[Elecraft] K3 & MacLoggerDX connection

[Lew Phelps K6LMP]

Yes, you need a USB-RS232 "dongle".  And you have to be wary about what brand you acquire. Many of the USB serial port adapters  on the market don't have drivers for Mac OS X, and many of the drivers that purport to run under OS X OS X work with versions 10.6 and earlier, but not 10.7 (Lion), which will be the OS version installed on your MacBook if you got it recently.

The problem is that 10.6 could run either 32 bit or 64 bit, but the "upgrade" to 10.7 removed support for 32-bit drivers.  (In fairness to Apple, they had been warning for a long time that they would be phasing out support for 32-bit drivers, although they didn't make it very clear when they introduced 10.7 that this was The Time that support for older drivers was going away.) 

I know for sure that the most current Keyspan driver for their USA-19 HS product works with Lion, because that's what I use, and their web site specifically says "works with Lion"

I believe that any USB-RS232 converter that uses the FTDI chipset also should work. There are quite a few different products on the market that use the FTDI chipset, but good luck finding a store clerk who knows for sure.   FTDI has released a 645 bit driver (which is what's needed for Lion).  It's available at 

http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP/MacOSX/FTDIUSBSerialDriver_v2_2_16.dmg

The Prolific chipset also allegedly has a 64-bit kernel and therefore should run on 10.7, but Prolific's web site only references 10.6, so I would be wary unless you can confirm from the seller that it will run under 10.7


Good luck and 73

Lew K6LMP



On Oct 27, 2011, at 7:57 AM, Hunsdon Cary III wrote:

> A big "Thank You" to the dozen or so who responded to my question about logging program recommendations for a MacBook; very much appreciated!
> I purchased MacLoggerDX yesterday and now am pondering how to connect the MacBook to the computer.  I think I need an RS-232 to USB cable, is that correct?
> 73,
> Cary, K4TM
> K3-100 #3449
> 
> H. Cary III, K4TM
> h3cary at gmail.com
> 
> 
> 
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