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Need Guide to Use FT-847 For Digital Modes
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Greetings.
I know it probably has been discussed an unknown number of times previously, but I want to start using my 847 in the digital modes, both on HF as well as 6M + VHF/UHF. I want the members here to create the Ultimate FT-847 Digital Guide. Let me take a moment to describe my setup - I have separate antennas and amplifiers for each output on the 847. Each amp is hard-keyed by the 847, via a special breakout cable I obtained on ebay. It works great. I don't want to use the mic input on the front of the radio for data, I have a mic connected there and I don't want to be switching cables for different bands. I have a laptop running JTDX and FLDigi, I would like to use CAT control to manage frequencies, but it is not cast in stone. I know how to push buttons and spin the dial... I use Log4OM v.2 for logging, and I use JTAlert for needed entities alerts. I have all three (minus FLDigi) apps integrated with each other to work seamlessly. The big unknown is the FT-847.? I would like suggestions on how to integrate the computer with the radio so that I can feed it from the ports on the back and manage the drive and the ALC from the front. The laptop has an internal sound card that I feed some speakers with to hear the alerts, and an inexpensive USB sound card to feed the radio. If at all possible I would like to use CAT control to switch frequencies and modes, but so far that has been problematic for me, so suggestions there wouldn't hurt. In the end I would like to compile all the suggestions and guides into one document and upload it to the Files section so that others don't need to reinvent the wheel each time they dig into digital with the FT-847. Thanks in advance. Micky K1XH? |
开云体育Yep, that's pretty much what I wanted to do as well, but driven from a Raspberry Pi 4B.? Got it all wired up, and it failed miserably.? The problem?? No transmit audio.Bottom line is that the 847 appears to want to be "smart".? When the rig is keyed, where should it look for the audio to transmit?? The apparent decision was to follow the connector where the PTT was signaled.? If keyed from the TRS jack (for the HF modes), take it from there and mute the others.? If from the DIN connector (for VHF / UHF packet), take it from there.? The problem:? Where to look if the rig is keyed from CAT?? The unfortunate answer:? The mike.? I can't fathom why they would look to a hand mike's audio for a rig keyed by a computer, but there it is.? Pretty dumb for a smart rig, if you ask me. So the answer to your challenge is to somehow have the two back connectors key the rig when their particular port is being fed audio from the appropriate software.? In my case, FLDIGI goes to the TRS, Direwolf to the DIN.? I managed to cobble things together with several switches to route the audio and PTT to the right place, and that seem to be working.? Do note that the TRS jack overloads the line-in with the PTT function, requiring a resistor and DC blocking capacitor, while the DIN has a separate pin.? There's also the separate 1200 and 9600 baud pins on the DIN to deal with.? You CAN use the CAT for changing frequency, just not for PTT. No clue about the external amp, as I don't have any.? If someone could document all this in a cohesive way, that would be wonderful. Good luck! Greg? KO6TH Micky Corrow wrote:
Greetings. |
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on6ab
Hi Greg, ? With all respect, a healthy approach on these kind of problems should be “what am I doing wrong” instead of blaming the FT847 to fail, to be dumb or to pretend it wants to be smart. The purposes of the PKT and? DATA IN/OUT connectors are explained in the manual on pages 16 (AFSK) and 17 (FM packet). The PKT connector is for FM ( not to be confused with VHF/UHF). The DATA IN/OUT jack is for AFSK ( not to be confused with HF). ? Also, the required resistor and the DC blocking capacitor are NOT there because of overload problems. They’re there in order to add PTT functionality via the same jack. The easiest solution to solve all your DATA and PTT problems is to aquire a Yaesu SCU-17 interface. All computer connectivity go via a single USB connector and the connections to the FT-847 go via a supplied RS232 DB9 cable (CAT) and a supplied 3 pin jack cable (audio and PTT). |
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Ian
Well said Bruno. 73 de Ian VK6CR On Wed, Dec 22, 2021, at 20:21, on6ab wrote:
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开云体育Bruno, I have an early model 847 and never found out about the update the Yaesu had, so I never got the upgrade or update board. Do you know if the SCU-17 will allow me to do the digital modes?If I could find that board, I would get one and install it, my 847 is like new with bot a lot of use. Gerry Klotz On Dec 22, 2021, at 6:21 AM, on6ab <bruno.beckers@...> wrote:
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Dirk Esterline
My 847 worked well with a RigBlaster Nomic connected to the mic input on the front of the rig.? On Wed, Dec 22, 2021 at 7:21 AM on6ab <bruno.beckers@...> wrote:
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Dirk Esterline PHS Spanish |
开云体育Hi Bruno,Sorry, I did not mean to insult the radio or their designers.? It is by far my favorite all-mode / all band / satellite rig that I've owned.? Just some of the decisions made when they designed the user interface leave me a bit baffled.? It appears to me that they defined a set of use cases and focused the design on them, but they took the cases as separate things instead of what has evolved to wanting to do ALL of them without moving any cables.? My other radios have a single jack in the back for all the modes.? (And, apologies for conflating Mode with Band.? Yes, the DIN is for the FM modes, with the TRS for the others.) I understand that predicting the future is difficult, but it seems they tried too hard to make things easy, and in my opinion made it harder instead.? It's an all too common problem in user interface design.? There's a "law of things" related to this, which I have found true:? "The structure of a product matches the structure of the organization that created it" (aka "Conway's Law").? It would not surprise me if there were separate teams working on the "digital" and FM sections and their respective interfaces.? Each optimized their design for their use case in isolation, all the way out to the back panel plug.? Anyone who doesn't align with those specific use cases ends up having more work to do, which as things tend to evolve quickly, is pretty common.? Contrast this with the FT-817/818, which has a single DIN connector that feeds any of the modes depending on the radio's setting, with that mode being settable via CAT as well.? I have one configured with a Raspberry Pi running Direwolf, FLDigi, WSJT-X, JS8Call, QSSTV, and probably a few others yet to come, depending on what I want to do at the time.? No moving of cables, no external switching, no secondary (and costly!) interface boxes, perfectly forward-compatible.? Just a few wires and a PTT level shifter for the software that isn't CAT-aware.? Simple.? Done. A clarification.? My use of the term "overload" was from the engineering lingo, meaning that one interface serves multiple different functions.? In this case, as you note, the TRS input combines both PTT and Audio - two separate functions - on one pin.? It has nothing to do with having too much voltage or power, and is a very common interface, universally used with HTs for example.? I did not mean to imply it was a problem; just stating how it worked as different from the DIN port which has them separate.? My point was that either method is probably fine, but pick one. After all that, a question:? Your comment about the audio source chosen when keying the rig from CAT has me puzzled.? If not from the front (Mike ) input, where is the audio selected from? Thanks for the feedback, Greg? KO6TH on6ab wrote:
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Sure, but how do you use the rig with a microphone?
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I don't want to continually move cables around when switching uses. That just leads to breaking things, or forgetting to change something and being frustrated when it doesn't work. Greg KO6TH Dirk Esterline wrote: My 847 worked well with a RigBlaster Nomic connected to the mic input |
开云体育Hi MikeI use a ZLP electronics digimaster pro as an interface between my FT847 and pc. It works seamlessly with HRD & Fldigi using PSK, Olivia etc, and although I am not in favour of FT 8 and other similar modes it works and allows full alc control from the front.? Hope this helps John M1FFQ On 22 Dec 2021, at 00:42, Micky Corrow <opus@...> wrote:
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