Clone cable for Vertex Standard VX-2500E

I have been using this cable for cloning the VX-2500E for the past 4 years.

Update 30/1/2022:

If your radio is not responding to the Software, then swap the RX and TX connections to the USB dongle. Some dongles have the labels swapped.

Tested the interface with CE63 software on Windows 10 64bit and 32bit. (After setting compatibility mode to Windows XP SP3).

Also note the Pins 1 and 2 is shorted in the diagram. This works. However, one of them may be optional i.e. no connection would be required to either 1 or 2. Please drop a comment if you tried and confirmed the same.

SMD soldering using halogen bulb

I had soldered SMD components that comes in 1206 package using soldering iorn with less effort. But anything less than 1206 is very tough to do with the iron. Recently I saw a video in which a halogen lamp (head lamp of car) is used to de-solder SMD components. I thought I will give a try to solder with solder paste and halogen lamp. Here are the results.

Solder paste that comes in syringe.

I used a small trimmer screwdriver to dab small quantity of paste to the pads on the pcb.Then I placed the SMD component using tweezers. The below picture shows SMD capacitor in 0603 package.

After placing all the components, heated the board using 12V 100W halogen lamp by holding it closely to the board for a minute, slightly moving around.

Here is the result. The quantity of the solder paste matters and it has to be just right.

A word of caution:
The halogen lamp gets really hot and needs to be handled very carefully. Also I had sunglasses while working as it gets really bright.