I have several Keyspan units, model USA-49 WLC, which is a USB to 4 Serial
port adapters. They are more expensive than many of the alternatives, and
for me, anyway, have been problematic as noted below.
They work quite well with most applications but for some reason are NOT
able to communicate with:
FT1000MP CAT port
Applications based on TCL programming language
Some [but not all] WinKey applications
They DO work with:
Elecraft K2
M2 Rotors
RigBlaster
GPS Software and the Z3801A [with an RS232-RS422 adapter betwen the
KeySpan serial port and the Z3801A, of course]
some WinKey applications.
The FT1000MP is known to have a finicky CAT port, but some other brands of
USB to Serial port adapters have been shown to work with it.
I sent one of the KeySpan adapters to the deveoloper of some TCL-based
software and it turns out that TCL doesn't even recognize the KeySpan
adapter ports, period. Other USB to Serial Port adapters work fine with
the TCL-based software.
So I would recommend making sure that the USB to Serial Port adapter that
you get has been demonstrated to work [by someone you trust] with the
particular hardware/software you plan to use. You can do a lot better
than the particular KeySpan units I have from a price point of view, also.
In my case I solved the problems I had by:
1. using the only 'real' serial ports on my computers for the FT1000MP and
the WinKey and
2. rewriting the TCL-based code to send info from that program via DDE to
an external VB6 app I wrote that then took that info and sent it to one of
the KeySpan USB/Serial ports.
The solutions were easy, but much time was wasted in figuring out where
the problem lay. While the KeySpan units have worked fine with the
hardware/software they are compatible with, I could have gotten adapters
that worked with everything I have for a fraction of the cost of these
units. So I am not recommending them to anyone. On the other hand, if
you can get one at 10 cents to the dollar and want to use it with a piece
of gear its been demonstrated to work with, go for it!
73,
Roger Rehr
W3SZ
On Sun, 14 May 2006 18:54:51 -0400, Tod Glenn <n7jqw@cordite.com> wrote:
On May 14, 2006, at 9:23 AM, Ron Castro wrote:
Almost any cheap USB to serial adaptor will probably work. I have
two that
I got by just searching the Internet. One came from Amazon, but
neither
have a brand name marked on them and both were around $15-20. Both
work
fine with my Orion II and my old TS-870, as well as with an E-Trex
GPS unit
and some other equipment I have tied it with.
I use a KeySpan serial to USB. Works well on widows or Mac OS.
----
Tod Glenn
N7JQW
NAQCC #1283
SKCC #1444
FISTS #12134
ARCI #12420
n7jqw@cordite.com
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Roger Rehr
W3SZ
http://www.nitehawk.com/w3sz/
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