Cables and things

[KC9AXZ]

Hello all, what happened to the days where radio manufacturers gave you schematics of the accessories? Last radios form Kenwood and Yaesu I bought gave simple diagrams of the accessory cables. Icom however just gives you a part number for their cable. Does anyone know where to locate info for the data cable and gps for a 80AD? I have a programming cable for the 80, but it appears the data cable may be different from the "cloning" cable. I'm also interested in making a gps cable for my digitraveler gps. Any direction is appreciated.

TNX

Jon KC9AXZ

[Ground Rod]

Have you been using D-Rats yet?   Several people logged on to D-Rats have files that they are glad to share.   If you ask they will gladly let you download their file from their shared folder on the desktop.   This would also be good practice doing a low speed data contact over your radio or the rats reflector.   I would suggest going the rat reflector route first.   When you get on just ask if anyone has that file.

[KB3MHB]

DSTAR,

Now that the local "dstar" repeater supports 2 meter traffic and I'm on the internet gateway. I'm thinking about buying a "garmin" gps18 pc hockey puck and installing it. That way the xyl can locate her car while I have my rig in it. I have a cloning cable "OPC-478" with a "data" jack on one end and a (DB-9 female) connector on the other,works great. The manual indicates that the jack "tip" TxD connects to pin 3 of the connector and the "ring" RxD middle portion connects to pin 2 and the "base" GND connects to pin 5. I would like to use this cable to connect to the "gps". However I look at K5TIT web site and they indicate that pins 2 and 3 should be reversed "null modem" to connect to a gps. Confused TxD to Txd and Rxd to RxD or reversed. Not sure which is correct ,however, can buy a 9 pin "null modem" connector and still use the clone cable. After I get it installed I guess I can check it out by looking at "jFindu" hi.

Bert M. Thompson KB3MHB/O

[KB3MHB]

DSTAR,

Follow up; well all bets are off. I thought since I'll be using the the "cloning cable" OPT-478 to connect to a "gps" I should verify the connections. Well there are only two (2) wires in the cable and they connect to a circuit board inside the rs232c connector shell. The "ring" middle portion RxD? of the jack connects to the pc board and "base" GND pin 5 connects to the pcboard; rs232 pins 2 and 3 are isolated by the circuit board. Also the IC-2200H manual also appears to have mislabled the data and speaker jacks! I think I'll hold off on buying the "gps" hockey puck until I can figure out what's going on.

Bert M. Thompson KB3MHB/O 73 ps: trust but verify!

[KB3MHB]

Dstar/GPS/Cable,

Well after talking to the ICOM tech rep. I now have the answer to the "gps" cable question. ICOM  sells the cloning cable "OPC-478" with serial connector which is buffered and not documented in the manual and it plugs into the speaker jack. go figure. If one wants to connect a "pc" or "gps" a cable has to be built using the "schematic" on page 5 of the manual. After building the cable it is then plugged into the data jack. Now I have to figure out if the levels from the "gps" or "pc" will be the correct levels. Sure hope I don't have to buffer the rs232 tx and rx signals. Well I'm off to radio shack or "THE SHACK" to buy 2.5mm jack and a 9pin female rs232 connector and see if I can communicate with the rig via my pc. If that works will buy the hockey puck. Details Details the devil is in the details.

Bert M. Thompson KB3MHB/0

[KB3MHB]

Dstar,

Well the quest goes on "can you hear me now" NO.
I went down to the local "SHACK" only one in the store and purchased the necessary parts to build the data cable. Did a nice job and braided the three wires red, black, and green. Downloaded "dchat" software brought the software up and then setup the IC2200H powered down the rig and clicked "connect" in dchat and powered up the rig. Well displayed on the the screen was the ver. date and ready! Not bad for starter I thought so I tried sending a message ,however, the rig did not transmit. So checked the rig setting and "ATX" was on. Well I then set "ATX" off and used the "PTT" to send the message. Not sure where it went and also not sure why the rig did not transmit using dchat.

The quest goes on "can you hear me now" NO!!!

Bert M. Thompson KB3MHB/0 ps: starting to think ICOM, DSTAR are a self licking ice cream cone!

[n5ebw]

On the 2200H, the tip goes to pin 3, ring to pin 2, and ground goes to pin 5:

http://www.n5zpr.com/Media/icom_cables.pdf

I've successfully made that work before.

[KB3MHB]

ERIC,

Thanks for the information,however, the cable was built correctly thanks to this site and others. The problem, which took a week to solve, was my IC2200H would not transmit with the data cable installed running "dchat" or "drats" and "ATX" on. Well the solution to the problem was to rotate the squelch knob clockwise past 12 o'clock.
Now the rig transmits with both chat programs and I can move on to installing a "Garmin gps 18-pc" hockey puck which will require a "null" modem in the cable. Then the xyl will be able to find her car when I have my rig installed hi.

Bert M. Thompson KB3MHB/0 baby sitting the grand kids in Denver