Modifications for the Yaesu
FT-11
19-07-1998 Extended transmission range on a
Yeasu FT-11R
I have knowlege that this mod works, but take no
responsibility for any damage it does to your radio, the legality of this mod,
or any other incurred damages.
After the mod a FT-11R will
have:
Recieve: 110.000-135.995 (AM) 136.000-180.000 (FM)
Transmit:
136.000-180.000 (FM)
Empty Memories and a completely reset
radio
First, Remove the antenna, battery pack, and pocket clip (if
installed) from the radio. Then remove the four black screws from the corners of
the main section of the radio, the two black screws from the bottom center
section of the main body, and the two silver screws from the bottom of the
keyboard section. Now carefully separate the back and front halves of the radio,
taking care not to put too much strain on the internal ribbon cable, or loose
the small metal strap holder or the battery release button.
Once you have
opened the radio, carefully remove the metal plate covering the back of the
keyboard. Then remove the "AF" pcboard by first removing the two copper screws
in the middle of the board, then holding the bottom of the pcboard and the
mic/speaker jacks between your thumb and forefinger and pulling straight up.
This may take a little force, as you are seperating two connectors. Once you
have the "AF" board removed, set it and the connector/keyboard backplane board
aside. Now look at the lower left corner of the controller board. You should see
the 8 jumpers (they are very small), set up like this:
Top of radio
L A o-o o o E I don't know how the jumpers relate to the
E B o-o o o F ones on the schematic, so the letters are just
F C o o o/o G for reference in this article
T D o-o o o H
"-" means a solder jumper, and "/" means resistor
These are the functions of the jumpers that I know of:
A- Turns
your radio into the euro version (TX between 144.000-146.000)
B- ?
C-
?
D- This is the important one. Gives you extened TX range
E- Turns your
radio into the 440Mhz version. Not Suggested!
F- ?
G- ?
H- Same as
jumper "E"
The only jumper that this mod deals with is "D". It currently
has a solder jumper across it. Remove the solder across the jumper with really
small solder wick or a desoldering station, taking care not to touch any plastic
with your soldering iron. Once this solder jumper is removed, you now have
extened tx range. Now carefully replace the "AF" board first, and then the
connector/keyboard backplane board. Take care to get the copper grounding
connector on the side of the mic/speaker jacks well seated. Replace the two
copper screws in the middle of the "AF" board, and the two silver screws on the
bottom of the keyboard. Replace the battery eject button and strap holder, and
then replace the back half of the radio. Replace all the screws, put the battery
and antenna back on, and turn the radio on. You should see 144.000 on the
screen. Turn the radio off and the hold the MHZ/ and MHZ/ buttons while turning
the radio on. You now have the transmit range between 136.000-180.000.
As a suggestion, you can store completely different transmit and recieve
frequencies in a memory (see manual), so if you store a service frequency in a
memory, you can program a legal HAM frequency as the transmit freq. so you never
accidently transmit on an illegal frequency.
Another neat feature that I
have found on these radios is the "Clone" feature. You can transfer all memories
from one FT-11R to another FT-11R. First, make a cable using two male stereo
1/8" connectors, and connecting the top(gound) and middle conductors of the
plugs straight through. Don't connect the tip conductors together though. Plug
this cable into the earphone jacks of the two radios, and on each radio, hold
down the "FM" button while turining it on. You should see every character
flashing on the screen. Now, on the radio which you wish to recieve the memory
contents from the other radio, press the MHZ/ button. You should see "RX CLN" on
the screen. Then on the radio which is to send it's memory contents, press the
MHZ/ button. "TX CLN" should appear on the screen for about 5 seconds, then it
should return to the flashing screen state. The recieving radio should now be in
normal operating mode. Turn both radios off, and remove the cable. That's it.
This function overwrites all of the recieving radio's mem contents, and copies
everything from memories to pager codes to the status of the light. WARNING: The
instant that you hit the MHZ/, your memories are GONE, even if the transfer is
unsuccessful! Also, both radios must have the same jumper settings to
successfully complete the cloning process.
That's all I know for now!
Have fun!
Any other questions? Contact me at "[email protected]"
Ian Jordan