This radio is essentially a VHF single-band radio, meaning it operates on the 2-meter band. With a high output power of 50W, a medium power of 20W, and a low power of 5W, it offers good options depending on your needs. If you want to know more, you can consult the specifications page of the Yaesu FT-2500M.

As I always do in these cases, the first thing I started to investigate was how I could connect an APRS digipeater or a TNC to the radio in the most convenient way and that would allow me to work with the best possible performance.

For all the tests we’re going to do, first of all, we’ll need to be on your country’s VHF APRS frequency (in my case, 144.390 MHz). We’ll set the Time-out Timer (TOT) to 5 minutes and leave the Squelch fully open (so that we can hear the band noise).

We’re setting the TOT because if something fails in the TNC or Digipeater and the radio remains in transmit mode for too long, the radio itself will protect itself and shut down. Five minutes is the minimum TOT allowed on the Yaesu FT-2500M; I’d prefer something much shorter, like 10 seconds, but it’s what we have.

We leave the Squelch fully open for two reasons. The first is that the Squelch on some radios is very slow, and in the case of Packet Radio or APRS, this delay can cause us to lose information. The other reason is that by leaving the Squelch open we will be able to listen to the weakest stations, generally the mobile ones, which reach the limit of the digipeater.

Before starting work, I could see that the microphone connector could easily handle basically all the connections to the TNC. However, after consulting some forums, I found that sometimes the output audio level (generally known as SPK in the APRS/TNC world) can be very low and not perform well, so I had to look for alternatives.

Here we go.

APRS/Packet on a Yaesu FT-2500M using the microphone connector

If we’re lucky and our radio handles audio output levels suitable for APRS, we’ll be able to fully control the radio from this connector.

The following image shows the microphone connector pinout to get you started.

As we always say, we only need four wires to operate APRS or Packet Radio:
1-PTT
2-GND
3-MIC
4-SPK (RX Audio)

As you can see in the image, we can connect these four wires to the microphone connector, which is always the best option.

Why? The installation is much simpler, and with this type of connector, we can generally take the audio directly from the discriminator.

Audio taken directly from the discriminator isn’t processed by the different stages of the radio; therefore, it’s clean audio—the audio we actually receive through the antenna without any modifications.

For digital data, this is ideal because it allows the data to be processed more efficiently by the TNC or Digipeater.

What we should do is connect the radio to the TNC or digipeater using only these four cables, adjust the audio levels, and test if we can interpret the APRS packets.

If for some reason the APRS packets are not processed, we will go to option number two, taking the audio received directly from the speaker output.

APRS/Packet on a Yaesu FT-2500M using the microphone connector and Speaker plug

If we’re unlucky with the audio levels our digipeater can handle, we can take the audio received by the radio from the audio jack on the back.

I’m not the biggest fan of this option, but often it’s the only one we have left.

Doing this will result in a slightly bulkier cable with two parts. One part goes to the microphone connector (you can use an old computer patch cable) to operate the transmit function:

1-PTT
2-GND
3-MIC

And the other part of the cable goes to a mono plug on the back of the radio to handle the received audio:

4-MIC
5-GND (this is the same GND we took from the microphone connector)

With these two cables, we have to connect them to a single connector, in the case of the photo it’s a DB9, and solder the terminals according to the requirements of our TNC or digipeater.

As in the previous case, once everything is connected, we have to make the necessary audio adjustments to get it working correctly.

APRS with a Yaesu FT-2500M – general Recommendations

If your plan is to leave your radio permanently set up for APRS, I recommend you consider the following:

1- For fixed stations, using Wide2-2 as the path is more than sufficient in most cases.

2- If your digipeater also acts as an iGate, only forward messages from the internet to RF. Many people leave all their internet traffic to RF for unnecessary things.

3- Again, leave the squelch fully open to receive weaker stations.

4- It’s not necessary to use 50W of power; try with less to see the results—you might be surprised.

5- Don’t forget to leave the TOT (Time Out of Time) enabled.

