Connecting scanners via USB
From The RadioReference Wiki
Revision as of 21:29, 6 July 2010 by W9RXR (talk | contribs) (→Generic USB to RS-232 serial converters)
With the lack of serial ports on newer PCs these days, having to connect to a USB port is a necessary, but sometimes frustrating, evil. The listings below detail which USB cable to buy, and other important conditions.
Contents
GRE Scanners
- GRE 30-3290 USB Cable
- RS 20-047 USB Cable
- Reportedly discontinued; might be found on used market (eBay, etc.)
- FTDI Drivers page
- FTDI Virtual Com Port (VCP) Drivers
- Do NOT use the mono-stereo pigtail with these radios
Radio Shack Scanners
Radio Shack scanners manufactured by GRE use the same cables as listed for GRE above.
- Notes
- The PRO-94 came out with a B version years ago which is the only one that is PC addressible (up/download data only)
- The PRO-2052 is a Uniden product with a DB9 connector in the back. See the Uniden section below for more information
- The PRO-92 listing applies to all 3 versions - original, A and B models
Model | Use RS Pigtail? | Model | Use RS Pigtail? | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pro-76 | Pro-2016 | |||
Pro-79 | YES | Pro-2017 | ||
Pro-82 | ||||
Pro-83 | YES | |||
Pro-84 | YES | |||
Pro-89 | YES | |||
Pro-92 | NO | Pro-2067 | NO | |
Pro-93 | NO | Pro-2053 | NO | |
Pro-94 | YES | |||
Pro-95 | NO | |||
Pro-96 | NO | Pro-2096 | NO | |
Pro-2051 | YES | |||
Pro-97 | NO | Pro-2055 | NO | |
Pro-99 | NO | |||
Pro-106 | NO | Pro-197 | NO | |
Pro-107 | N/A - 20-047 not applicable to PRO-107 | |||
Pro-135 | ||||
Pro-137 | NO | |||
Pro-162 | NO | Pro-160 | NO | |
Pro-164 | NO | Pro-163 | NO | |
Pro-404 | NO | |||
Pro-528 | NO | Pro-433 | NO | |
Pro-405 |
Uniden Scanners
- Uniden USB-1 cable
- From Uniden
- From Scanner Master
- Certified to work with the BC95XLT and the DMA Scanners (includes XT versions)
- The link for the latest USB-1 drivers can be found here
- NOTE: Uniden handhelds often come with their own serial programming cable. A USB-1 cable or a USB to RS-232 converter is still required to interface with PCs that don't have serial ports.
- Scannersoft Accessories page Cable with specific connector for Uniden BC895 and BC898 scanners
Generic USB to RS-232 serial converters
If the programming cable for your radio requires an RS-232 serial interface and your computer only has USB ports, you may be able to use to a USB to RS-232 serial converter. They are available from various computer and office supply retailers. Reportedly, the cables which use the FTDI chip work the most reliably.
- Reportedly, this USB Device from Monoprice also works
- It is being discussed, along with driver issues, here
- CompUSA USB-DB9M USB Adapter
- Digi-Key - 768-1013-ND (Manufacturer - US232R-10-BLK)
- FTDI Drivers
- USBSER-1 and USBSER-5 USB to Serial Converters
- SIIG JU-CB1S12-S3 USB cable
- Argent Data Serial to USB adapter
Installation Notes
Checklist and Procedures
- Use Device Manager (see the section below) to determine if other COM ports are available, and not held by Bluetooth or other devices. Sometimes such devices will hold an address even if it's not actually in use (Figure 1).
- Download the most up to date drivers from the manufacturer or distributor and install. Figure 2 shows one possible result. At this point you need to validate if your application can actually address the COM port that has been assigned. If it can't...
- In the 'Ports (COM & LPT)' section of Device Manager you should see an entry that reads something like 'Serial on USB Port (COM 15)'. The actual text will vary with the driver's documentation
- Select the Serial Device Entry in the list
- Right click on it and select Properties
- Select the Port Settings tab and click on the Advanced button. Change the COM port address.
- Connect the adapter
- Connect the cable from the scanner.
All of this assumes that you have first set the COM port of your scanner up to the transfer speed you desire. Sometimes a scanner will register as 'not available' until this procedure is completed. It's beyond the scope of this article to detail this, as it tends to vary. Often this is detailed in the back of the owner's manual. If you don't have one, it's very likely a PDF version of the manual is available from the distributor or manufacturer's website, or sometimes on the Yahoo group that covers your scanner.
Accessing Device Manager
Unfortunately sometimes ports aren't available when you think they are, or everything appears to have installed correctly, but still doesn't seem to work. The tool that will allow you to check this is Device Manager. You can access this tool in several ways, depending on the OS;
- XP: Start>Control Panel>System>Hardware>Click on the Device Manager button.
- Vista: Control Panel>System and Maintenance>Device Manager
- Win7: Control Panel>System and Security>System>Device Manager
- Click on Start in the Taskbar then Run and enter devmgmt.msc in the resulting box
- Press the Windows key+R, in the resulting menu type 'devmgmt.msc'
- Click Start --> Right click on My Computer and select Properties, click the Device Manager link on the left.
- Press the Windows key + pause/break key
- Set up a .bat file with the following using Notepad or Wordpad. When you want to run this, right click on it, select Run as Administrator (Vista, Win7)
set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 cd %SystemRoot%\System32 start devmgmt.msc
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