NA Users:
Many of the new computers today lack some of the hardware features needed
to run the things we need for contesting. Gone are the ISA slots of
yesterday needed to run things like K1EA DVPs, W9XT COntest Cards and DRSI
packet controllers. Some new computers even omit COM ports in favor of USB
or Firewire ports. Well, I've not seen any amateur radio transceivers with
USB ports yet.
My friend KE8OC turned me on to a motherboard that has these features we
contesters need to run our "legacy" hardware. The mail order outfit
TigerDirect.com in their catalog carries a motherboard with 3 ISA slots, 3
PCI slots, on-board floppy and hard disk controllers, and slots for up to
512MB of RAM. The CPU socket is a "socket 7", which means original
Pentiums up to 233 MHz, AMD K6s up to 500 MHz and Cyrix PRs up to 366
MHz. While these are not the latest, modern CPUs their performance is
excellent for running NA and most other amateur radio programs. Also, the
board is an AT form factor board so it will fit older cases and power
supplies. However, it does also have an ATX power supply connector.
The good news is that the motherboard is quite reasonably priced. The
board alone is $69 or $89 with a 450 MHz AMD K6-2 processor.
TigerDirect's order number is 800-888-4437 or www.tigerdirect.com. The
description is the 5EH-5 AT Super Socket 7 motherboard.
I have no commercial interest in TigerDirect, however I thought this would
be useful information for some of the NA users. Motherboards with ISA
slots are almost impossible to find any more. Two years ago we upgraded
eight computers in the K8CC shack with similar, but different brand
motherboards and AMD K6-2 processors with excellent results so I thought
I'd pass this along.
Dave Pruett, K8CC
DATOM Engineering
datom@contesting.com
http://www.datomonline.com
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