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

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

 > In the future, wouldn't it be better to abandon serial ports and go to
 > USB for data communicating between radio/computer/amplifier and other
 > equipment?

No - you would need multiple ports/hub to connect multiple devices and
each device would need custom drivers for each operating system with
which it is to be used.  Since it would not be possible to know what
other devices are being connected, each device would attempt to act as
"master" of all USB connections.

One would be far better served if the amplifier builders would adopt a
standard interface (or emulate the PW-1 as Tokyo High Power and SPE
did) which would permit a single "smart controller" like microHAM
Station Master to provide an arbitrated/buffered CAT channel from
computer to transceiver, translate the native CAT information to the
form (e.g. PW-1) required by the amplifier and select antennas based
on frequency/band.

The real issue is with amplifiers that don't share CAT properly (e.g.,
they do not provide port sensing/buffering) and insist on polling
rather that being a good passive listener.  Port (traffic) sensing
works well if the designer is willing to use a fast microprocessor
to read/relay polling from the computer, buffer polls when necessary
to avoid collisions, and only poll for data that may become "stale."
Otherwise the designer should be a true "passive listener" and never
poll when a transceiver is being controlled by a logging program.  It
when the amplifier designer insists on polling without providing the
necessary hardware support that problems start.

73,

    ... Joe, W4TV


On 2014-09-15 2:12 PM, Bill Turner wrote:
> I'm not a computer expert so maybe this is a simplistic question.
>
> In the future, wouldn't it be better to abandon serial ports and go to
> USB for data communicating between radio/computer/amplifier and other
> equipment?
>
> With USB, isn't it possible to write drivers that can work with
> multiple equipment connections and avoid the "collision" problem?
>
> Or is it not that simple? Is there a better solution?
>
> 73, Bill W6WRT
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