Radiodiddy GM 30 programming

[KT8R]

With the risk of sounding dumb, what and where can you locate programming software for a GM30? 

[MichaelLAX]

Thete are no dumb questions; only dumb answers!

Go here and click on GM-30

[KT8R]

Thanks, but it keeps coming up check com port and connections. Changing port or usb cord or location does not change the error message. 

[MichaelLAX]

Are you having trouble downloading the software, as you asked for where to download it from, or are you having trouble with the COM port setting once you have downloaded it and installed it?

What USB cable are you using?  What version of Windows?

[MichaelLAX]

I don't often use Windows, but when I do (for codeplug CPS software programming), I drink lots of beer to get into the proper spirit!! 

Try following this link to the Miklor guide to USB Cable Drivers

[KT8R]

16 hours ago, MichaelLAX said:

Are you having trouble downloading the software, as you asked for where to download it from, or are you having trouble with the COM port setting once you have downloaded it and installed it?

What USB cable are you using?  What version of Windows?

Com port. Yes it is Windows 11. USB 3.0 USB C The software only gives Com 4 or 5. Both are used elsewhere. 

 

[MichaelLAX]

Did you try the Miklor Guide I linked above?

[WyoJoe]

18 hours ago, WD8DK said:

Com port. Yes it is Windows 11. USB 3.0 USB C The software only gives Com 4 or 5. Both are used elsewhere.

I don't have any experience with Windows 11 (W11), and even very little with Windows 10 as far as installing devices is concerned.

My understanding with both is that they want to load the latest device drivers for whatever device you're using (such as programming cables), and the newer drivers don't always work. In the case of cables with the "Prolific" chipset, the newer drivers don't work because they see the devices as "counterfeit" and therefore won't enable the connection. The older drivers didn't check the authenticity of the chipset, and that's why they do work.

For W11, I've seen a post or two stating that rolling back the driver is very difficult if not impossible, because the old driver won't work with W11.

The FTDI chipsets don't seem to have the same problems, but I'm not sure how well they "play" with w11.

Quite a few on this forum keep an old Windows XP or Windows 7 machine around just for programming radios...

[KT8R]

14 hours ago, MichaelLAX said:

Did you try the Miklor Guide I linked above?

Absolutely. Programming software still gives only 2 com port choices. 4 and 5. 

 

[SteveShannon]

1 hour ago, WD8DK said:

Absolutely. Programming software still gives only 2 com port choices. 4 and 5. 

 

Unfortunately, I don’t remember the exact sequence I had to do to use a non-FTDI cable with Chirp for a radio, but I made it work by opening Device Manager and looking for any exclamation marks which indicate a device that needs attention. My devices were okay, so the next thing I did was expand the USB ports, and then enabling a com port there under one of the USB ports.  Once I did that, when I clicked on the list of com ports included the one I needed.  You only have to do the Device Manager thing once each new device. The new device is the USB cable in this case.

So, to recap, open Device Manager and look for an exclamation mark showing that you have a driver problem.  If you do, resolve the problem.  That may mean unplugging the USB cable, rebooting the computer, and loading software before plugging in the cable. You cannot make changes in Device Manager unless you’re logged in as the administrator account.

Then, once the device has been recognized you may need to tell Windows to allow a com port to be assigned to the USB device.

I’ve never needed to keep an older computer for driver compatibility.  Windows 10 has the ability to right click and run programs in compatibility mode where you choose the software level (at least back to Win 8 or possibly even 7.  I’ve only had to do that once, but it was helpful.

When you’re in Device Manager, if it seems too daunting, take screen shots and I may be able to make suggestions.

[KT8R]

Thanks for the info, I have a new computer, just possible that I have all the available com ports used up with external components, including the Yaesu. 

[MichaelLAX]

6 hours ago, WD8DK said:

Absolutely. Programming software still gives only 2 com port choices. 4 and 5. 

Which and where did you purchase the USB cable?

Amazingly driver installations are the largest source of programming problems (but it only has to be fixed once).

Which Yaesu software are you using?

Looks like @Sshannonis on top of Windows drivers problems.  I rarely use Windows myself (in virtualization on my Mac) and these days it is only for CPS programming software for my radios that cannot use CHIRP and/or to help with problem solving for USB cable users here.

