USB to Serial Converters

[VK2JH]

Yes, this has been asked before, but my $2 ebay converters now refuse to work to help program my FT2000D and use it with Ham Radio Deluxe etc. Has anyone bought any recently that are reliable and do the job? I notice $29 ones on Jaycar.

Thanks in advance

John
VK4JHC/VK2JH
Mount Hallen 4312

[VK2LK]

Hi John,

After having tried heaps of these over the past ten years, I've had the best luck with the Prolific chipset based devices. The Prolific PL-2303 controller has been by far and away the best and most stable chip I have used. The last converter I bought from Jaycar was based on this chip. I have used my current converter with many radios and devices that are sensitive to serial port timing, and its been very reliable. I've also used it for doing firmware updates on critical devices with no problems.

Beware though - there are some counterfeit ones doing the rounds though. Prolific even had to release a new driver version to detect these chips.

Cheers,
Matt

[VK2JH]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the info, I will follow it up. I do have a blue coloured one that says it is a Prolific, but that might be not quite correct.

JH

[VK2LK]

There is more information available here on the manufacturers site --> http://www.prolific.com.tw/US/ShowProdu ... 25&pcid=41

I know I have said this already, but I can say from experience that the genuine chips are great.

Cheers,
Matt

[VK3DXE]

If I remember correctly, ATEN brand, as sold at MSY ( www.msy.com.au ) use the Prolific chipset. They're around the 10 to 15 dollar mark.

There is NO excuse for anybody charging 30 bucks for a USB - Serial converter.

[VK4ADC]

Only problem with the PL2303-based adapters is that the drivers cause "blue screens" (BSOD) on Windows 7 and above. Ok on XP so far.

The recommended chipset is the FTDI from what I have read following my FD experiences with the BSOD's and Win7... I have even dropped back from Win7 to XP on this notebook to avoid the blues - it is the one I use with VKCL and Icom 706-type radios for those events.

[VK2LK]

Hi VK4ADC,

Yeah, the FTDI are a close second for me, thought I haven't had a BSOD with the Prolific (luck perhaps?)

Cheers,
Matt

[VK2JH]

Thanks Matt, Alan and Doug. I am going to Ipswich today and notice that MSY have a branch there, they have the Aten brand for $18, so I can quiz them on the chips being genuine, not an online ???? Thanks also Owen for the email re some of these fake chips.

Cheers,

John
VK4JHC/VK2JH

[VK5IR]

I was using a USB CAT cable for my FT-840 that I bought from eBay that had a fake Prolific PL-2303 chip in the converter and even though I had the "fake" driver setup and working it would constantly cause random blue screens on my Win7/8 machines when running HRD, drove me nuts for over a year. The funny thing was that it never crashed whilst running VKCL running along side of Omni Rig.

Then, just a few weeks ago the same manufacturer stated making the same cable with the FTDI chip - never had a single BSOD since.

My advise is avoid anything that mentions Prolific just to be safe.

[VK2LK]

Thanks also Owen for the email re some of these fake chips.

I'm curious if theres more information available

[VK2NR]

I've had problems with Prolific based devices in the past. After I changed to FTDI based converters I have had no problems at all!
(Use them for programming alarms & radios as well as rig control and weather station data logging - both Win7 & iOS).

[VK3LU]

I use a Keyspan. It works on everything I tried it on.
I have no idea what chip it uses, but it WORKS.

Cheers
Nev

[VK2JH]

My email from Owen concerned the fake chips bearing the Prolific name and logo that are in some of these cheapo converters.

JH

[VK2AVR]

FTDI ALL THE WAY


Genuine Prolific is OK, if you can be sure of the source, but how can you be sure Jaycar is sourcing them from a legitimate source? How can you be sure that Jaycar's source in China is always sourcing them from a genuine factory and not buying some cheaper chips in for a bit more profit?

We used to use Jaycar (via their wholesale branch Electus) USB-232 converters and got a bad batch once. After the problems it caused we switched to FTDI.

I have had genuine Prolific work on Win7 but I have also had fakes that are painful. The original problem is that somebody stole Prolific's intellectual property and started making copies. Prolific realised this and their driver detects the fakes and refuses to work. This is why you end up with driver problems particularly in Win7. In my opinion Prolific shot themselves in the foot by doing this, and I refuse to touch them as a brand.

FTDI doesn't have these petty issues, they just work.

http://www.dontronics-shop.com/easysync ... cable.html
(Dontronics is Aussie BTW, based in VIC)

buy it, use it, and forget all about USB-232 converters and compatibility.

[VK2CSW]

If I may be so bold, to avoid some of the prolific "Fake Prolific" issues, I have found that in Vista and Win 7 if you go to System Properties > Hardware > Windows Update Driver Settings and stop Windows from auto updating drivers automatically (I use the Ask Me option), the issues can be minimised.

Once the auto update is disabled, install the "fake prolific driver". When the system prompts you to allow it to get the real driver click cancel and all should be well with your converter.

I hope this helps

[VK2JH]

Hi VK2MIA,

The FTDI converters sound good and, at over $40 from Dontronics, they ought to be..... but, if one is in the professional game, then reliability is the key word. I bought a ATEN brand converter and all seems good so far.

Thanks,

JH

[VK5ZD]

I just received (from China, of course) a programming cable for my TYT TH-9800. Plugged it in to my Windows 8.1 laptop which found and installed the drivers, after which it didn't work
The device manager says it uses the Prolific chipset. After a brief search I found this: http://www.vexforum.com/showthread.php?t=77392.
I followed the links in the third message, installed the older driver and it now works fine

[VK2CSW]

You will need to tell windows not to automatically update the driver.

Windows will update to the genuine prolific driver which will not work with the fake prolific chips.

I don't have Win 8.1 so I can't help with a procedure to disable the update.

[VK2OMD]

... Plugged it in to my Windows 8.1 laptop... installed the older driver and it now works fine

That is interesting because Prolific had previously stated that older chips (genuine or 'fake') would NOT work in Win8, their words are quoted at http://owenduffy.net/software/ATB/PL2303.htm . I have not bothered to try though I have a bag of Prolific based adapters that are no longer used.

This confirms my earlier suspicions that I could not trust anything they say.

The reliable way ahead, as others have noted, is to never buy Prolific.

Owen

[VK5ZD]

The reliable way ahead, as others have noted, is to never buy Prolific.

I've bought a USB to serial adapter with the FTDI chip for this very reason.
However, there's no choice when it comes to the TYT programming cable; it comes with the prolific chip.