To follow up on my promise from 12/16/96, users with older NA versions
can use newer ICOM radios by the following process:
ICOM radios are identified by type in the serial data going between
the radio and the controlling computer. NA version 10 provides
selections for the ICOM radios up thru the IC-737. This selection
picks the correct ID character for the data NA sends to the radio.
Most recent ICOM radios allow this character to be adjusted. By
adjusting the radio to use a character the corresponds to a radio NA
recognizes, later radios may be used with these older versions of NA.
To adjust the ID character, go into the radio menu (this is radio
specific - check your manual for details). I believe this option is
called CI-V or something similar. Follow the procedure in your manual
to adjust this to correspond to a radio from the table below.
Here is a partial list of ICOM radios currently supported by NA (I
left out the older and low end radios for the sake of brevity):
radio ID character
IC736 &H3E
IC737 &H3C
IC765 &H2C
IC775 &H46
IC781 &H26
The "&H" characters denote hexidecimal numbers. I believe these are
omitted by the ICOM menu displays. As a general recommendation, I
would select the IC765 choice since this radio has seen the most
development (K8CC owns two). To do this, set your CI-V option to "2C"
and set NA for "IC765". IC738 owners might want to set their radio to
the IC736 ("3E") or IC737 ("3C") and set NA the corresponding choice
since the features of the '738 are likely to be similar to these
earlier radios. (BTW, if a IC738 owner would inform me of the correct
CI-V code for the IC738, we'd be glad to add this to NA".
Users who use this method to allow NA to support later radios should
be aware that certain features may not work correctly. This is due to
ICOM making changes to the serial data protocol, and seems to be
particularly true with regards to sub-receivers and/or setting the
opposite VFO frequency. Many times, the only way to get NA to work
properly is for K8CC to get his hands on the radio and work with it
for a couple of hours. However, as a general rule the basic radio
features (band/mode switching, setting the main VFO) *ARE* highly
likely to work OK when emulating an older radio with a newer model.
73, Dave/K8CC
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