I have Windows 10 installed, but TBH, every programing challenge that I have solved worked in my original copy of Windows XP that I have owned for about 20 years now.

[WyoJoe]

5 hours ago, Sshannon said:

I’ve never needed to keep an older computer for driver compatibility.  Windows 10 has the ability to right click and run programs in compatibility mode where you choose the software level (at least back to Win 8 or possibly even 7.  I’ve only had to do that once, but it was helpful.

Most of the people on the forum that keep old computers around for radio programming do so for software compatibility, not driver compatibility. Some users still have programs that run in DOS, not Windows.

I have used DOSBox on my Linux machine to run old DOS games, but I'm not sure how it works with external devices like programming cables. I especially wonder if it works with USB devices, since most programming cables are USB, which came into common use sometime after DOS was no longer in common use.

[KT8R]

19 hours ago, MichaelLAX said:

Which and where did you purchase the USB cable?

Amazingly driver installations are the largest source of programming problems (but it only has to be fixed once).

Which Yaesu software are you using?

Looks like @Sshannonis on top of Windows drivers problems.  I rarely use Windows myself (in virtualization on my Mac) and these days it is only for CPS programming software for my radios that cannot use CHIRP and/or to help with problem solving for USB cable users here.

I have Windows 10 installed, but TBH, every programing challenge that I have solved worked in my original copy of Windows XP that I have owned for about 20 years now.

USB cable is the one that came with the GM30. I also have a couple other "heavy duty" USB C cables. The radio works as it should, just can't get the software for programming to change com ports, even though the GM30 software lists 1-20 com ports. 

[SteveShannon]

22 hours ago, WD8DK said:

Thanks for the info, I have a new computer, just possible that I have all the available com ports used up with external components, including the Yaesu. 

Probably not. While there are a limited number of hardware com ports, Windows can continue creating virtual com ports and assign them to USB ports.  What did you learn in Device Manager?

[coopthink]

After reading through this thread, it sounds as though you're trying to use the USB-C charging cable that comes with the GM30. That cable can only be use for charging. For programming, you'll need a USB cable that connect to the audio connectors on the side. I use the cable below with the GM30 and lots of other radios. It will create a new virtual com port that you can see in Device Manager. I don't think I needed any additional drivers for Windows 10 and it works on my Mac as well.

BTECH PC03 FTDI Genuine USB Programming Cable for BTECH, BaoFeng UV-5R BF-F8HP UV-82HP BF-888S, and Kenwood Radios

[KT8R]

23 hours ago, coopthink said:

After reading through this thread, it sounds as though you're trying to use the USB-C charging cable that comes with the GM30. That cable can only be use for charging. For programming, you'll need a USB cable that connect to the audio connectors on the side. I use the cable below with the GM30 and lots of other radios. It will create a new virtual com port that you can see in Device Manager. I don't think I needed any additional drivers for Windows 10 and it works on my Mac as well.

BTECH PC03 FTDI Genuine USB Programming Cable for BTECH, BaoFeng UV-5R BF-F8HP UV-82HP BF-888S, and Kenwood Radios

Ha! That's what it is! Ok, thank you! 

[KT8R]

WELL, have the proper programming cable. Still will not link to radio. I have the GM30 programming software downloaded. "check com port settings". Regardless there are only 2 choices on the pop up window. Ideas?

[WyoJoe]

1 hour ago, WD8DK said:

WELL, have the proper programming cable. Still will not link to radio. I have the GM30 programming software downloaded. "check com port settings". Regardless there are only 2 choices on the pop up window. Ideas?

In the folder where you installed the application, there should be a text file called setting.txt. If you edit the file, you should be able to specify the com port setting needed by changing the value in the "CommPort=" line. In my case, the file was found in "Program Files/GM-30 GMRS/Data" and after editing and saving the file, I was able to open the application and have it access the correct com port.

As I've mentioned before (possibly in other threads), I am running the software using WINE on Linux rather than natively in Windows. My setup may differ from yours because of this, but you should be able to do something similar to get it to work for you.

