[K3] K3 USB, Serial Drivers, and HRD Connection

[Phil Hystad]

I rarely dip into my Windows laptop but I wanted to check out something with HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) so I thought I would hook it up to my K3 (I had it configured to work with my Icom 756 Pro III already).  So, I chose to do a new connection setup for the K3 after I had setup the serial interface (using the serial/USB cable from Elecraft).  I had already run the K3 USB so I figured this should work with HRD.

But, problems.  I am wondering if HRD can use the driver setup for this serial interface?  I first ran HRD and when I did the new connection I had COM3  available but nothing else.  I tried with COM3, no good.  So, I shutdown HRD and started up K3 USB utility.  It listed COM5 (not COM3).  I did the connection and port test and all seems to work.  I shutdown the K3 USB utility.  Started up HRD and no COM5 is available.

So, it seems like HRD does not see the ports created by the driver installed (Prolific drivers) for the Elecraft Serial/USB interface.

Before I start debugging this problem maybe there is an obvious answer from those who have already done this?  Is there something that I am missing?  Does anyone successfully use HRD with the Prolific drivers and the Elecraft supplied serial/USB cable?

73, phil, K7PEH

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[David Herring-2]

There may be a way to tell you prolific drivers to be something else  
other than com5...say maybe com3?

I have a similar setup but with different serial interface and hence  
different drivers. I had to set the driver to be, in my case, com2 in  
order for HRD to use it.

73,
Dave. K6DCH

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 9, 2010, at 5:44 PM, Phil Hystad <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I rarely dip into my Windows laptop but I wanted to check out  
> something with HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) so I thought I would hook it  
> up to my K3 (I had it configured to work with my Icom 756 Pro III  
> already).  So, I chose to do a new connection setup for the K3 after  
> I had setup the serial interface (using the serial/USB cable from  
> Elecraft).  I had already run the K3 USB so I figured this should  
> work with HRD.
>
> But, problems.  I am wondering if HRD can use the driver setup for  
> this serial interface?  I first ran HRD and when I did the new  
> connection I had COM3  available but nothing else.  I tried with  
> COM3, no good.  So, I shutdown HRD and started up K3 USB utility.  
> It listed COM5 (not COM3).  I did the connection and port test and  
> all seems to work.  I shutdown the K3 USB utility.  Started up HRD  
> and no COM5 is available.
>
> So, it seems like HRD does not see the ports created by the driver  
> installed (Prolific drivers) for the Elecraft Serial/USB interface.
>
> Before I start debugging this problem maybe there is an obvious  
> answer from those who have already done this?  Is there something  
> that I am missing?  Does anyone successfully use HRD with the  
> Prolific drivers and the Elecraft supplied serial/USB cable?
>
> 73, phil, K7PEH
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
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[Phil Hystad]

Dave,

Thanks for your comments and suggestions but I should not need to change the com port number.  I have been scanning the Internet and finding that there is no lack of problems with the prolific drivers and I am thinking I might just go buy some other interface.

I am willing to go out and buy another serial/USB interface cable if someone suggests one that will work both with the K3 Utility as well as HRD (I do not need this to run simultaneously though).

73, phil, K7PEH


On Mar 9, 2010, at 7:54 PM, David Herring, K6DCH wrote:

> There may be a way to tell you prolific drivers to be something else other than com5...say maybe com3?
>
> I have a similar setup but with different serial interface and hence different drivers. I had to set the driver to be, in my case, com2 in order for HRD to use it.
>
> 73,
> Dave. K6DCH
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Mar 9, 2010, at 5:44 PM, Phil Hystad <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>> I rarely dip into my Windows laptop but I wanted to check out something with HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) so I thought I would hook it up to my K3 (I had it configured to work with my Icom 756 Pro III already).  So, I chose to do a new connection setup for the K3 after I had setup the serial interface (using the serial/USB cable from Elecraft).  I had already run the K3 USB so I figured this should work with HRD.
>>
>> But, problems.  I am wondering if HRD can use the driver setup for this serial interface?  I first ran HRD and when I did the new connection I had COM3  available but nothing else.  I tried with COM3, no good.  So, I shutdown HRD and started up K3 USB utility.  It listed COM5 (not COM3).  I did the connection and port test and all seems to work.  I shutdown the K3 USB utility.  Started up HRD and no COM5 is available.
>>
>> So, it seems like HRD does not see the ports created by the driver installed (Prolific drivers) for the Elecraft Serial/USB interface.
>>
>> Before I start debugging this problem maybe there is an obvious answer from those who have already done this?  Is there something that I am missing?  Does anyone successfully use HRD with the Prolific drivers and the Elecraft supplied serial/USB cable?
>>
>> 73, phil, K7PEH
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> Elecraft mailing list
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>>
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

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[N8LP]

I have had better luck with adapters that use an FTDI chipset, but the answer isn't that simple. It all depends on OS, proper driver for that OS and possible conflicts with other devices/programs which create virtual serial ports. If you want to try an inexpensive adapter with FTDI chipset, look at byterunner.com. They have a number of choices, and list the chipset brand for each one.

