AR8000 alternative to FFC

[TassieJay]

Is there a cheap one-off alternative to using the FFC connector to program the 8000?
I know you can add a standard audio socket to the side to interconnect to a home made MAX232 programming interface, but don't want to do this, I'd prefer to keep the original look of the 8000.
I only want to program the 8000 bandplan once, and load up some frequencies - and then it'll probably never have a PC connected to it ever again, so it seems a shame to have to buy a FFC just to use it the once.
Any ideas?

 

[dkf435]

If you had some old VCRs laying around some had the same pitch FFC and you could just cut and strip and solder wires going to a mini stereo plug from the FFC. Modified a AR8K one time with dual stereo plugs and got TX and RX data on one and record and discriminator on the other.

David Kb7uns

 

[TassieJay]

Thanks David, good idea! I'll have to haunt some of the repair shops and see if they have any junkers laying about that might be a suitable donor. We threw out our last VCR only a few months ago, as luck would have it.