Harris mobile programming cables

[Turner101]

Hey guys I got a friend that went from a portable to a mobile, M7300, and needs a programming cable for it. I would prefer a USB cable that would work since both him and I do not have any computers with serial ports anymore. I have heard that a Serial to USB cable can work at times depending on the brand. I bought one from best buy today that I will try tomorrow with a windows 10 surface pro. If this doesnt work I need to figure out other options. I have not located a usb programming cable online that is made for this radio, all I see are serial cables. I emailed my local radio shop that does harris stuff and havent heard back yet.

suggestions?
thanks!

 

[n3obl]

Contact new london technologies.

 

[dispatch235]

As long as the serial to usb adapter has the ftdi chipset it should work if the software is windows 10 compatible...

 

[snoopyII]

M7300's program with your garden variety 9 pin serial cable. How you connect to your PC is up to you. There is no USB programming cable for M7300. You can get a programming cable that connects to the mic connector on the CH721 if you wanna drop $120, but its still a serial connector.

 

[Turner101]

As long as the serial to usb adapter has the ftdi chipset it should work if the software is windows 10 compatible...

The one I have uses a a prolific chipset. I will get a FTDI one and try both and report back. Thank you for the heads up!

 

[DisasterGuy]

Programming via the CH721 is also much slower. The Harris sold/recommend Serial/USB adapter is made by SeaLevel Systems.

 

[Turner101]

So a cheap $25 cable from best buy I have worked great!!

 

[MWW85]

Programming via the CH721 is also much slower. The Harris sold/recommend Serial/USB adapter is made by SeaLevel Systems.

This. The SeaLevel adapter just works. Other USB to serial adapters have been more miss than hit.

 

[cifd64]

Plus, you cant do firmware updates from the CH721. only the serial port in the rear.

 

[wa8pyr]

Concur on what the others are telling you; Harris still seems to love RS232 ports for some reason even though USB-Serial adapters can sometimes be hit or miss. Their newest portable line (XL) uses USB cables, but everything before (XG, M7100, P7100, etc) uses 9-pin serial.

Firmware updates of the XG-series radios are also hit or miss (mostly miss) when using a USB-Serial adapter; I've tried various flavors of them. I keep an older Toshiba laptop with a 9-pin serial port in the office for those times where I need to do a firmware update on an XG-series radio. I've got a Panasonic Toughbook at home which also works well.

If you have to go with a USB-Serial adapter, definitely go with the FTDI chipset.

Do yourself a favor if you have to maintain radios like this; scare up a computer with a comm port for stuff like this. Panasonic CF-30 Toughbooks are an excellent choice; I've seen decent ones on eBay for $200 or less in good condition.

 

[DisasterGuy]

Wise advice. There's a reason that we use Panasonic Toughbooks in the radio shop (currently CF-53s) due to the native serial interface. With that said, I have never had an issue loading code with a SeaLevel systems adapter. In fact, when we are doing mass code updates, we use a SeaLevel systems SeaLink+8 to drive 8 serial programming cables at once.

 

[BigLebowski]

So if I'm understanding correctly... the Orion/M7100 serial cable will work to program the M7300/XG75M as well?

 

[wa8pyr]

So if I'm understanding correctly... the Orion/M7100 serial cable will work to program the M7300/XG75M as well?

No, the Orion/M7100 use a specialty cable (DB9 on one end) that plugs into either the 37-pin accessory port on the back, or the 15-pin pigtail lead coming off the 37-pin accessory connector (an option when the radio was purchased).

The M7300/XG75M uses a standard, off-the-shelf 9-pin serial cable (DB9 female on one end, DB9 male on the other end).

 

[BigLebowski]

No, the Orion/M7100 use a specialty cable (DB9 on one end) that plugs into either the 37-pin accessory port on the back, or the 15-pin pigtail lead coming off the 37-pin accessory connector (an option when the radio was purchased).

The M7300/XG75M uses a standard, off-the-shelf 9-pin serial cable (DB9 female on one end, DB9 male on the other end).

Thanks for the clarification.. so just a straight-through serial cable?

 

[Forts]

Thanks for the clarification.. so just a straight-through serial cable?

Yep!

 

[BigLebowski]

Excellent, thanks!