[Elecraft] K3 Port sharing redux

[Wes]

In an earlier post I asked for help from the collective wisdom of this group.  
In response I received a lot, some via the reflector, some privately.  I would 
like to thank all for the assistance.

Some of what I learned I'll repeat.

1)  WSJT-X can be run using port sharing despite the common wisdom.  I found 
that Omni-rig was the answer, in my case anyway.

2)  LP-Bridge will work, if Omni-rig is used and WSJT-X is "connected" to the 
first virtual port.

3)  Contrary to popular belief, LP-Bridge was stable. (I've been running it for 
years without WSJT)

4)  I'm trying the trial version of Win4K3Suite.  If com0com is used, it too 
works, with one caveat so far.

5)  Setting up the ports is a PITA and one secret is to "Save" things that you 
think are configured.

6)  Looking at com0com ports in Windows Device Manager only the last pair will 
show the two comport IDs. The way my brain works this made it appear that the 
previously setup pairs were broken; they're not.

7)  LP-Bridge will autostart programs flawlessly.  It does take longer than 
Win4K3 to initiate because it creates the virtual ports at runtime.

8)  It seems that Win4K3 will not autostart programs unless they are .exes.  The 
way I have DXBase installed (recommended) is in the root directory.  Windows UAC 
will prompt for permission to run the .exe, so I use a Windows task to start the 
program.  LP-Bridge will execute the task, Win4K3 will not, so I have to start 
it manually answering to UAC before Win4K3 will start.  If this can be fixed, I 
might be inclined to buy the program.

Comments welcome.

Wes  N7WS