I just acquired a Yaesu FT 840 transceiver with AT 10 matching tuner… In superb shape… And am eager to see how it performs on digital modes… Ultimately, it could end up dedicated to Winlink HF or even an RMS gateway component…but first, I need to get it on the air…
I am wondering which cables to order as well as another Digirig Mobile (pre-configured jumpers) so that I can get started… Anyone with ft840 experience that would be willing to share experiences would also be very welcome…
Thanx in advance…
AllaN0KFO
Looking at the picture of the back panel we see a bunch of MiniDin sockets:
Normally that would suggest you can just go with Yaesu FT-8xx cable kit, but MiniDin6 socket which is normally “audio” is labeled CAT and MiniDin8 socket which is usually used for CAT is labeled “band data”.
From at least three other sources found online (see below) it looks like the audio for digital modes is typically collected from the mic connector in front and RCA connector in the back. This means that you’ll need a custom homebrew cable.
I also contacted one of the operators who reported using this radio with Digirig, hopefully he chimes in on this.
As @K0TX mentioned, you’ll need a special cable. I have the FT-840. I haven’t tried connecting it to a DigiRig, but I can confirm it works with a Signalink using special cable made for the microphone input and Ext SP jack in the back. CAT control works with a standard cat to USB cable, although it was a real pain getting that configured. CAT control doesn’t work for all software. But it’s not a big deal to manually tune to the needed frequency. Since the Signalink and DigiRig are both basically sound cards, I imagine it should work fine if you get the ride cables. Check hammadeparts.com - they custom build cables.
Good luck!, Mark, KM6ZPO
Thanx guys… I really appreciate the info… I’ll let you know how I fare…
AllaN0KFO