Hi, Mike:
The most important factor is that you choose the correct cable to connect your FT450 to you computer. I have spoken to a number of hams and have witnessed on other sites comments that they have difficulty in connecting the radio to their computer. If you get the right DB9 to USB cable or DB9 to whatever your computer is looking for serial cable you should be in good shape. Just looking around, I see that most folks are using a DB9 to USB cable. I chose one that came with a small CD disk to drive the cable. In my mind, normally I would not need a disk to drive a cable - but what the little app did was match up the data from the correct pins. I saw some cables in the store that did not have all the pins in their DB9 connector. That might be OK in some applications, but I didn't know what the FT450 or HRD was exactly looking for - so I wanted all pins to be able to be activated.

Bottom line, my cable worked. I purchased my cable from a Fry's Electronics store in Concord, CA. There were 6-7 or more DB9 to USB cables that I could choose from (that was kind of amazing in and of itself). I fritz around for awhile, looking at the specifications on the packaging and chose one. The one I picked was not, incidentally, the most expensive one.

Inspect your cable and make sure that you are getting voltage out of the radio.

73,
Jim Siemons AF6PU