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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. ft60adapter.JPG (10334 bytes)
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

 


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