[Elecraft] Is anyone using a Hardware Data Switch instead of LP Bridge?

[Don Wilhelm]

Harry,

RS-232 is a point to point protocol, so no hardware sharing - some 
hardware devices get away with connecting into the data stream by *only* 
listening to the traffic - SteppIR controllers are one example.  
Multiple transmitters on the same connection will corrupt the data.

However, if you run only one application at a time, you *could* use an 
A/B/C/D switch with 4 serial ports on your computer after telling each 
application to use a different com port.
BUT --
The easier solution is to simply close any conflicting application and 
open a new one, each using the same com port.  The only problem with 
that is that there are some ham applications that do not clean up their 
'dirty footprints' and will leave the com port open when the application 
has closed, and that condition can only be solved by re-booting the 
computer.

A software virtual com port sharing solution like LP-Bridge is the best 
solution if you want to run multiple applications at once.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 1/5/2015 5:26 PM, Harry Yingst via Elecraft wrote:
> While LP Bridge does serve the purpose I was wondering if anyone was usinga pure hardware solution to share the K3's serial port across applications.
> If so how are you doing it?
>