Messages

1

General discussion forum / Re: FT8900 and proper settings

« on: 2013-05-24, 03:20:21 »

Hi Tom (and Mike)
Tom, see my post under the heading:
FT-8800 + Remoterig 1258 MKII-S not functional for long term use
I just reported my success with the FT-8900; but I also have the flicker happening on the 8900.  Audio is never affected - TX or RX, so no big deal to me but I do wonder why this is happening?  It is variable - some times it does it almost constantly and other times it does not do it at all.  Just thought that I would let you know about this.
Bill, N4TIC

2

General discussion forum / Re: FT-8800 + Remoterig 1258 MKII-S not functional for long term use

« on: 2013-05-24, 03:08:46 »

Hello again Everyone
I returned the FT-8800 and got an FT-8900.  I did this on Monday before Dayton (then went to Dayton - Thur thru Sunday).  I did not want to post my opinion until I had a few days of operation and experience with the new 8900.  I am happy to say that the 8900 is working perfectly so far.  I do notice that the screen flickers some times; other times it stays steady.  This was reported in a recent post - Mike, you responded to this.  The good news is that the TX and RX audio is never affected by the flicker; so I guess this is not a problem and does not bother me.  So, bottomline, the 8900 is the charm for the remoterig.  Mike, thanks for testing the 8800 and for confirming the issue that we found with the 8800.  This is all part of Ham Radio and our community of sharing and helping.  So the key is that we have solved the problem and are getting out the word that there is a problem with use of the 8800 with the remoterig.  No ones fault for sure!! Yaesu does not design the radio to work with the remoterig.  Mike, you guys are doing all that you can to figure out how to make lots of rigs work with the remoterig.  The important thing to me is that you (Mike) are constantly engaged and respond to these issues almost daily; so thanks for your concern and committment to making things right.  If anyone has any questions for me after reading these posts, please let me know; I am happy to try to help.
Bill, N4TIC 

3

General discussion forum / Re: FT-8800 + Remoterig 1258 MKII-S not functional for long term use

« on: 2013-05-08, 15:23:05 »

Hi Mike
Thanks for your quick test of the 8900 and response here on the forum.  We all appreciate your committment to the equipment, this forum and my personal emails to you recently.  We all talk about this in a positive way.
So this is very interesting that the "lockup" did not occur with the 8900.  Now I am wondering if I have a firmware version on this particular 8800 that is causing the problem.  I am hoping that someone reading this forum has an 8800 will try this also?? Please try this if you have one.  It is no problem resetting the radio after the lockup, so please try it if you have one and report back to us.  If it is a firmware issue then I may be able to get an older firmware version from Yaesu for my 8800... maybe.  So I may hold off a bit on trading in the 8800 for a Kenwood.....
I am planning to buy either a Kenwood TM-D710A or possibly a TM-V71A.  Mike, do you know if the settings in the Remoterig manual for the TM-D710A will work for the TM-V71A?  It is my understanding that the only difference between the two is the faceplate; the radio is identical (at least that is my understanding).  Any help on this from the readers of this forum will be most welcome.  And Thanks!
PS: I think I read that you will not be at Dayton next week      Will any of you guys be there?  If so let us know.  Thanks.
73, Bill, N4TIC

4

General discussion forum / Re: FT-8800 + Remoterig 1258 MKII-S not functional for long term use

« on: 2013-05-06, 18:39:40 »

Thank you Mike. We are very interested in knowing if this problem happens with the FT-8900 and the FT-7800. 
Also, all readers - please note that I meant to say - We would also be very interested if you can duplicate this problem in the FT-8900 or FT-7800 (not FT-8700, duh)? Please follow the steps precisely to replicate the problem. Thanks for any inputs.
I posted these problems on the Yahoo Groups forum and have searched extensively for others having problems like this with the FT-8800.  We are pretty perplexed and surprised that this has not been reported before.  But, it is what it is with this brand new FT-8800R that I bought in January 2013.  It is easy to duplicate the problem.  So I am going to be watching this site for others that try this and report back to us.  Thanks so much!
Also, my plans are now to purchase a Kenwood TM-D710A for use with the Remoterig set.  Any comments on this arrangement will be welcome too.  I plan to buy it from HRO in about a week.
73, Bill, N4TIC

5

General discussion forum / FT-8800 + Remoterig 1258 MKII-S not functional for long term use

« on: 2013-05-06, 16:49:51 »

I developed the document below that describes the problem and how to simulate/duplicate the problem.  After 4 months of struggling with this problem we finally figured out the problem.  We will welcome any comments from the Remoterig guys and readers of this forum.  We would also be very interested if you can duplicate this problem in the FT-8900 or FT-8700?  Please follow the steps below precisely to replicate the problem.  Thanks for any inputs. 