In case you didn’t know, except for your main station (usually your home and in my case LU9CNS) in APRS it has an SSID. I leave you the following list so that you can take the one that fits what you are going to do:
-0 Your primary station usually fixed and message capable
-1 generic additional station, digi, mobile, wx, etc.
-2 generic additional station, digi, mobile, wx, etc
-3 generic additional station, digi, mobile, wx, etc
-4 generic additional station, digi, mobile, wx, etc.
-5 Other networks (Dstar, Iphones, Androids, Blackberry’s etc)
-6 Special activity, Satellite ops, camping or 6 meters, etc.
-7 walkie talkies, HT’s or other human portable
-8 boats, sailboats, RV’s or second main mobile
-9 Primary Mobile (usually message capable)
-10 internet, Igates, echolink, winlink, AVRS, APRN, etc.
-11 balloons, aircraft, spacecraft, etc.
-12 APRStt, DTMF, RFID, devices, one-way trackers*, etc.
-13 Weather stations
-14 Truckers or generally full time drivers
-15 generic additional station, digi, mobile, wx, etc

If you have any questions, please leave a comment. I love discussing APRS with colleagues from all over the world.

The post How to do APRS or packet radio with a Yaesu FT-2500M first appeared on Ham Radio Programming.

For this project we will use a Motorola GM300 and a digipeater/igate based on the HS5TQA project that he has published on Github. I chose this project for the digipeater because with several radio amateurs from Argentina we were able to make it work excellently nationwide with more than 30 digipeaters installed.

If you don’t want to assemble your own PCB for the project, you can download the Gerber files from the GitHub page I mentioned earlier and have them manufactured at PCBway. The first 10 PCBs cost $5 each, so you could get together with friends and build several igates or digipeaters.

If you have some experience with electronic projects, it’s something you can put together in an afternoon.

APRS with a Motorola GM300 – Radio Programming

First of all, what I’m going to describe here are the configurations that worked based on my experience.

To avoid future problems or mistakes, I programmed the radio with a single channel on the frequency we use in Argentina for APRS on VHF, which is 144.390 MHz.

If you don’t know how to program the radio, I’ve included a link to this post where we explain how to program a Motorola GM300. To program the radio you will need a programming cable you can buy on amazon.

We didn’t assign a squelch tone to the programmed channel, and the configuration was set so that it opens once a carrier is detected. More on this later.

We also adjusted the transmit power to ensure we weren’t overloading the radio and left it at the default setting. If you don’t know your radio’s power rating, this post explains how to identify the model and specifications of the Motorola GM300.

Although APRS doesn’t transmit for extended periods, we want to ensure we extend the radio’s lifespan, which is why we decided to set the power slightly below the specification.

APRS with a Motorola GM300 – Radio Setup

Once the equipment is configured, we need to assemble the connection cable that runs from the radio to the digipeater and make one more physical adjustment to the radio.

To make this connection, we need a 16-pin connector to connect to the accessory port on the back of the radio.

If you don’t have this adapter, you can buy one on eBay or AliExpress for very little money. In some cases, you can buy it already assembled and then just solder the wires to the digipeater.

Once we have the connector, we’ll use the following ports:

3- External PTT
5- Flat audio transmit
7- Ground
11- Discriminator audio output

Pins 3 and 5 are self-explanatory for what we want to do. But we’ll use pin 6 to take the flat audio signal that the digipeater will send so that it can be passed through the radio without modification.

Pin 11, the discriminator’s audio output, serves the same purpose. We’re capturing the audio without it passing through any filters or being modified along the way. We’re taking the audio exactly as it’s received and then sending it to the digitizer for processing.

This prevents any manipulation of the signal, ensuring it can be processed correctly.

In some similar publications about APRS on the Motorola GM300 or other radio models, it’s recommended to configure the COR (Control and Operation) so that the radio can only transmit when no signal is being received.

Many digipeaters, including the one in the project I mentioned initially, have this ability to detect when there is activity and don’t transmit until it ends.

Due to the characteristics of cities in Argentina, where there isn’t much traffic, we decided to take a different approach.

