OT Sound Card and USB to Serial Port Hub

[Julius Fazekas n2wn]

Well have a new computer. Windows 7 seems to be pretty decent, unfortunately the number of available slots leaves something to be desired. I only have three slots, one which is occupied by a video card (soon to be replaced by on that will eat up TWO slots). I have EMU sound cards, but only have one slot left.

I am considering a bluegears b-Enspirer 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Card, with the intention of using it for SDR/Panadapter/etc. Anyone have any experience with this card?

Second, this new machine has ZERO serial ports and I need at least four. Cards aren't an option. So looking for an external hub capable of providing four or six assignable serial ports for SO2R and some other equipment. I'm considering this: StarTech.com 4 Port USB to Serial Adapter Hub with COM Retention Serial adapter - USB - 4 ports. Any experience or suggestions?

Primarily I'll be using this equipment with 2 K3s, not that this should matter...

Cheers,
Julius

[Matt Palmer-4]

If you need more slots then build a real computer. Shouldn't be too
hard to get a case and a motherboard that will support whatever
processor and ram you have, with more pci/pciE slots to make the
upgrade cheaply.

Matt
W8ESE
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[Phil Kane-2]

On 4/5/2010 10:43 AM, Matt Palmer wrote:

> If you need more slots then build a real computer. Shouldn't be
> too hard to get a case and a motherboard that will support
> whatever processor and ram you have, with more pci/pciE slots to
> make the upgrade cheaply.

  My observation is that the motherboards for desktop/tower
  computers are having less and less slots as time goes by.  My
  main mail/messaging/internet computer has 5 slots, all filled
  (three dual-port-RS-232 cards, dual-head video card, one spare
  that was used for USB port expansion).  Most of those which I
  have seen now are three-slot boards.  The RS-232 ports run two
  TNCs and three software-defined non-ham monitor receivers.

  I run my Ham Stuff (tm) from a HP laptop with USB hubs and
  USB-to-multi-RS232 adapters.  Runs the K2, the RigBlaster Plus
  interface and USB iMic sound card plus three TNCs.

  Works just fine.

--  73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane
    Elecraft K2/100   s/n 5402

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[Matt Palmer-4]

>  My observation is that the motherboards for desktop/tower
>  computers are having less and less slots as time goes by.

Most certainly not true, in fact the trend is going the other way,
with some of the newer mobo's designed to support 4x graphics cards in
parallell, they have more slots, all depends on which board you buy,
full ATX or extendedATX will have the plethera of slots. I have linked
to one below with 7 PCIx slots, if you do some searching you can find
something that would suit your needs.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131390


Matt
W8ESE
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[Jim Rhodes]

Look for one of the Edgeport boxes from InsideOut on ebay. Up to 8
serial ports to use for rig control or whatever. For about $60 I got
1 - 8 port & 1 - 4 port.

At 12:38 PM 4/5/2010, Julius Fazekas n2wn wrote:

>Second, this new machine has ZERO serial ports and I need at least four.
>Cards aren't an option. So looking for an external hub capable of providing
>four or six assignable serial ports for SO2R and some other equipment. I'm
>considering this: StarTech.com 4 Port USB to Serial Adapter Hub with COM
>Retention Serial adapter - USB - 4 ports. Any experience or suggestions?
>
>Primarily I'll be using this equipment with 2 K3s, not that this should
>matter...
>
>Cheers,
>Julius
>
>-----
>Julius Fazekas
>N2WN
>
>Tennessee Contest Group
>http://www.k4ro.net/tcg/index.html
>
>Tennessee QSO Party
>http://www.tnqp.org/
>
>Elecraft K2/100 #4455
>Elecraft K3/100 #366
>Elecraft K3        #1875
>--
>View this message in context:
>http://n2.nabble.com/OT-Sound-Card-and-USB-to-Serial-Port-Hub-tp4854472p4854472.html
>Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>______________________________________________________________
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Jim Rhodes
[hidden email]

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[Joe Subich, W4TV-4]

If you elect to use USB to serial and not one of the purpose
built amateur multi-function interface, by all means get one
of the Edgeport multi port boxes.  A four port interface
will provide rig control and FSK/PTT/CW for two radios.  A
six port box will provide rig control, FSK/PTT and support
a serial WinKey device if you prefer that approach.  

