[Elecraft] How 'bout a USB interface?

Fri Jul 12 22:41:01 2002

How true this is!!  Most of the new computers have only USB or Firewire.
Many don't even have a serial port and a decent serial port sells for
over $90.

Some of the naysayers should look at the WEB page I referenced.  This is
a complete evaluation board for not much more than the cost of the KIO2.
It should not be to hard to build a competitive IO board that out
performs the KIO2.  The Evaluation board could easily be programmed to
provide the K2TX and K2RX signals, the ALC signal could be monitored, a
signal provided for T/R switching, a relay provided to turn on/off the
K2, monitor the signal strength (AGC), K2 temperature, and other info
not provided in the K2 data signal. The advantage of this is that you
would not need another interface card like the Rigblaster or Rascal
making this interface even more competitive.  And as audio could also be
sent across the USB line, you could even add a PSK, RTTY, etc.
capabilities.

As I said I would like to do this but, haven't messed with C since the
added the ++.  But the programming should be simpler than the Modem,
RTTY, Morse code, TNC, etc. programs I wrote in Assembler in the 70's.
Had a Heathkit H89 and Z100 which meant that nothing you could
buy/download was compatible, but got pretty good at hacking PCDos
programs so that they started to work and ended up using them as a model
or outline for ones that did. 

Several links on the referenced web page also lead to public GNU public
license code and other needed programming tools.  The Elecraft K2 Remote
could easily be modified to control the USB port and process the extra
data and send the extra signals. Most any program that controls those
rigs the use a file to transfer commands could easily also adapt to the
K2 controlled by this new interface. (I think the Kachina uses this
method.)  

http://www.elektronikladen.de/en_usb08.html

Rich
KE0X

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John Clifford
Sent: Friday, July 12, 2002 8:30 PM
To: Ed Tanton; Margaret Leber
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] How 'bout a USB interface?

I understand all of your points... but ham radio is about advancing the
state of the art and not merely making do with what's currently
available.
RS-232 is eventually going to die, replaced by USB.  As a user/developer
of
RS-232-based solutions since the early '80s, I say "Good riddance!"

Maggie, your objections can be overcome merely by someone writing a
class
that supports USB and porting it to the operating system of choice.
This
would be a more elegant solution in the long run -- your user wouldn't
have
to worry about identifying which serial port a particular rig was
installed
on, and it would give EVERYONE who uses your software the same
capabilities
you have with your 16-serial port machine regardless of how many comm
ports
they have.

Ideally, I would like to be able to put all of my intelligent ham
radio-related gear onto a USB network.  This may require changes in the
software that runs on my PC/OS of choice... but so what?  And, since the
KIO2 is already available, adding an interchangeable/additional USB
interface is not going to affect what's currently happening
software-wise.

Rich Lentz' posting gave me some interesting ideas... I may play around
with
one of these and see what it will allow me to do.  Thanks...

 - jgc

John Clifford KD7KGX

Heathkit HW-9 WARC/HFT-9/HM-9
Elecraft K2 #1678 /KSB2/KIO2/KBT2/KAT2/KNB2/KAF2
                  ...trying to schedule time to build my KPA100!
Ten-Tec Omni VI/Opt1

email: [email protected]

_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list: [email protected]
You must be a list member to post to the list. 
Postings must be plain text (no HTML or attachments). 
See: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Elecraft Web Page: http://www.elecraft.com