What we did was leave the squelch completely open. To do this, you have to adjust a preset on the radio’s circuit board so that the digipeater can pick up even the most distant and weakest stations that might reach it.

For this to work, we have to disable the busy channel lockout option. Busy channel lockout prevents the radio from transmitting when the channel is busy (when another station is transmitting) to avoid interference.

Once we have the squelch fully open and the busy channel lockout disabled, we will be able to hear even the weakest stations that reach the digipeater.

APRS with a Motorola GM300 – Connecting the radio to the digipeater

Once we have completed the previous steps, we are ready to connect the digipeater to the radio using the cable we made.

If everything goes well, we will have some transmission, and if we configure the digipeater correctly, we will be retransmitting stations.

In my experience, this doesn’t happen directly, and we will have to adjust the audio levels on the digipeater, both input and output.

One thing I like about the project we chose is that we can clearly see the audio levels at which we are receiving the stations on the interface.

As a reference to previous configurations, you get the best result when you manage to get the majority of the stations you receive at an audio level of -15dBV.

Once you have the stations at the input audio level I just mentioned, I recommend that you leave the digipeater in test mode for a few days to observe its behavior.

I hope this post has helped you learn how to set up an APRS digipeater with a Motorola GM300.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below.

Talk to you soon, 73 from LU9CNS

The post Building an APRS digipeater – igate with a Motorola GM300 first appeared on Ham Radio Programming.

I decided to make this post because there isn’t much information available on the internet, and I think if you can get hold of one, you could use it like I mentioned above, or even use it to talk through repeaters.

Nowadays they can be purchased for little money and if they are in good condition they can be used for a long time without any problems.

Yaesu FTH-2009 specifications – Top Panel

Like many radios of this type, the FTH2009 is a fairly simple radio for its time. It was designed for commercial use or emergency use, so it was quite robust.

As you can see, nothing unusual. Few controls, and very easy to use.

Yaesu FTH-2009 – specifications

The Yaesu FTH2009 is a 6-channel VHF radio that can be simplex or semi-duplex with a maximum power of 4.5 watts.

Yaesu FTH-2009 – General information

Frequency Range

Although the radios came with these frequency ranges, the programming software allowed them to be programmed in another range. Obviously, the radio’s performance would not be optimal, as they would have lower output power, and reception would generally be poor.

To identify the model, we have to look for a label attached to the bottom of the radio where the battery is connected.
In my experience, these radios have been around for so many years that it’s very difficult to find one with these labels.

Receiver

Transmitter

The radio uses the Yaesu FNB-21h battery, which can be purchased on Amazon or AliExpress.

Yaesu FTH-2009 – Programming software and programming cable

To program a Yaesu FTH2009, you’ll need a cable and programming software.
The programming software we need is CE2. It’s a very old software that originally ran under the DOS operating system and, obviously, ran on very slow computers compared to what we have today.

The programming cable is a cable that connects to an RS232 port, but today there are some USB alternatives that can be purchased on Amazon or Aliexpress.

At this link you have programming information for the Yaesu FTH 2009 that I published a while ago.

Yaesu FTH-2009 specifications – Additional information

If you need to perform hardware or software adjustments on the radio, click here to download the Yaesu FTH2009 Service Manual.

I hope this post has helped you learn about the specifications of the Yaesu FTH-2009.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment or post on the Yaesu user forum.

The post Yaesu FTH2009 specifications first appeared on Ham Radio Programming.

In this case I got my hands on a Yaesu FTH-2009 in excellent conditions and I decided to give it a chance with the amateur radio mode .  

The Yaesu FTH-2009 is a radio I love for APRS for several reasons. It’s a tough old radio; you can drop it on the ground several times and it’ll still work.

Nowadays, you can get them for very little money on eBay or other sites, so they’re widely available, and with very little money, you can build an interface to connect it to a TNC.

In Argentina, we use them a lot, leaving them on hills or mountains working as digipeaters or igates.

