Kenwood TK-350 Programming Dilema

[Spark_Gap]

Have read until my eyes were bleeding, but can't seem to find a recent answer to this dilema. Hoping someone out there has experience programming Kenwood Hand Held units. Namely the TK-350 UHF (brother to TK-250 VHF).

Just killed two full days of my life negotiating with a Kenwood TK-350 trying to program it using it's proprietary software "KPG23d" within a DosBox environment on a windows 7 PC with a genuine FTDI cable.

Finally got the Software (KPG23D-U3B) working great on the Windows 7 PC within DosBox (v0.74) and after much reading & research was able to configure both the software and DosBox to play nice with COM1 where the cable was happily connected to the Radio (in -PC- mode as described)


Just cannot get it to read/write or connect.

Unfortunately this unit is not supported within Chirp.

Any advice or direction would be gold

 

[searchrescueff]

Just a clarification, you are putting the radio in programming mode, yes?

It should connect otherwise if the VM is matching com ports with the PC.

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[Spark_Gap]

Thanks for your reply searchrescueff,

Yes.... it's in -PC- mode as detailed in all the tutorials I have read. The unit has numerous 'modes' and it is somewhat confusing. PROG mode for instance is apparently for flashing the firmware, but I believe it's in the right mode for programming.

Cheers

ts-60s

 

[searchrescueff]

Just wanted to make sure. And yes, -PC- is for reading and writing the memory info and PROG is for writing firmware.

As far as DOSBOX goes, I don't use it, so I'm useless there. I run Virtual PC (running MS-Dos 6.22, Windows 98SE and Windows XP Pro) on my Acer Windows 7 laptop. I know I had to meticulously go thru both os platforms and the PC settings to match my com port setting to get a good read/write on my old 250G and a TK-860 I have (did in on the Win98 platform).

Hope any of this helps.

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[Spark_Gap]

Thanks again searchresueff,

Yes I’ve read several ways to run this old software.... and non of them real easy at all. Many use a dedicated 32x bit Win98 platform, and others the virtual environments. It appears to be working great in the DosBox, But has got me stumped why it won’t read/write. Must be some form of COM port issue.

Cheers ������������

 

[searchrescueff]

Very well could be. One reason I keep an old Dell latitude C610 with the interchangeable CD and floppy drives and has a serial port. [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

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[kayn1n32008]

Thanks again searchresueff,

Yes I’ve read several ways to run this old software.... and non of them real easy at all.

Cheers

With the difficulty of trying to run a DOS program in any way other than it is intended, you are going to have issues.

For the price of a TK-280, TK-290, TK-2180, you get a radio that is far more versatile, and easier to program.

-TK-280 Ver.1 With antenna, charger, battery and speaker mic, for US$169.00 OBO on ebay. Programs with windows based software.

-TK-290 With antenna, charger, battery and speaker mic for US$139. Programs with windows based software

-TK-2180 With antenna,charger, battery, speaker mic and carry case for US$299. Programs with windows based software.

Those prices were only but a quick EBay search, and you could quite likely find them for cheaper if you look much more in depth.

Edit: And I see now you have a UHF radio, prices are likely very similar for UHF

 

[searchrescueff]

Thanks again searchresueff,

Yes I’ve read several ways to run this old software.... and non of them real easy at all. Many use a dedicated 32x bit Win98 platform, and others the virtual environments. It appears to be working great in the DosBox, But has got me stumped why it won’t read/write. Must be some form of COM port issue.

Cheers [emoji1360][emoji1360][emoji1360]

Just a thought since I have had this happen to me before.... possibly a cable issue? Not seating right in the radio perhaps....

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[searchrescueff]

I ask because I had a situation once where everything worked like it should, com port, radio, everything. But if the cable was not seated in the radio just right, I couldn't read or write anything until I got it seated.

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[Spark_Gap]

I ask because I had a situation once where everything worked like it should, com port, radio, everything. But if the cable was not seated in the radio just right, I couldn't read or write anything until I got it seated.

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Thanks again searchrescueff, Yes I’ve read of that happening when not plugged in properly. Would be a very frustrating fault to discover.

I have surely plugged it in as hard as I could. But I’ve since learned perhaps the issue is caused by the FTDI chipset using only 5 data bits, when DosBox uses 8 ?

I’m also told the prolific chipset cables use the compatible 8 data bits.

I’m feeling it may be better to use the ‘Time Machine’ sitting in the wardrobe, and go right back to basics in a pure DOS environment with an old serial port and original cable.

Still searching, will post my eventual solution, if I’m not too old to type. Hahaha


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