New-to-me Yaesu FT-450: CAT problems
 

I traded another ham in the area my Yaesu FT-857D for a 9-month-old
Yaesu FT-450 with the built-in autotuner. I like it very well, except
that I have not been able to get the FT-450 to talk with my PC using
either a serial cable straight to the PC or a known-good Radio Shack
USB-Serial converter. Programs I've tested with are the current versions
of MixW and HRD. Both still work with the Yaesu FT-897D I still have,
but not with the FT-450.

Has anyone else here had problems with CAT to/from a Yaesu FT-450? Has
anyone here got CAT working to/from a Yaesu FT-450?

--
Mike Andrews, W5EGO

Tired old sysadmin

New-to-me Yaesu FT-450: CAT problems
 

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On 2009-08-04, mikea wrote:
I traded another ham in the area my Yaesu FT-857D for a 9-month-old
Yaesu FT-450 with the built-in autotuner. I like it very well, except
that I have not been able to get the FT-450 to talk with my PC using
either a serial cable straight to the PC or a known-good Radio Shack
USB-Serial converter. Programs I've tested with are the current versions
of MixW and HRD. Both still work with the Yaesu FT-897D I still have,
but not with the FT-450.

Has anyone else here had problems with CAT to/from a Yaesu FT-450? Has
anyone here got CAT working to/from a Yaesu FT-450?

My radio club has a working FT-450 CAT interface. I seem to remember
that we had to try the various options for Yaesu in HRD before finding
success. We use a straight through serial interface. There is also a
CAT program on the Yaesu website for the FT-450. We used it first to
verify the cable wiring before switching to HRD. I am not at the club
station, so can't tell you which Yaesu radio model made HRD work. If
you still have a problem, repost your response and I will have a club
member that lives closer, boot up the computer and print the settings.
Another club member has a personal FT-450 that is also working. This
model Yeasu definately is supported by HRD.

Tom


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Hi, Mike:
The most important factor is that you choose the correct cable to connect your FT450 to you computer. I have spoken to a number of hams and have witnessed on other sites comments that they have difficulty in connecting the radio to their computer. If you get the right DB9 to USB cable or DB9 to whatever your computer is looking for serial cable you should be in good shape. Just looking around, I see that most folks are using a DB9 to USB cable. I chose one that came with a small CD disk to drive the cable. In my mind, normally I would not need a disk to drive a cable - but what the little app did was match up the data from the correct pins. I saw some cables in the store that did not have all the pins in their DB9 connector. That might be OK in some applications, but I didn't know what the FT450 or HRD was exactly looking for - so I wanted all pins to be able to be activated.

Bottom line, my cable worked. I purchased my cable from a Fry's Electronics store in Concord, CA. There were 6-7 or more DB9 to USB cables that I could choose from (that was kind of amazing in and of itself). I fritz around for awhile, looking at the specifications on the packaging and chose one. The one I picked was not, incidentally, the most expensive one.

Inspect your cable and make sure that you are getting voltage out of the radio.

73,
Jim Siemons AF6PU

New-to-me Yaesu FT-450: CAT problems
 

Jim Siemons wrote in :

Hi, Mike:
The most important factor is that you choose the correct cable to
connect your FT450 to you computer. I have spoken to a number of hams
and have witnessed on other sites comments that they have difficulty in
connecting the radio to their computer. If you get the right DB9 to USB
cable or DB9 to whatever your computer is looking for serial cable you
should be in good shape. Just looking around, I see that most folks
are using a DB9 to USB cable. I chose one that came with a small CD
disk to drive the cable. In my mind, normally I would not need a disk
to drive a cable - but what the little app did was match up the data
from the correct pins. I saw some cables in the store that did not
have all the pins in their DB9 connector. That might be OK in some
applications, but I didn't know what the FT450 or HRD was exactly
looking for - so I wanted all pins to be able to be activated.

Bottom line, my cable worked. I purchased my cable from a Fry's
Electronics store in Concord, CA. There were 6-7 or more DB9 to USB
cables that I could choose from (that was kind of amazing in and of
itself). I fritz around for awhile, looking at the specifications on
the packaging and chose one. The one I picked was not, incidentally,
the most expensive one.

Inspect your cable and make sure that you are getting voltage out of
the radio.

The USB-to-Serial adapter is known good: it works with the FT-897D. But
with the FT-450, I have to use a longer serial cable, which I suspect. So,
oddly enough, that was going to be tonight's project: ohm the cable out,
then put the cable on the computer's serial port, put the scope probe in
the other end, and look for state changes as I change things in HRD and
MixW, and finally put the cable on the radio and look for state changes on
the computer's end of the cable as I tune.

--
The correct policy approach to a non-problem is to have the courage to do
nothing.
--Christopher Monckton

Follow this link, it will take care of you're cat problem. I have an FT 950 and had a similar issue. This cat cable resolved all issues at a minimal cost.

http://n5ztw.com/Yaesu.htm

This guy makes a cat cable that will address you're issue.

http://n5ztw.com/FT-450.htm