They’re reliable and very rarely stop working overnight. This is why we often decide to leave them high up at altitude so they provide good coverage with low power consumption.

Read this if you need to program a Yaesu FTH-2009 for APRS.

APRS with a Yaesu FTH-2009 – Connecting the radio to the TNC

Asking some friends about this old radio and they told me every Yaesu handheld radio uses the same kind of “interface” to connect to a TNC which is what you need to connect to to in order to do APRS.

The ear plug (audio out) is a 3.5mm mono plug and the mic (audio in) is a 2.5mm mono plug.

As you can see, it’s a fairly simple interface. In some cases, some hobbyists used an electrolytic capacitor instead of a ceramic one. With a little patience, we can fit everything into a DB9 connector, which would be ideal if your TNC has this type of terminal.

APRS with a Yaesu FTH-2009 – tips for doing aprs

Performing APRs with the Yaesu FTH-2009 presents the same complications as with most HTs.

If you’re going to use the HT as an iGate or digipeater, the first recommendation is to always leave the squelch open. This will allow stations that reach the noise level to be processed.

The challenge with this is that if the TNC you’re using has COR management, it will likely sense that the squelch is open all the time, so it will never send its beacon.

Before leaving the squelch open, check if the TNC uses COR. If it does, try disabling it so it can process APRS beacons.

The next challenge is adjusting the audio levels, especially the HT output to the TNC. This is because, in this case, turning the radio on is done with the same knob as adjusting the volume.

So, every time we turn on the radio, we must reset the audio level appropriately. My recommendation is to make a mark with liquid paper to know where to position the volume knob once we know the correct audio output level.

This way, if we have to turn the radio off and back on, we’ll easily know which position the knob should be in.

This radio doesn’t allow for flat audio output, so the audio output adjustment point is critical, and it usually takes a while to reach the correct audio level.

Generally, the TNC->Radio audio input is adjusted from the TNC, making it much simpler to do and generally fixed, so it doesn’t involve many complications.

Once the input and output audio levels are adjusted, there’s not much more to do than leave the radio running.

I hope this post has helped you with tips for using APRS with a Yaesu FTH-2009. If you have any questions, please leave a comment or write to the Yaesu user forum.

If you have any questions about how to program this radio, I recommend you read this Yaesu FTH2009 programming guide with DOSBOX.

Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you soon.

The post APRS with a Yaesu FTH-2009 first appeared on Ham Radio Programming.

Unlike other radios where you need to use at least 2 different connectors, one for the audio output (mono plug) and one for the PTT activation and the audio input (microphone connector) these Vertex radios allows you to do packet radio and APRS using just one connector. In my opinion, less cables is better.

The connector I’m describing here is a 15 pin DSUB connector.

Vertex VX-2200 and VX-2100 accessory connector pinout

Pin 1: AF IN (ANALOG INPUT)

External Microphone Input. Nominal input level is 6mV at 600-ohm. When connect the External Microphone to this port, insert a 0.1 µF coupling capacitor between the micro-phone and this port; as shown illustration.

Pin 2: AF OUT (ANALOG OUTPUT)

Low-level receiver output. Peak signal level is 150 mV at 600-ohm.

Pin 3: AF GND

Ground for all logic levels and power supply return.

Pin 4: DC OUT (13.6 V DC OUTPUT)

Switched 13.6V output for supplying power to an accessory.

Pin 5: RSSI (ANALOG OUTPUT)

A DC voltage proportional to the strength of the signal currently being received (Receiver Signal Strength Indicator) is provided on this pin. This low impedance output is gererated by the receiver IF sub-system and bufferd by an internal op-amp. Typical output voltages are 1 V (@No Signal Input) through 2.0 V (@50 dB Signal Input).

Pin 6: EXT PTT

Shorting this port to ground causes the transceiver to be placed in the Transmit mode, while opening the connection to this port returns the transceiver to the

Receive mode. Opening voltage is 5 V, closed current approx. 5 mA.

Pin 7: TRX

This port is intended for controlling an external TX/RX switching circuit. This port is open collector output which can sink approx. 100 mA when active. Max. voltage is 16V.

