An unstated option for a future serial port replacement would be Bluetooth. This interface has the enormous benefit of not being wired.
In today's market of less-experienced hams, who more often than not also attempt to use their radios in their own antenna's near field, not having any extra wires is a good idea. Avoiding the exposure to RFI from the inadvertent coupling of one's own signal can't be a bad thing. I can't tall you how many botched EIA-232 cables I have fixed over the years, with missing or backwards data and/or handshake lines, not to mention pin 5 discontinuities. Further, Bluetooth technology is ideal for both laptop and desktop control, it's possible to add PDA and netbook application support because all new operating systems natively host the Bluetooth serial port profile, there are no "driver" issues, latency is purposefully low, you free up back panel real estate formerly used by the DB-9, you can easily get applications to address multiple Bluetooth client radios for those stations so fortunately equipped, silicon is easily added at minimal cost and with almost zero design risk (I know, I've done it), power consumption is low, there's no chance of communications-link RFI -to- the rig as you frequently find with wired interfaces of every sort, it allows (if done right) the use of Bluetooth headphones in addition to the serial port replacement, and, it's a worldwide frequency and mode allocation. Did I mention there are no wires? 73 Steve KZ1X/4 K1, K2, K3, etc. ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
