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By Richard G. Johnson,
AE3C
26 August 2003
. . . Theory
The FT-817 can be programmed for different countries,
personalities, and characteristics by writing logical values to the rig's
EEPROM ("electrically erasable programmable read-only memory"). When the
rig is treated to a master reset, the rig reads the logical values set by
the hardware jumpers, or "solder blobs." On master reset, the rig writes
these values to an "address" on the EEPROM, namely 0x04 & 0x05. The
Softjump software "modification" sets the same bits that the solder blobs
would set, by writing to the same address on the EEPROM, but without the
master reset. Since the values set by Softjump are the same as those which
would be read by the solder blobs, the Softjump modification results in
the same modification to the rig that the solder blob mod produces. After
a Softjump manipulation has been applied, it will take effect upon the
next power-up, and a subsequent master reset will overwrite the Softjump
settings, returning the rig to the solder-blob
settings.
. . . DOS
Program
The Softjump (DOS) program
requires a CAT cable, a computer, and can be found at:
<
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FT817/files/softjump.zip
>
. . .
Settings
Set CAT to 38400 (Menu
14)
Run " ft.exe " from a DOS window to read (make a note of it) the
current value
Turn ARS off (see below)
Run " ft F8 BF " to write to
the EEPROM
Please use < F8 BF >
< 00 00 > also opens the
radio but results in the loss of VHF-Low
(6-meters)
. . .
ARS
Repeater offsets (Automatic
Repeater Shift) are country specific, so setting the FT-817 as "a rig
without a country" removes the offset function. I found that the rig began
to use a 100 KHz negative offset on every frequency until I turned the 144
ARS on (Menu #1) and the 430 ARS on (Menu #2) with the ARS set to 0.00MHz
(Menu #42). I then entered the specific repeater offsets as custom values
in memory channels.
. . .
Author
Peter, VK2IT (previously
VK2JCG). The difference between VK2IT and VK2JCG is VK2JCG was Peter's
call a couple of weeks ago when he was only 5WPM CW, but now he has passed
10WPM and has upgraded to a full license and callsign
VK2IT.
. . . Actualization
History
26 August 2003: Read current
data from EEPROM gives: < CE BF >
" ft F8 BF " successful
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