I picked up a mint condition PRO-2055 at a local hamfest over the weekend for $10.00, including power cable and antenna.
It seems to use a mono 1/8" jack for the programming interface, with 3.3v TTL levels. In other words, a single conductor is used for both TX/RX.
Using a trick I used for programming Maxtrac radios without a RIB in the 1990's, I was able to put together a homebrew cable that works great with ARC300 software.
I simply used a HiLetgo FT232RL Mini USB to TTL Serial Converter module from Amazon, jumpered for 3.3 volt operation. I soldered a 1N4148 small signal diode between the TXD and RXD holes on the board edge, with the cathode (banded end) of the diode on the TXD pin. I wired the 1/8" mono cable with the tip conductor soldered to the RXD hole with the anode of the diode. The ground/shield of the plug (ring) was soldered to the GND hole of the board.
This isolates the RX from the TX on the FT232RL board and allows bidirectional operation. It works perfectly.
The mentioned board uses a clone of the FTDI FT232RL chip, but worked fine with FTDI drivers installed in my Windows 10 machine.
ARC300 is one of the best designed radio programming packages I have ever used.
It seems to use a mono 1/8" jack for the programming interface, with 3.3v TTL levels. In other words, a single conductor is used for both TX/RX.
Using a trick I used for programming Maxtrac radios without a RIB in the 1990's, I was able to put together a homebrew cable that works great with ARC300 software.
I simply used a HiLetgo FT232RL Mini USB to TTL Serial Converter module from Amazon, jumpered for 3.3 volt operation. I soldered a 1N4148 small signal diode between the TXD and RXD holes on the board edge, with the cathode (banded end) of the diode on the TXD pin. I wired the 1/8" mono cable with the tip conductor soldered to the RXD hole with the anode of the diode. The ground/shield of the plug (ring) was soldered to the GND hole of the board.
This isolates the RX from the TX on the FT232RL board and allows bidirectional operation. It works perfectly.
The mentioned board uses a clone of the FTDI FT232RL chip, but worked fine with FTDI drivers installed in my Windows 10 machine.
ARC300 is one of the best designed radio programming packages I have ever used.
