I have some info on 3rd party cables if you are interested.
I am using a 2-in-1 cable from 409Shop.com to program a number of Yaesu radios.
Here's the product: - http://www.409shop.com/409shop_product.php?id=103790
It works with my VX-7R, FT-60R, and FT-7800R. It should also work with my FT-8800R, but I haven't tried it (programmed what few memories I needed manually on that rig).
There are two things to know: - You will need the Prolific drivers from the 409Shop website for it to work on Windows (getting the 'latest and greatest' from Prolific will cause it to fail). - The 3.5mm adapter has the threading for the VX-7R. It *will* work with the non-threaded Yaesu units (FT-60R, VX-3, etc), as the rest of the plug is physically and electrically identical. It just sticks out a bit on the FT-60R.
As for being reputable I've never had an issue with 409Shop. You just have to remember that they're in Hong Kong and it may take a while for the shipment to get to you. I have also used a USB cable from them to program a Wouxun KG-UVD1P (although I must note that this was not with CHIRP, as I sold that unit before I learned about CHIRP) and I used another of their cables for the Baofeng UV-3R. Pretty much all of their cables (and the ones on eBay) use the Prolific PL2032 chipset, so I have a laptop set up with those drivers and use it for all my radio programming (once the driver is installed, it works for all of the 409Shop cables).
If you want a U.S. vendor, I've also had luck purchasing cables from Valley Enterprises. Here are their Yaesu cable selections: - http://www.valley-ent.com/catalog/yaesuvertex-c-25_45_49.html
They carry a line of cables using FTDI USB-serial chipsets, which gets around a lot of the software hassles Windows users have had with the Prolific-based ones. I have one of their cables for my Yaesu FTM-350AR.
On 11/03/2011 02:29 PM, Dan Smith wrote:
Hi all,
I often get private questions about which cable to use for programming particular radios (especially the Icom 92AD). The CHIRP site has a little bit of information about this, but I think we can do better. I just created a "Programming Cable Guide" page here:
http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/CableGuideThis is just a brain dump from memory on various radios and cables. I would much appreciate:
- Corrections, comments, and additions
- Links to pages describing how to build cables
- Links to reputable vendors of 3rd party cables
If anyone is interested in helping edit this page directly, let me know and I'll get you set up with edit access.
Thanks!