The Yaesu FT-60 is a popular V/U HT introduced by Yaesu in 2005. Recently I purchased one used and I wanted to program the memories from my computer. However the special cable was a sort of mistery: I could not find a clear description of it, with most hams eventually resorting to a manufactured one. I found that making one myself was quite simple and the project is described below.
The project
The data transfer to and from the HT uses the 3.5 mm audio connector. Only two wires are used: ground and data signal. The data transfer to the PC occurs via a virtual serial port, and an USB to RS232 TTL adaptor takes care of level conversion. I used an FTDI FT232 board that can be purchased for few euros. The schematic diagram is shown below. The 10 k resistor is connected to the 3.3 V contact on the board. The power is supplied by the USB cable connected to the computer. On the board side the cable must terminate in a Mini (not Micro) USB plug.
Schematic diagram of the programming cable.
The drivers for the board can be downloaded from the FTDI site. Similar boards using other chips can be used provided that the drivers are available for your operating system. Mine has been tested to work under Windows 10 using the CHIRP free software.
NOTE
The original schematic did not have the diode and the resistor. Dale 2W0ODS informed me (thank you) that they are necessary to insure protection of the radio circuitry.
The prototype
The prototype has been assembled without soldering: the few wires have been connected by simply twisting the leads together. To avoid tinkering with the mini jack I purchased a cable with the mini jack on one end and an USB A socket on the other. Then I plugged into it an USB A cable with the four wires stripped. I connected the DATA and GND wires to the pins of the FTDI adaptor. A USB Micro connector plugs into the adaptor. No power supply is needed, the power being supplied by the computer via the USB port.
