Serial port sniffing problem

[Bill Lionheart]

Using Wine  version 1.8 on Ubuntu 14.04.5
I'm trying to use a AVRT5 APRS amateur radio GPRS tracker which has a
serial interface. The device is supplied with a Prolific USB serial
converter which comes up as /dev/ttyUSB0 which
I have sym linked to COM1

The bundled GPRS tracker config software installs and runs OK under
Wine. But my attempts to sniff the serial port traffic fails using all
the standard Linux methods I know.

I also tried using the Windows program Serial Port Monitor under Wine
http://www.eltima.com/products/serial-port-monitor/ . This program
says it cannot detect any serial ports.

Under Windows 7  the config program and Serial Port Monitor both work
well and I can intercept all the serial traffic

Any ideas please folks?

Bill