Edgeport is the only general USB to serial solution that will
support 45.45 baud five bit RTTY without resorting to EXYFSK.

73,

   ... Joe, W4TV
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [hidden email]
> [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Julius
> Fazekas n2wn
> Sent: Monday, April 05, 2010 1:39 PM
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: [Elecraft] OT Sound Card and USB to Serial Port Hub
>
>
>
> Well have a new computer. Windows 7 seems to be pretty
> decent, unfortunately the number of available slots leaves
> something to be desired. I only have three slots, one which
> is occupied by a video card (soon to be replaced by on that
> will eat up TWO slots). I have EMU sound cards, but only have
> one slot left.
>
> I am considering a bluegears b-Enspirer 7.1 Channels 24-bit
> 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Card, with the intention of using
> it for SDR/Panadapter/etc. Anyone have any experience with this card?
>
> Second, this new machine has ZERO serial ports and I need at
> least four. Cards aren't an option. So looking for an
> external hub capable of providing four or six assignable
> serial ports for SO2R and some other equipment. I'm
> considering this: StarTech.com 4 Port USB to Serial Adapter
> Hub with COM Retention Serial adapter - USB - 4 ports. Any
> experience or suggestions?
>
> Primarily I'll be using this equipment with 2 K3s, not that
> this should matter...
>
> Cheers,
> Julius
>
> -----
> Julius Fazekas
> N2WN
>
> Tennessee Contest Group
> http://www.k4ro.net/tcg/index.html
>
> Tennessee QSO Party
> http://www.tnqp.org/
>
> Elecraft K2/100 #4455
> Elecraft K3/100 #366
> Elecraft K3        #1875
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://n2.nabble.com/OT-Sound-Card-and-USB-to-Serial-Port-Hub-

tp4854472p4854472.html
Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
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[Julius Fazekas n2wn]

Thanks folks...

Jim and Joe,

I see Edgeport 4 boxes for sale on ebay, versus Edgeport/4, not sure what or if there is anything different between the versions. The Digi website didn't help. The StarTech has basically the exact same specs, but Joe you suggest that it won't work correctly for RTTY?

For basic sound, the onboard sound card will work fine, but doubt it would be sufficient for SDR purposes.

I'm not willing to spend the time or money to build a custom computer. Ham specs are bad enough, computer components specs are downright terrifying considering how many variations there are... I don't mind an outboard port box, much simpler solution...

Cheers,
Julius

[Joe Subich, W4TV-4]

> The StarTech has
> basically the exact same specs, but Joe you suggest that it
> won't work correctly for RTTY?

I'm not familiar with StarTech but most of the simple four
port USB cards use FTDI or Prolific chipsets that do not
support low speeds.  Edgeport uses an Intel chip.

73,

   ... Joe, W4TV
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [hidden email]
> [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Julius
> Fazekas n2wn
> Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 12:40 PM
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT Sound Card and USB to Serial Port Hub
>
>
>
> Thanks folks...
>
> Jim and Joe,
>
> I see Edgeport 4 boxes for sale on ebay, versus Edgeport/4,
> not sure what or if there is anything different between the
> versions. The Digi website didn't help. The StarTech has
> basically the exact same specs, but Joe you suggest that it
> won't work correctly for RTTY?
>
> For basic sound, the onboard sound card will work fine, but
> doubt it would be sufficient for SDR purposes.
>
> I'm not willing to spend the time or money to build a custom
> computer. Ham specs are bad enough, computer components specs
> are downright terrifying considering how many variations
> there are... I don't mind an outboard port box, much simpler
> solution...
>
> Cheers,
> Julius
>
> -----
> Julius Fazekas
> N2WN
>
> Tennessee Contest Group
> http://www.k4ro.net/tcg/index.html
>
> Tennessee QSO Party
> http://www.tnqp.org/
>
> Elecraft K2/100 #4455
> Elecraft K3/100 #366
> Elecraft K3        #1875
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://n2.nabble.com/OT-Sound-Card-and-USB-to-Serial-Port-Hub-

tp4854472p4860038.html
Sent from the [HAM] mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
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