In case anyone else is struggling with the need for additional comm ports, I
finally found relief by ordering a 4 port PCI card from Byterunner Technologies
at http://www.byterunner.com
I now have 5 working serial ports on my desktop PC (XP Pro) and all are working
smoothly with various devices, including my Omni VI+, rigblaster, HT and mobile
programming interfaces, etc.
At the time I bought my card, the vendor was offering two levels of performance
(high and low speed). The low speed was entirely adequate (and cheap!), but
the vendor is now offering only high speed cards.
The sales rep told me that they were selling a lot of these cards to hams.
Small wonder!
I am not affiliated with Byterunner in any way. Just passing along info about
how I managed to solve this long-standing headache. I've seen references to
this vendor on other reflectors and reports indicate that their track record
for service is also quite good.
73 to all on this wonderful list
de Mike, K9UW
Amherst, WI
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "Mark Erbaugh" <mark@microenh.com>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2002 10:42:51 -0400
>Lee,
>
>> My system seems to be very touchy regarding serial comm. It
>> uses USB and USB to serial adaptors. I tried 6 different
>> adaptors until I found one that would work with the Ten Tec,
>> N4PY and some packet software.
>
>As you have seen, USB to serial adapters don't appear to be the universal
>solution promised. I had the same results. I purchased a USB to serial
>adapter and it didn't work with N4PY's software nor with my own home brew. I
>discovered that the driver didn't support one of the features of serial port
>coms and contacted the manufacturer. They were aware of the problem and
>allowed me to beta test a new adapter (don't know why they couldn't have
>just updated the driver with the existing adapter). The updated adapter
>fixed that one problem, but then broke something else. I discovered that I
>couldn't run both old and new adapters together as the drivers could not
>coexist and each driver only recognized it's own adapters.
>
>Then I figured the solution would be to buy a multi-port serial card (no
>USB). I found that it didn't work either.
>
>I guess we hams are just trying to connect too much stuff to our computers
><g>. I think the real solution would be for equipment manufacturers to
>support some sort of multi drop network. Given the state of the art right
>now, I would recommend Ethernet and TCP/IP. I don't know how to do it, but I
>think someone could have some success building and selling a little outboard
>box that would translate Ethernet TCP/IP into RS232 serial. I would think
>that it would be doable with a PIC or Basic Stamp chip and a few other
>parts. However, since I've not seen such a device, maybe there's more to it
>than that.
>
>73,
>Mark
>
>P.S. If anyone wants this idea, they can have it - no strings attached.
>
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