background image

FT-920 Operating Manual

35

Before You Start

Before you begin operation for the first time, preset

the front panel controls and switches to the following

positions:

P

OWER

VOX, MOX:

all off

M

IC

 G

AIN

:

9 o’clock

AF G

AIN

:

9 o’clock

RF P

OWER

:

fully clockwise

RF G

AIN

:

fully clockwise

S

HIFT

:

12 o’clock

NR:

12 o’clock

L

OW

 C

UT

:

fully counter-clockwise
(approximately 7 o’clock)

H

IGH

 C

UT

:

fully clockwise
(approximately 5 o’clock)

SQL:

fully counter-clockwise

P

ROC

 L

EVEL

:

fully counter-clockwise

M

ONI

 L

EVEL

:

fully counter-clockwise

NB L

EVEL

:

fully counter-clockwise

S

PEED

:

12 o’clock

P

ITCH

:

12 o’clock

S

IDE

 T

ONE

:

12 o’clock

These represent typical starting points for operation;

optimum setting procedures will be discussed later.

Note that a wide variety of transceiver characteris-

tics may be optimized or adjusted using the Menu

System, discussed in detail beginning on page 69.

Connect your microphone and CW key/paddle to the

appropriate jacks, then turn on your 13.5 Volt DC

power supply.

Receiving

Press the P

OWER

 switch to

turn the transceiver on. As-

suming that this is the first

time you have used the FT-

920, the display should look

like this:

Inspection of the display will show you that both VFO-

A and VFO-B are set to 7.000.00 MHz in the LSB

mode. The (Green) [RX] and (Orange) [TX] LEDs

associated with VFO-A should both be illuminated,

indicating that all frequency control is being exercised

by that VFO.

You should now be hearing background noise. Ad-

just the AF G

AIN

 control for a comfortable listening

level on the incoming background noise.

We will now discuss antenna selection, frequency

navigation, and other aspects of FT-920 operation.

Antenna Selection

Two main antenna jacks

are provided on the rear

panel of the FT-920, allow-

ing you to connect, for ex-

ample, a triband Yagi to one

jack and a multiband dipole

or vertical to the other.

These “SO-239” or “M” type jacks, labeled A and B,

may be selected by pressing the A

NTENNA

 A/B switch

on the left side of the transceiver’s front panel. This

switch toggles between the two available main an-

tenna ports.

Note that the maximum power output for each an-

tenna jack may be set independently via Menu Items

U-49 (Antenna A) and U-50 (Antenna B). See page

79 for details.

An additional receive-only antenna jack (RCA type)

may also be found on the rear panel of the trans-

ceiver, labeled R

X

 I

N

. This jack may be connected to

a specialized antenna, such as a loop or Beverage,

for use in the receive mode; transmission will remain

on the previously-selected A or B antenna if a re-

ceive-only antenna is used.

p

Summary of Contents for FT-920

Page 1: ...0703 U S A YAESU EUROPE B V Snipweg 3 1118DN Schiphol The Netherlands YAESU UK LTD Unit 12 Sun Valley Business Park Winnall Trading Estate Winchester Hampshire SO23 0LB U K YAESU GERMANY GmbH Am Kronb...

Page 2: ...ptional Accessories 93 Bottom Case Removal 93 Installation of Optional Filters YF 116C YF 116A 94 Installation of High Stability Oscillator TCXO 7 94 Installation of FM Unit FM 1 94 General Descriptio...

Page 3: ...ch provide razor sharp selectivity an automatic seeking Notch filter and Noise Reduction The high intercept front end circuitry includes ten input bandpass filters with PIN diode switching optimized R...

Page 4: ...x 316 D mm Transmitter Power Output 160 m 10 m amateur bands Adjustable up to 100 Watts 25 Watts AM carrier 6 m amateur band Adjustable up to 100 10 Watts 25 2 5 Watts AM carrier Modulation Types SSB...

Page 5: ...6 kHz 14 kHz w optional YF 116A AM Filter FM 12 kHz 25 kHz w optional FM 1 FM Unit Squelch Sensitivity IPO Off SSB CW Digital AM 2 0 V FM 28 56 MHz 0 32 V IF Rejection 70 dB HF 50 dB VHF Image Rejecti...

Page 6: ...erence Oscillator Unit 2 ppm FP 1025A AC Power Supply Switching Regulator Type 25A USA only FP 1030A AC Power Supply Linear Type 25A YH 77STA Stereo Headphones SP 8 External Speaker w Audio Filters FL...

Page 7: ...FT 920 Operating Manual 5...

