Heads up - Yaesu FTM-100/300/400 programing cable

CatSnoutSoup

NES Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2015
Messages
7,801
Likes
21,091
Location
Westgardminsterham MA
Feedback: 0 / 0 / 0
Found out this past weekend that the Yaesu SCU-20 data cable (USB to 10 pin mini-din) used for programing my FTM-100D is not compatible with Windows 11.

First time I have tried to connect to the radio since moving to Windows 11 on my desktop PC, actually first time connecting to the radio in a few years.

Seems the SCU-20 uses a Prolific PL2303TA chip which Microsoft has blacklisted for Windows 11. I moved to Windows 11 within the last six months and this is the first compatibility issue I have run into since then. It is not a surprise to me it is with a Prolific chip, as they have been problematic on occasion long before Windows 11, and I always opt for devices with FTDI chips if given a choice.

So the SCU-20 will not be assigned a COM Port in Windows 11. In the case of the FTM-100D there is a work around for this if you are simply programing memory and setting as these can be written to Micro SD by the radio and then removed to USB adapter and edited in the ADMS-9 programing software. I believe this to likewise be true of the FTM-300D and FTM-400D which also use the SCU-20 cable.

However, the radio's Micro SD slot capability does not help you if you are trying to upgrade firmware. It seems I had missed a 2020 firmware release for the radio and in order to make it happen with the SCU-20 cable I had to dig out a Windows 10 laptop from storage. After waiting for the unused laptop to do about six months worth of Windows updates I was able to use it with the Yaesu cable to connect to the radio.

On the FTM-100D I updated the main firmware, the DSP firmware, and the firmware for the display panel in the remote head. Those are three distinct operations all requiring a data cable.

So if you own any of these three radios and are switching to Windows 11 be advised your SCU-20 cable is useless.

RT Systems sells a programing cable (USB-77) that they say will work with Windows 11. It should also work for firmware updating but I don't own one so I cannot say for sure.

🐯
 
Have you tried this:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi4hwda3Q98


There are many hits on getting that driver (in general) working with Windows 11. I do not have any modern Yaesu radios to confirm, but the solution certainly "looks" sound.

Let us know how it goes.


Yes, if you leave the cable plugged in and follow this method you can get it to load a driver and Windows 11 will assign a com port. Unfortunately if you unplug the device or restart the computer Windows will revert to the latest signed driver and you will have to do this over again.

As for having an old driver version, Prolific has scrubbed all the old versions from their website, however, thanks to a tip on the web, I had acquired and old version on the Australian D-Link website intended for firmware updates on a managed switch. It is available at the bottom of this page...

Running that D-Link provided install will not work, but it will place the driver in the library and If you manually load the driver (3.6.81.357 9/4/2015) you can get a com port.

But with Windows wanting to change the driver I wasn't going to trust this while doing a firmware update. Be just my luck Windows might decide to not like the old driver again and brick my radio out of spite halfway through an update.

So ultimately the safest answer was use a Windows 10 machine.

About the video - the dude says "We are expected to now buy an SCU-58 cable," well I would not be too confident about that because as far as I can tell SCU-58 is the model number for a WIRES-X two cable kit that contains a TX/Audio cable and a data cable (the same SCU-20 we have been talking about).

As always I could be and most likely am wrong about everything, but that's how a live my life, boldly compounding my mistakes :cool:

🐯

EDIT: BTW @cjammer I should have said that I appreciate the time you took to research this topic, thank you.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom