[Elecraft] Lightweight and inexpensive remote control of my K3s

[Peter Dougherty]

Once again this year I'm planning to visit friends over the Thanksgiving
weekend. Unlike in the past, I won't be able to set up for CQWW-CW from where
I'm staying. Instead, I'd like to remote back in to my home station. 

Last year I used RemoteHams software and N1MM+, and it worked OK as
proof-of-concept, but I wasn't knocked out with the whole workflow. The latency
wasn't a big problem, but the lack of paddles was. The macros in N1MM+ were
fine, but too often I wanted to send by hand, which I couldn't easily do with
the RCFOrb client software. The server side software worked OK, but it's very
finicky. 

I'd like a hardware solution, but not something as expensive or unwieldy as a
K3/0. I'm thinking along the lines of something I can throw in a briefcase,
connect to my laptop, and plug in headphones and paddles (or a mic, heavens
forbid) and not have to rely on a dodgy piece of Windows software. Any thoughts?
I remember that the Remotehams guys had a hardware box but I've never known
anybody who used it, and I'm not sure if RemoteRig's boxes are what I'm after
either (don't they only work in contention with a K3/something?).

---------------------------------------------
73 and Good DX
Peter, W2IRT

President, North Jersey DX Association

DXCC Card Checker
Letter O Manager, ARRL Incoming 2nd District QSL bureau