[Yaesu] CAT interfaces on FM rigs?

[David Willmore]

> I have an FT-212RH that has some CAT capability that I bought in 1992.
> But by the time I bought my FT-5100 in 1993, it had no CAT capability,
> although it has a clone capability.  I've noticed that the later models
> do have a clone capability as well which is most likely just a binary
> memory dump as I've not seen it documented anywhere.

I've worked with the VX-1R and its clone mode is just a memory dump as you
say.  The receiver echo's the characters back and does a checksum on the
dump.  If it's good, it takes it, if not, it displays an error message.
It's useless for control as it requires a button press on the radio and
doesn't allow *control* of the rig. :(

> That leaves it up to you to reverse engineer things or find someone who
> has.  However, I'm guessing the rig would just dump its memory contents
> which isn't the same as CAT.  Also, I think a specific button sequence
> would need to be pressed, which pretty much obviates this capability for
> your purpose.

I'm thinking the mic interface on my FT-8500 might work.  The interface
box would have to implement the user interface.  It'd then direct
keyboard entry the frequency the radio.  It might not be an idea method,
but, meh.  What is?

> The only other option is an FT-100(D) or an FT-857 which are CAT
> capable.  But, you said you didn't want to buy more radios...

:)  True, I'd like to avoid *more* stuff lying around the house. :)
I'd rather take better advantage of the junk I have. :)  If I do this,
I'll probably just dump the FT-1500 in there as I have the feeling 
its mic interface is simpler (fewer buttons and *no* knobs).

> 73, de Nate >>

Thanks, Nate.

Cheers,
David N0YMV