[chirp_users] How do I enable Com ports on Windows 11

[Jim Unroe]

On Wed, Nov 29, 2023 at 4:10 PM <ritchkp at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Trying to program a Wouxun, and I cannot recognize the Com ports on a Dell
> running Windows 11.

The Prolific PL2303HXA and PL2303TA chips which are often found in
cheap programming cables, programming cables included with a radio and
older Baofeng labeled programming cables are considered EOL
(end-of-life). The Prolific company, which supplies the driver that
Windows automatically installs when a Prolific PL2303 chip is
detected, removes support for EOL chips from their driver. So when an
EOL chip is detected by Windows, the driver will not assign a COM
port. The only Prolific chip that is currently recognized by the
latest Prolific driver in Windows 11 is PL2303GA (which is rare to see
in a programming cable, but I happen to have one in my collection of
over 40 programming cables).

You have a few workarounds available to you...

1. Switch to a programming cable that has been made using a
USB-to-Serial chip from a different chip vendor (FTDI, Silicon Labs,
WCH, etc). The FTDI chip is popular for this because the vendor/dealer
listing will almost always mention FTDI (so you know which chip you
are getting, if the listing doesn't say, then the chances of getting
another Prolific chip based programming cable is very high).
2. Use a Linux operating system to run CHIRP. The drivers in Linux are
open source (not made by Prolific) and continue to support chips that
are considered EOL by Prolific.
3. Download, install and manually select the older (more than 10
years) Prolific v3.2.0.0 driver that works fine with any Prolific type
chip (HXA, TA, GA, etc) and any Windows from 7 through 11 (Windows XP
requires v2.0.2.1). A link to the driver and instructions for how to
manually install it are available on the miklor.com website. I have
been successfully using this method since 2012.

https://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_Drivers.php

Jim KC9HI
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