Print

[KD5RYO]

Hello, folks!

Very new to APRS here and I'm just expanding my station capabilities while maybe trying to build up a tracking system for when I'm in the woods.

I've got APRSDroid OSM running on my Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 and everything is working fine without a radio.  I'd like to hook this up to my Yaesu FT-60R somehow but I have no idea where to begin...

I have looked at the Byonics Yaesu FT-60 cables and some of their devices and GPS receivers and I've looked at the Mobilink but I'm stumped on how these things work or how they might interact with my phone.  For the Byonics cables, I'm not sure how they'd phsyically connect to my phone and for the Mobilink, I'm not sure how it'd physically connect to my radio.  I assume I'd need a custom cable made?

At the moment I use my FT-60R with a Yaesu clip mic and a stereo aux cable from the mic, which plugs into a USB soundcard on my computer where I run direwolf and xastir.  I use this to monitor APRS in my area, which leads to my BONUS QUESTIONS 

How can I get all of the station data that shows up on APRSdroid OSM (while it's not connected to a radio) to show up in xastir?  I assume this is some of the i-gate stuff I keep reading about?

And finally, what sort of a setup would I need to get my FT-60R transmitting from my direwolf/xastir installation as a fixed station (or maybe portable if I move it to a laptop)?  Would something from Byonic or Mobilink work for that, too?

Pardon my ignorance and thanks so much in advance for any replies.

73 DE KD5RYO

[KC0MYW]

Disclaimer: I've played around with some of this stuff and do own a Mobilinkd unit, but I'm definitely not an expert.

To connect the Mobilinkd to your FT-60 and then your Android device, you would get this cable (or build one that would be equivalent):
https://store.mobilinkd.com/collections/tnc-cables/products/tnc-cable-for-yaesu-vx-5r

The way this works is that the Mobilinkd unit uses Bluetooth to communicate with the Android device and the cable to interact with the radio. In my limited experience, this works quite well. This cable would connect to the radio instead of the clip mic that you are currently using.

With regard to interfacing your FT-60 to your computer, I would experiment with using the Mobilinkd if your computer has Bluetooth and just using the same setup as you use with your phone. I have no idea if that would actually work, but would be worth trying. Another option would be to connect the radio to the computer using some sort of sound card interface. A pinout for the speaker/mic jack for your radio is here:
https://www.byonics.com/image?/images/ht4c.png

Keep in mind that the Byonics cables (the HT4 in your case) are designed to interface the radio with one of the Byonics TinyTrack units and not directly to the computer. That being said, the TinyTrak 4 (which is the current version) is available here:
https://www.byonics.com/tinytrak4

The TinyTrak4 is designed to (among other things) be able to be used as the interface between a radio and computer. In that situation, you would just need a serial to usb cable to connect the device to your computer. You might want to try the "TT USB" cable that Byonics sells and is linked to from the page for the TinyTrack4.

As you can see there are several options that you can take to do some experimenting and hopefully this gives you some place to get started from.

[KD5RYO]

Thanks KC0MYW!  That clears up a LOT of confusion.

I'll probably start with the mobilink with my phone and then see if I can get it talking to direwolf (I do have bluetooth support on my computer).  If that doesn't work, I'll investigate the Byonics stuff.

I've got a lot to research once I get that set up.

[KB0WLF]

+1 for the mobilinkd.

i have one an icom ht cable and a 6 pin mini din i cobbled up.

i run aprsdroid offline on a galaxy s2 and it works just fine.

unfortunately the setup app doesn't run on the s2 so when i switch cables, i have to use the laptop to tell the mobilinkd to switch PTT type.

other than that, it works fine business.

2 way message capable aprs client with no fuss.

good luck