Page 8: ...nge for which the power supply is currently set If your AC line voltage is outside this range the input voltage range will need to be re configured If you have any questions about the voltage setting...

Page 9: ...FT 920 Operating Manual 7...

Page 10: ...ther at the apex of the V which is nearest the station location Use a heavy braided cable such as the discarded shield from type RG 213 coaxial cable and strong cable clamps to secure the braided cabl...

Page 11: ...must be used so as to ensure proper antenna performance Use high quality 50 coaxial cable for the lead in to your FT 920 transceiver All efforts at providing an efficient antenna system will be wasted...

Page 12: ...ions By turning the knurled ring around a retracted foot clockwise the middle of the foot will extend about one centimeter Turn the ring as far as it will go about turn to lock the extended foot in pl...

Page 13: ...kept away from any electrical apparatus such as the FT 920 transceiver and its accessories 4 Antenna Precautions Always install antennas such that they can never come in contact with outdoor power lin...

Page 14: ...page 79 for details Regarding electromagnetic compatibility if this trans ceiver is used with or in the vicinity of a computer or computer driven accessories you may need to ex periment with grounding...

Page 15: ...al closure to Ground on Transmit while the NPN transistor switch sinks its open collector to Ground on Transmit Check with the manufacturer of your amplifier or other de vice to confirm the amplifier...

Page 16: ...as QSK Tx Rx switching control and sequencing Also connect an RCA to RCA patch cord Yaesu Part T9101296 supplied with the FL 7000 from the amplifier s ALC jack to the transceiver s EXT ALC jack and c...

Page 17: ...A jack to the amplifier s relay control line using the outer contact of the TX GND jack for the shield Connect the RF coaxial cable and if compatible the ALC cable as described in the QSK amplifier in...

Page 18: ...the AFSK FSK switch to FSK and connect your TNC s FSK keying line to Pin 1 Pin 2 Ground Connect this to the shield s of the cable s used for connections between the TNC and the FT 920 Pin 3 PTT Conne...

Page 19: ...the connection to Pin 4 of the DATA jack How ever the two output ports use independent output buffer amplifiers so you can freely connect and dis connect devices to from these ports without concern ov...

Page 20: ...rear panel PDL KEY switch to PDL If two operators are using the FT 920 simulta neously for a contest Field Day etc a second keyer paddle may be connected to the rear panel KEY jack Be sure that the re...

Page 21: ...a connected to the RX ANT IN jack particularly if you are using a very long wire antenna such as a Beverage Very long antennas can build up very high RF and static voltages on them and the circuit bel...

Page 22: ...enables automatic voice actuated trans mitter switching in the SSB AM and FM modes as well as semi break in CW Press the VOX switch once to activate VOX and again to disable VOX and return to PTT oper...

Page 23: ...g of loop The current receiver recovery time constant is shown on the display panel If AGC OFF is selected the S meter which moni tors AGC voltage will cease to function 11 MIC GAIN Control This contr...

Page 24: ...ed to si lence background noise when no signal is present Most frequently used during FM operation this con trol must be rotated fully counter clockwise for most SSB CW or AM operation 20 PROC COMPres...

Page 25: ...quished transmit fre quency control Pushing the VFO A TX LED again will restore transmit frequency control to VFO A If this LED is pushed while it is already illuminated the FT 920 will be placed in t...

Page 26: ...is play mode 33 VFO A K B Switch Pressing and holding this switch in for second causes the contents of VFO A to be copied into VFO B so that the two VFOs contents will be identical 34 VFO A B Switch P...

Page 27: ...Switch This combination LED Switch indicates the operat ing status of VFO B in the receive mode The LED appears green when the receiver is set up for the use of VFO B This LED is also a switch when t...

Page 28: ...B Tuning Knob is used for Clarifier tuning up to an offset of 9 99 kHz 53 TX CLAR Switch Pressing this switch activates the TX Clarifier fea ture allowing the transmit frequency to be offset from the...

Page 29: ...ich a car rier is generated and the tuner s microprocessor based circuitry selects values of inductance and ca pacitance so as to present a low SWR to the transmitter s output port Be certain to have...

Page 30: ...the receiver input pream plifier is On and it displays the number of dB of at tenuation 6 AGC F S AGC OFF These icons indicate the current operating mode for the Automatic Gain Control circuitry 7 TRA...

Page 31: ...tem U 10 At the factory the Enhanced Tuning Scale is set up so as to provide a visual representation of the DSP system s bandwidth Other configurations allow de piction of the Clarifier offset directi...

