[TowerTalk] Radio remote control?

[Jim Lux]

At 01:42 AM 7/20/2005, Ian White G/GM3SEK wrote:

>I'm starting to lay out a new HF/VHF home station on a 1-acre site...
>and can already see the numbers of 200-500ft control cables expanding
>out-of-sight.
>
>Obviously there is a basic minimum of links that have to be hard-wired:
>RF signal lines, AC/DC power rails and ground bonding. But there seems
>no reason why a lot of the simple control wires (eg antenna select and
>direction switching) couldn't be converted into radio links.
>
>What I had in mind is a pair of radio modems that provide "virtual
>wires". So each modem would have a big array of terminal strips -
>whatever goes into one terminal strip, comes out the other. (Obviously
>there has to be a power and some jumpering at the remote end, but you
>see the basic idea.)
>
>Does such a product exist? I've only seen units providing say 4 relay
>closures, which are far too few. This application really needs a minimum
>of 16 "virtual wires", with capability to add further blocks.



You might want to take a look at products for industrial control. There are 
a variety of widgets that use a single Rs422 or current loop to transmit 
and receive contact closures at a distance.

There are also various ethernet remote devices raising the possibility 
during 802.11, which are available as inexpensive consumer products.

  The home control industry also has a lot of generic I/o devices.

  You might look at
  http:// www.zworld.com
http://www.smarthome.com

Another possibility is something like the stuff from 
http://www.measurementcomputing.com