After some deliberation I decided to purchase a venerable old FT-736R; just the basic 144/432 radio plus CTCSS board. surprising even the AC PS is working.
I had initially thought about buying a good dual-band FM mobile but costs would have been $350. I'm getting the FT-736R for $550. Of course this provides multi-mode capability and satellite operation.
My question is what I will need to run the radio from SatPC32 on a computer with only USB ports *XP32 OS? Does the radio need a special I/F for computer control?
I'm hoping to have my antennas back in service this summer (YaseuB5400 with 2M7 yagi and 436CP26). I have an old Unitrac-2000 which I will try to make work for both auto-tune and auto-track. Probably be like a newby when I get back on - its been a long time off the sats (2002).
73, Ed - KL7UW http://www.kl7uw.com "Kits made by KL7UW" Dubus Mag business: dubususa@gmail.com
Yes you need to convert the USB to serial and then the serial to TTL levels. There are versions of the cable available for sale for about $20 that do both conversions in one go. Search for FT-736 TTL.
I used a USB to serial cable like this: http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Serial-RS-232-Adapter-Chipset/dp/B006AA04K0?ie...
Then I built a small TTL level converter in a diecast box and fed it to a din connector. But that was mostly because I had the connector, box and needed components in the junk box. So it was "free".
Note that there are cheaper USB to Serial cables that do not use the genuine FTDI chipset and do not work as well.
Chris
On Fri, May 20, 2016 at 3:58 PM, Edward R Cole kl7uw@acsalaska.net wrote:
After some deliberation I decided to purchase a venerable old FT-736R; just the basic 144/432 radio plus CTCSS board. surprising even the AC PS is working.
I had initially thought about buying a good dual-band FM mobile but costs would have been $350. I'm getting the FT-736R for $550. Of course this provides multi-mode capability and satellite operation.
My question is what I will need to run the radio from SatPC32 on a computer with only USB ports *XP32 OS? Does the radio need a special I/F for computer control?
I'm hoping to have my antennas back in service this summer (YaseuB5400 with 2M7 yagi and 436CP26). I have an old Unitrac-2000 which I will try to make work for both auto-tune and auto-track. Probably be like a newby when I get back on - its been a long time off the sats (2002).
73, Ed - KL7UW http://www.kl7uw.com "Kits made by KL7UW" Dubus Mag business: dubususa@gmail.com
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participants (2)
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Chris Thompson -
Edward R Cole