[Scan-DC] (no subject)

[Andrew Clegg]

A couple words of caution about generic USB-serial adapters -- generic 
USB-to-serial adapters are infamous for being finicky. Some combinations of 
computer/adapter/radio will work and some won't. If you go the generic 
route, I recommend spending as little as possible in case it won't work for 
your application. There is one type of chip used in these adapters that 
seems to be more likely to work than others (I think it's the Prolific 
chipset, but you may want to do some Google research first).

Also, when you use a USB-to-serial adapter, the serial port shows up as COMM 
XX, where XX is a larger number than usual (in the ~8 - 20 range). Older 
software that was written back in the time when you only had serial ports as 
COM 1 - 4 may not recognize such large com port numbers. You'd want to 
confirm that your software does.

The USB adapter for the Pro-96 and the USB adapter that Uniden sells for 
their 246/396/996/215 radios appear to be very reliable for their specific 
applications.

Note that John mentioned the PCMCIA-to-serial adapters as perhaps being a 
better option. I have not used one of those, but it may be more reliable 
than the generic USB-serial adapters.

Cheers!
Andy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Howard W3CQH" <hsgorden at comcast.net>
To: <oldsdoug at hotmail.com>; <scan-dc at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, August 16, 2008 10:41 PM
Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] (no subject)


> Yes - you can purchase 1 in just about any electronics store, such as: RS, 
> Best Buy, etc. About $20 to $ 40 depending where you buy!
>
> 73's de Howard W3CQH
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <oldsdoug at hotmail.com>
> To: <scan-dc at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Saturday, August 16, 2008 10:13 PM
> Subject: [Scan-DC] (no subject)
>
>
>
>
> Speaking of cables / adapters... I just bought a laptop and of course it 
> doesn't have a serial port.  Does anyone here know if there's such a thing 
> as a USB-to-serial adapter that I can get and safely use to connect my 
> BC-796 Apco-25 scanner to the laptop for programming?
>
> I've just done a search on newegg.com and found some cables that have the 
> right connections, but I don't know whether I can do this without blowing 
> up the radio!
>
> Thanks!
>
> Doug
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