But I recently found the need to use FM through the data port. In this case, the internal VOX feature would be handy. Unfortunately, FM is not an option through the data port.
A few days ago, I stumbled upon a mod for the FT-817 that enables the internal VOX feature through the data port.
The original how-to can be found here.
The IC of interest is on the bottom side of the board.
If that photo is too small to see, you basically run a 10k resistor from pin 12 to pin 4 or 1.
I used some 30 gauge wire soldered to the resistor, glued the resistor to the board and then ran my wires and soldered to the chip. Needless to say, the soldering was quite delicate work.
Ignore the jumper and the red wording.
That was from the original document.
Note the orange resistor I drew in, this is
where I put mine.
Reassemble and give it the test. Put the rig into FM mode, turn on VOX, and hook up the data interface. You may need to turn up the VOX gain.
Important: Unplug the microphone! It's easy to forget that with VOX on for data, the mic is still picking up your background noise.
After doing this mod, I set my radio up and fired up echolink. I was able to quickly setup an echolink repeater and use my HT to connect to echolink enabled repeaters all over the world.
