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[W4KYR]

Yaesu Fusion MH-85A 11U camera mike  

Are there inexpensive substitutes for the Yaesu Fusion MH-85A 11U camera mike  ?
   
Has anyone built...Or can you build the camera mike for the Yaesu Fusion Radios FT1DR, FT2DR, FTM-400DR ...etc?


The current price optional Yaesu camera/mike is around $125. I'm thinking with the availability of inexpensive miniature cameras on fleabay and elsewhere. We could build the camera/mike ourselves, and the cost would be under $30.

So obviously we need a miniature camera, a mic cord for the Yaesu Fusion radios, a PTT switch, mic, a case to house the camera/mike and maybe a few volts for the camera by just tapping off some power from the radio.

So to make this work and send pictures at the very minimum we would need is just the camera and a wire connecting it to the radio in some fashion with some kind of Push To Talk switch. It would appear that the power for the camera in the Yaesu MH-85A 11U mike is furnished by the radio.

Would it be this simple to build your own camera mic? Perhaps it might be if we had a schematic of the inside of the camera mike.

Does anyone here own this camera mike?  Have you taken it apart and looked inside? Have you built your own camera mike? If so, please tell us how you built it. Thanks.

You can see how the Yaesu camera mike works in this YouTube video.   "Here is a demo of using the additional MH-85 camera/microphone to take a picture on the FT1D and the FT-400D receiving it and displaying it."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmAFfdyyXhk

Here is what the MH-85A 11U camera/mike looks like




Here are the MH-85A11U Specifications

Element Type ............ Electret Condenser
Microphone Impedance .... 2.2k Ohms
Speaker Impedance ....... 8 Ohms
Speaker Maximum Input ... 8 Ohms
Size .................... 2.3 x 4.5 x 1.575" (58x114x40mm)
Weight .................. 5.5 oz (155g)
Image Sensor Type ....... CMOS
Minimum Focus ........... 1.7 feet (0.5m)
Resolution .............. 320x240 QVGA or 160x120 QQVGA
File Format ............. JPEG


Here are the instructions

[K6JH]

Is that a USB connector?

It looks to me like this mic is a lot more complicated than it initially seems. Power, USB audio (TX & RX), USB video, USB keyboard buttons. Anyone got one to look at?

For $125 it seems pretty reasonable to me.