73,
Larry N8LP



<quote author="Phil Hystad">
Dave,

Thanks for your comments and suggestions but I should not need to change the com port number.  I have been scanning the Internet and finding that there is no lack of problems with the prolific drivers and I am thinking I might just go buy some other interface.

I am willing to go out and buy another serial/USB interface cable if someone suggests one that will work both with the K3 Utility as well as HRD (I do not need this to run simultaneously though).

73, phil, K7PEH

[Rick Commo]

I'll chime in here with the fact that I had problems with a couple of
USB-serial cable since I am running Win7/X64.  I went to www.usbgear.com and
found one for $12 that came with Win7/x64 drivers.  Seems to be working just
fine.  Plus, when I sent their tech support a question I had the answer
within 1/2 a day.

-rick, K7LOG

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of N8LP
Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2010 8:34 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] K3 USB, Serial Drivers, and HRD Connection


I have had better luck with adapters that use an FTDI chipset, but the
answer
isn't that simple. It all depends on OS, proper driver for that OS and
possible conflicts with other devices/programs which create virtual serial
ports. If you want to try an inexpensive adapter with FTDI chipset, look at
byterunner.com. They have a number of choices, and list the chipset brand
for each one.

73,
Larry N8LP




Dave,

Thanks for your comments and suggestions but I should not need to change the
com port number.  I have been scanning the Internet and finding that there
is no lack of problems with the prolific drivers and I am thinking I might
just go buy some other interface.

I am willing to go out and buy another serial/USB interface cable if someone
suggests one that will work both with the K3 Utility as well as HRD (I do
not need this to run simultaneously though).

73, phil, K7PEH


--
View this message in context:
http://n2.nabble.com/K3-K3-USB-Serial-Drivers-and-HRD-Connection-tp4706847p4
706984.html
Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
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[Julian, G4ILO]

N8LP wrote

I have had better luck with adapters that use an FTDI chipset, but the answer isn't that simple. It all depends on OS, proper driver for that OS and possible conflicts with other devices/programs which create virtual serial ports. If you want to try an inexpensive adapter with FTDI chipset, look at byterunner.com. They have a number of choices, and list the chipset brand for each one.

I'll second that. Also a lot of folks here have recommended "Keyspan" adapters. The advantage, I'm told, is that it has the screws to fix on the back of the K3. Other adapters have nuts, because they are designed to have a cable plugged in to them.

[David Fleming-2]

Actually the Keyspan adapters do not attach directly to the K3. They require a 9-pin m/f serial cable to run from the Keyspan device to the K3. I've found the Keyspan devices (and drivers) to be the best solution for OS X. I've also had good success with the FTDI adapters. I believe the higher reliability of these adapters is directed related to the quality of the drivers rather than the hardware itself.
 
David, W4SMT

---------------------------------------------------------
 
Julian, G4ILO wrote:
 
I'll second that. Also a lot of folks here have recommended "Keyspan"
adapters. The advantage, I'm told, is that it has the screws to fix on the
back of the K3. Other adapters have nuts, because they are designed to have
a cable plugged in to them.

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[Guy, K2AV]

I would second the notion on the drivers.

It has not been mentioned in this thread, but I was having troubles
with the Prolific USB/serial adapter (bought from Elecraft) on my new
Win 7 64 bit computer.  There finally (last 3 4 weeks) was a new
driver set out there with a much later build date (Dec 02 2009) than I
had seen before, and specifically marked for Win 7 on the page.  It
bumped up their version number from 1.0.6.26 to 1.1.0.

I am using it now and odd problems seem to have gone away, including
some BSOD issues. I cannot say if any of the blizzard of Win 7 changes
had anything to do with it.

73, Guy.

On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 9:34 AM, David Fleming <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Actually the Keyspan adapters do not attach directly to the K3. They require a 9-pin m/f serial cable to run from the Keyspan device to the K3. I've found the Keyspan devices (and drivers) to be the best solution for OS X. I've also had good success with the FTDI adapters. I believe the higher reliability of these adapters is directed related to the quality of the drivers rather than the hardware itself.
>
> David, W4SMT
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>
> Julian, G4ILO wrote:
>
> I'll second that. Also a lot of folks here have recommended "Keyspan"
> adapters. The advantage, I'm told, is that it has the screws to fix on the
> back of the K3. Other adapters have nuts, because they are designed to have
> a cable plugged in to them.
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
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> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>

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[Cookie]

Guy, have you used the new driver with N1MM, XMlog or other Visual Basic built program?  I tried the Prolific USB/Serial with my Win 7 machine with the November driver.  It worked great with the Elecraft program, but would not control my K3 with N1MM or XMlog.  Have you tried keying with DTR with the adapter?
 Willis 'Cookie' Cooke
K5EWJ




________________________________
From: Guy Olinger K2AV <[hidden email]>
To: [hidden email]
Cc: [hidden email]; G4ILOJulian <[hidden email]>
Sent: Wed, March 10, 2010 9:53:59 AM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] K3 USB, Serial Drivers, and HRD Connection

I would second the notion on the drivers.