Page 32: ...repeater shift direction is positive the RPT icons are lit 28 T This icon is illuminated when the CTCSS Tone En coder is activated during FM Repeater operation 29 SQL This icon is illuminated when the...

Page 33: ...r s serial DATA port Dur ing operation using software which polls the radio s status frequently this icon may appear to be blink ing 40 VFO B Frequency Display This is the main frequency display for t...

Page 34: ...5 PTT jack This RCA female connector is used for connection of a footswitch or other external switch for Tx Rx com mand control of the FT 920 This jack is wired in par allel with the front panel MOX s...

Page 35: ...rmines the method of transmit Data input to Pin 1 of the DATA jack described below If AFSK is selected then Pin 1 should be connected to the TX Audio line from the TNC If FSK is selected then Pin 1 sh...

Page 36: ...FT 920 Operating Manual 34 The small adjustment hole shown in the drawing is used for adjustment of the Beep tone associated with front panel keystrokes...

Page 37: ...you that both VFO A and VFO B are set to 7 000 00 MHz in the LSB mode The Green RX and Orange TX LEDs associated with VFO A should both be illuminated indicating that all frequency control is being ex...

Page 38: ...CW and USB you will observe that the frequency of the re ceived signal stays the same even though the displayed frequency may change slightly You will also observe that the pitch of the received signa...

Page 39: ...between the VFO A and VFO B Tuning Knobs Press the 14 key to change VFO A to the 14 MHz band Initially the operating frequency will be 14 000 00 MHz rotate the VFO A Tuning Knob to move around in the...

Page 40: ...er the attempt will be ignored and the transceiver will revert to the last frequency you were on before the attempted frequency entry Stacked VFO System The FT 920 provides two VFO registers on each b...

Page 41: ...ches Pushing the MH 31B8 s UP or DWN switch will initiate tuning in an upward or downward direction in fre quency steps set in accordance with the selection made via the STEP switch Pushing the FST ke...

Page 42: ...Beep tone which is heard when you press a key on the front panel may be adjusted if you like To adjust the Beep Frequency Press the MENU key to enter the Menu mode of operation Rotate the VFO B Tuning...

Page 43: ...hat you may want to hop back to the offset frequency again To set the Clarifier offset to Zero press the CLAR CLEAR key CW Center Tuning Enhanced Tuning Scale The Enhanced Tuning Scale may be used to...

Page 44: ...k AGC OFF is most often used for precise measurement of signals when evaluating antenna patterns etc but strong signals will sound very distorted with the AGC turned off Rotating the RF GAIN control c...

Page 45: ...io on excessively bassy SSB signals Return the SHIFT control to the center detented position to return to the normal default passband setting HIGH CUT LOW CUT Controls DSP The DSP system s chief inter...

Page 46: ...more effective at eliminat ing beat notes adjacent frequency interference or noise To do this reduce the setting of the RF GAIN control until the S meter hangs up approximately at the peak signal leve...

Page 47: ...front end is pro tected by a bank of bandpass filters including spe cial high Q filters for the 7 14 21 and 50 MHz bands And the built in Automatic Antenna Tuner may be engaged on receive as well as...

Page 48: ...sed for storage and replay of repetitive CQ type mes sages in your voice See the section on Transmis sion page 50 for details of the latter feature Recording and playback of incoming signals is straig...

Page 49: ...to a maximum SWR or approximately 3 1 If the antenna s you re using exceed this SWR as config ured you must make adjustments electrical and or mechanical so as to present an impedance closer to 50 to...

Page 50: ...is above 3 1 the tuner will be automatically activated when you begin to transmit D The automatic antenna tuner has 100 dedicated tuner memory registers of which eleven are allocated one each to the...

Page 51: ...e level The FT 920 should automatically switch into the transmit mode and should return to receive when you quit talking To cancel VOX and return to PTT operation press the VOX switch once more The VO...

Page 52: ...e Moni tor the MONI indicator on the display will become illuminated Now when you speak your voice will be audible from the speaker or headphones Adjust the Monitor s volume by rotating the MONI LEVEL...

Page 53: ...e the key at this point you will hear the CW side tone in the background but you will not be transmitting This mode allows you to adjust the SIDE TONE control for a comfortable volume level and it is...

Page 54: ...o become properly seated This delay shifts the entire stream of dots and dashes without changing the weight Use Menu Item U 23 see page 76 Y The function of the electronic keyer may be changed from Ke...

