Hi,

Being a newbie to SWL I have Yaesu FRG100 receiver that I wish to control
via CAT interface from my PC.

I have built a CAT control interface based on a Max232 from a circuit found
on the internet and using trial version of FTBasic, I do not seem to be able
to get it to work, has anybody any experience of this and how to get it
working. My OS is Windows XP, do I require an older OS to make the serial
comms work ?

Is there a way of checking that the serial comms are working, ie can I check
that when FTBasic sends as a signal to the com port its actual getting there
an out of the port ?

As an alternative can anyone suggest suitable software and interface circuit
details that are known to work with Windows XP.


TIA
Birderman

I'm just about to build an interface and I've just read the readme that
comes with frgcntrl.exe (search for fgrcntrl.zip - lost the URL - june
download) it has a Max 232 based circuit in it with a disclaimer of "I
will not give any guarantee that it will work and
that it does not damage any hardware."

The comments include:

- capacitors could be 22 uF / 16V tantal,
the c. at the output of the 78L05 100 uF,
watch for correct polarity !

- pins 7-8 and 9-10 of the MAX-232 could be connected pairwise

- for the YAESU FRG-100: connect pin 11 of the MAX-232
with a resistor of 5k6 to the ground or you will not
be able to receive data from the FRG-100 !

- I had to connect pins 4-5-8 together, and pin 6 to pin 20 on
the D-25 plug, to make it work with my RS232 port. I don't have
the pinout for the D-9 version of the RS232 plug, but it should
not be very difficult to get that info.

Appreciate an update
Peter K

"Birderman" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Being a newbie to SWL I have Yaesu FRG100 receiver that I wish to control
via CAT interface from my PC.

I have built a CAT control interface based on a Max232 from a circuit
found
on the internet and using trial version of FTBasic, I do not seem to be
able
to get it to work, has anybody any experience of this and how to get it
working. My OS is Windows XP, do I require an older OS to make the serial
comms work ?

Is there a way of checking that the serial comms are working, ie can I
check
that when FTBasic sends as a signal to the com port its actual getting
there
an out of the port ?

As an alternative can anyone suggest suitable software and interface
circuit
details that are known to work with Windows XP.


TIA
Birderman

Thanks for the input,

I have managed to get my system working, it appears that my com2 port was
dead so now connected to com1 and it works.

Sounds like you got same circuit as me, but I do not understand why 22uF
capacitors are suggested as the MAX232 datasheet shows 1uF as being
necessary. Perhaps somebody could explain why. I haven't found the program
frgcntrl.zip perhaps you could post/email a copy for me.

regards
Birderman

"Peter K" wrote in message
...
I'm just about to build an interface and I've just read the readme that
comes with frgcntrl.exe (search for fgrcntrl.zip - lost the URL - june
download) it has a Max 232 based circuit in it with a disclaimer of "I
will not give any guarantee that it will work and
that it does not damage any hardware."

The comments include:

- capacitors could be 22 uF / 16V tantal,
the c. at the output of the 78L05 100 uF,
watch for correct polarity !

- pins 7-8 and 9-10 of the MAX-232 could be connected pairwise

- for the YAESU FRG-100: connect pin 11 of the MAX-232
with a resistor of 5k6 to the ground or you will not
be able to receive data from the FRG-100 !

- I had to connect pins 4-5-8 together, and pin 6 to pin 20 on
the D-25 plug, to make it work with my RS232 port. I don't have
the pinout for the D-9 version of the RS232 plug, but it should
not be very difficult to get that info.

Appreciate an update
Peter K

"Birderman" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Being a newbie to SWL I have Yaesu FRG100 receiver that I wish to
control
via CAT interface from my PC.

I have built a CAT control interface based on a Max232 from a circuit
found
on the internet and using trial version of FTBasic, I do not seem to be
able
to get it to work, has anybody any experience of this and how to get it
working. My OS is Windows XP, do I require an older OS to make the
serial
comms work ?

Is there a way of checking that the serial comms are working, ie can I
check
that when FTBasic sends as a signal to the com port its actual getting
there
an out of the port ?

As an alternative can anyone suggest suitable software and interface
circuit
details that are known to work with Windows XP.


TIA
Birderman

Thanks, I have since managed to find the prog and download it and got my
system running OK

In Windows XP Pro with FTBASIC (appears my com2 port is dead, but com1 works
fine). I have also discovered that some interface circuits on the net
suggest using 22uF capacitors with the MAX232 but I believe these have been
carried over from the earlier MAX202 circuit which uses 22uF the MAX232 only
requires 1uF Capacitors as shown in the MAX datasheets.

I have also modified my rig to derive 5V from it to pin 6 of the DIN plug to
power the CAT interface which simpler and more convenient than using the PC
serial port or external supply.

What I would like to know is how do Yaesu justify a £99 or so price tag fo
the interface without software when it only needs less than £10 worth of
components........Companies doing this type of extortion are obviously
helping to kill this hobby or keep it to the eleitest set.

Birderman.


Birderman

"Peter K" wrote in message
...
a google search for frgcntrl.zip will give many hits. see also
http://www.dk0tui.de/ham/ham_cat.html for links to cat software.

Peter K