Pin 8: IGN (IGNITION SENSE FEATURE)

The VX-2100/-2200 may be automatically be switched to the STND-BY mode when the vehicle’s ignition key is turned on. Maximum current is 20 mA.

Pin 9 – 12: ACC1 – ACC4 (ACCESSORY PORT)

These port features can be programmed via the CE82 programmer. Each port is open collector output which can sink approx. 100 mA when active. Max. output 16V.

When the input is selected, it becomes active between 2V and 16V.

Pin 13: ACC5 (ACCESSORY PORT)

The port 5 is available to set only for Output function, and active logic is the opposite side against the Port 1 Max.output 5V, closed current approx. 1 mA.

(CMOS output)

Pin 14: ACC6 (ACCESSORY PORT)

The port 6 is available to set only for Input function, and active logic is the opposite side against the Port 1 Max.input 5V. (CMOS input)

Pin 15: GND

Chassis ground

Vertex VX-2200 and VX-2100 accessory connector – programmable pins

Using the programming instructions of the vertex vx-2200 and the programming instructions of the vertex vx-2100 you can configure pin 9 through 12 for your specific needs.

Using the CE-82 software you can configure the behaviour of the programmable pins. The following is a capture of some of the available options you have.

To access this, you need to click the common menu and then Sub15 port. The following are some of the available options of the input pins.

The following are some of the available options of the output pins.

Hope this post helped you understand the accesory port pinout of the accesory port of the VX2200 and VX2100 vertex radios. If you have any questions please leave a comment below, this will help new visitors in the future. Also, you can post your question on the Vertex radio user forum.

The post Vertex VX-2200 and VX-2100 accessory connector explained first appeared on Ham Radio Programming.

I started the research and found at some forums that the programming cable of the Teltronic M4000 is the same as the MDT-400. That information alongside the “pinout” of the microphone it helped me to identify the pinout of the Teltronic M4000 programming cable.

Based on my research, the programming cable pinout is as follows:

If you see the following image of the microphone connector you will see that pin 2 and pin 3 are not in use and the previously shown pinout makes sense.

Because I own a few Serial-to-USB adapters I decided to move forward and try to build the programming cable using a DB9 connector instead of going directly to a USB-to-TTL to the radio. I will try this in the future but if you think about it it makes no sense if you own the serial-to-usb adapters.

Grabbed a broken network patch cord, kept the RJ45 that was in good shape and cut the other end to solder the DB9 connector. Solder the 3 wires needed to create the programming cable.

I know, I suck at soldering

This is a graphical representation of the pinout

I tested the programming cable and it worked perfeclty fine on all the Teltronic M4000 radios I tested it on.

Hope this post helped you understand how to build your own programming cable. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment here or publish a post on the Teltronic Radios user forum.

The post Build your own Teltronic M4000 programming cable first appeared on Ham Radio Programming.

I have decided to share what I found during the last few weeks in order to get the radios to work. The first thing I wanted to do was to get my hands on a programming cable and the programming software. But again, no information anywhere

I contacted a few fellow hams I suspected had some information because they were discussing about this radios on forums several years ago.

One ham from spain helped me getting the programming software and one from the Netherlands helped pointed me to the information about building the programming cable for another radio (Teltronic MDT-400) but We suspected the cable pinout would be the same.

These Teltronic M-4000 radio is not like any other radios I worked with in the past. It has no incorporated speaker and it has in the back of the radio a DB26 port which allows to basically operate the radio completely, including connecting the speaker.

Also the power connector is not like anything I have seen in the past. It seems to be a Molex 5557-02R Mini-Fit-jr connector. In my case I used part of a connector from a GPU that used to do some crypto mining.

The following, is a photo of the back of the radio. Yoy can see a BNC connector for the antenna, the power connector and the DB26, DB26HD specifically, that allows you to operate the radio including, remote microphone, a speaker and radio programming.

Haven’t tested the pinout yet, but according some information I found about the Teltronic MDT-400 the following image explains the pinout of the rear port.

