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FT-991 digital
communications with
only a USB cable mla 30 plus
loop antenna
June 10, 2020 by SWL3409PL - MLA-30+
(plus) 0.5-
30MHz
ft-991a digital modes
Active
CAT control as well as PTT via one USB cable Receive
Antenna Low
from the computer to the radio.
Noise
No USB to Serial converter needed, so additional interface
boxes – just a USB cable (*Note, see farther down in the
post as to which cable you want to purchase. Not all
cables are made the same!)

UPDATED 6/9/2020 – There is a BUG in WSJT-X V.2.2.0.

Tecsun pl-
when you try to connect the 991 you will see a “hamlib
990 SSB
error” when you try to do the CAT connection. Version
2.2.1 appears to have FIXED the issue. If you are running radio
V2.2.0 with the 991 upgrade to V2.2.1. receiver all-
band-
Ok, special price
Some of you might might be new to digital
communications on the ham bands, so let me start from
the beginning.
Hams who are running PSK31 or JT65 or FT8/4 or some
other digital mode are using a computer connected to an
audio interface that is then connected to the radio.
Assembled
The software on the computer generates audio that goes SI4735 All
from the computer sound card to the radio as well as from Band Radio
the radio to the sound card. Receiver SSB
(LSB & USB)
COMPUTER <–>INTERFACE <–>RADIO with lithium
battery
There are several different types of interface devices that
you can purchase to make this connection. Buxcom, West
Mountain Radio, Signalink, and even MFJ is getting into
the market with their own audio device. I have tried the
Buxcom, the West Mountain Radio (The M8, yeah.. a while
ago!) as well at the Signalink.

However! ATU-100 DIY

This post is about setting up digital communications with Kits Tuner by
the FT-991/991a, with only a USB cable. No external N7DDC
device required. Firmware
Yes folks, it is true. CAT control as well as PTT via one programmed
USB cable from the computer to the radio. / SMD/Chip
SWEET! soldered

No USB to Serial converter needed, so additional interface

boxes – just a USB cable (*Note, see farther down in the
post as to which cable you want to purchase. Not all cables
are made the same!)

The FT-991 comes with a built in sound card. Some say it using a
is the same sound card that is in the Yaesu SCU-17, computer
Yaesu’s equivalent of the Signalink device. However, the power
FT-991 also do FSK RTTY as well as CW, (with its built in supply for
sound card) something that the Signalink cannot do. ham radio

“So, the FT-991 has a built in sound card. Neat Jay.. do I

just connect a USB cable and go?”

Not quite cowboy, you have to take a minute (or in my

case about 40) and do some research, nnd the right
directions online and then follow them to make sure Why AMLA-
everything is setup properly. The FT-991 packs a TON of 150 antenna
features, and this can be confusing. is better than
MLA30?
In this blog post, I did the research for you, and once you
get all the software loaded, the right boxes selected and
menu items changed it works!

So lets dive in here and get to it.

SET UP for the FT-991 using the internal sound

card

(These directions are based on a Win 7 OS. I have been

told that in Win 8 and W10, you do NOT have to install the
drivers Grst, but I think it is good practice to install the
drivers before connecting the radio. To be safe, always
install the driver before connecting the radio to the
computer.)

Step 1. Read this post from start to nnish

Step 2. Read it again
Step 3. Follow the steps below and do them in order
Step 4. If something isn’t working, revert to step 1

A. Do not connect a USB cable from your computer to the

FT-991 until you load the drivers listed below. (See my
comments above).

B. Go to the Yaesu web site and download the drivers for

the FT-991. The drivers you are looking for are the: FT-
991/ SCU-17 USB Driver (Virtual COM Port Driver) (3.74
MB).

Some users might have a USB to serial converter based

on the chips (Prolinc, FTDI). These drivers will not work
with the 991/991a. You need to download and install the
Yaesu drivers.

Download the FT-991/ SCU-17 USB Driver (Virtual COM

Port Driver) and follow the directions to install them on
your computer. (Just follow the prompts of the software
during install and you will be Gne.)

