> >4. Ultimately, you could go with optical fiber on the RS-232 links.
> > It's expensive, but it works. Talk to Rich, K5NA, who has done it.
>
> Probably a cheaper alternative to item 4 would be to use an RS422 converter
> at each computer. If I remember right it requires a 2 pairs of wires (ie.
> telephone "twisted pair" cable), and it turns the unbalanced signalling of
> RS232 into 2 pairs of balanced lines which are much less susceptible to
> interference and it'll go a couple thousand feet. This'll be a LOT cheaper
> than fiber... and you could still work it into a loop configuration easily.
If you look into this route, you may also want to check out the
RS-488 converter boxes. If I recall correctly, they convert RS232 RX
and TX into ONE twisted pair.
The benefits of RS-488 (and I assume RS-422) is that they use a
differential voltage to determine states, whereas the RS-232 uses
actual voltage level. So, for long runs, the IR losses in the RS-232
lines can screw up the levels. As for RS-488, the IR losses can be
great and you still would have a voltage differential which would still
convert correctly.
If I recall, the boxes go for around $100. All in all, probably cheaper
than optical fiber cable and converters, and not that much more expensive
than running two lines of RG-58 to each computer.
--
Chad Kurszewski, WE9V e-mail: Chad_Kurszewski@csg.mot.com
Sultans of Shwing Loud is Cool....yeah, heh, heh, heh, LOUD IS COOL!!!
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