Setup And Use FLDIGI With A FT-991

Below are the how to's guides and pictures to use to help guide you on operating a yaesu FT-991 radio with fldigi. It took me a LONG time to get that to work properly so I made a guide for others to go by. Working on a linux how to next, check out the Ham Radio page to view that guide when its done

Before we do anything with software we need to set up the FT-991 with proper settings. I will assume you will be using it like me, via the USB port and not the data/din port. This guide is for the USB cable connection ONLY!

On the FT-991 go into the menu->settings and set the following entries to the corisponding values:

28 GPS/232C SELECT = rs232c
29 232C RATE = 38400 bps
31 CAT RATE = 38400 bps
71 DATA PTT SELECT = RTS
72 DATA PORT SELECT = USB
111 SSB PORT SELECT = USB

Go to mode on the FT-991 and slect data-usb

It is common knowledge but you should be running low power. Every mode is slightly different but things like PSK, WSJT, etc only require 5-10 watts. Any more than that and you are just killing someone else's TX space and receiver.

If you havent already done so install the USB yaesu drivers first before plugging in the cable. You can DOWNLOAD THEM HERE.

Plug in the USB cable in to the radio then into your PC. Open up device manager. In windows 7 you can get there by:
start->right click computer->properties->device manager

Expand "ports com & ptt", There should be two comm ports. One for standard and one showing an enhanced port. Make a note of which port number yours shows as. In this example standard is com12 and enhanced is com13

Before we configure FLDIGI you should download the rig control file. You can Download my file or you can get the latest version from the FLDIGI site

Now we work on FLDIGI. You can Go Get The Latest Version Here and install it. When you open it up for hte first time it will ask for configuration details. If you have already opened up FLDIGI before go to configure->rig control.

You want to make sure nothing is configured or selected other than items on the rig control tab. Configure the following options on the rig control tab.

hardware ptt tab = nothing checked
hamlib tab = nothing checked
memmap tab = nothing checked
xml-rpc tab = nothing checked
rigcat tab:
check "use rigcat"
rig description file: FT-991.xml
decice = SELECT YOUR ENHANCED COM PORT FROM THE STEPS ABOVE
retries = 2
retry interval = 10
baud rate = 38400
write delay = 50
stop bits = 1
check "cat command for ptt"
check "RTS/CTS flow control"
click initialze button....frequency of radio should show in fldigi

Click SAVE

Your setup should look like the following

Now go to the audio->Devices tab and select your radio audio device for capture and playback. I have mine renamed in windows audio settings to keep my FT-991 seperate.

Your audio setup should look like the following

And lastly we have to tell FLDIGI to send the trasmitted audio to both left and right channels using the audio->right channel tab. Use the below image as a guide

Click Save then Close

Your waterfall should now start filling up with signals / noise. You may have to adjust the audio in and most likely the audio out, as your do not want to over drive the transmitter.

Open up your playback/recording devices. In windows 7 that is via right click sound icon->recording devices

Click on the radio interface and click properties. Adjust the levels as needed. You should adjust to the point of just seeing a bit of white noise.

You may have to play around a bit but open up the playback tab, click on the radio interface and click properties. Adjust the levels as needed. To do this you will need to set you level low, make sure your FT-991 has the display meter set to ALC. In FLDIGI transmit a test signal and watch your ALC meter on the radio. Adjust your levels to suit the FT-991 settings indicated in the manual. Generally just a couple of bars on the ALC is ok. For my setup I only needed a audio level of 60. You may also need to go into the FT-991 menu and change the digital gain shown in the menu as DT-G

From then one you should be good to go!. Enjoy your new digital setup!