[Elecraft] Possible solution for missing RS-232 port on laptops

[Ron - PE8E]

There has been a lot of talk about the absence of "real serial ports" on
more recent laptops. Here is something I recently discovered and want to
share with you all. Maybe you can benefit ...

Not to lang ago I received a HP Compaq 6710b laptop. On first sight there
was no RS-232 output. With the laptop came a dockingstation and on that
one I found 1 serial, 1 parallel, 1 DVI and 1 SVGA port (and several
others).
Connected the laptop to its dock and 'hey presto' one available active
RS-232 port. Pure hardware, no BIOS or softwarechanges necessary.
As a added bonus, with the dockingstation you can use 2 (large) external
monitors at the same time. (even more space for your high definition
P3-display).
I didn't test the LPT-port, but expect it will work too.

Same situation with my QRL-laptop, a Lenovo W500, without visible
RS-232-port. Connected that one to an appropiate dockingstation; same
trick same result, ..... nice.

So, if you are a laptop user, check if you can dock.
You can find dockingstations reasonably cheap on 'ebay'-like websites.

73 de PE8E, Ron.