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Is it possible to set the frequency on a Kenwood TM-D710G via either the PC or COM ports over a serial connection?

The TNC manual does not mention an option to set the frequency, and the PC port seems generally undocumented. Ideally, I'd like to do this over Linux, but I'm willing to sniff a serial connection on a Windows PC if it's possible from Windows software.

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  • $\begingroup$ The COM port is for using the radio's internal TNC for APRS or packet. DATA is for using an external TNC and provides audio in/out + PTT. If it's possible it seems like it'd have to be using the PC port. $\endgroup$
    – Brad Mace
    Jul 3, 2021 at 6:10

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This fellow mentions that he planned to do this:

Install serial cable from TM-D710G in basement to office for a future project - computer control over radio frequency, etc.

But he may never have been successful. I do not see the TM-D710G listed in any of the transceiver control software lists:

Looks like Kenwood do provide software for programming presets and such, MCP-2A, while it is currently not supported by Chirp.

The TM-D710G manual also lists several cool things you can do over various cables like APRS and EchoLink — between all this and the MCP-2A you'd think it should be possible, but perhaps not! Have you tried contacting their support?

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  • $\begingroup$ The model is actually supported by Chirp, although it can only change presets live at the moment. I have not yet contacted support... $\endgroup$
    – K8AXE
    Jan 10, 2016 at 7:09
  • $\begingroup$ I'm accepting this answer. I asked Kenwood and they said "we don't have any software to set the frequency, and do not plan to develop any" and wouldn't respond when I asked if the firmware was capable of being set from the serial port. It's possible it can be done, but clearly nobody has done it and nobody knows how. $\endgroup$
    – K8AXE
    Jan 25, 2016 at 20:35
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At this website:

Free Ham Radio Software Web Page (iz6rdb)

you can find C code that I wrote to perform the following operations:

  • tune a specified frequency;
  • tune a specified channel;
  • configure the TNC (Terminal Node Controller);
  • check that the transceiver is alive or read the firmware version.

The code can be easily compiled with gcc or with your favourite C compiler and each program can be executed from the command-line, from a script and so on.

I hope this helps.

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Yes. K5URU has written a QRZ forum post about using fldigi (RigCAT, specifically) to do this. He provided a RigCAT XML file (change the .txt extension to .xml) with comments explaining his process. He gives the impression in the comments that his XML file can be improved upon--you may be able to gain more control over the radio.

He based his work on LA3QMA's documentation of Kenwood's rig control commands for the TM-D710. Note that LA3QMA lists a separate set of commands for the display unit and the main unit (both have a PC port). K5URU used only the main unit. If you wanted to extend the XML file to include commands for the display unit as well, you could:

  1. Connect a computer (PC or microcontroller) with three RS232 ports (two for the radio units and one for the PC running fldigi). This additional computer would need to split the commands coming from fldigi and route them to either the display unit or the main unit.
  2. Write a user-space serial port device driver on the PC running fldigi to do the task above (the driver would then use two additional serial ports on the PC to connect to the radio units).
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