How to program your old Kenwood radios with DOS software on modern PCs the easy way!

[762mm]

Hello everyone,

I've recently acquired a Kenwood TK-250 portable and this radio is only programmable via the DOS-based KPG-23D software. CHIRP does not support it, either. After some research and toying with DosBox, I've discovered that you can much more efficiently run a free version of DOS on any modern PC / laptop with a serial port and program these old radios easily like it's 1995, by creating a bootable DOS USB drive using a popular free software called "Rufus".

Link : ht tps://rufus.ie/en/


Required :

• Serial RS232 to RJ45 or RJ12 data cable. See example (picture) below.
• Blank USB drive of decent quality. I recommend Samsung, Kingston or SanDisk brands. Stay away from the cheap "mystery brand" ones on eBay or Amazon, you don't want the drive crashing on you while programming a firmware, for example! (I've had these cheapo drives fail numerous times)
• A PC or laptop with a physical RS232 port to which you will connect the above mentionned cable.

Rufus can create a bootable USB drive with "FreeDOS" on it and it's very simple to do. The Rufus software has all that's necessary to create this USB already in it, all you have to do is to select the appropriate menu options. Once the bootable USB is created with Rufus, you then copy your DOS-based KPG program to this same USB (create a directory with fewer than 8 characters, for example : "KPG29D" or "KPG56D") and boot the PC / laptop from said USB.

Note : You can set your laptop or PC to boot from USB by entering the computer's BIOS and selecting the appropriate "boot priority" in the "Boot" menu. Set the USB drive to boot BEFORE your primary hard disk, then restart the computer with the USB drive inserted in a USB 2.0 port. Upon booting, the computer will ask you to "press any key to boot from USB....". Press any key, like the space bar.





Once the PC / laptop boots into FreeDOS, activate the KPG .exe file from the USB drive's directory (USB drive will show as drive C: in the DOS prompt). All typical DOS commands work, like change directory (CD\), etc.

Upon running the .exe, my KPG-23D, KPG67D and KPG56D softwares automatically communicated with the serial port cable (COM1) and could read / write to the radios right away. It can also run the DOS version of Fpro.exe to upload new firmware to the radios. Once I was done programming all the frequencies I removed the USB drive, rebooted the laptop and it booted right back into Windows 10 Professional. No old laptops with Windows 95 or figuring out DosBox necessary!



I did this using a Panasonic Toughbook CF-31 laptop and then did the same procedure again on my Dell Optiplex 7010 with other old Kenwood radios, as both these computers have a physical serial port in the back (most enterprise laptops / PCs do). Any laptop or PC with a physical serial port should do, as long as you have the serial to RJ45 / RJ12 cable.

I got a generic serial to RJ45 "COM programming cable" off eBay and it works very well :




I hope this helps someone breathe new life into an old radio.

Good luck!

 

[AB5ID]

DOSBox is great! We can use it to set up old LCSUs with DOS .exe files on computers newer than Windows XP. (Yes, we still have a few standalone Windows XP machines in use, lol.)

 

[KB3KBR]

I have started using DOSBox-X. It has the ability to launch inside the folder you are in and recognize the pathways to the save files.

 

[762mm]

I have started using DOSBox-X. It has the ability to launch inside the folder you are in and recognize the pathways to the save files.

Good to know, thank you. I used DosBox for old 1990's DOS games a few years ago, when nostalgia got to me. It needed a bunch of tweaks to compensate for processor speed, screen resolution, sound card and other things. It was a pain to get going, but eventually it worked. Well, sort of. Perhaps the newest versions of DosBox are more smooth and automated, but I wouldn't know since I haven't used them.

In the vintage radio programming world, I've been reading that DosBox requires special settings for the USB / serial ports emulation and that it can sometimes crash. I have not used it myself and can't comment, since the FreeDOS solution eliminates all doubt and is as solid as running a PC from the 1990's with native FAT32 on it, requiring nothing more than a USB drive and a reboot.

