[Elecraft] [acom-list] Re: Elecraft K3 and ACOM 2000A

[Lynn W. Taylor, WB6UUT]

On 9/15/2014 8:42 AM, Dick Dievendorff wrote:
> My point is that multiple transmitters on an RS-232 link aren't likely to
> work well because the protocol is point to point, and there is no "collision
> recovery" protocol. This isn't an Ethernet cable. It's RS-232.  Point to
> point, not multipoint.
Ethernet is multipoint to multipoint because there are protocols on top 
of the electrical specification that allow multiple transmitters, and 
detect and deal with corrupt data and collisions.

RS-232 doesn't have that level of protocol.  I don't have the spec. 
handy, but I don't think it goes beyond the electrical specification.

It's possible to put some more elaborate protocol on top of RS-232 and 
make it work, but it isn't part of the K3 serial protocol.