"CliftonOEM" wrote in message
et...

These interfaces make the process easy and safe

I always cringe when I see a licensed amateur make statements like that.

Connecting a computer to a rig is a trivially simple exercise. It is hard
to really get engaged in studying the schematic for commercial gear, so one
doesn't really know, at an intimate level, what is happening. In that case,
the connection and operation is decidedly less "safe". The manufacturers of
these things have been succesfully convincing the clueless that somehow you
are going to fry your rig or computer if you don't take advantage of their
magical expertise. BULL.

For me, I find that without that intimate understanding, there are always
little operational quirks that make the thing very much less "easy". Even
if my homebrew thing is kind of a kludge, I understand intimately it's
quirks, so they never really get in the way.

All that being said, interfaces like the Rigblaster are well packaged and
neat, and often offer a variety of connection and switching options that can
be quite convenient. Vitrtually all of them are cheap enough that for many
amateurs, it may well be worth the price for the pretty box.

Keeping the station well organized and neat is important, and even the
aesthetics have some value. Recognize that in buying a commercial
interface, you are actually loosing a certain amount of ease of use, but you
are gaining a pretty box and a couple of hours of time. The price of these
things isn't a lot different than the price of a decent metal case, so I'm
not arguing that they are too expensive.

But the safety thing is a crock.

...