Yes, but only the 3.3V TTL 3 wire types (RX, TX, GND). Some are 2 wire (multiplexed) and will not work with these radios.
Your cable should look like the one on Simon’s website, and like the pics that Shadetree Mechanic posted…the RXD lead goes into pin 2 of the RJ12 plug, the ground lead into pin 3 and the TXD lead into pin 4. I made that cable some time ago and it works.Can someone please confirm. I got the USB to serial adapter and a RJ12 cable to make the programming cable, what is confusing me is the wiring. The cable shown by Simon built shows TXD and RXD reversed of what the radio RXD TXD is, Is this the way it should be? The TXD for the USB Programmer goes to the RXD connection at the radio , GND-GND, and RXD programmer side to TXD radio connector side?
Thank you!Your cable should look like the one on Simon’s website, and like the pics that Shadetree Mechanic posted…the RXD lead goes into pin 2 of the RJ12 plug, the ground lead into pin 3 and the TXD lead into pin 4. I made that cable some time ago and it works.
How in the programming do you change the AM modulation. Or am I missing something. I've yet to find it or get it to change.I can confirm the Midland tuning software works on the Luiton LT-310SDR.
I got my USB-TTL cable from Amazon today, clipped the Dupont connectors off the three wires (TXD-GND-RXD) and crimped them onto a 6 pin modular plug (RJ-12). It works !!!
Here is the cable I got…
USB-TTL cable
I used the Midland 8001-Pro tuning software (linked above in Shadetree’s post #6) and could adjust deadkey levels for all three power settings, adjust modulation on AM, USB and LSB, and adjust deviation on FM.
And most of all…I could adjust the volume level of all modes, so now volume setting 1 is nice and low
The software did help with the stock mic, but the overall tone is still “stocky”. But you can get a bit more audio out of the stock mic with this software. With my 4 pin mic-adapter cable, the audio out of my Astatic 575 is really good in all modes. You can adjust the parameters for the particular mic you are running. It is not a ‘one setting fits all”.
The software is a bit odd. There are various adjustments for Low Band, Mid Band and High Band. My guess is those are for the various frequency ranges. Mid Band generally refers to the standard 40 channels over in the UK, so I guess there is a frequency range for each of the bands, and you can make adjustments as needed across the entire coverage range of the radio. I only messed with the Mid Band Low Power setting although my dead key settings seemed to carry across the entire range of the radio (mostly).
This is weird…
The software makes the adjustments in real time ! As you adjust deadkey in the software, you can see the adjustment on your meter…so have the radio connected to a meter and dummy load as you do this. The radio does not indicate it is in transmit…but it is transmitting when you make adjustments.
I guess if you have an actual RF test set, this would be cool, but I only have a golden screwdriver, so I had to make the modulation and deviation adjustments in the software, and then swap to my mic and transmit while using a monitor radio. There is a “write to radio” menu setting, so after I got the settings adjusted to my liking, I did write to radio, even though the changes happen when you adjust the parameters. As always…read the radio first and save the factory parameters.
One other thing…not sure what all these settings are for, or how they are applied, but I did find with the stock mic that FM deviation and audio sounded better with a lower setting.
The factory FM deviation was set around 22, but it sounded better down around 8, so cranking everything up to “11” is not the way to do it.