It has not been mentioned in this thread, but I was having troubles
with the Prolific USB/serial adapter (bought from Elecraft) on my new
Win 7 64 bit computer.  There finally (last 3 4 weeks) was a new
driver set out there with a much later build date (Dec 02 2009) than I
had seen before, and specifically marked for Win 7 on the page.  It
bumped up their version number from 1.0.6.26 to 1.1.0.

I am using it now and odd problems seem to have gone away, including
some BSOD issues. I cannot say if any of the blizzard of Win 7 changes
had anything to do with it.

73, Guy.



     
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[Phil Hystad]

I went to grab the latest Prolific driver (2009/12/2) and loaded that I was able to get a connection.  The Prolific COM5 port did not show up on the HRD until I set the com port driver properties speed to 34K.  That part of this I do not understand but I will live with it.  However, in spite of that properties setting of the speed, the HRD program would not successfully connect (and, read frequency) until I set the port speed to 4800 on the HRD connection dialog.

I need to read more on my K3 to see if it has auto-detect speed or if it is set to 4800.

73, phil, K7PEH


On Mar 9, 2010, at 8:19 PM, Phil Hystad wrote:

> Dave,
>
> Thanks for your comments and suggestions but I should not need to change the com port number.  I have been scanning the Internet and finding that there is no lack of problems with the prolific drivers and I am thinking I might just go buy some other interface.
>
> I am willing to go out and buy another serial/USB interface cable if someone suggests one that will work both with the K3 Utility as well as HRD (I do not need this to run simultaneously though).
>
> 73, phil, K7PEH
>
>
> On Mar 9, 2010, at 7:54 PM, David Herring, K6DCH wrote:
>
>> There may be a way to tell you prolific drivers to be something else other than com5...say maybe com3?
>>
>> I have a similar setup but with different serial interface and hence different drivers. I had to set the driver to be, in my case, com2 in order for HRD to use it.
>>
>> 73,
>> Dave. K6DCH
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Mar 9, 2010, at 5:44 PM, Phil Hystad <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>>> I rarely dip into my Windows laptop but I wanted to check out something with HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) so I thought I would hook it up to my K3 (I had it configured to work with my Icom 756 Pro III already).  So, I chose to do a new connection setup for the K3 after I had setup the serial interface (using the serial/USB cable from Elecraft).  I had already run the K3 USB so I figured this should work with HRD.
>>>
>>> But, problems.  I am wondering if HRD can use the driver setup for this serial interface?  I first ran HRD and when I did the new connection I had COM3  available but nothing else.  I tried with COM3, no good.  So, I shutdown HRD and started up K3 USB utility.  It listed COM5 (not COM3).  I did the connection and port test and all seems to work.  I shutdown the K3 USB utility.  Started up HRD and no COM5 is available.
>>>
>>> So, it seems like HRD does not see the ports created by the driver installed (Prolific drivers) for the Elecraft Serial/USB interface.
>>>
>>> Before I start debugging this problem maybe there is an obvious answer from those who have already done this?  Is there something that I am missing?  Does anyone successfully use HRD with the Prolific drivers and the Elecraft supplied serial/USB cable?
>>>
>>> 73, phil, K7PEH
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________________________
>>> Elecraft mailing list
>>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>>> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>>>
>>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
> ______________________________________________________________
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>
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[KK7P]

>
>
> I need to read more on my K3 to see if it has auto-detect speed or if it is set to 4800.

It set in a menu, and defaults to 4800. It does not auto-detect.

73,

Lyle KK7P
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[Guy, K2AV]

Appears to be working across the board.  YMMV, but giving the
improvements I saw, and the strange stuff going on, worth giving it a
try for sure.

On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 11:04 AM, WILLIS COOKE <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Guy, have you used the new driver with N1MM, XMlog or other Visual Basic
> built program?  I tried the Prolific USB/Serial with my Win 7 machine with
> the November driver.  It worked great with the Elecraft program, but would
> not control my K3 with N1MM or XMlog.  Have you tried keying with DTR with
> the adapter?
>
> Willis 'Cookie' Cooke
> K5EWJ
>
> ________________________________
> From: Guy Olinger K2AV <[hidden email]>
> To: [hidden email]
> Cc: [hidden email]; G4ILOJulian <[hidden email]>
> Sent: Wed, March 10, 2010 9:53:59 AM
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] K3 USB, Serial Drivers, and HRD Connection
>
> I would second the notion on the drivers.
>
> It has not been mentioned in this thread, but I was having troubles
> with the Prolific USB/serial adapter (bought from Elecraft) on my new
> Win 7 64 bit computer.  There finally (last 3 4 weeks) was a new
> driver set out there with a much later build date (Dec 02 2009) than I
> had seen before, and specifically marked for Win 7 on the page.  It
> bumped up their version number from 1.0.6.26 to 1.1.0.
>
> I am using it now and odd problems seem to have gone away, including
> some BSOD issues. I cannot say if any of the blizzard of Win 7 changes
> had anything to do with it.
>
> 73, Guy.
>
>

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