[chirp_users] programming Yaesu FT2D

David Ranch
Mon Nov 14 09:37:33 PST 2016


Hello Bob,

> Clearly from the information posted to Yeasu's website the in-the-box
> supplied cable is a Prolific chipset. However, Yeasu appears to have
> tweaked the PID/VID to 'cripple' the cable and limit its use.

That's not correct.  The USB cable Yaesu provided for the FT2 is just a 
vanilla USB cable.  The VID:PID you're seeing is coming from the Yaesu 
FT2D radio itself.  I bet this is a MUXed USB chip (maybe similar to the 
CP-102) chips that can do multiple things (this is how say the Kenwood 
TS590SG works too).  That's just a guess and there is very little 
information out there on this port, how say the Camera MIC accessory 
works with it, etc.  Yaesu has not offered any details though people 
have been asking for years.


> Coming from ground zero, the radio and manual is daunting. There are a
> lot of nuances and frankly, the manual isn't well written, so I'm not
> surprised that I missed the difference between a 'data' cable and a
> 'programming' cable.

It's also a change in behavior as the FT1D didn't support direct USB 
connectivity for firmware updates like this.


> Late yesterday, I was able to figure out how to program it via uploading
> to the microSD card. But pulling the card out, loading the data to it,
> then putting the microSD card back into the FT2DR is extremely time
> consuming and inefficient. (And if not careful you can fat finger the
> microSD card and break it or the slot. I've had to use tweezers to pull
> the card out -- I can't get my fingers in grab the card.) The Yeasu
> ADMS-8 software appears to have limited functionality.

Yaesu provided a microSD card extration tool as part of the FT1D radio 
for this very reason (it's just a set of plastic tweasers).


> Programming via the radio UI is also possible, but slow and inefficient.
> But, I did 6 or 7 local repeaters yesterday.
>
> So my next question is does the list have a recommendation on a
> 'programming' cable that I should get?

Sounds like the RT Systems cable and software is your only option 
today.  Maybe in the future, someone will be willing to reverse engineer 
the FT2 programming signalling via the SCU-19 cable.  Btw, some time 
ago, RT Systems was recommending to write to the FT2 memories file to 
the SD card (via a USB card reader).  You would then upload to the radio 
via the SD import on the radio itself. They might have added support for 
the programming cable since then. I would reach out to them and see if 
that's still the case.

> Has anyone updated the firmware for either the FT1D or FT2D with the
> supplied cable? Any failures?

I've upgraded my FT1 with the SCU-19 cable w/o any issues.  It's 
critical you follow every step (must be connected to a power source), 
flipping the programming switch, etc.  The FT2 might be different so you 
need to read the instructions.

--David
KI6ZHD
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