Are you having trouble getting your CAT interface to work? Read the guide below which will solve most problems. You can also download the instruction sheets that are supplied with my interfaces.
CAT Interface Trouble Shooting Guide
If you are having trouble getting your CAT interface to work, follow the simple steps below which will solve 99% of problems. The 9 pin D-Type Socket plugs into the RS-232 port of your PC and the CAT connector (a 3.5mm Jack for Icom or various Din Connectors for Yaesu) plug into the CAT/CI-V jack on your radio. It is important to remember that the interface utilises an RS-232 to TTL level shifter circuit and so requires power from your RS-232 port to function. On my interfaces, this is achieved by raising the "DTR" signal which the majority of Rig Control software allows you to do.
If you are having connection issues, start here.
1. Firstly, do you have your RS-232 port enabled in your PC's BIOS? Refer to your PCs documentation on how to get into the BIOS configuration screens and enable the serial port.
2. Are you using the correct RS-232 Com Port on your PC? Some PC's have more than one. Ham Radio Software usually allows you to choose which Com Port you use so ensure it is trying to access the same port that your interface is plugged into.
3. Do you have any other software running on your PC that is trying to use the Com Port as well as your chosen rig control package? If so, you need to close this application down beforehand.
4. Ensure that the RS-232 "DTR" Signal is raised to provide the interface with power. Most rig control software allows you to do this in the set up options. If you can't manually raise the DTR signal in the sofware, the interface will not work.
5. Icom Tranceivers use a Tranceiver addressing system. Your rig control software will, by default, assume your radio has it's factory default address. However, many radio's allow you to change their address in the rig configuration. Either ensure your radio is set to the default address or ensure your chosen rig control software uses the newly allocated address of the radio. You will not encounter this issue on Yaesu equipment as they do not use an addressing scheme.
6. Although some Icom and Yaesu radio's have fixed CAT communication baud rates, on many radios you can set the baud rate in the radio configuration. Ensure that your chosen rig control software is set to the same baud rate as your radio. Some software will "auto detect" the baud rate the radio is set to. My interfaces are designed to work at the highest baud rates the Icom and Yaesu radios support. I suggest you choose the highest baud rate possible as this ensures faster responses between your PC and the radio.
7. Hopefully, this will have solved 99% of problems. if you are still having connection problems, contact me via the Web Contact Form and I can get you to carry out some more checks on the physical functionality of the interface. These test can involve measuring the output voltage on the CAT connector to prove interface power or using the Serial Port Checker application (link below) to prove that the interface is working.
Icom and Yaesu CAT Interface Instruction Sheets
Click on the links below to download a PDF version of the Instruction sheets supplied with my interfaces.
Icom IC-Cable-1 Standard Icom CAT Interface
Icom IC-Cable-2 Icom CAT Interface with Hardware PTT
Icom IC-Cable-3 Icom CAT Interface with Hardware PTT (for IC-706, IC-718 and IC-78)
Icom IC-Cable-4 Icom CAT Interface for IC-R20
Yaesu FT-Cable-1
Yaesu FT-Cable-2
Yaesu FT-Cable-3
Yaesu FT-Cable-4
Software
A really useful little Serial Port Checker application with the ability to raise the DTR and RTS lines by menu option together with Tx Data and Rx Data windows.