Serial to USB adapter for Butel ???

[ILbandit]

I was wanting to get the arc246 software, for programming my 246T, and I noticed that they say that they don't recommend using the usb adapters.

I was wanting to run the software off of my laptop, which doesn't have a serial port.

Has anyone tried the usb adapters with the Butel software? I was just going to get a cheap one, and try it out, but I figured I's see if anyone has got one to work, before I threw away money.

 

[foster_006]

Hey! I just recently purchased the ARC246 software.. and installed it on my laptop. It doesn't have a serial port either.

A friend gave me a serial to usb converter cable to try.. and I did get it to work. I did have to slow the transfer speed down to 19,200bps... otherwise the data being sent to the scanner is garbled.. and same goes if you try to read from the scanner... it is garbled in the software.

I can't remember who made the cable.. it's not with me at the moment.

Don't forget to make sure the transfer rate on the scanner matches the transfer in the software!

I haven't had any problems, after a little tinkering!

Good Luck and Enjoy!

 

[wogggieee]

i use the radio shack serial to usb cable all the time and it works just fine with ARC396. i'd imagine the 246 software wouldn't be much different.

 

[slicerwizard]

I was wanting to get the arc246 software, for programming my 246T, and I noticed that they say that they don't recommend using the usb adapters.

Most USB to serial adapters work just fine. Gommert just doesn't want to deal with problems caused by a few duds.

 

[Butelsoftware]

ARc246 works with any USB<>serial adaptor, just make sure you have the latest drivers.

Gommert
www.butelsoftware.com

 

[N9JIG]

I have used several different USB-Serial adaptors, and as Gommert said, make sure you get the latest drivers. Download drivers, don't use the drivers contained on the CD, they are often older than the ones on the manufacturers website.

An addition option is a PC Card serial port. If your laptop has a PC Card or a CF card slot SocketPC makes a line of serial ports that use these slots. The nice thing about these is that they work as a regular real built-in serial port without the difficulties some people have with USB-RS232 adaptors. They even work on DOS based applications, like Trunker.

I use several of these on my laptops for things like ARC products, Motorola and Kenwood RSS, GPS and Trunker/Treport etc. They work great!

 

[ScanDaBands]

I've been using an Iogear GUC232 for years with ARC246 - no problems.

 

[Raven95150]

I have 2 USB-serial adapters, one was less than $5 on ebay and the other I paid $35 at Circuit City. Both of them work just fine with my 396 and serial cable. I actually prefer the cheap ebay one because it has about 4 feet of cable, the one from Circuit City has less than a foot of cable. The ebay one also came with some kind of software for programming SIM cards, although I have no use for it.

 

[Airdorn]

As long as your USB-serial adapter actually works, then its not application specific. I mean, you won't have a situation where one app works with it and another doesn't.

The thing provides your apps a COM port and all the nitty-gritty of how it works and why is completely transparent.

I have a Tripp-Lite one I got off Ebay for like $7, and it works great for my laptop and all kinds of scanner apps.

Just make sure you get all the settings right with it. Go into CONTROL PANEL, system, device manager.. look at the com port and make sure the settings are right. 8,N,1 -- and match your baudrate to your scanner app.

Airdorn

 

[kb2vxa]

Just trot on down to Rat Shack and get the adapter. When you get it home hook it up, install the driver from the floppy and you're good to go. Butel has a funny quirk, if you change USB sockets it sees it as a different port and has to find your scanner all over again. No big deal, one mouse click sets up the whole ball of wax for you.

Did you get that last one Airdorn? (;->)

 

[bezking]

I've been using the Belkin USB-Serial adapter flawlessly.

 

[Zaratsu]

USB to serial adapters can be a pain in the arse. It depends on the computer, and things have gotten better, but it is not a simple pin-to-pin conversion, and an emulator is run at some low level along the way to make the USB look like an RS-232 serial path. It used to be very device and port hardware specific. (SIIG, Adaptec, etc) I just avoid them entirely, but the newer the adapter, device, and software are, the better it will run. I should re-phrase that. It is an either will work/wont work situation. Personally, I am kind of glad that Serial went the way of the ISA slot, but it is so much easier for people to make devices for niche hobbies that have limited computer interfaces (scanners, sewing machines, robotics, etc) to just do a simple serial connection. It wouldnt surprise me if the scanner software was written for RS232 and it is being converted to USB. (may explain that little compartment of IC chips located on the USB to scanner interface cable.)

 

[n2mdk]

All the cables made for scanners use serial control protocols. Whether it's one of the adapter cables or the Uniden USB-1 or GRE/Radio Shack cables all are USB to serial adapters.

 

[Airdorn]

Well, if you have Windows XP, then as long as the USB-to-Serial adapter really is a quality product, then its a no-brainer to get it working.

The Windows XP OS does all the foot work.. You plug it in, the OS senses that a USB device is there, and it asks for your driver disk that came with the converter. After you install the drivers, it will appear as a valid COM port to all yur applications. You modify the new COM port's settings like any other COM port.

There MIGHT be some crap devices out there, but I have played around with atleast 10 different brands over the past few years because of some old hardware we have at work, and I have noticed that they have all simply worked flawlessly. I think that's because the actual technical aspect of it for a manufacturer is pretty straightforward -- its easy to make such an adapter.

I know that if you happen to have a pirated/cracked/haxX0rzed Windows XP, then your whole serial port section could be FUBAR because that's what was broken in order to crack the product activation stuff. I read that on a forum somewhere a while back. But strangely enough, the FIX for that situation was to get a USB-to-serial adapter, haha!

Airdorn

 

[KI4RDO]

i use a serial to usb adapter on butel for my 396t and i have never had a problem with that. i use that adapter to program all my radios.