[DogParkList] DCU-1 Pathfinder

[Steve Hellyer]

Hi Tom,

Yes it's impossible to find serial port on computer these days.  My  
hope is that this will trigger new radio with USB. Will not miss  
serial troubleshooting. :-)
Til then I like the Keyspan (now Tripp Lite) as they have some good  
drivers in my experience.
http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/model.cfm?txtSeriesID=518&txtModelID=3914

But there are many others getting good reports....

Other serial adaptors come by many names. Some of the online sellers  
of cables identify the chipset. One to also look for is FTDI chipset.
http://www.liquidware.com/shop/show/FTDI/FTDI+USB-+Serial+adapter+cable
http://www.tronisoft.com/2455.php

FTDI Drivers for various OSes including Mac OS X can be found here. http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

Another chip maker is Prolific.  Driver found here... http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/downloads.asp?ID=31
(Not sure how good they are as have not tried Prolific.)

If you have need to control a number of serial devices Rotor, Radio1,  
Radio2, etc... Multiport serial adaptor are also available.
One usb connection to 4 or more RS-232 serial ports.

http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/model.cfm?txtSeriesID=518&txtModelID=3916
http://www.usbgear.com/USBG-4FTDI-B.html

Spoiled for choice. They key seem to be good software drivers as poor  
drivers can make your computer unstable or at the very least drive you  
nuts troubleshooting.

73
Steve-VA3SPH

On 23-Mar-09, at 4:01 PM, ltrranch at vtc.net wrote:


> Hello Group,

> 	I'm thinking of using the DUC-1 Pathfinder for controlling the  

> antenna rotator and interfacing it with the MacLoggerDX program to  

> control the rotation of the beam. I noticed that the output from the  

> DUC-1 is in the form of a RS-232 port connection. Is there a cable  

> that converts the RS-232 to a Mac USB connection? I believe this is  

> what is needed to make this configuration work. Thanks Tom N7KCX