Today i purchased an ft 8900r and i have a question. I want to mount the face of the unit remotly. The cable they supplied is not made for a remote install. After looking at the cable it looks like its just a 6 wire telephone cable. I have some cat5e here and if i put the right connectors on the end and make the cable line up will this work? Does anyone forsee a problem with doing this?
I've never done it with my 8900 but yes it is just cat5 wire. I've seen some mods on it and look's pretty cut and dry. You might want to be a bit careful though, some say that the wires crossover and some say they don't. I didn't get a cable mine.
Welp i just did it. And i made it streight through. Radio fired up just fine. I am just afraid to transmit. I will go check out those two sites. Thanks guys.
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (spoofedpackets @ Jan. 24 2004,20:10)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Welp i just did it. And i made it streight through. Radio fired up just fine. I am just afraid to transmit. I will go check out those two sites. Thanks guys.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
If your radio fires up just fine, the the wire orientation in the cable is corret. If you swap the wires around, it won't turn on correctly.
I am "spoofedpackets" i got my call sign today. The cat5 worked perfect. I transmitted today and i had full quieting into all the repeaters I tried all reports were good. I just made the cable streight through. I am also reading that if you get a regular 6 pin telephone extension cord and use the small cable that came with the radio it will work.
Overall i like the radio. Only real problem i have is the button on the front don't light up and they are so small that at night with the lack of size, and lack of light they are tough to hit. I might take the face apart and see if i can't put something in there to light them up.
You know it took me a couple of days to realize it myself. I live near an airport, I decided one night to drive up park in one of the parking lots listen/watch the planes come in. I just got the radio so i figured it would be a good time to play around and i can't see any of the buttons. I went to hit one and i ended up hitting 3! That's about my only complaint with this radio.
You can program the buttons on the microphone to do things you would usually use the panel buttons for.
I have mine set to toggle VFO, reverse, tone mode and power. Mobile, the only time I have to reach to the radio is for the dimmer..
Linear Mode