Now I have to build the programming cable in order to try this. I gave a try to the rear port using pins from 1 to 5 but this didn’t work for me and this is why I cannot guarantee the pinout is right for the Teltronic M-4000.

On this forum thread, PA1L provided some information about the programming cable for the Teltronic MDT-400 which, again, I believe it should be the same for the Teltronic M4000.

The programming cable is a DB-9 connector on one end and a RJ45 on the other using just 3 wires. According to the information PA1L provided the pinout should be like this:

I believe this is the right pinout because I took the following photo of the microphone’s RJ45 connector and you can clearly see that pin 2, pin 3 are not in use and pin 4 (which I suspect is the ground) is in use.

During the following weekends I’m going to try:

• Build the Teltronic M4000 programming cable using a computer network patchcord
• Connect a spaker to the radio following the pinout shown previosuly
• Program one of the Teltronic M4000 I got

So far I found out that the programming software has 3 different modes being one “Engineering mode” which I believe is the one I should use to program the radios out of the original frequency range to the amateur range.

The thing is that to access the engineering mode a password, which I don’t have, is needed. If you have information about this password please share it with me so I can post it here and share it with others.

Will keep this post updated as I find new things about the Teltronic M4000 radio.

Hope this post helped you understand how to build your own programming cable. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment here or publish a post on the Teltronic Radios user forum.

Thanks for reading.

73’s de LU9CNS, Nicolás

The post My adventures with Teltronic M-4000 radios first appeared on Ham Radio Programming.

The Yaesu FTH2009 is a radio that we use a lot for APRS because, although they are old, they are very reliable once we have them installed.

After asking in various forums and Facebook groups about Yaesu FTH-2009 programming information, almost everywhere told me the same thing. Yaesu’s FTH-2009s cannot be programmed on modern computers, let alone using modern USB programming interfaces.

If you have been reading the blog for a long time, you know that I have a good variety and quantity of programming cables for different radio manufacturers.

Yaesu’s case is no different and I have both modern USB programming cables, as well as programming cables a few decades older based on RS232 serial ports.

Following the recommendations given to me in different places, I completely put aside my USB programming cables and focused on trying to program some FTH-2009 with a serial cable and a computer running FreeDos and with RS232 serial ports.

After a few weeks of no positive results with this setup I decided to put all advice aside. I started using the experience I had had programming radios from DOSBOX, like the Vertex FTL-2011, and after a few hours I had good results.

What is needed to program a Yaesu FTH-2009 radio:

• A programming cable
• Programming software

How to program Yaesu FTH-2009 – Programming cable

Unlike many other radios I have been working with, there is not much information available on the programming interface available on the internet.

I also didn’t try to buy one as most of the ones sold on Amazon or Aliexpress are USB and supposedly wouldn’t work with this radio.

I worked with a Yaesu programming cable whose tips can be changed according to the type of radio that one needs to program.

With this cable I programmed Vertex FTL-2011 radios which are contemporary to the Yaesu FTH-2009. This is why I directly tried to program with this cable but without success.

Going back to the recommendations I got on the forums, one person commented that the programmer schematic was the same for the FTL-2011 as it was for the FTH-2009. Supposedly, at that time, Yaesu (Vertex) maintained the same programming cable pinout for all radio models.

From there, I took a Vertex FTL-2011 USB programming interface for radios and, with a female RJ45 connector and a 2.5mm mono plug, I made my own programming cable with which I did succeed.

The above is a diagram of a supposed Yaesu radio programmer from that era. In it you can the pinout that could be used in this radio.

I took my USB programming cable that ends with a male RJ45, and connected the female RJ45 from which two wires come out.

One of the wires goes from pin 1 of the RJ45 to the tip of the 2.5mm mono plug. The other wire goes from pin 4 to the ground of the mono plug.

The following image shows how using the female RJ45 connector and the mono plug I was able to build an adapter and program my FTH-2009.

