i'm affraid i disagree, yes there would be drivers, but if you're
software engineering the entire radio in the first place it shouldn't be
THAT hard to do. I came up with, what in my oppinion would be the
perfect radio the other day, i was going to keep the idea to myself but
i can't resist, i don't really expect tentec to actually do it, but it'd
be cool to see.
this was in reply to something on e-ham, but i decided not to post it there:
the thread was about a higher degree of portability with just a radio
face panel so that one could operate from one's back porch or patio or
whatever:
Along these lines, i like the remote head idea, i like the wifi idea..
but my question right now is why aren't the radio manufacturers getting
the heck out of the stone age? meaning: they're still using those awful
RS-232 serial ports for rig control. we have a new standard, we call it
USB. why can't they produce a rig that has USB to a computer interface,
they CAN'T be that hard to do as they're practically giving the stuff
away in digital cameras and such. then ethernet to the head, OR make a
totally wireless head unit, similar in shape perhaps to a sony PSP
(handheld gaming system for those of you who don't know-and it's not a
bad thing if you don't know) and perhaps a little larger. The head unit
could be the rig front panel, it could slide into place and charge the
batts on the front of the radio while you continue operating.. need to
leave for a few mintes, take the head unit with you to continue
listening. jacks on the side of the unit would accomodate keys/mics and
headphones. use lithium batts on the head unit for extended operating
time (i'm thinking 6 hours away from any power supply would be enough.)
include a wall wart charger to keep the head unit juiced up for long
contests and whatever. a standard t 802.11g should carry full quality
voice AND all control signals simultaneously without a hicup am i right?
an interface should be included on the head unit for control of antenna
tuners and amplifiers, the yaesu quadra system comes to mind, controled
by the rig. link the amps, rotators, tuners and all that into the
rig/computer via usb ports. then, on the head unit have 2 main screens,
or just one physical screen with two physical butons to change screen
'modes'. the standard rig frequency display and such, as well as a
dedicated screen for a graphic representation of your antenna heading,
amp status and tuner status. all power and SWR metering can be done
remotely as well.
why not a keyboard port for doing digital text modes as well? i mean,
the radio's software defined anyway, tacking on a piece of software to
do PSK, RTTY and perhaps a multitude of other text modes might be good too.
cheap? no, but to me nothing is cheap, so i decided to go on solely
ideas instead of cost. also, call it a rice box if you like, it's
definately combining "consumer level" gear with radio gear.
73 all de KC0NPF
------------------
Martin, AA6E wrote:
>I think USB is problematic for ham gear unless it is limited to a
>strict serial port emulation. That's because anything else probably
>requires special I/O drivers to be loaded in your computer. The
>software then rapidly becomes Windows-specific, which is bad for us
>Linux and Mac users.
>
>I use a 4-port USA49WLC USB to serial device from Keyspan to
>communicate with all my ham gear. It comes out at ~ $35 per port.
>The neat thing is that I can then talk to all my gear over one USB
>cable, simplifying the wiring layout. And it works with Linux, too.
>
>I agree that Ethernet is appealing. You'd have to add menu selections
>for IP addressing, etc. Any new communication channel is going to
>require a fair amount of engineering to make it work . I'd be
>surprised to see it in the O II.
>
>73 Martin AA6E
>
>
>
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