TYT, Wouxun, Baofeng, Anytone, etc: make a better prolific Windows programming cable.
Channel: Mountain Parameters
Date: 2017-01-21

The HT programming cable that is based on the Prolific chipset is fraught with problems due to the way the Prolific drivers do not play well with Windows update. This means users must install legacy Prolific drivers and disable Windows update to make them work. But thanks to the popularity of Arduino projects, there is an abundance of inexpensive USB to TTL boards available, and some of those use the FTDI bridge chips that are easily recognized by drivers already embedded in all the popular versions of Windows as well as Mac USB drivers (with Mac OSX 10.9 "Mavericks", Apple provides their own driver for FTDI chipset). If you have an existing Prolific cable and would like to swap out the chips, or just build a cable from an old microphone cord or cloning cable that has the standard 2 pin Kenwood style connector common to many Chinese radios, it is easy to do, as shown in the following demonstration.

Note: When I reviewed the start of this, I noticed I referred to the Sil Labs and FTDI chips used on the USB to TTL boards. Both work as a replacement to the Prolific based chips used in the generic cables. However, the one used in this demonstration is an FTDI based unit. If you have a Silicone Labs board (CP210x USB to UART Bridge), the same process applies. If Windows is having problems finding either drivers on your system, they are available from the respective manufacturers websites.