FTM-500D DigiRig recommended setup?

1

I’m considering a FTM-500 and I wanted to get some clarification around options and find out about variants of the DigiRig and cables.

The 500 can’t do cat control right?

If I want to do faster speeds on VARA FM then I need this right?
Cable: Yaesu FTM MiniDin10 Cable – digirig
DR: https://digirig.net/product/digirig-mobile/?attribute_cat-config=RS-232

If i got with that setup it should still do 1200 packet stuff right like APRS and BBS connections?

Part2:
If I have the default DigiRig and don’t care about faster speeds, then i can get the cables above just the 1200 version?

What do you owners recommend?

I appreciate any advice from the group!

73,
Russell, KV4S

2

Owners will comment, but in the meantime, you can review this thread and the settings presented:

73 Constrainted

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Hi @KV4S:

I have two FTM-500DR’s and have used them both for 1200 bps packet/VARA FM at 1200 and 9600 bps, with the DigiRig Mobile.

  1. No CAT control with the 500 (only seems to be HF that supports CAT in my experience);

  2. You’re correct on the cable you’ve linked to if you wish to use 9600 bps tx/rx;

  3. The signaling levels (RS-232, Logic, or CI-V) of the DR Mobile won’t affect your set-up, as you don’t need to connect to the serial jack on the DR Mobile. If you have another radio that does CAT, and wish to use your DR Mobile with that radio as well, get the signaling configuration for the radio with CAT.

That’s what I’ve done… I use my two CI-V signaling DR Mobiles with DR factory cables with my FTM-500DR (no CAT), ICOM IC-7000 (has HF only CAT Control), and my HT’s (no CAT).

The caveat is DO NOT connect the serial plug of the cable from the radio into the serial jack of the DR Mobile, if the signaling is not the same as the radio’s - Only connect the audio to the DR Mobile.

I’ve gone as far as putting an unterminated female TRRS jack onto the serial male TRRS plug coming from the radio, so I can’t accidently plug it into the DR Mobile;

  1. Yes, a 9600 bps DR Mobile cable works just fine with 1200 bps connections too;

  2. The 1200 bps version of the cable will only work for 1200 bps connections; and

  3. On the FTM-500 I run the 9600 bps cable (without the serial plug connected the the DR Mobile jack), and make VARA FM Wide and Narrow connections, and 1200 bps packet connections routinely. There are not any 9600 bps packet nodes near me, so I can’t comment on that.

I like having the option of either 9600 bps or 1200 bps node connections, and if you have a registered version of VARA FM the transfer speeds are down right fun to watch the fast bps rates.

That being said, if you’re only transferring email with Winlink, the file size limit of Winlink is so small that VARA FM never gets a chance to ramp the speed up.

Steve VE7IIF

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Hey Steve,

Very good news!
so, if i read that right, you’re saying I couldn’t go wrong getting the 9600 cables and I shouldn’t need the RS-232 varient of the DigiRig, correct?

As far as working operation.
Can I do my packet stuff on the B band and make it the selected band for TX and still have my A band in scan mode?
If i want to talk on A i need to make sure i turn off anything that might trigger a TX that was meant for the B band stuff?

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You are correct about not going wrong with the 9600 cable, and no need for RS-232 variant. You can change the signaling levels of the DR Mobile on its circuit board if you need to, so not really an issue regardless:

Click here for details Understanding Rig Control Options – digirig

Band A and Band B Interactions and Data Modes:

To clarify for those who are not familiar with this radio; Yaesu also uses the term “Band” to refer to the two transceivers of this radio; Band A and Band B refer to these individual transceivers.

They are not referring to what I would normally expect the term to mean. To many, band tends to mean frequency band; e.g. VHF.

With this radio you can run Band A and Band B as VHF/VHF, VHF/UHF, UHF/VHF or UHF/UHF simultaneously, because of the two transceivers.

  1. Not that you’ve asked specifically, but for interest, while using the FTM-500’s built-in APRS MODEM on one Band, you can scan on the other, or use the other Band for non-packet at the same time;

  2. Yes: Using external packet with DR Mobile will work the same as the built-in APRS; i.e. you can be doing packet on one Band, while scanning or using the other Band for non-packet; and

  3. No: You do not have to turn anything “off” per se if you’re running packet data on one Band, and talking on the other.

Now to qualify item 3… If both Band A and Band B are on the same band (confused yet :wink:) like VHF/VHF or UHF/UHF, the FTM-500 will blank the receive of Band A, only when/if Band B is transmitting, or vice versa. This is to protect the Band’s receiver from being overloaded by the transmit of the other Band, both being in the same band.

So in practice: If you’re in a long session connected to a packet node (just monitoring is not really affected) while both Bands are in the same band (e.g. VHF/VHF), the constant toggling of transmit/receive of the Band running packet will blank the receive of the other Band, making a QSO challenging, and the packet node connection miss received packets when you transmit in the QSO…

I run the built-in APRS (and external Winlink Express via DR Mobile) on VHF, Band B, and it’s quite usable when Band A is also on VHF. When I send Winlink, I’m interacting with the software, and the e-mail session is over quite quickly (more so with VARA FM**), so again, quite usable in practice.

However, the good news: If Band A and Band B are in different bands, such as VHF/UHF, then receiver blanking does not occur, and both bands can operate without interruption.

The operators who like satellite/Space Station modes like this feature, as they can monitor the downlink on one Band, on the downlink band, While their transmit occurs on the other Band, on the uplink band, as these bands are not the same; i.e. they are VHF/UHF.

The FTM-500 is fully configurable via the set-up menus as to how you want to handle packet data, on which Band(s).

Now, you, and everyone else who read the entire response, will have the word “band”, stuck in the brain for the next week :rofl:

Steve VE7IIF

**I have been very impressed with VARA’s software MODEMs, and if you think you’ll being doing any Winklink Express on VHF/UHF or HF, it’s been worth it to me to have paid the one time fee to register/unlock the full speed.

I seldom use conventional packet on any band because of how slow it is in comparison. A registered version of VARA allows Winlink use on any/all bands, and keyboard to keyboard comms on any/all bands. I’m not affiliated with VARA in any way - only a customer who is very impressed.

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Thanks Steve, that clears up my thoughts with the 500.
I think I’m good at this point. If i move forward with the radio sounds like I’ll have a lot of reading to do :slight_smile:

The UI looks like a fairly significant difference from previous models especially around the top and bottom “Bands”/“VFOs” whatever it’s called hi hi.

Thanks for taking time to explain this!

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My pleasure.

I’ve not owned a Yaesu before, and had seen many YouTubes and write-ups complaining about the menus of the FTM-500.

Once I spent some time with it, with the manual for reference, I don’t find the menus an issue once I learned them and could see the thinking behind them. There are a lot of menus though!

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I love how the FT-5 has memory banks/groups does the 500 continue with this feature?

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Sadly no. Many have called for it, but Yaesu hasn’t “fixed” it. I’d like it myself.

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