Hello Everyone!
I am a person who likes "Bottom Line" information and, even as experienced as i am, hate to have to decode information or sort through the TMI (Too Much Information) So...
I just want to provide a "Bottom Line" tutorial/how-to regarding the Serial Interface Cable (I was a bit surprised to see LOL)...
After a little while with the Serial Adapter that came with my new Uniden Bearcat BCT15X and my Windows 8.1 Pro... I figured it out.
First, I have a newly updated (custom) PC and i had purchased (quite some time ago) the serial & parallel port connectors that the motherboard was equipped with as an add-in.
I opened my "Device Manager" and listed under "Ports (COM & LPT) was my Serial Port labeled as "Communications Port (COM1)". I right Clicked COM1 and selected Properties. Then i selected the "Port Settings" tab at the top and then i changed the "Bits per second" (also known as the "Baud Rate") to "115200" then I click "OK" at the bottom and exited the Device Manager.
I then turned to my Uniden BCT15X Scanner and selected the "Menu" button then turned the knob to select "Settings" (by pushing the knob), then selected "Set Serial Port", then selected "Set Baud Rate", then "Set Front Port", then "115200 bps". Now push the "Menu" button 4 times to exit the menu completely. Now you can connect serial adapter in the serial port of the PC and the front port of the scanner. Now your connected.
Remember, Windows will not announce or even know that the Scanner is connected since the scanner doesn't fall to the computer for communication AND the serial port is not self powered (unlike a USB port), it is invoked by PC software to feed (or push) information to the scanner and download (or pull) information from the scanner.
Just be sure (as you should with any PC interface with any device) that the right software is used because it can either do NOTHING, ERROR OUT or EVEN DAMAGE your unit.
This has been a public service announcement... LMAO!!!
Good Luck to All.