How to program Yaesu FTH-2009 – Programming software

The Yaesu FTH-2009 programming software is CE2. This is software that has been thought for many years to run from DOS operating systems.

Today it is very difficult to buy the software but it is so old that it is available on many websites on the internet. Just a little searching is enough to find it.

If you don’t have a DOS operating system to install, you can also find some DOS images for virtualbox, you can use FreeDos. The other alternative, which is the one I used, is to run the Yaesu FTH-2009 programming software from DOSBox.

DOSBox is a DOS emulator with some modern features that allow software created for DOS operating systems to run on modern computers.

Many people say that DOSBox does not allow you to run any software intended for DOS on it. In my experience this is so but it is in the least of cases.

To program the Yaesu FTH-2009 I was able to do it without problems running CE2 from the emulator.

DOSBox can be downloaded from this link.

How to program Yaesu FTH-2009

Having explained the above, now if we go with the programming step by step of the Yaesu FTH-2009.

The first thing we have to do is connect the USB programming cable and take note of the COM port assigned in the operating system.

After this, we open DOSBox and map the COM port of the USB cable with COM1 inside DOSBox. For this we execute the following command:

Then we launch the programming software and once inside we press F8 to choose the radio model that we are going to program.

Once the radio model is selected, we have to read the configuration of our rig.

It is always a good practice to read the configuration of our radio before writing to it. This is due to the fact that many programming software can define its settings beyond the configuration of the channels.

To read the radio, press F5

Once the radio is read, you should see the channel configuration on the screen. Modify as needed before writing the radio.

Once the channel configuration is done, is time to write the new configuration to the radio. To do so, press F6 and follow the instructions.

Once the programming is done, you can press F8 to exit and then yes or no depending if you want to save the configuration or not.

I hope this post has helped you learn a little abouthow to program Yaesu FTH-2009. If you have any questions you can leave a comment or post in the Yaesu radio user forum.

The post Yaesu FTH-2009 programming using DOSBOX and USB cable first appeared on Ham Radio Programming.

Nowadays, you can get a USB OPC-1122 programming cable  on Amazon, eBay or Aliexpress. But if you prefer to try building your own programming cable, keep reading, as I’ll leave all the details below.

Before moving on I would like to be clear on this, I only tested I made the cable on the IC-F211. I know this cable can program other Icom radios so try this on your own risk. 

What is needed to make your own Icom OPC-1122U programming cable

Basically to make your DIY OPC-1122U are two things:

1. A used computer network patch cord
2. An USB to TTL adapter

You can make your own programming cable using a used computer network patch cord or make one in case you have the needed tools. I always have some broken network patch cords around and use those to make my own programming cables and that´s why I included a used patch cord on the list. It´s up to you what to use. 

The other thing you need to get is a USB to TTL converter.  This is used to connect the programming cable to a USB port on your computer.  You don´t need to buy those 6 pins converters, just buy one with 4 pins, we only need to use just 3 of those pins. 

In case you don´t have a USB to TTL converter you can buy one on amazon, aliexpress or ebay. 

How to make your own Icom OPC-1122U – DIY

To make the OPC-1122 we need to connect or solder the network patch cord to the USB to TTL adapter. 

The pinout you need to connect is as follows:

To clarify a little bit I created the following image to help you understand better how to connect the network patch cord to the USB to TTL adapter.

You just need to solder the cables as mentioned and you are all set. Be sure to do not connect anything wrong, specially pin 1 of the RJ45 because it carries 8 volts and if you connect it to somewhere it doen’t belong you will end up having some smoke in the room.

Now go ahead and try your DIY OPC-1122 cable, on your radio. There is nothing else to do.

Hope this post helped you understand the necessary steps to make your own Icom OPC-1122U. If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment or post on the Icom Radio User forum. 

The post How to make your own Icom OPC-1122U – DIY first appeared on Ham Radio Programming.

The Icom IC-F211 is a 128 channels UHF rugged Radio that complies with the MIL-STD 810 standard. It covers from 400 to 440 MHz and from 440 to 490 MHz depending the radio model you have.