Page 55: ...ion and even certain satellite operating situa tions TX CLARifier Operation For splits of up to 9 99 kHz the TX Clarifier pro vides a simple means of split operation Example DX1DX is transmitting on 1...

Page 56: ...mand mode Now rotate the VFO B Tuning Dial to select 5 0 kHz or whatever TX RX split you desire Press the MENU key once more to exit the Menu mode While operating with both TX and RX control from VFO...

Page 57: ...e Controller TNC generates audio tones to be transmitted as data by the FT 920 To activate this mode of operation the front panel Mode selection must be set to DATA USB even though USB may not be the...

Page 58: ...r details on how to hook up your terminal equip ment to the transceiver Be certain to set the AFSK FSK switch on the rear panel of the trans ceiver to FSK In this mode of operation closing Pin 1 of th...

Page 59: ...of the RF PWR control FM Operation Optional FM 1 Unit Required FM operation is permitted only in the 29 and 50 MHz bands due to bandwidth limitations Be careful while operating in the 29 MHz band to o...

Page 60: ...CTCSS tone frequency When a repeater fre quency is stored into memory the receive fre quency shift direction shift magnitude and tone information are all stored into the memory regis ter See page 59 f...

Page 61: ...the vari ous memory systems is quite straightforward thanks to the advanced ergonomic design of the FT 920 These procedures are detailed below QMB Channel Programming Recall The QMB Quick Memory Bank...

Page 62: ...t S Use the UPp or DOWNq key to increment through the main channel bank Frequency data stored previously in memory channels will be dis played in the VFO B display area If you have re stricted memory...

Page 63: ...3 or 4 The second two digit number is the channel number itself 1 to 99 Therefore if channel 34 is assigned to group 1 its channel number is 1 34 If you have created four channel banks of 24 25 chann...

Page 64: ...memory location As usual a double beep will indicate when you have held in the V K M key long enough Split Frequency Memory Channel Recall Q While operating in the VFO mode press the VFO MEM key once...

Page 65: ...ss for the other CALL Channels preferably assigning one such channel per band Note Channel C 10 already is programmed at the factory with the following frequency C 10 51 000 00MHz FM Recall of CALL Ch...

Page 66: ...as in the previous step Press the UPF key to advance the entryposition as you fill up the Label register up to a maximum of seven characters V When entry is complete press the ENT key You will hear a...

Page 67: ...mory Channel Frequency data stored on a memory channel can be deleted from a memory channel if desired The de letion process is not a hard erasure so if you erase a channel by mistake using this proce...

Page 68: ...n of scanning U Press the PTT switch on the microphone to can cel scanning and return to normal Tuning Dial operation Scan Skip Programming Memory Mode Only Among the memories you have programmed ther...

Page 69: ...s via Menu Item U 17 see page 75 r Another option is that the scanner will halt when the squelch opens for a fixed time pe riod default 5 seconds Thereafter scan ning will resume whether or not the ot...

Page 70: ...y U If a station is detected on the VFO B frequency the FT 920 will pause on the VFO B frequency and stay there according to the Menu selections you made per the Scan Resume Choices ear lier V Press D...

Page 71: ...n Quick Menu has been activated Normal Menu operation is activated by pressing and holding in the MENU key for second Here are operating procedure summaries for each Menu mode Normal Menu Operation Q...

Page 72: ...th the MENU key operation is identical to that described in the Normal Menu Operation section The Quick Menu bank is set up by first accessing Menu Item U 67 via Normal Menu operation For il lustrativ...

Page 73: ...Halt C arrie r Dro p U 1 6 Hold Tim e for D elay Sca n 1 60 Seco nds 5 Seco nds U 1 7 R esum e Tim e a fter Carrie r D ro p 0 10 Seco nds 1 S econ d U 1 8 Du al W atch Polling Interval 3 15 Seco nds...

Page 74: ...U 5 1 DSP Vo ice Eq ualize r H i M id Lo w Ba ndp ass O ff O ff U 5 2 Line ar Tun ing Start Begin s w hen E nt is presse d U 5 3 Linear Tun ing PO A nt A 100 50 10 W 100 W U 5 4 Linear Tun ing PO A nt...

Page 75: ...K B key will put the trans ceiver in the Split mode with TX on VFO B and RX on VFO A Additionally a frequency offset referenced to the RX frequency will be applied per your setting of this Menu Item...

Page 76: ...center an incoming tone on the zero beat point with your own sig nal FInE When tuning in steps less than 10 Hz this scale will expand rapidly as you tune quickly but as you tune slowly you will be abl...

