d4bfd30 fixed a Xiegu G90 behind a DE-19 that keyed on connect, and I
applied the same line-lowering to Kenwood and Yaesu with no evidence that
either needed it. It silenced them: many USB-serial interfaces will not
transmit with RTS low — hardware flow control, or an output stage the
line enables. A TS-990 on COM3 opened cleanly and answered nothing, which
reached us as "CAT stopped working after the update".
Xiegu keeps the behaviour: that is where the fault was reported, and that
backend now has an explicit setting for which line keys the rig. The CI-V
backend keeps its own, which predates all of this.
Kenwood also distinguishes a silent port from one sending data that never
answers, and quotes what arrived — "the rig is not answering" sent an
operator checking the power switch on a radio whose frames were visibly
on the wire.