OPC-478
About
OPC-478
As described on the Cloning
page, the OPC-478 cable interconnects your IC-R10 and your PC. The OPC-478
cable has a 9-pin D-sub connector on one end, and a 3,5 mm jack plug on
the other. The D-sub connector connects to a 9-pin serial port on your
PC whereas the jack plug goes (originally) into the earphone socket of
your IC-R10.
Inside the D-sub connector a small circuit is built that converts the TTL-level data on the IC-R10's side to the RS232C-levels on the PC's side. Please note that the 3,5 mm jack plug and the earphone socket are stereo versions. One channel is used for audio and one for cloning data transfer.
Technically, the OPC-478
is the same as the CT-17 level converter. All it does is transforming voltage
levels. Since the OPC-478 is powered from the PC's serial port the number
of iCOM radio's that can be controlled is limited. The CT-17 on the other
hand has an external power supply. Nevertheless, you can use your OPC-478
for controlling your unit using CI-V codes in exactly the same way as you
would when using the CT-17. This requires one small modification, which
is described elsewhere on this page.
Circuit
If you know how to handle a
soldering iron, you can build your own OPC-478 interface (or CT-17 level
converter). Here is the diagram:
These components should all
fit into the 9-pin D-sub connector.
Modification
ICOM has made a distinction
between the connections of the earphone (cloning) socket on top of your
unit and the CI-V connector on the side: the left and right channels are
swapped. You can modify this in two ways:
- open the 9-pin D-sub connector and swap the channel leads for L and R
- build a small cable with a male and female (stereo!) plug and make sure L and R are swapped
Alternative
An email message was received from
Keith Kirkwood (USA) in which he mentions an alternative to soldering yourself:
available at Radio Shack, catalog number 274-368C is a "Headphone adapter".
It adapts a 1.8" (3.5 mm) stereo plug to fit a 1.8" (3.5 mm) mono jack.
Its price: US$ 2.09 incl. tax. Keith, thanks very much for your tip!
2
Component Cloning & CI-V Cable
This web site link (from SteveNet) has the information on how to build a 2 component cloning & CI-V cable for the IC-R10: http://stevenet.freehosting.net/icom/
Transceiver-to-Computer
Interface Cables
LCU-3 cable: http://www.sarrio.com/sarrio/w1gee.html
Yaesu
ADMS interface works with R10
Les Butler from MI. provided the following information:
The programming interface that comes with the Yaesu ADMS software for programming Yaesu Amateur radios works on the R-2 and R-10 Icoms. You'll need a mono adapter for the Icom but it works fine. The Icom R-2 works ok with either the 3 ring cord or two ring ADMS cord.
Last updated January 18, 2000