Page 77: ...short value for this Menu Item so as not to delay the resumption of scanning after a signal disappears U 18 DW TIME Function Set the polling interval for the Dual Watch system Available Values 3 15 S...

Page 78: ...n voice modes U 25 QSO NO Function Set the starting value for the Contest Num ber used by the message memory Available Values 0000 9999 Default 0000 If you should get out of sync with the automatic co...

Page 79: ...value places a contest number without leading zeroes in the contest number message memory location at the point where is inserted The other choices are 999 A full three digit contest number including...

Page 80: ...RX is stored in VFO or Memory regis ters so no operator intervention is needed when changing bands or memories inso far as antenna selection is concerned on The ANTENNA A B RX switch is functional but...

Page 81: ...amplifier is somewhat lower than for the MOS FET preamp but on the lower frequency bands the additional gain is not needed The gain of the J FET amplifier rolls off above 30 MHz as does the gain of t...

Page 82: ...LI A PO Function Set the power output for the Linear Ampli fier Tuning pulser via Antenna A Available Values 100 50 10 Default 100 If you have different amplifiers for different bands each with uniqu...

Page 83: ...the IF SHIFT control allowing you to preset the frequency response of the receiver during USB operation The effect of the adjustment can be heard if you turn the volume up while rotating the VFO B Tu...

Page 84: ...de according to the channel spacing utilized in your coun try U 69 CW NAR Function Enable Disable the signal path through the optional YF 116C CW filter Available Values on oFF Default oFF When the CW...

Page 85: ...the RX ANTENNA key is pressed activating the Receive only antenna port protection for the re ceiver circuits from high RF voltage is afforded by a small relay which in the default condition opens the...

Page 86: ...erter s coaxial cable to the RX ANT IN RCA jack on the rear panel of the FT 920 r Select Antenna B by pressing the ANTENNA A B switch if needed r Press VFO A s Orange TX LED Switch for second to activ...

Page 87: ...most opera tors prefer to use the VOX method whenever the telephone signal to noise ratio permits If the tele phone line noise level is high however the PTT method may still be necessary so you should...

Page 88: ...teur radio journals Most software vendors also have Home Pages on the World Wide Web containing a wealth of information on the features and radio sup port for their software packages The information...

Page 89: ...ote 1 P1 01 7A Memory Channel Number Hex 01 63 Memory Channels 1 01 1 99 64 6D Memory Channels d 01 d 10 6E 78 Memory Channels C 01 C 11 79 7A Memory Channels P Lo P Hi Note 2 P1 01 7A Memory Channel...

Page 90: ...ument Argument Instruction OPCODE CAT 5 BYTE COMMAND STRUCTIURE Start Bit 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Stop Bit Stop Bit CAT DATA BY TE FORMAT Constructing and Sending C A T Commands Example 1 Set VFO A to 14 250...

Page 91: ...frequency data records is shown at the end of this sub section Status Flags Request FAH The format for the eight Status Flags is shown be low Bit O ffset Stat us Flag Byte 0 Contents 0 Split Operatio...

Page 92: ...1 1 62 20H 21H 22H 23H 24H 25H 26H 27H 28H 29H 2AH 2BH 2CH 2DH 2EH 2FH 30H 31H 32H 33H 34H 35H 36H 37H 38H 39H 3AH 3BH 3CH 3DH 3EH 1 63 1 64 1 65 1 66 1 67 1 68 1 69 1 70 1 71 1 72 1 73 1 74 1 75 1 76...

Page 93: ...p battery is a standard Sony CR2032 or equivalent which is installed in a socket on the bottom side of the transceiver Replacement of the battery is easy to accomplish Remove the bottom cover of the t...

Page 94: ...will not wipe out any other memories but will allow you to clear all Menu settings to their origi nal factory default values To do this turn the trans ceiver off then press and hold in the MENU and CL...

Page 95: ...f the radio Loosen the four screws on the sides of the upper case but do not remove them Now fold the rear of the bottom panel slightly away from the chassis and remove the bottom panel by sliding it...

Page 96: ...O 7 Q Remove the bottom case of the transceiver see previous page R Refer to Figure 2 on the previous page and lo cate the mounting position for the TCXO 7 which currently is occupied by the REF OSC U...

Page 97: ...ce including interference that may cause undesired operation 2 The scanning receiver in this equipment is incapable of tuning or readily being altered by the User to operate within the frequency bands...

Page 98: ...Copyright 1997 Yaesu Musen Co Ltd All rights reserved No portion of this manual may be reproduced without the permission of Yaesu Musen Co Ltd leading the way SM...

Reviews: