IC-F series documentation

[dchauran]

Hello - Is there a good source of detailed information about the IC-F series of radios? Website? Yahoo Group? I recently purchased 3 radios (2 EF Johnson branded which I believe are a f320 and a f420, one ICOM f320s), and I am looking for far more information than I want to ask here. Such as:

1. Data cable pinout (not the MIC cable, but the data cable on the back of the radio), and any data on interfacing this with a PC for e.g. CAT control or digital modes.
2. Internal and programming adjustments.
3. Detailed documentation about the CSF300 software.
4. Schematics.
5. Comparison of models (e.g. f320 vs f420), and model identification.

 

[mmckenna]

I can't help you with all of those, but I can answer about the F320 vs. F420.

F320 is VHF 146MHz to 174MHz, but they'll go down towards 144MHz.
F420 is UHF. UHF models came in different bandsplits:
-9 were 400-430MHz
-10 were 450-470MHz, but they'd go down into the 70cm amateur band a bit.
-11 were 470-490MHz

The F-420/F-320 were 32 channel radios with LCD display.
The F-420s/F-320s were 4 channel radios with LED's that lit up to indicate channel.

OPC-617 cable with the DB-9 connector had:
1. LCD backlit cont. IN
2. AF OUT
3. Det. AF OUT
4. Mod. IN
5. PTT control IN
6. Horn drive cont. OUT
7. AF GND
8. Det. AF GND
o Mod. GN

Doing a google search on these turns up some useful info.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Software is DOS based.

I never have quite figured out the programming setup for them. Oddly enough I discovered a Motorola Radius cable in either ribbed or ribless form works via the front jack.

I've heard guys say they'll program in XP but if deal with 90's Era radios much you tend to pickup appropriate programming hardware. I've used dual core booted into FreeDOS with a hardware serial port successfully on most 90's radios.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

 

[dchauran]

mmckenna: Thanks, the info on the cables is helpful. I also figured out how to get into the adjustment program, should I ever need to do so. I guess I was hoping that there was a site that had compiled a lot of useful info on these radios, as my searches tend to come up short.

W5PKY: I got the software working in FreeDOS using VirtualBox. No need to reboot into DOS to program the radios!