Why might anyone need a user port splitter?

Well, the proliferation of devices which connect up to the user port, from EPROM programmers to mice to concept keyboards to all manner of home-made projects, means that it can be handy to be able to connect up two devices to the BBC user port at once.

Unlike the 1MHz bus, there is no daisy-chaining of devices, so to attach two user port add-ons at once, a splitter is required.

The Watford Electronics User Port Splitter provides this function. It is a small box which connects via the usual 20-way ribbon cable to the BBC user port, with two user ports on the box and a switch to select between the two.

I've always wondered if the two black dots on the left hand side next to the two screws were holes for LEDs, maybe for a sort of deluxe version which lit up the socket selected.