CAT Control Kenwood TS-450S HRD x Frequency = 0

[VA3UE]

I've seen a few posts about this and I am going through it now too. From my investigations this has to be a radio firmware or hardware issue.
I bought a ZLP DigiMaster Pro+ and the first COM port works fine for AFSK/RTTY/CW transmission. The COM port for CAT does not.

Other people have had what appears to be this problem as well.

M6SVD in http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?269782-kenwood-ts850s-cat-controll

KC4FNE in http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?286795-Who-has-HRD-working-with-a-Kenwood-radio

K2ZS in http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?282544-Problem-with-HRD-and-Kenwood-TS-850s

My detailed post with the symptoms and observations is posted here...
http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?286795-Who-has-HRD-working-with-a-Kenwood-radio&p=2286001#post2286001

Enough people are seeing the "x Frequency = 0" error trying to get HRD to connect to Kenwood TS-450S/690S/850S series radios that there has to be a common root cause (and hopefully a solution).

If anybody in Texas has one of these radios and would allow me to test my CAT interface I could rule out the hardware. Perhaps anybody with a working CAT interface could hook up to my TS-450S to see if it works or not.

If you have one of these rigs can you please look on pin 2 of the ACC1 socket to see if it is quiet or not? I bet that if it isn't and you can't get CAT control to work either.

Any help would be appreciated.

Daniel
VA3UE
Plano, Texas
va3ue@qsl.net

[VA3UE]

Here are the menu options I have on my rig. If you have a working setup please compare and report differences

Power + LSB/USB button menu:
01 main tuning on
02 round off on
03 num keypad on
04 beep function on
05 mode key announce on
06 error announce morse on
07 10Hz resolution off
08 meter peak hold on
09 storing band freq on
10 SSB auto mode on
11 NB2 enable on
12 Split w memory off
13 Auto increment on store off
14 memory channels fixed off
15 program scan hold off
16 linear key relay off
17 data transfer off
18 received and write memories off
19 transmit disable off
20 memory erase inhibit off
21 memory write protect off

Power + M.IN button menu:
31 auto antenna tuner on
32 return to RX after tune on
33 knob freq step 10KHz
34 VFO mem step 10KHz
35 BC band mem step 10KHz
36 +/- 1MHz button 1000Khz
37 FSK shift 170
38 FSK Mark on
39 RX tone 2125
40 CW sidetone pitch 800
41 RIT/XIT range 1.1KHz
42 Hello at start off

Power + ENT menu:
01 ? off
02 8.83MHz ssb filter on
03 8.83MHz CW filter on
04 455KHz filter off

Power + AIP+XIT+SCAN button menu:
01 checksum 862d
02 Write adjusted mem freq (no value)
03 Change TX/RX Frew mem ch00
04 RIT zero (no value)
05 XIT zero (no value)
06 IF filter selection 2.4KHz
07 IF filter selection 500Hz
08 Meter strength table low (no value)
09 Meter strength table mid (no value)
10 Meter strength table high (no value)
11 Carrier LSB -22
12 Carrier USB -16
13 ALC meter (no value)
14 RX DSP forced off
15 TX DSP forced off
16 AT10 compulsory off
17 EEPROM WRITE (don't touch!)

That's all I can find.

[VA3UE]

Problem solved! All it was was the connection on the back of the interface at the 3.5mm stereo plug had the tip and ring reversed. Thank you to Neil at ZLP electronics for helping me troubleshoot it.

Once I had the wires corrected I was able to communicate with the radio and send "AF0;" (Auto Information off) and the data streaming stopped. HRD connected up fine and turned it back on! HAHA

Thanks to everybody who responded here and privately.

HRD is working! \o/