While dreaming of a shack with capabilities straight out of the Jetsons is
nice - realization at an affordable-to-most-hams is another matter.
Essentially - enabling Ethernet on most of the peripherial equipment is
going to cost big bucks, and a serious programming effort on the part of many
very
small ham equipment suppliers. The guy who makes a thousand keyer interfaces
or rotor control boards a year, and who clears five bucks on each interface,
isn't going to invest the time and effort to do that. The expense would be
ruinous.
Changing from RS232 to USB will cost each vendor a bit initially, and a bit
of reprogramming as well, but save money in the long run as sources for '232
chips dry up. The guy who makes those thousand keying interfaces a year may add
a few bucks to the cost of an interface, but we would still be able to add
peripherials to
our stations, and use them with whatever comes along for a very long time. .
And those who insist on controlling everything from the computer in the
bathroom can still do that, just as well and probably more cheaply, with a
$200
buck remaindered or refurbished computer in the shack and a remote control
program in front of the john. For about the same cost as the guesstimated
increase
in price of one or two Ethernet enabled peripheral cards.
Marketplace success depends on either bringing product to the largest
possible market - or making a very expensive product for a very limited market.
Ethernet seems to me to be a product for a limited market.
73 Pete Allen AC5E
|