if it's any use to you.
I offer no warranty as to any of it's usefulness and you use the download files at your own risk ;-)
DOWNLOAD the xloader app and files in zipped format, right click and 'save link as' from HERE.
You may experience Microsoft Windows 'protecting' you by blocking the download, suggesting it has a virus, this is not the case. You may have to click 'keep' during the initial download.
As a temporary measure, you could add an 'exception' to your 'Downloads' folder, as described by Microsoft, HERE. Once you have successfully downloaded and extracted the files, remove the exception again, just to be on the safe side.
I also modded the ATS-20+ hardware to show the battery charge state, but only when the ATS-25+ is powered on! Use 2 x 10k ohm resistors to form a voltage divider and solder them as shown...
Pick up the battery voltage from the pin with red wire, ground from the Nano board (black wire) and the voltage divider output (white wire) to pin A2 on the Nano.
I used SMD resistors but normal wired resistors are perfectly adequate providing you take care to insulate the leads.
Click the image to go SUPERSIZE