What will happen is that you will end up installing:

TWO (2) COM ports.

One is an ENHANCED COM port (in my case COM 4)

the other is a Standard COM port (in my case COM
5)

Now that you have installed the drivers, now you can
connect a USB cable from the PC to the 991. You might
even hear the PC making some system beep noises as it
realizes that it has been connected to an external USB
device (the radio).

With the 991 connected you can check that these COM
ports were installed on your machine by going to Control
Panel, then Device Manager, and look under the “Ports
(COM & LTP)” drop down. You should see two newly
added ports:

Silicon Labs Dual CP210x USB to UART Bridge:

Enhanced COM Port (COM 4) (<–OR SOME OTHER
NUMBER)
Silicon Labs Dual CP210x USB to UART Bridge:
Standard COM Port (COM 5) (<–OR SOME OTHER
NUMBER)

Again, your new ports might be numbered 3 and 4, or 6

and 7, or some other combination. The key is that there
are TWO of them, one is labeled Enhanced, the other
Standard.

Note: These ports will not show up unless you have the
991/991a connected to the computer via the USB cable.

I recommend the Triplite USB 2.0 Hi-Speed A/B Cable with

Ferrite Chokes (M/M), 3-ft. cable for the connection to the
radio from the computer. Other cables do not have the
ferrite or may not have the shielding that you need to have
within the cable.

MANY errors that show up with software crashing or

Hamlib pop up errors, or folks crashing software when on
40m or high power on 20m are due to the cheap USB
cables without shielding out there. Get a quality cable and
be done with it.

Lack of grounding and RFI issues are quick to present

themselves when using digital modes. If your keyboard
starts to lock up, or your mouse, or the software starts
acting sluggish.. check your grounding and address RFI
issues.

** NOTE! **
If you have different radios that you are connecting to the
same laptop for digital (in my case, a FTDX1200 and the
FT-991), PAY ATTENTION to the different COM ports that
are assigned and make sure your are using the correct
“pair” of standard and enhanced ports.

Know what you have installed.

Check them in the System Properties!

Once the drivers are loaded, it is a matter of getting the

digital software that you want installed and setting it up to
talk with the USB port on your laptop.

Remember:
USB drivers (Win 7) HAVE TO BE installed nrst.

DON’T SKIP THIS.

If you do not install the driver nrst, NONE of this will work.
Just stop reading now. Stop reading and install the driver
from the Yaesu site. Here is the link again. Once that is
done, then move forward to the next step.

Yaesu FT-991 MENU SETUP:

(If you have a 991(A), your menu numbers will be slightly

off, just go by the menu name)

DO this before trying to conngure the WSJT-X or any other

software on the computer.

These are the MENU settings that I changed from the

default values.
031 CAT RATE 4800 (or faster – just make sure the
software and radio match the same CAT RATE many are
using the fastest “38XXX” vale. I use 4800 and it works
Gne.)
032 CAT TOT 100ms
033 CAT ENABLE
062 Data Mode OTHERS (NOT PSK – change to OTHERS)
064 OTHER DISP (SSB) = 1500 Hz
065 OTHER SHIFT (SSB) = 1500 Hz
066 DATA LCUT FRED = OFF
068 DATA HCUT FREQ = OFF
070 DATA IN SELECT = REAR
071 DATA PTT SELECT = RTS
072 DATA PORT SELECT = USB

Yaesu FT-991 Screen settings:

These are the settings on the main screen of the FT-991

that I adjusted.
MODE: DATA-USB (NOT USB), choose the DATA-USB
setting.
WIDTH: 2400 or 3000
METER: ALC (I use an external meter to watch RF power
out)
RF PWR: 8-50w start low and work up.
WIDTH: 3000
NAR/WIDE: W 3000
DT Gain: 6 *** IMPORTANT ***
The DT Gain defaults to 50! This will overdrive the rigs
modulator which will cause unwanted audio harmonics.
Not good. Turn the DT Gain setting down to about 4, and
start working your way back up, watching for ALC on the
meter as well as the power out that you want. As you
move the DT Gain setting back up (higher), you will see
your power level increase as well as ALC levels. Find the
happy medium of NO ALC showing on the meter.
Excessive ALC indication is a sign that the audio drive is
too high and distortion is most likely happening.