How to program Icom IC-F211 – what is needed

To program an Icom IC-F211 you just need two things:

• A programming cable
• A programming software

How to program Icom IC-F211 – Programming Cable

According to the user manual, to program an IC-F211 radio, you need the OPC-1122 programming cable. Originally this cable was intented to be used through a serial port.

Nowadays, you can get a USB OPC-1122 programming cable  on Amazon, eBay or Aliexpress. This will let you to program the radio on modern computers without the need of a serial port.

In case you want to make your own programming cable, here you have information on how to make your own OPC-1122.

How to program Icom IC-F211 – Programming Software

To program an IC-F211, you will need the CS-F100 programming software. This program is designed to run on Windows operating systems.  It was released in 2008 but it runs perfeclty fine on modern Windows OSs like Windows 10.

In case you do not own a copy of the software, you can get one on Amazon. 

How to program Icom IC-F211

The first step you have to take to program your radio is to select the right serial port on the programming software.  Once you plugin the programming cable, go to the device manager on Windows and take note of the assigned serial port. In my case is COM4.

Once we know the port number you have to open up the programming software and go to COM Port and select the appropriate port based on your system.

After that, you have to read your radio’s configuration. To do that, click on Clone and then on Read TR.

On the screen you will see that the software is reading the radio.

The display of the radio will look like this

How to program Icom IC-F211 – Bank Operation

This radio includes 8 different banks you can configure as you need. In my case I have created the following banks:

• Repeaters
• APRS
• Packet
• Direct

If you read some of the older posts on this blog you will know that I love workin packet radio and APRS. Also created a bank for local repeaters and one for simplex channels to communicate with friends locally.

If you do not need more than one bank skip the following steps and jump to channel programming.  

To configure different banks on your radio, click on Bank Operation and then modify as needed.

Based on the number of channels created on each bank you can see how many you have left if you click on Bank Operation later again in the programming process.

How to program Icom IC-F211 – Channel configuration

To program channels, click on the bank and then edit the channel as needed. In the following image you will see how I configured my channels for ARPS.

By default, the programming software will match the receiving frequency (RX) with the transmitting frequency. If you need this two to be different for specific reason, read about programming a channel for repeater operation.

How to program Icom IC-F211 – Channel configuration

If you need the TX and RX frequencies to be different or need to operate a repeater on a specific channel configure the channel as you can see on the following image.

To understand the fields:

• RX is the receiving frequency of the channel (the transmitting frequency of the repeater)
• TX is the transmitting frequency of the channel (the receiving frequency of the repeater)
• C.Tone TX is the subtone needed to open the repeater
• Text is like a label for the channel, what you will see on the screen of the radio. 

How to program Icom IC-F211 – scan list configuration

The IC-F211 has scan capabilities. It allows the operator to scan for activity on a specific group of channels. 

To create a scan group click on scan list and then click on scan list again.

Now that you have created the scan lists, you have to add channels to each one. To do that, click on bank operation, then click on the bank you want to add channels to the scan list, and then on the specific channel double click on the scan list and select the scan list you need. 

How to program Icom IC-F211 – keys and display configuration

This radio allows the user to program each of the buttons of the front panel. To customize the configuration of the buttons click on Common, then click on Key & Display.

This are the settings that I have configured on my radio. 

To customize any of the keys or buttons double click on the button you want to modify to get the available options.

 The radio also allows you to configure a welcome message when you turn on the radio. In my case I have included the call sign of my radio club. 

To configure the welcome message clic on Common, then click on Key & Display and modify as needed.

How to program Icom IC-F211 – writing the configuration

Now that you have defined every aspect needed of the radio it is time to write the configuration on the radio. 

To do that, click on  Clone and then click Write -> TR. 

Confirm by clicking OK to write the radio.

 The clonning process will start.

Click OK and then turn off and on the radio to start using the new configuration. 

Hope this post helped you understand how to program ICOM IC-F211. If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment or post on the Icom Radio User forum.

The post How to program ICOM IC-F211 first appeared on Ham Radio Programming.