[Elecraft] USB to Serial Ports adapter: a product test

[Don Wilhelm]

Hi all,

I have had an experience with the Chinese "fake" Prolific USB to serial 
chips.  A Wouxun VHF/UHF handeld would not work with my Win7 computer 
because the Prolific drivers identified the chip as a fake Chinese 
knockoff.  I tried the solutions in the web as well as the older 
Prolific drivers with no great success.  I even tried the Linux 
solutions and was not able to program the handheld (I am not a Linux 
guru, but I followed the instructions).  Simply, it did not work, and I 
am not willing  to keep a Windows XP computer going just for these 
Chinese fake chips.  I bought the programming cable in good faith, but 
that faith has been destroyed by the Chinese fake chips.

I ordered a serial to Kenwood programming cable from Powerworks and I 
should be able to program it with either a real serial port or a good 
USB to serial adapter.  That should solve my problem.  There is nothing 
wrong with good old RS232 serial ports, they are a constant among the 
USB 'alternatives'.

Yes, the Win7 and Win8 drivers for both Prolific and FTDI chips will 
detect these counterfeit chips and will not successfully load the 
drivers.  I found out the hard way.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 3/27/2014 8:27 PM, Doug Person wrote:
> Personally, I have had some aggravation with USB to serial port 
> converters so I thought I would pass along my experience with a good 
> product.
>