FTM-300 Cat Control

[Blue_ice]

Anyone have cat control working? I called DigiRig and was told to order the 9600 baud cable set and RS-232 configuration. Audio in/out and PTT work but no CAT. When I try to access CAT my radio switches to transmit and gets stuck.

[K0TX]

In below thread @David_Barkes succeeded with the CAT control setup on FTM rig after resolving some issues.

Readout of FTM-6000 with YAESU miniDin10 &CAT cable gives 'Format error'

Connected green plug of YAESU DATA&CAT cable to serial socket of digirig. Started ADMS-13 SW and tried to readout FTM-6000. TRX goes into mode ‘CLN Tx’ as described. When RX is started in ADMS-13 and then the DIAL button on the TRX is pressed, ADMS-13 immediately says ‘Format Error’. On the TRX, the message ‘SND.ERR’ appears. The COM port on the PC is recognized properly and it is correctly set in ADMS-13. Tried several baud rates and with/without HW-handshake. No luck. Has anybody been success…

From what I’m finding online FTM-300 has a some CAT capabilities. Another potential source for configuration specifics is the user group for this transceiver model:

https://groups.io/g/FTM300/topics

[37137133713]

I have digirig mobile v 1.1 and have cat control issues with my ftm-300. My digirig board has 3 solder blobs on the row nearest the rs232 label and there are 3 open square copper pads near the cmos label.

I’m not sure whether I have a logic or rs232 setup- the video for modifying has a slightly different look (ver 1.9) than my 1.1

Please let me know how to proceed.

Thanks!

[K0TX]

It sounds like your Digirig Mobile is in RS-232 configuration so as far as electric levels are concerned, your unit should be able to communicate with the transceiver.

Please refer to the radio’s user manual to see what functions are supported via the serial port.

[37137133713]

I ordered another digirig and a new 9600 dr cable, the new digirig mobile is configured for rs232. It sort of works meaning that it will do everything except read and change frequencies on the ftm-300d.

Is there a way to configure to do frequency control? I’m using it with the DigiPi program on a raspberry pi. I have looked at all the relevant forum and Yaesu manual information but have come up empty handed.

[K0TX]

VFO synchronization with computer is a function of CAT control. Were you able to confirm in the user manual for the transceiver that serial CAT control is supported feature? From what I remember Yaesu FTM transceivers use the serial port for things like memory programming, GPS output, read-only TNC, but offer no CAT control.

[adl713]

You are exactly correct. Hardware/Protocol Limitation: The FTM-300DR’s rear DATA jack (6-pin MiniDIN) supports RS-232 serial at up to 9,600 baud, but it’s configured for one-way data output only (e.g., GPS NMEA sentences, APRS packet streams, or memory dumps). There is no documented bidirectional CAT protocol—no Yaesu command set (e.g., opcodes like “FA” for frequency set/read) exists for this model. Attempting to send CAT commands typically results in the radio interpreting the input as a PTT assertion, causing it to transmit unexpectedly instead of tuning.