Bill Kline, N4TIC:
I have the Remoterig  1258 MKII-S Set and the Yaesu FT-8800R dual band 2M/440 radio.  We have had issues with this setup from the beginning and have been baffled until now.  We are now sure that there is a compatibility problem between the FT-8800 and the Remoterig.  The only way that this can be fixed is with a firmware change in the FT-8800.  Without this change, the FT-8800 paired with the Remoterig  1258 MKII-S Set is not functional for long term use.  The following is how to simulate the problem with the FT-8800 and a description of what happens when the system becomes “locked up” and nonfunctional.

How to simulate FT-8800 issue with Remoterig.  You do not need the Remoterig boxes to make this happen; you can simulate the problem with the FT-8800 alone. 
Follow these directions:
1.   Connect FT-8800 faceplate to the FT-8800 radio – you can use the separation cable or the short (4 inch long) connector.
1.   Connect the power cord from the radio to a power supply (13.8V).  Depending on the last state that the radio was in, it will either come on or you may need to press the power-on button to turn on the radio.  The faceplate will come on and the radio will be functional/normal.
2.   Leave the radio turned on – ie, faceplate is on.   Disconnect the power from the radio – ie, disconnect the 13.8V supply.  The faceplate will turn off. 
3.   Disconnect the separation cable or short connector between the faceplate and the radio; remember there is no power going to the radio.
4.   Connect the power cord from the radio to the power supply (13.8V); remember the faceplate is not connected to the radio.
5.   With power (13.8V) still connected to the radio; connect FT-8800 faceplate to the FT-8800 radio – you can use the separation cable or the short (4 inch long) connector.
6.   Push the power button on the faceplate.  The radio will not come on.  It is locked up.

Now, leave the faceplate connected to the radio.  Disconnect the power to the radio and leave it disconnected for about 10 seconds.  Re-connect power to the radio.  The faceplate will come on and the radio will power on and be normal again.
Here is the problem.  When connected through the Remoterig boxes, as long as there is always power to the radio side and power to the faceplate side; all works fine.   However, if power is lost to the radio side while it is powered on, you are left in the situation of #3 above.  In other words, the radio goes off, the connection between the radio and the face plate (thru the Remoterig boxes and over the internet); and this causes the faceplate to turn off.  Even though the faceplate still has supplied power on its side; because the radio is now off the faceplate goes off too.  It does this because the radio side has lost power.
Because the connection between the faceplate and radio has been lost, this is the same as situation #4 above.  The “separation cable” which is really the connection from Control Remoterig box, over the internet, to the Radio side Remoterig box.  You are then in a catch 22.  When power is restored to the radio – situation #5 above, there is no connection between faceplate and radio over the internet because that connection no longer exists.
Then, when you try to power the faceplate on going thru the Remoterig boxes over the internet, you are now doing items #6 & 7 above.   The faceplate tries to connect to the radio but it is already connected to power as in situations #6 & 7 above so the radio will not come on.

The only way to fix this is to physically bring the faceplate to the radio; disconnect power to the radio; connect faceplate to the radio.  Wait about 10 seconds.  Connect power to the radio.  Faceplate and radio will come on.  Then it will work over the internet again until the above – loss of power to the radio side occurs again.  Then another trip to bring the faceplate and radio together is needed to reset the system.

Looking at the schematic for the FT-8800.  The RJ12 Modular Plug on the radio chassis has 6 conductors, labeled 1 thru 6.  Pin 2 on the radio chassis (Pin 5 on the front panel output)  is labeled Power SW; pin 4 on the chassis  (pin 3 on the front panel cable) ) is labeled GND.  Under normal operation, Power SW is pulled up to +5V relative to GND.  When you push the power-on button on the faceplate, the logic signal Power SW  is grounded, causing the power-on state to toggle.  This is what powers the radio and faceplate on.  What is different from normal, in situation #6 & 7 above, is that there is no longer 5V present on pin 5 (RJ12 Modular Plug on the radio).  It makes sense that the Remoterig box is trying to ground pin 5 to pin 3 on the radio but it has no effect.  Just like there is no effect in #7 above because 5V is not present on pin 5.
======================
The following is some more background during our discussions – Jim, AB4CZ with Bill, N4TIC:
I suspect that when you power on the radio (apply 12 Volts to the radio, not the "power switch") the main body of the radio powers up for a couple of seconds and queries the front panel.  If it doesn't find a front panel, it shuts down.  That's the only way I can see that the rig doesn't have a logic high on the Power SW pin on the front panel interface connector. In other words, if the front panel isn't attached when the power is applied to the radio, the radio doesn't ever power up and can't respond to signals at the front panel connector.  Apparently the Remoterig can't connect to the radio unless it is powered on, so we have a Catch 22.  Remoterig can't identify the radio unless it's powered on, and the radio can't power on unless Remoterig is connected and communicating with the front panel.