[Elecraft] [K3] Built in USB interface for K3

[Don Wilhelm]

Phil,

I would place all the devices you mentioned into the category of 
"consumer devices", and that is not the same as "industry devices".

How many point of sale terminals do you see in stores that are using a 
USB connection?  Most (if not all) use RS-232.  The connectors may be 
either 9 pin or 25 pin - they may or may not be consumer PC compatible - 
the 25 pin RS-232 implements a secondary port as well as the primary, 
and is used by many industrial devices.
Yes, those are not consumer devices, they are things that are used in 
the retail sales arena.
If you are in a manufacturing area, look at the communications interface 
between devices that are being used there - they are mostly all RS-232 
or some other interface that is termed "archaic and outdated" by some of 
the posts on this reflector.

RS-232 and others standard interfaces are definitely not dead, and are 
being used in these environments because it is reliable and it works, 
and is not dependent on the whims and desires of the OS updates.  These 
environments also must run long distances with these communication 
signals, and neither USB nor Firewire are capable of those distances - 
RS-232 is.

Do not be fooled by the makers of laptop computers who are trying to 
squeeze as much function as possible into a small space, and desktop 
computers in the consumer market seem to be ignoring the need for RS-232 
as well.  Such is life in the consumer market, but I do not want to 
consider my K3 as a typical consumer device that I throw away and 
purchase a new one when it does not work.

73,
Don W3FPR

Phil Hystad wrote:
> With the exception of ham radio, I seriously doubt that I could find and buy
> a device that needs RS232.  I understand that there might be a device that
> supports RS232 for some old equipment needs.  Or, even devices, as the
> cited example that for some reason continues to use RS232.  And, I can
> understand some of those reasons from technical perspective but I don't
> think this is relevant to the issue with ham radio or to all the other devices
> that we (in this ham radio community) belong to.  In my opinion, the only
> argument for ham radio having RS232 is because there are still old 
> computers out there that do not support USB and the ham radio community
> is playing to that crowd.  Personally, I think this is a mistake because you
> don't see other kinds of devices making that sacrifice.
>   
>