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    Kenwood 900mhz Programming Cable

    Uploaded by

    emulatorman
    The document describes how to build a homemade programming cable to reprogram Kenwood TK-9x1 series radios to operate in the 900MHz amateur band. It can be built for around $5 using a modular phone cable, LM78L05 voltage regulator, MAX232 chip to convert TTL serial to RS-232, and connectors to interface with a computer. The cable allows programming the radios through their 6-pin modular connector by converting the radio's 0-5V serial signals to the ±9V needed for RS-232. Instructions are provided on identifying the necessary radio pinouts and wiring the components to build the cable.

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    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Kenwood 900mhz Programming Cable

    Uploaded by

    emulatorman
    262 views2 pages
    The document describes how to build a homemade programming cable to reprogram Kenwood TK-9x1 series radios to operate in the 900MHz amateur band. It can be built for around $5 using a modular phone cable, LM78L05 voltage regulator, MAX232 chip to convert TTL serial to RS-232, and connectors to interface with a computer. The cable allows programming the radios through their 6-pin modular connector by converting the radio's 0-5V serial signals to the ±9V needed for RS-232. Instructions are provided on identifying the necessary radio pinouts and wiring the components to build the cable.

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    The document describes how to build a homemade programming cable to reprogram Kenwood TK-9x1 series radios to operate in the 900MHz amateur band. It can be built for around $5 using a modular phone cable, LM78L05 voltage regulator, MAX232 chip to convert TTL serial to RS-232, and connectors to interface with a computer. The cable allows programming the radios through their 6-pin modular connector by converting the radio's 0-5V serial signals to the ±9V needed for RS-232. Instructions are provided on identifying the necessary radio pinouts and wiring the components to build the cable.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    262 views2 pages

    Kenwood 900mhz Programming Cable

    Uploaded by

    emulatorman
    The document describes how to build a homemade programming cable to reprogram Kenwood TK-9x1 series radios to operate in the 900MHz amateur band. It can be built for around $5 using a modular phone cable, LM78L05 voltage regulator, MAX232 chip to convert TTL serial to RS-232, and connectors to interface with a computer. The cable allows programming the radios through their 6-pin modular connector by converting the radio's 0-5V serial signals to the ±9V needed for RS-232. Instructions are provided on identifying the necessary radio pinouts and wiring the components to build the cable.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    Programming the Kenwood TK-941 / TK-931

    Part 1 – homebrew the cable

    Myself, Bill (KE5BTZ) and others have been working to document how the Kenwood TK-9x1 series of
    commercial radios can be reprogrammed to talk in the 900mhz amateur band. I purchased a commercial-
    style programming cable from eBay for about $25. It works ok, but I usually ‘roll my own’, and I know
    others would like a cable but would like to skip the cost and hassle of eBay.

    The cable is known in the Kenwood manuals as a KPG-4. The radio ‘talks’ in TTL (0 to 5 volt) RS-232
    serial. It needs what is known as a ‘level-shifter’ to produce the +9 to –9 volt swings to safely interface
    with a PC or Laptop. This is a common technique and can be recycled for other radios that need a TTL
    to RS-232 ‘full swing’ interface.

    A home-brew version is provided in a schematic at http://www.repeater-


    builder.com/kenwood/kenwood-index.html by Paul (K9MN) Zawada who’s graciously given permission
    to use this out for our newsletter. I’ll present it’s elements here. First the TK-941/TK-931 Radio-pinout:

    This is a 6-pin modular


    connector. Modular connectors
    are common on many newer
    rigs and I know a lot of folks
    don’t like this interface and
    prefer soldering to round mic
    plugs. However – there is a
    quick and cheap way to make
    this without using any cable
    crimping tools or soldering –
    buy one (1) 7 foot long, 6-pin
    modular phone cord (MJ-12) for
    about $1.25 (Allelectronics -
    CAT# MT-363, or Tanners ) and now you can make TWO radio cables by cutting the phone cord in half.

    Parts: you’ll need a low-current 5 volt regulator (LM78L05 - $0.30), and a Maxim TTL to RS232 chip
    (MAX232 - $1.30), and six (6) 1.0 uf electrolytic capacitors (6 x $0.15), plus the MJ-12 cable, and the
    flavor of serial plug that matches your computer – a DB9 or a DB25 ($.50). Toss in a 16-pin socket – I
    recommend soldering to the socket, testing the circuit under power, and only then inserting the MAX-
    232 chip. Total cost of all new parts is probably around $5.00.

    Only 4 of the 6 modular plug pins are used – power, ground, RX and TX. The MAX232 chip is magical
    in that it basically uses the several capacitors to turn 5 volts first into 10 volts, which it then inverts to –
    10 volts. With these two (+10 and –10 volts) we’re able to properly match an RS-232 port.

    From here it’s fairly easy to match up the 4 pins from the radio to the regulator (78L05) and the
    MAX232 chip. Then wire the DB9 (or DB25) to the other side of the MAX232. I’ve provided the DB9
    pinouts – only DB25 are on the original. Be sure that RTC and CTS are shorted together and that DSR
    and DTR are shorted together as shown (both DB9 and DB25).

    This is an easy little project. I also put a low current (2ma) LED (plus a 2.2k resistor) between radio
    power and ground so you can tell when the circuit is energized. I’ve built two of these and I’ve actually
    had better luck with this homebrew version of the cable than the commercial version ($25), which
    continually causes the programming software to have ‘timeout’ errors.

    Next month: programming the TK-941 and TK-931.

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