(If you are on an older version of Windows you can open up Device Manager through the Administration panel). On Windows 10 just go to the Cortona search area (next to the Start menu) and type in Device Manager. Prolific was naturally a tad upset that someone had stolen their design, and who can blame them? So they started adding a special code to their newer chips, as well as an update to the drives so that if the chip isn’t an authentic chip from Prolific, the driver won’t work. Thus when you plug in the cable, it tells Windows “Hey I’m a Prolific cable”, and Windows goes out and downloads and installs the latest Prolific drives. These Chinese companies cloned the chips and their code, indeed the cables even report to Windows that they are from Prolific. The company who originally created these chips was called Prolific. Inside the programming cable are some chips that help the computer talk to the radio. Now if you were like me, and installed CHIRP, plugged in the cable, and hooked it to your radio, you probably got a lot of error messages. Sometimes the cable comes with the radio, other times you’ll need to purchase it separately. You’ll also need the cable for your model of radio.
It has versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux, although for this article we are going to focus on Windows. The software most people use is called CHIRP, available from. The first thing you’ll need is the programming software itself. This post describes not only the steps to program, but to also install the software you’ll need to program these radios and others. Another popular maker along these lines is Wouxun. One of the most prolific manufacturers is a Chinese company who makes very inexpensive (some might even say cheap) radios marketed under the names of Baofeng and BTech. There are a variety of hand held radios on the market. As I’m also a “techie” I’m often asked to help people program their radios using the computer. Some of you may know I am an amateur “ham” radio operator, my call sign is N4IXT. Ok, this post is a bit off what I normally talk about, but I wanted to add it so I’d have a spot to point people back to, and more importantly be able to refer back to it myself.
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