WSJT-X

With all the updates to the software, it is best to just get

the latest release when it is available. Running outdated
versions will lack features and in some cases not allow
you to work stations running the new software. So,
UPDATE the software when the new versions are out.

You can get it here:

http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html

Once you download it and install the software, you have to

conngure it to talk with the radio.

CONNECT THE USB CABLE from the computer to the FT-

991 NOW.

Start the WSJT-X application.

Below are some OLDER screen shots. They are for

reference only. The latest version of the software will
have additional selections, however, the layout is similar.
Then click on [FILE] and then [SETTINGS].

Here is where you need to select the right options to

connect the FT-991 to your computer.

Here is an older screen shot of what works for my setup.

COM Port is #4, the ENHANCED PORT (on my computer –

maybe different on yours) from the drivers.

4800 baud (or faster if you desire)

8 data bits
2 stop bits
Hardware: Handshake
Poll interval: 1 second
CAT control: via COM 4
Mode: NONE
Split: FAKE IT OR RIG (YES, I KNOW… I have NONE
selected in the image above) choose FAKE IT or RIG.
*** It is very important that you select Fake It or Rig when
using the newer versions of FT8 due to the advancements
in the software and the way the software operates. ***

Click on Test CAT. It should turn GREEN.

Click on Test PTT. It should turn RED and you should see
the radio switch into TX mode, (no RF out).

Supposedly all you need to do for Windows 10 is the same

as I did in for Win 7/8.

Once you are done with the [RADIO] tab, click on [AUDIO].

Set WSJT-X sound card Input AND Output settings to USB

Audio CODEC.
Do not select the default sound card or microphone or any
other software you have in there. You want the “USB
AUDIO CODEC” as the selection. This new audio option
should populate automatically in the drop down for the
input and output option, now that you connected the radio
to the computer.
You DID do that before you got to this point yes?

Note: You may see USB Audio CODEC -7 or -8. (Or some
other possible number) That is nne as well. Just select
the USB AUDIO CODEC.

Set the TX level (on the far right side of the software) to
the top of the scale. Adjust the DT GAIN setting on the FT-
991 so that ALC is not observed (or barely observed) on
the meter on the FT-991 radio.
PAY ATTENTION to your ALC settings. This is done by
watching the DT GAIN setting on the front panel of your
FT-991 and monitoring the ALC screen (switch from PO or
SWR to ALC).

2/9/2017 – THE RIGHT USB CABLE TO USE

Recently on the 991 Yahoo group there has been a lot of

discussion around the proper USB cable to use with your
991 / 991A.
RF voating around and poorly made cables has made
some connections intermittent and or drivers would not
load.
The recommendation is to use Tripp Lite Model U023-006
USB 2.0 Gold X Cable A (Male)/B (Male) – 6 ft with two
molded chokes. Amazon Prime cable at $6.51 delivered.

I wound up using a USB cable with inline chokes that

I found on Amazon. "Tripp Lite USB 2.0 Hi-Speed A/B
Cable with Ferrite Chokes (m/M) 6-ft (U023-006). That solved my RF problem. - Jon AA4JS

A follow up by Don, K0APK.

It completely got rid of my RF-induced problems. I lik
ed it so much that I bought 5 more and replaced ALL
of my USB A/B cables in the entire house!
No more lock-ups of programs, resets, and dropping
of my wireless links when I keyed the transmitter!

-Don-
 K0APK

From Gary, WW8O – This is the setup for a USB cable and
Singalink.
NOT using the internal sound card in the 991, but rather
the external Signalink device. Has has had this work
both on wsjt-x and vdigi.

