Thanks to all the great help here I have got past several issues with this FR4000 already. The cloning software finally arrived so I have been playing around with that. Just FYI for anyone else, you can get a single USB programming cable that uses the FTDI chip and it works great with Windows 8.1 at least.
It looks like I have one last issue and I don't know what is causing it. I have been playing around with the software and testing things at home with the repeater hooked up to a dummy load. What I am finding is that when I use a HT to key the repeater, more often than not the repeater gets stuck in TX with both the busy and TX light on even after I release the PTT button on the HT. Obviously it looks like it is stuck in some feedback loop and thinks it is getting a signal. For now, for testing purposes I had to set the RPT TOT down to 30 sec so it would timeout and the TX shut down.
At first I thought it was the internal ICOM mobile duplexer, but I have had it tuned twice by a dealer so I doubt that is it. I don't know if it is the repeater or RX/TX with only the dummy load on it. I can't hook it up to the antenna at the site until Saturday to see if it still does it then or if it does it only when the dummy load is on.
If it is likely the repeater, I would like to deal with it before I go to the site. So I thought I would see if I could get any input if it was likely due to trying to TX/RX with the dummy load on, or likely an issue with the repeater.
Thanks
It looks like I have one last issue and I don't know what is causing it. I have been playing around with the software and testing things at home with the repeater hooked up to a dummy load. What I am finding is that when I use a HT to key the repeater, more often than not the repeater gets stuck in TX with both the busy and TX light on even after I release the PTT button on the HT. Obviously it looks like it is stuck in some feedback loop and thinks it is getting a signal. For now, for testing purposes I had to set the RPT TOT down to 30 sec so it would timeout and the TX shut down.
At first I thought it was the internal ICOM mobile duplexer, but I have had it tuned twice by a dealer so I doubt that is it. I don't know if it is the repeater or RX/TX with only the dummy load on it. I can't hook it up to the antenna at the site until Saturday to see if it still does it then or if it does it only when the dummy load is on.
If it is likely the repeater, I would like to deal with it before I go to the site. So I thought I would see if I could get any input if it was likely due to trying to TX/RX with the dummy load on, or likely an issue with the repeater.
Thanks