READY MADE and
DIY CABLES
|
Ready made cables |
|
G4HFQ in the UK |
No Windows driver issues - these are Maxton cables using
the FTDI USB chipset.
FTM-350, VX-8, VX-8D, VX-8G, VX-3, VX-150,
FT-60, FT-250, FT-1802, FT-1900, FT-2800, FT-2900 |
|
Radioarena in the UK |
A large range of USB and serial cables |
|
KAWAMALL in the US |
A large range of USB and serial cables |
|
Valley Enterprises
in the US |
A large range of USB and serial cables |
| TTL2USB
in the US |
A 'main unit' with various adapters for
different radios |
| Drivers for USB cables
based on the Prolific PL2303
Prolific's
driver page |
This warning from Prolific's website regarding fake Prolific USB chips
was noticed in January 2012: Warning Notice:
It is recently confirmed that counterfeit (fake) PL-2303HX USB to Serial
Controller ICs using Prolific's trademark logo and device drivers were
being sold in the China market. Counterfeit IC products show exactly the
same outside chip markings but generally are of poor quality and causes
driver compatibility issues (Error Code 10). We issue this warning to
all our customers and consumers to avoid confusion and false purchase.
Please be warned that selling counterfeit products are illegal and
punishable by civil and criminal courts according to the trademark,
copyright, and intellectual properties laws and regulations. Prolific
will take proper and severe actions to cease and confiscate these
counterfeit products. Prolific also prohibits the distribution of any
PL-2303 drivers (including download links) without written permission
from Prolific.
Prolific advices end-users to only purchase branded cable products with
company name contact information for service and support in case you
suspect a counterfeit chip inside. You may also contact Prolific to
provide the vendor information. |
|
Adapter cables and
DIY circuits |
| The VX-8 and
VX-8D connection is a
proprietary 7-pin design. The Yaesu CT-134 clone cable and the CT-M11
external headset connection cable for the FTM-10R both have the correct
plug attached. In conjunction with a
FTDI TTL-232R-3V3 cable it is easy to make up a suitable lead. See
the 'Connection to the radio' section of the
FTBVX8 Help file
for more details and pictures. The picture on the right is a cable made
by JA1OGS |
 |
| The VX-8G data cable is a simple
wire connection at RS232 levels - no level converter. Then use a
USB/serial adapter if you do not have a serial port on your PC. |
The VX-8G operating manual has details of
the cable in the Appendix, CT-143 Cable Connections. In summary they
are: stereo tip to DB9 pin 2 (radio => PC), stereo ring to DB9 pin 3 (PC
=> radio), stereo sleeve to DB9 pin 5 (GND). |
|
A DIY adapter cable to enable
my 6-pin mini-din FT-7800 cable to be used on my FT-60, VX-3, VX-110 and VX-150. Uses half a
CT-27 clone cable and the mouse port off a dead motherboard. |
 |
| The pin-out of the
packet socket found on the FT-7800, FT-8800 and FT-8900.
For 2-wire programming purposes
use pin 3 PTT for data and pin 2 GND for ground. |
 |
| The pin-out of the RJ connector found
on the FT-1802/1900 and FT-2800/2900 and a
front view diagram of the mic socket. |
  |
| A DIY 6 transistor level converter
article by G4TIC. This will work with radios that use a 2-wire
interface e.g. VX-150, VX-170, VX-177, VX-6, FT-1802, FT-1807, FT-2800,
FT-7800, FT-8800, FT-8900. I have built this circuit myself and it works
fine. A picture of my board is on the right. Because they were already
available I used 1N4002 diodes instead of 1N914 and PN2222A
transistors instead of 2N2222.
Roger Maeder has sent me some files to help with creating a PCB for the
G4TIC interface. See opposite for a) a zip file of the files; b) a
picture of the completed board |
Click the picture to see a larger image.
Click the link below to see G4TIC's article.
G4TIC.pdf
a) PCB
track
b) photo of completed board |
| A DIY RS232 to TTL level
converter by DL8WA which has an adjustable programming voltage |
DL8WA 2-wire level converter.doc |
| A DIY level converter by
IW2DPO using the FTDI FT232R chip. It has an option to invert the
output. |
iw2dpo usb programmer.pdf |
| A DIY level converter for the VX-8 using
a MAX3232 by Tim W5FN |
VX8 PROGRAMMING
CABLE.pdf |
|
A DIY level converter by Aleks
S56AL which uses the FTDI chip FT-232BM. It has been successfully used with VX-7R,
FT-8900, FT-817 and IC-706MkIIG. |
http://lea.hamradio.si/~s57nan/ham_radio/index.html |
OTHER LINKS
|
Art JA1OGS |
If you are interested in APRS and UI-View
you will find something of interest here. |
|
Bob
Cobey (G0HPO) |
Taming the QFH Antenna, by Bill Sykes
(G2HCG) and Bob Cobey (G0HPO) |
|
Cheap Yagi Antennas for VHF/UHF |
Cheap Yagi Antennas - an excellent article by Kent Britain,
WA5VJB on constructing simple yagis.
If you make
the 432 MHz 8 element Kent tells me there is a typing error, D4 should be changed from
11.0 to 12.0 inches. I have had hours of fun with these designs - happy constructing... |
|
Daniel Sampson's SWL site |
A good site for SWLs, and the source of
the broadcast station frequency in FTBasic's sample SWL data files. |
|
EI7BA |
Take a look at a well built 8 band
cubical quad. Good details and lots of photographs - be patient for them to download; its
worth it. Uses choke baluns and single feeder which is remotely switched using relays. |
|
Fox
Delta |
The Fox Delta site has
many amateur radio projects and kits. The
PM3 power meter
can be interfaced to PolarPlot using the OZ2Meter program (both
available on the Download
page). |
|
Gary KE5QAR |
Gary tells me he has
manuals and service manuals in PDF format for almost all popular HF, VHF
and UHF radios. All CDs ship free to the U.S. and at cost to
international destinations. His eBay shop can be found by searching for
garytel54or using the link on the left and clicking 'View all items...'. |
|
G0LFP's UK repeater generator |
G0LFP has written an online system to
create lists of UK repeaters based on on your selection of band and
location. After you have the list shown on-screen simply copy/paste it
into Notepad and save it as a .CSV file. Then use the Import facility of
your FTB software to add the channels to your radio's memory image. |
|
HB9ZS |
Walter, HB9ZS has written
some useful software to help manage
FT-950 and
FT-2000 transceivers. |
|
KE7ATE |
Ken's site - If you have a
VR-5000 then take a look. Ken is developing a program he calls VR-5000
Signal Capture and Analysis |
|
M5BXB |
Steve's site - of particular interest
for those interested in 6M |
|
OZ2CPU |
OZ2CPU's website includes
constructional details of a digital wattmeter which can be interfaced to PolarPlot V3.1 |
|
TRX-Manager |
Real-time logging and rig
control by Laurent Labourie F6DEX |
|
