[Elecraft] USB Adapter for K2?

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

If all you are looking for is basic RS-232 control, almost any 
quality USB to RS-232 adapter should work as long as it has 
drivers for your operating system and you make a cable that 
connects ONLY pins 2,3 and 5 between the USB/RS232 adapter 
and the K2 CAT jack.  DO NOT connect any other pins as their 
use is not standard and you could damage the adapter or the 
K2. 

The key is to find a USB-RS232 adapter that uses a MAX232 for 
the TTL to RS-232 conversion and not one that uses one of the 
newer CMOS converters.  The MAX232 will provide +/- 10 volts 
on the RS-232 interface where many of the newer CMOS converters 
provide only +/- 5 volts and may not be reliable with older 
line driver/receiver circuits. 

The FTDI based USB adapters by VScom in Germany (sold in the 
US and Canada by Byterunner - www.byterunner.com) seem to 
work reliably with the majority of RS-232 devices.  If you 
have a need to CW/PTT/FSK and RS-232 (control) the USB-2COM
(http://www.byterunner.com/byterunner/product_name=USB-2COM) 
is a convenient package. 

73, 

   ... Joe Subich, W4TV 
       microHAM America 
       http://www.microHAM-USA.com 
       http://groups.yahoo.com/group/microHAM 
       support at microham.com 
 



> -----Original Message-----
> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
> [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Derek Brown
> Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 11:16 AM
> To: Elecraft Reflector (post)
> Subject: [Elecraft] USB Adapter for K2?
> 
> 
> I'm new to this list.  Are there any plans to introduce a USB 
> adapter / option for the K2?  I know that there is already an 
> "outboard" interface available from microHAM.  
>  
> 
> Derek, WF4I 
>