Vertex VX-510 programming

[kd7lxl]

I have a VX-510 that needs to be narrow-banded, but I haven't been successful in reading the programming from it. I put it in programming mode (power on with PTT+MON), then hit PTT to send data. The CE-21 program doesn't receive anything.

I am using a 4-conductor 3.5mm programming cable for a VX-5/FT-60. Various internet sources indicated this was the cable to use, but I find this suspicious because I thought the speaker jack on the VX-510 only had two conductors (not four), and of course the fact that this cable is not working

Does anyone know the correct cable/pinout? Does anyone know how to field program this radio? Until I figure this out, the radio is a paperweight.

 

[m-gerty]

Have you tried changing the com port on the computer or in the software?
I'm not famalliar with that particular radio, but most vertex are the same.
Does you cable have the adaptor on the end that have 4 connection points?
Are you getting a "timeout" error? When you click on "read radio" are you getting a "timeout" error?

 

[kd7lxl]

Have you tried changing the com port on the computer or in the software?
I'm not famalliar with that particular radio, but most vertex are the same.
Does you cable have the adaptor on the end that have 4 connection points?
Are you getting a "timeout" error? When you click on "read radio" are you getting a "timeout" error?

Yes; yes; yes.

When I monitor the serial port with a terminal emulator, absolutely nothing is received when I hit PTT on the radio (LCD says "SEND"). This cable and serial port work for programming a VX-5.

 

[m-gerty]

Yes; yes; yes.

When I monitor the serial port with a terminal emulator, absolutely nothing is received when I hit PTT on the radio (LCD says "SEND"). This cable and serial port work for programming a VX-5.

Does the radio work, other than the narrowbanding?
Did you program this originaly?
Since the cable and port work for other radios, we can probably rule them out.
Are you sure the connector is pushed all the way into the radio?
Have you tried some sort of ear bud in the jack, it may be the culprit.

edit: I went looking for info on this radio, and all I could find was for low band. What frequency range does yours operate in?
Low band doesn't need to be narrowbanded, and if yours is too old it may not narrowband (if it's vhf/uhf)

 

[kd7lxl]

Does the radio work, other than the narrowbanding?

Yes

Did you program this originaly?

No

Are you sure the connector is pushed all the way into the radio?

Yes

Have you tried some sort of ear bud in the jack, it may be the culprit.

Works fine with a speaker mic.

edit: I went looking for info on this radio, and all I could find was for low band. What frequency range does yours operate in?
Low band doesn't need to be narrowbanded, and if yours is too old it may not narrowband (if it's vhf/uhf)

It's VHF. The operating manual shows the 11K0F3E emissions designator.

I suspect the data pin on the connector is busted unless there's some other trick to programming these. Field programming would mitigate this. I've only got the one.

 

[kd7lxl]

I finally got it programmed. The cable I was using (equivalent can be found on ebay by searching for "Vertex VX-510 cable") is not correct at all. Here are the details for anyone searching in the future:

I ended up building a cable that fit into the 2.5mm mic jack and guessing the pinout. TXD/RXD is on the tip and ground is on the sleeve. It is TTL, not RS232 (use a level shifter if you're building a cable).

For the software, I ran CE-21 in DOSBox. To read from the radio, I had to set the cycles to about 3000. To write to the radio, I had to scale it down to between 100 and 600 cycles. Use Ctrl-F11 and Ctrl-F12 to change DOSBox's speed. Changing the speed between read and write is annoying, but it beats having to keep an old computer around for the task.

 

[m-gerty]

That's gotta be the first Vertex portable I've heard of that didn't use the standard cable.

 

[kd7lxl]

Well, it's a standard VPL-1 (which I didn't have).