FT-450D firmware flashing using Digirig?

1

I just got a “new” (well, new to me) Yaesu FT-450D. I’ve ordered a Digirig Mobile RS-232 version, coiled USB A to C cable, and the TS-480 cables from DX Engineering (cool that they now sell Digirig products) which should arrive next week.

I just found that my radio still has firmware version 0211 and the latest is 0244. The 450D uses a DB9F RS-232CAT connector that also serves for programming. and firmware updates by flipping a switch on the radio.

Since computers now are all USB and no longer have DB9 serial ports, would I need to buy an adapter cable (DB9 to USB and RS-232 to TTL) to update the firmware or can I use the Digirig setup?

2

It sounds like you should be able to use RS-232 serial interface in Digirig Mobile for the firmware update. Please give it a try and report your results.

3

I can confirm the Digirig Mobile RS-232 version works on a FT-450D. I am also interested to see if a firmware update works through the cable. My bet is that it will work.

N1SPW

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4

Well, it doesn’t work with my setup. While Digirig and cables will probably do the job, the problem is my Windows 10 machine runs as a guest operating system on a Linux host PC and I can’t get VirtualBox to seamlessly present the serial port to Windows.

I plan to get a new, faster computer soon which will have Windows 11 preinstalled. I’ll have to wait until then and see if I can do the firmware flash in a native Windows environment (first I’ll make sure I can get WSJT-X running in Windows including rig control, and if that works I’ll know I have serial port connectivity with the radio, then I can do the FW flash then get that horrible operating system off of my new computer. :slight_smile: ) I’ll follow up when that’s done.

Meanwhile the RS-232 Digirig Mobile and TS-480 cables work great for FT8 on my FT-450D which is actually what I originally bought them for, so there’s that.

5

I was able to make a Windows To Go bootable Win11 USB today and flash my firmware from 0211 to 0244 today, using the Digirig Mobile as the RS-232 to USB TTL converted/adapter, so yeah, it works! :grinning_face:

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