[RTTY] Secondary PCI-Serial Card Instead of USB

[Mark S.]

I'm on a laptop here in the shack - this issue is one of the 
disadvantages - oh well.

Jay Kloss wrote:

>Greetings all,
>
>First of all let me say how much I appreciate all of your posts on
>this reflector. Each day I make time to check the mail and read all of
>the messages. Each has been very informative and educational, and
>often very humorous to boot. This is certainly an illustrious crew,
>and I have had the great pleasure to work many of you from my
>pip-squeak station here in Auburn, AL. I consider myself fortunate to
>associate myself with such fine gentlemen, especially in these days
>when The Bar seems to get lower and lower in ham radio.
>
>I have been a ham for 33 years and have done a lot of different things
>in ham radio. But I am relatively new to RTTY, having only got into it
>in the past year. My field is IT and configuration management, so I
>get particular enjoyment from controlling my station with a computer.
>
>One subject that I have seen pop up on occasion is how to control the
>interface between the computer (that keys and sends audio input such
>as a Rigblaster) while at the same time controlling the rig itself
>through its built-in serial port. The dilemma is that many modern
>computers only have one serial port available, and you can either plug
>it in to the interface, or directly to the rig, but not do both
>easily.
>
>The common solution seems to be to try a number of different
>USB-to-Serial conversion devices. But many of these don't seem to work
>for all radios. And personally, I have never liked having to rely on
>the operating system to establish something as routine as a serial
>connection, Plug-n-Pray being what it is. An easy solution is to just
>get another serial port.
>
>Most modern computers have at least one extra PCI slot available.
>PCI-to-Serial cards are about $10 US, and very easy to install. Add a
>standard serial cable for connecting to the rig and you can control
>both the keying interface as well as the rig itself.
>
>NewEgg.com has several to choose from, but you can get them anywhere.
>I just picked the cheapest (A Rosewill in this case) and it worked the
>first time with no trouble. In less than five minutes I had complete
>rig control through its serial port, while maintaining the
>keying/audio control through the Rigblaster. Among other things, now I
>never have to manually set the frequency in my logging program (WL). I
>accidentally duped several stations in a recent contest because I had
>changed the band on the rig, and had not changed it on the logging
>program. I kept thinking, "What the !@#$% is the matter with these
>guys?!"  You know that hush that falls over the frequency when someone
>tells you 'worked B4' ? That was me not saying anything. Extremely
>embarrassing! Now I can delete that one F-Key that sends "D'oh!"
>
>Thanks again for all the great info and the laughs. I hope this post
>helps someone.
>
>Cheers, 73, es Happy Holidays
>
>de Jay/N4CBK
>Auburn, Alabama. USA.
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>
>  
>

-- 
Mark S.
Remember:-- Amateurs built the Ark, Professionals built the Titanic