I did not load any drivers, Windows actually did its job and took care of it for me. I plugged it into my Win8.1 computer and it started working immediately. I found this one on Amazon for $19, a little more expensive than the cheapo cables but not bad. I noticed that the Chirp Cableguide recommends the use of programming cables with an FTDI USB chip. It can be made to work but it is a pain.) While the Chirp software is not bug free and is in perpetual beta, it basically works well and does a great job of supporting a wide range of radios. (I have found the supplied Baofeng and Wouxun software to be, uh, well, crapware. I started using the Chirp programming software, an open source application that supports a wide variety of radios.
(I will spare you the sad story of dealing with Win 8 and 8.1) Anyway, I have not gotten the Baofeng cables to work on Win 8 or 8.1, even following the Miklor advice.
When I bought a new notebook PC, it came with Windows 8 installed, which I later “upgraded” to Win 8.1. Using the info on the Miklor site allowed me to get my Baofeng/Wouxun cable working with my old Windows XP computer. (Actually the Miklor site has tons of information on these radios, so check it out.) I’ll also note that the same cable can be used to program a Wouxun radio, so the same remedies apply. This Miklor web page does a good job of explaining the driver problem and giving some helpful advice. It appears that many of the cheap Baofeng USB programming cables use a clone of the Prolific PL-2303 chip that is not supported by the latest Windows driver. The really gnarly problem that usually surfaces is getting the programming cable to work. Of course, the solution is “use the programming software” which is often helpful (and often not).
See my postings or check out PD0AC’s blog for more information.Īlso very frequently, the new owner of such a radio finds that they cannot figure out how to program it. At prices less than $50, radio amateurs (including veterans and newbies) are scarfing up these radios.
Product: FB1210 USB to 1-port RS-232 AdapterĮ-mail: Plugable USB to RS-232 DB9 Serial Adapter (PL-2303HX Rev D chipset)Į-mail: contact our worldwide distributors for other cable product reference and chip samples.The various models of Baofeng handheld transceivers keep popping up everywhere. Prolific recommends following vendor cable brands: In case you suspect a counterfeit chip inside, you may also contact Prolific to provide the vendor information. Prolific does not sell cables with Prolific brand and packaging. Prolific advices end-users to only purchase vendor branded cable products with company name contact information for service and support. Prolific also prohibits the distribution of any PL-2303 drivers (including download links) without written permission from Prolific. Prolific will take proper and severe actions to cease and confiscate these counterfeit products. Please be warned that selling counterfeit products are illegal and punishable by civil and criminal courts according to the trademark, copyright, and intellectual properties laws and regulations. We issue this warning to all our customers and consumers to avoid confusion and false purchase. Counterfeit IC products show exactly the same outside chip markings but generally are of poor quality and causes Windows driver compatibility issues ( Yellow Mark Error Code 10 in Device Manager). Please be warned that counterfeit (fake) PL-2303HX (Chip Rev A) USB to Serial Controller ICs using Prolific's trademark logo, brandname, and device drivers, were being sold in the China market. Log-in to our Support webpage to download more files:
For Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (32-bit and 64-bit kernel).
For Mac OS X 10.7 Lion (32-bit and 64-bit kernel).For Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion (64-bit).Mac OS X Universal Binary Driver v1.5.1 (PKG file format) Go to System Preferences - Security & Privacy and click Allow.ĭownload File: PL2303_MacOSX_v1.5.1_20160309.zip NOTE: Mac OS High Sierra 10.13 introduces a new feature that requires user approval before loading new third-party kernel extensions. For PL2303 GC, GS, GT, GL, GE, GD, GR chip versions.For Prolific USB VID_067B&PID_2303 Only.For PL2303 H/HX/HXD/EA/RA/SA/TA/TB chip versions.