Awhile back, I obtained an RT Systems programming cable for a radio. However, as I don’t use RT Systems software, the cable was useless to me. I’d grabbed it on a whim from a pile of stuff from an SK’s estate that we were parting out for sale. I finally decided to see if I could get it to work with CHIRP. Of course, unmodified, it doesn’t. However I did discover that if the cable is using an FTDI EEPOM-capable UART chip, one can reprogram the chip relatively painlessly and have it work perfectly as a generic FTDI serial device.
NOTE: Performing this is done at your own risk. Don’t blame me if you nuke your cable.
NOTE: Performing this will BREAK using the cable with RT Systems software.
The following things are needed:
- The FT_PROG programming software from FTDI Chip
- The RT Systems driver for their programming cables
After installing both of the above, do the following:
- Insert the programming cable into a USB port
- Wait until the device appears in Device Manager
- Open the FT_PROG application
- Click on Devices -> Scan and Parse
- The cable should appear and will look something like this:
- Click on the USB Device Descriptor tree item and set as follows:
- Click on USB String Descriptors and set as follows:
- Click on Invert RS232 Signals and ensure that Invert TXD and Invert RXD are both checked
- Right-click on the root device item in the tree (in this example Device: 1[Loc ID:0x1314]) and click Program Device. At completion, the status in the bottom-left of FT_PROC should report that programming as complete.
- Remove the cable and then reconnect the cable
- Confirm in Device Manager that the device is now showing up as a “USB Serial Port” under “Ports (COM & LPT):