The other advantage of FreeDOS on USB is that you can program radios with a PC that has no operating system or hard drive in it. As long as said PC / laptop can boot from a USB port, you're all set. You could probably pick up such a PC for $5-10 (or even for free) from a recycling center.

All that being said, it's always nice to have a "plan B".

 

[KB3KBR]

Good to know, thank you. I used DosBox for old 1990's DOS games a few years ago, when nostalgia got to me. It needed a bunch of tweaks to compensate for processor speed, screen resolution, sound card and other things. It was a pain to get going, but eventually it worked. Well, sort of. Perhaps the newest versions of DosBox are more smooth and automated, but I wouldn't know since I haven't used them.

In the vintage radio programming world, I've been reading that DosBox requires special settings for the USB / serial ports emulation and that it can sometimes crash. I have not used it myself and can't comment, since the FreeDOS solution eliminates all doubt and is as solid as running a PC from the 1990's with native FAT32 on it, requiring nothing more than a USB drive and a reboot.

The other advantage of FreeDOS on USB is that you can program radios with a PC that has no operating system or hard drive in it. As long as said PC / laptop can boot from a USB port, you're all set. You could probably pick up such a PC for $5-10 (or even for free) from a recycling center.

All that being said, it's always nice to have a "plan B".

DOSBox-X had some quirks setting it up for com port use but once I got it set it runs like a champ now. I can launch my KPG7D programmer and use either the real com port on this tough book or the usb port.

 

[ojfd]

Well, and then there are those of us who are on a Mac. That's the "plan C"

I've managed to make DosBox work with KPG-56D v.2 and v.3 (v.4 can be made to work with Crossover).
KPG-27D, on the other hand, launches and can be navigated, but fails to read from radio.

Serial1: Opening cu.usbserial-A50285BI
BIOS INT14: Unhandled call AH=81 DX= 0

That's on a OSX 10.10.5 (Yosemite)
You have to edit DosBox preferences file that it creates inside the Preferences folder and add following line to serial port settings:

serial1=directserial realport:cu.usbserial-A50285BI

cu.usbserial-A50285BI is for my FTDI cable.
For cables with other chipsets, you have to determine their name by issuing following commands in Terminal:
cd /dev
ls

 

[762mm]

Well, and then there are those of us who are on a Mac. That's the "plan C"

I've managed to make DosBox work with KPG-56D v.2 and v.3 (v.4 can be made to work with Crossover).
KPG-27D, on the other hand, launches and can be navigated, but fails to read from radio.

That's on a OSX 10.10.5 (Yosemite)
You have to edit DosBox preferences file that it creates inside the Preferences folder and add following line to serial port settings:

cu.usbserial-A50285BI is for my FTDI cable.
For cables with other chipsets, you have to determine their name by issuing following commands in Terminal:
cd /dev
ls


View attachment 192241

View attachment 192243

I have never owned a Mac and never will, so unfortunately I can't help you there.

My suggestion is, as stated above, to get yourself the cheapest PC or laptop you can get (designed for Windows) and to simply launch the FreeDOS USB drive with your KPG software on it from a USB port on bootup.

The computer doesn't even require a hard drive or an operating system for this. As long as it has USB ports and the ability to boot from USB, it will work. Most computers made after year 2002 or so can boot from USB. I strongly recommend the Dell Optiplex or HP line of small / tiny office desktops. There used to be millions of these things everywhere back in the day, and they are extremely reliable plus they all have a serial port connection.

You can get these old "recycled" computers for next to nothing or even for free. Chances are your neighbors regularly put similar ones out for trash on trash days, or they bring them to the local electronics recycling center. Go to the recycling center, tell them you need an old computer and they might actually give you one (or two) for free. It's less crap for them to haul around!



Example -- Dell Optiplex 7010 :

 

[radioopperator]

Panasonic tough book with XP on it are sweet to use! Have serial and drop to Dos.