[KT8R]

1 hour ago, WyoJoe said:

In the folder where you installed the application, there should be a text file called setting.txt. If you edit the file, you should be able to specify the com port setting needed by changing the value in the "CommPort=" line. In my case, the file was found in "Program Files/GM-30 GMRS/Data" and after editing and saving the file, I was able to open the application and have it access the correct com port.

As I've mentioned before (possibly in other threads), I am running the software using WINE on Linux rather than natively in Windows. My setup may differ from yours because of this, but you should be able to do something similar to get it to work for you.

Nope, I even tried CHIRP. Evidently the updated GM30 software does not allow programming? I'm usually good at this kind of problem, but this one has me ready to use the sledgehammer on it.

[SteveShannon]

32 minutes ago, WD8DK said:

Nope, I even tried CHIRP. Evidently the updated GM30 software does not allow programming? I'm usually good at this kind of problem, but this one has me ready to use the sledgehammer on it.

Do you get a sound when you plug in the cable to the USB port?

Are there any devices listed in Device Manager with exclamation marks? If so, click on the device to see what it says.  I had a device the other day that the only way I could make it work was to log off from my usual user profile and log in as the admin (I don’t run as the admin).

Once I did I could see the a device driver wasn’t working.  It didn’t matter how many times I installed the driver I couldn’t make it work.  Finally I removed the driver and the device, then reinserted the device and re-installed the driver as the admin.  Other drivers must be installed before the device is plugged in.

Good luck!

 

[WyoJoe]

3 hours ago, WD8DK said:

Nope, I even tried CHIRP. Evidently the updated GM30 software does not allow programming? I'm usually good at this kind of problem, but this one has me ready to use the sledgehammer on it.

Chirp does not support the GM30. The only way I can program mine somewhat easily is with the factory software.

Are you able to use your cable for programming of any other radios using Chirp or other software? Perhaps this is a cable/driver issue and not a GM30 issue.

If you are able to use the same cable for programming other radios, then that would likely rule out the cable/driver issues, otherwise, that is where I suspect the problem is.

Are you using the driver that Windows recommended for your cable? What kind of cable is it? If it has a "fake" Prolific chip in it, the driver may be the issue. Many problems have been attributed to those chips, and the only way to get them to work in Windows is to roll back the driver to an older version that doesn't check that the chip is "genuine."

Finally, I've read some posts on other threads about the latest Windows updates breaking their cable drivers, causing them to no longer be able to program radios successfully with cables that worked previously. As I'm not using Windows, I can't speak to that issue, but perhaps someone else reading this will be able to.

[KT8R]

Thanks for all the input, I've basically have to agree it is Windows 11. I used the recommended cable, software (GM30) and as one person stated, "it doesn't acknowledge the radio". Therefore, I'll just live with it as such. Thanks again. 73.

[SteveShannon]

3 hours ago, WD8DK said:

Thanks for all the input, I've basically have to agree it is Windows 11. I used the recommended cable, software (GM30) and as one person stated, "it doesn't acknowledge the radio". Therefore, I'll just live with it as such. Thanks again. 73.

I asked a couple of times what you see in Device Manager, but you’ve never answered that question.  That’s the best way to diagnose what’s going wrong with a driver.  Until the driver works, you won’t get an acknowledgement.  A screenshot is best, but if not, then look for an exclamation point in Device Manager. 

[dirkvan]

7 hours ago, WD8DK said:

Thanks for all the input, I've basically have to agree it is Windows 11. I used the recommended cable, software (GM30) and as one person stated, "it doesn't acknowledge the radio". Therefore, I'll just live with it as such. Thanks again. 73.

I'm programming my GM-30 with no issues on a Microsoft Surface running Windows 11. It can be done! I'm temporarily locked out of my amazon account but once I'm back in, I will post the exact cable i bought.  I did have to return one cable because it had the wrong driver type.  Once I got the right one, it worked fine.  The CPS program will bring up a full list of comm ports but you need to select the one your computer assigns to the USB cable.  I'm a functional idiot when it comes to this stuff, so I don't know how to tell you where to look for that.  Also, I first plugged the cable into my USB hub and the computer refused to find it.  When I plugged into the USB port on the Surface itself, it worked fine. Once I got the cable right, it was pretty much plug and play for me.  Hang in there!