[Elecraft] K3 USB-serial adapter recommendation

[Brian Lloyd]

On May 23, 2008, at 6:59 PM, James C. Hall, MD wrote:

>
>
> Hello:
>
> Well it appears I discovered that not all serial cables are built  
> the same.
> I took the Keyspan adapter and my laptop to my trusty K2, and sure  
> enough,
> it polled just fine. That left me wondering 'what's the difference  
> between
> the K2 and the K3?' Except for anything internal which I felt highly
> unlikely, the answer was the cable itself. I called myself  
> substituting a
> cable earlier but later discovered that this cable was formerly used  
> to
> relay status information from a UPS. They are not true serial cables
> apparently.
>
> When I hooked up with what I KNEW to be a true serial cable to the  
> K3, it
> worked perfectly !
>
> As for Vista - who knows ?!! It looks like it will require a  
> purchase of an
> up-to-date device and drivers. Jeez, I wish ham radios had USB ports !

Actually, you don't. Here is why.

Every company who wants to make their device "USB Capable" picks some  
off-the-wall USB-to-Serial adaptor (or worse). Now the one good thing  
about someone still using serial is that I only need one make/model of  
USB-to-Serial adaptor for ALL my RS-232 devices. That means one device  
and one driver. Now contrast that with 5 different radios with 5  
different USB interface chips from 5 different vendors. Can you say,  
"5 different drivers, at least one chock full of bugs?" I knew you  
could.

I have standardized on USB-to-serial adaptors based on the FTDI  
FT232RL chip. The ones I am using I got from Parallax and they work  
flawlessly. They are even serialized (serial number) and *always* come  
up as the same device regardless of where they get plugged into the USB.

So, pick one reliable USB-to-serial device and use it for everything  
and only have to install one driver. Think about it.

>
>
> 73, Jamie
> WB4YDL
>
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--

Brian Lloyd                         Granite Bay Montessori
brian AT gbmontessori DOT com       9330 Sierra College Blvd.
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73 de Brian, WB6RQN
Brian Lloyd - brian HYPHEN wb6rqn AT lloyd DOT com