991 (or /a)

Menu Setting:
31 38400
60 rts
62 other
63 1500
64 790
65 1500
67 6db
68 4000
69 6 db
70 rear
71 rts
72 data
73 20
108 rear
110 rts
111 usb

Additional directions can be found here:

* NOTE 991A, but should be similar with the 991 *

I was asked to share all the settings that I arrived at f
or successful FT-991a with Fldigi and RigCat operati
on.

FT-991a (all other settings are defaults)

Menu Number Function Setting Note

s
031 CAT Rate 38400 Must
match vdigi CAT rate

032 CAT TOT 100 ms

036 TX TOT 3 min

059 CW Freq Display DIRECT FREQ

062 Data Mode OTHERS

064 Other Disp (SSB) 1500

065 Other Shift (SSB) 1500

066 Data LCUT Freq OFF

068 Data HCUT Freq OFF

071 Data PTT Select RTS

072 Data Port Select USB

108 SSB PTT Select RTS

109 SSB Port Select USB

142 VOX Select DATA

Must also turn VOX ON (M-LIST)

Observe D.VOX indic

ator is ON
(upper LH corner of display)

M-LIST Settings: FLDI

GI Settings (Conngure > Rig Control):

VOX = ON FT-991.
xml nle loaded

NOTCH = OFF Devi

ce = COM3 (enhanced port)
 WIDTH = 3000 Bau
d = 38400, Stop = 1, RTS/CTS vow control

RF PWR = 50

DT GAIN = 5

Hope this saves you some brain cells!!

Mark, WA0ZIG

GitHub repository of great articles on the 991.

https://github.com/rfrht/FT-991A/wiki

FT-991 Setup for VHF Winlink. (pdf)

Dan, W9SAU created a guide for using the FT-991 for
Winlink on VHF.

FT-991 Setup from W6PQL (pdf)

https://www.w6pql.com/misc/wsjt-x/ft991-wsjt-x.pdf

JT65 on the FT991 YouTube tutorial

Shawn Johnson, KU0D – Video Tutorial. (Thanks for the
mention Shawn!)

FT991 Blogspot page

Getting the 991 up and running with FLDIGI.
https://ft991.blogspot.cz/2016/09/vdigi-setup-my-
version-3227-win-10-com.html

FT991 CAT directions:

http://blogzs1jen.dyndns.org:83/wsjt-x-conng-for-ft-
991/#comment-758

FT991/991A with N1MM. http://www.hb9amo.net/n1mm-

ft991.php

HRD Support has a great set of starter directions as well

as some good nuggets of information deep down in the
comments.
http://tickets.hrdsoftwarellc.com/kb/faq.php?id=89

DXEngineering:
https://static.dxengineering.com/global/images/technical
articles/ysu-ft-991.pdf

FSK controls:
http://www.dxlabsuite.com/dxlabwiki/YaesuSCU-17

My compiled list:
If you get real bored, here is some more reading for you.
This was a copy and paste of various FT-991 menu
settings from all over the globe, from translated German
pages as well as translated Japanese blogs. It is where I
nnally found the settings that worked for me.

I do not remember the links to the pages to give credit. If

you see something that looks like your settings, and you
posted it online. Chances are they are yours! Thank you
for adding to the collective.

Again, I have not tested all of them, just what I found

worked for me. If what I HAVE above does not work for
you, this might save you some internet searching for what
others are using for settings for the FT-991 and JT65.
Jay’s scoured_the_internet_for _FT_991_settings list.

Of course, if none of this works for you, or you do not want

to take advantage of the internal sound card, you CAN just
connect a Signalink and use that device with the FT-991
for digital communications, but why get one if you do not
need it?
That money could be put towards the FH-2 remote wired
keypad for the FT-991 (another great product).

OK! Now what?

Well, now that you have the radio conngured, the software
working, and the radio talking to the computer – download
this nle created by Gary, ZL2IFB. It is great read on how to
 operate the WSJT-X software.

http://www.g4ifb.com/FT8_Hinson_tips_for_HF_DXers.pdf

Hope to hear your FT-991 on the bands soon! GL OM/YL!

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