[TowerTalk] fancy switches Re: Antenna Switch Needed

[jimlux]

K1TTT wrote:
> Don't forget you'll still need power at the remote box for the receiver and
> also for the relays themselves.  Its easy enough to put dc or 60hz on
> feedlines to power remote equipment, its easy to switch 4 relays with just
> +/- half wave AC. an audio frequency pickoff would let you use something
> like an old telephone modem for remote control... plenty fast enough for
> antenna selection, rotors, etc.
> 
> But for my money I just use rcs8v remove boxes with good old wire connecting
> them to the shack.
> 
> 


Yes.. but once you get past the switch one of 4 using rectified AC to 
get 2 bits to the other end, you're into some sort of remote control 
The rcs8v is fine, but once you start getting beyond that to more 
complex scenarios, you either wind up home-run-ing a raft of coax back 
to a central switching hub, or running a raft of control lines out to 
remote switches. (look at the radio arcala diagram, for example)

I don't know where the "transition point" is between just stringing more 
wires and doing some form of multiplexing, but I suspect it's pretty 
close to the "anything more than an RCS-8V".  There's a reason why we 
don't have telephone poles with a zillion separate pairs on them anymore.

The consumer world has made networking VERY cheap.  Why not see what we 
can leverage.. especially with 802.11, it's even *radio*.