Interchangeable programming cables?

[WSFL333]

I ordered a Retevis programming cable from Amazon that hasn’t arrived and am close to canceling the order.  From what I’ve read the cables are a two pin end that plug into the radio with usb plug at the other end that are based on an old Kenwood style cable. 
Are these various knockoff brands interchangeable so if I were to cancel my order and get a different brand from a different vendor  ( that might actually arrive) it will still work? Or does each vendor brand have a chip installed to lock it down to its own radio brand? 

[BoxCar]

9 hours ago, Socalgmrs said:

Maybe maybe not.  Totally depends on your radio and what chip is in the cable.  It won’t hurt anything to try.   

BS The key point is you need a compatible driver for the cable. Cables using the FTDI chjp/driver set are almost 100% interchangeable between radios. The only time I've found they aren't is when the radio requires a specific driver to access a proprietary feature found in their cable's chipset.

[WRYZ926]

2 hours ago, BoxCar said:

BS The key point is you need a compatible driver for the cable. Cables using the FTDI chjp/driver set are almost 100% interchangeable between radios. The only time I've found they aren't is when the radio requires a specific driver to access a proprietary feature found in their cable's chipset.

That has been my experience as well. My Baofeng cable works just fine for many different brands of radios I have tried it with.

[amaff]

I've used my BTech cable to program Wouxuns and TD-H3s. I've use my Wouxun cable to program Fengs... you get the idea.

Unless it's a radio with a different port configuration, it'll probably work. The place you may have compatibility issues is the Windows driver more than on the radios. In my experience, the BTech tends to *just work* while others tend to have problems from time to time, depending on what computer they're plugged into.

[sfotiss]

17 hours ago, WSFL333 said:

I ordered a Retevis programming cable from Amazon that hasn’t arrived and am close to canceling the order.  From what I’ve read the cables are a two pin end that plug into the radio with usb plug at the other end that are based on an old Kenwood style cable. 
Are these various knockoff brands interchangeable so if I were to cancel my order and get a different brand from a different vendor  ( that might actually arrive) it will still work? Or does each vendor brand have a chip installed to lock it down to its own radio brand? 

Try the MIRKIT universal cable. It worked on my Retevis RA98 using a Mac with no problems. 

[WRYZ926]

The only time I have had issues with programming cables are the cheap cables from Amazon that have the Prolific chip. That has caused issues with Mac and Windows 11. Cables with the FDTI chip work with any operating system.

[Socalgmrs]

Maybe maybe not.  Totally depends on your radio and what chip is in the cable.  It won’t hurt anything to try.