West Mountain Radio - USB RIGblasters


USB and RIGblasters

All ham radio sound card communications programs along with all CAT/CI-V rig control programs, without exception, require a serial port. These programs use this port to control PTT (for transmit activation), CW keying. FSK (RTTY keying) and for controlling a radio. Many new computers do not have serial ports, so we have a USB solution to enable the full functionality of all ham radio programs. All RIGblaster sound card interfaces, and our RIGtalk rig control interface, support the function of a serial port by using USB even if a computer does not have a DB9 RS232 serial port! Much confusion exists about the USB and its use in connecting devices to a computer and it is important that you understand just what the USB is. USB is an acronym for Universal Serial Bus. The key word here is "Bus". It is NOT a port, it is NOT a device, it IS a bus. Therefore a USB has to have some device attached to it to make it do anything useful. If the authors of Amateur Radio Software would write software to directly communicate via the USB we would build appropriate interface. However in the mean time, all Amateur Radio software is written to interface to a Serial Port (which is both a Port and a Device) and as such it doesn't matter if it is REAL or is emulated by a USB Interface Cable, a Serial Port IS required for this software. External USB audio Some people think that an external USB sound card interface is a good idea, it is not. Almost all of the ham radio programs are written to use the computer's built in audio not an external audio device (a USB audio chip). It is cheaper to provide a USB audio chip than cables and connectors, but the sound in the computer must be disabled to use most of the ham radio programs. The only way to get them to "talk" to an external audio device is to disable the computer's audio and set the external device as the default. One of the primary goals of designing RIGblasters was to leave the computer and the station fully functional as it was before but to provide full functionality with all ham software for all the modes of operation.

© West Mountain Radio

All ham radio sound card communications programs along with all CAT/CI-V rig control programs, without exception, require a serial port. These programs use this port to control PTT (for transmit activation), CW keying. FSK (RTTY keying) and for controlling a radio. Many new computers do not have serial ports, so we have a USB solution to enable the full functionality of all ham radio programs.

All RIGblaster sound card interfaces, and our RIGtalk rig control interface, support the function of a serial port by using USB even if a computer does not have a DB9 RS232 serial port!

Much confusion exists about the USB and its use in connecting devices to a computer and it is important that you understand just what the USB is.

USB is an acronym for Universal Serial Bus. The key word here is "Bus". It is NOT a port, it is NOT a device, it IS a bus. Therefore a USB has to have some device attached to it to make it do anything useful.

If the authors of Amateur Radio Software would write software to directly communicate via the USB we would build appropriate interface. However in the mean time, all Amateur Radio software is written to interface to a Serial Port (which is both a Port and a Device) and as such it doesn't matter if it is REAL or is emulated by a USB Interface Cable, a Serial Port IS required for this software.

External USB audio

Some people think that an external USB sound card interface is a good idea, it is not. Almost all of the ham radio programs are written to use the computer's built in audio not an external audio device (a USB audio chip).

It is cheaper to provide a USB audio chip than cables and connectors, but the sound in the computer must be disabled to use most of the ham radio programs. The only way to get them to "talk" to an external audio device is to disable the computer's audio and set the external device as the default.

One of the primary goals of designing RIGblasters was to leave the computer and the station fully functional as it was before but to provide full functionality with all ham software for all the modes of operation.