I know some of you guys are running Baofeng HT radios and I had a question about programming cables. I've got a new radio I'm running through the ringer and it seems I need to hook it up to the computer to open it up. This is one down side to these radios were as ones from the bigger name companies don't require PC programming.

What cables are you guys using? I know certain models require certain cables but are you getting the genuine Baofeng cables or the generic versions? Anything to say yay or nay?

I've noticed here http://astore.amazon.com/v87cab-20 that there is a "preferred cable" and it happens to be the most expensive. It also mentions that it runs with the most recent driver. The drivers bring me to my other question. In regards to CHIRP, do you guys have any experience with versions that are better than others?

My Motorola radio also requires PC programming and one thing I recently learned is that it's wise to program it with the oldest version of the software you can find. This usually means a computer with a serial port and an old Windows operating system. I've got a few old laptops in my take to the shooting range box that I can pull out but was wondering if CHIRP is similar. If you program a Motorola Jedi radio with a Windows 7 computer, for instance, you can never reprogram with anything older.

The radios I need to open up are the UV82 and UV82C. Actually the UV82C needs a computer just to put it in VFO mode (Part of it being Part 90 compliant).