2E0BGJ
04-24-2007, 04:28 PM
Hi Folks,
I have an FT-8800 in my car which I use for both local repeater use and APRS use with a TinyTrak when I'm not nattering.
I currently have a switch that turns off the TinyTrak when I want to use the radio for voice. The problem is that sometimes I forget to turn the switch off and end up transmitting APRS packets on the repeater, much to peoples anoyance!
So what I'm looking for is a way of reading the frequencies the radio is currently tuned to using a microcontroller (probably an 8051 as I'm rather fond of them) - if the radio is on the APRS frequency then the TinyTrak will be turned on.
The FT-8800 can talk to a PC for programming purposes (see http://www.g4hfq.co.uk/ftb8800.htm), but this uses the PTT input on the TNC connector so I guess it can't be used for transmitting at the same time. Also I can't find any detailed information about the protocol, and it may well only support reading/writing of memory and not the current status.
A more likely aproach seems to be to listen to the data signal sent between the main radio body and the remote head unit. Does anybody happen to have already reverse engineered the protocol? Or have any information which may be of help?
Many thanks
Martin / M0NXP / 2E0BGJ.
I have an FT-8800 in my car which I use for both local repeater use and APRS use with a TinyTrak when I'm not nattering.
I currently have a switch that turns off the TinyTrak when I want to use the radio for voice. The problem is that sometimes I forget to turn the switch off and end up transmitting APRS packets on the repeater, much to peoples anoyance!
So what I'm looking for is a way of reading the frequencies the radio is currently tuned to using a microcontroller (probably an 8051 as I'm rather fond of them) - if the radio is on the APRS frequency then the TinyTrak will be turned on.
The FT-8800 can talk to a PC for programming purposes (see http://www.g4hfq.co.uk/ftb8800.htm), but this uses the PTT input on the TNC connector so I guess it can't be used for transmitting at the same time. Also I can't find any detailed information about the protocol, and it may well only support reading/writing of memory and not the current status.
A more likely aproach seems to be to listen to the data signal sent between the main radio body and the remote head unit. Does anybody happen to have already reverse engineered the protocol? Or have any information which may be of help?
Many thanks
Martin / M0NXP / 2E0BGJ.