Digirig v1.9 will not trigger PTT using cm108 nor COM port in Dire Wolf, other software

I’m posting this in hopes someone can help me debug a peculiar issue I have. I have two DigiRig v1.9: one I purchased brand new from the site and works great which I use in my truck with a Kenwood TM-V71A and rPi 3 B+ running direwolf, and another I picked up used from someone on hamshack.ca with the Yaesu FT8xx cables which I pair with another TM-V71a I also bought used (and confirmed in perfect working condition).

The used DigiRig I purchased works great for receiving audio however when it comes to trying to get PTT to work with the serial port in software, it has been a multi-month nightmare of testing and pulling my hair out.

I have tested with two different radios (both TM-V71A, same firmware version) and also a Yaesu FT5DR, and I get incredibly strange behaviour that I cannot explain with one of my TM-V71A: when Direwolf attempts to key up the PTT, the radio beeps a bunch like a menu selection beep and it never actually seems to key up. With the other TM-V71A radio it doesn’t beep and doesn’t attempt to key up, and with the FT5DR it also does not attempt to key up.

Other data points: I am using cables purchased from the site for each of these radios, not homebrew cables, even swapped cables between radios to no avail.

Any help would be appreciated!

Just a heads up that the serial cable in FT-8xx kit is different from serial cable in TM-V71A kit.
If you use PTT by CAT, that can be the reason.

Before diving into CAT control you should be able to get audio in, audio out and PTT (by RTS) with just audio cable connected (same between FT-8xx and TM-V71A).

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Thanks @K0TX, I’m not using the CAT cable but rather the audio cable to the DATA port in the TM-V71A. I have a development in the mystery though! After some fiddling with cables I was finally able to get the DigiRig to key up the PTT using the COM port but I had to have the cable at a very specific orientation which makes me think that the cable is buggered and I’ll need to get a new one at some point. But, using a zip tie I’m able to keep it connected in the orientation that it works in, so for now it will be used for one very specific purpose and not in the field like I had hoped.

Brandon,
Thank you for the update. You can use continuity tester to check all connections in the cable. If there is an issue I’ll replace the cable.

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