t4yf LPT interface help needed

[Shake]

hi all,

I'm having some trouble getting my new futaba t4yf Tx to work with the interface cable that came with it. The Tx has been customized so it doesn't use the trainer jack to interface with the computer but a seperate headphone type stereo jack (the small kind). The cable that came with the Tx has a stereo jack on one side and a parallel connector on the other. Inside the transmitter the headphone jack is soldered to the same two pins as the trainer jack is. This setup is reported to work by at least one other person. Sadly I dont know what the internals of the cable look like because I can't open it up.
The problem is that the controller axes dont move in windows or FMS.
My OS is windows XP. I believe I have setup everything correctly: the LTP port uses the correct irq and io address, it is set to ECP+EPP, 'use any interrupt setting...' and plug&play tag selected. I use ppjoy obviously, setup to use the PPM interface. The driver installs ok and everything seems fine. When I enable debug PPM I hear a hissing static tone, and in Parallel Port Monitor the tag for pin10 flashes (note that I have to select LPT2: 378 while the Tx is connected to LPT1). Also the tone/signal stops when I touch the (extended) antenna.
I tried a number of solutions offered here and elsewhere on the net but none worked.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

[brettbear]

Is the xtal plugged in ?
If so, remove it. You dont want to be transmitting xx Mhz down the para port.

Make sure that the PC's BIOS sets the parraport to be ECP mode. Check that the resources for the parraport have an IRQ assigned to the port.

The parra port monitor seems to indicate your cable/electronics is correct.

Apart from the touching the antenna thing, I have the same problem.
My Futaba TX works on W98 laptop, and on my XP machine at the office, but not on my W2K machine at home.

Tried the parra port monitor, and pin 10 flashes happily when the TX is turned on, and doesnt when its turned off.

PPJoy installs happily, with no device errors in 'Computer Manglement'.

I start up FMS, try to configure the joystick, and no luck.

I thought that maybe the problem is the setup and my w2k machine is the parraport is not setup to use the default I/O and IRQ for LPT1. Mine uses I/O 278h and IRQ 5, becuse this machine has a rather old ESS1688 ISA soundcard with uses the usual(?) parraport address 378h and IRQ 7. I'm going to try and swap the addresses to see if that helps.

Additionally, I have no existing game port.
So, If I run FMS without PPJOY installed, under resources for the joystick interfaces the the joys say not installed. After installing PPjoy, I get a joystick but can't calibrate it... anyway, this is probably no help to you, I'll keep trying to sort this problem out here...

[brettbear]

[waltj2k]

Brettbear,

I am having the same troubles also. So I am watching closely as well.

If I get things figured out I will let you know.

FMS now sees the joystick but I can't calibrate either. This is very frustrating.

[Eric Brouwer]

First, make sure that your printer port is set up as EPP or ECP in the BIOS setup. Secondly, have a look at the diagram . The transistor normally helps to ensure the input to the parallel port is almost 5V.

This circuit works on most parallel ports that I have tested.