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1. Push ESC you see the lt lt K gt gt in the banner look at the TNC and you will see the transmit LED lights up Type some text and it will echo into the session screen as it is sent Push ESC again the lt lt K gt gt changes to a lt lt U gt gt for Unkey and then the lt lt U gt gt is removed the TNC unkeys and you re off the air again You may see lt lt u gt gt just before unkeying Here is what each of the signals or indicators in the banner means lt lt K gt gt Keyed down sending text if any lt lt U gt gt Unkey command pending waiting for buffer to empty lt lt u gt gt Unkey command sent waiting for TNC to unkey blank Unkeyed ready to accept another ESC to key CQ in all non packet modes is done by broadcasting a message even if you want to have a linked ARQ QSO From any of the non packet modes push ESC to enter the appropriate broadcast mode Note from any ARQ standby mode use ESC to enter the related FEC mode Practice with Radio Off Turn off your radio It doesn t need to be on while you learn how to send a CQ Type the following on your keyboard hitting Enter at the end of each line CQ CQ CQO CQ DE use your own callsign KKK 36 InterFlex Systems Broadcasting Modes Push the ESC key the lt lt K gt gt appears the text will be sent by the TNC in two directions over the air and back to your computer screen being echoed as sent to let you know that the te
2. s it No options The second ex ample allows the remote user to contribute a path and filename to request Sendgold path filename This is a variant of binary file transfer using YAPP only in this example the transfer protocol is the GOLD protocol which allows you and the remote station to continue conversing on the session stream This is only honored if the remote station is identified as a GOLD user by the automatic exchange process Sendbin path filename This method is like SENDYAPP and SENDGOLD with another layer of automation it figures out whether to use YAPP or GOLD protocol depending on whether the remote station is a GOLD user or not If you want to send using GOLD protocol to any GOLD user and to use YAPP with all other stations then sendbin is the right command Sendtext path filename This sends a file as plain ascii no special protocol like yapp or gold and cannot be used to send binary files like programs that have COM or EXE or ZIP extensions to name a few Use this method to send a MOD radio modification or some other file of text data SendRaw path filename Some files in particular ANSI graphic or pic files and specially formatted text files such as M A R S messages created with programs 80 InterFlex Systems Version 9 New Features that produce multiple Linefeeds rather than multiple CRLF sequences must be sent with the Raw send capability of PK and KAGOLD This c
3. ESC key too many times will produce a small left arrow on the text command entry line which is the display character represented by the ESC key If this happens backspace or use Alt X to clear the cmd text entry line Navigating the Help Index After pushing F1 for the Help Index you can then move the selection bar cursor to any topic using several different methods e Using the Up and Down Cursor keys or PgUp and PgDn to find an item This is the point and shoot method of navigating the help index e You can type the first or first few letters of a topic and let the Help Index Topic Finder logic match your keystrokes with the first hit it finds matching your selection It may not appear obvious that you can type letters on the Help Index screen but you can try it Specific Topic or Parameter Help Suppose you want to change a parameter PERSIST but are unsure what it does Type PERSIST and push F1 When you are finished reading about PERSIST and the related items if any return to the main screen with two ESC s With PERSIST still on the command line Push F10 to check the current setting Then use Alt R to retrieve the last command and append a value or setting push F10 again and change the setting of that parameter Multiple Help Screens Many help topics are multi page or multi screen and you will want to read through several screens of information If you see a
4. PgUp or PgDn or in the lower right corner of a Help screen additional help pages are available if you press PgUp or PgDn Cross Reference Items are words phrases or even Xs shown in a different video attribute or color and possibly surrounded by braces Move the cursor to one of these items and press the Enter key to access the additional cross referenced Help item This is also referred to as Hypertext text that is keyed or cross referenced to other related text and accessible with a simple keystroke like Enter 21 InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation Backing up using the Alt F1 key Use ESC to return to the top Help Index A second ESC key returns to the main program Backing up is not always predictable due to the path taken to arrive at a particular page in the help system If things get confusing use ESC to start again at the Help Index and proceed again Help While Editing Parameter Groups Type DISPLAY F10 to bring up a list of parameter groups Select one like Monitor Parameters Hit Enter and the program will extract the current values of Monitor Parameters Move the cursor to a line with a parameter on it hit F1 TWICE The first depression of F1 provides information about editing or saving TNC files but the second depression looks in the help system for information about the parameter To exit the help system use ESC to return to the group of TNC paramet
5. This usage gives a directory of all files in the S drive MODS directory 78 InterFlex Systems Version 9 New Features The sendtext command is used to send a prepared text file in this case a radio modification file that resides on drive S the QRZ CD ROM for example The 0 is a special case of the user supplied substitution string It removes any path information from the user parameter leaving only a file name if any The last file is the CALL command file and contains only the pseudo command SENDCALL followed by the user parameter string It will perform the Callsign lookup function on the string one or more callsigns supplied by the remote user Remote user parameters When a user sends a command the program looks after the for a valid CMD file name If a match is found the line is processed as a command The remote user can include a parameter like a file name or directory name or both In the CALL CMD file example the parameter 0 is used If multiple parameters words separated by spaces are passed to the CMD file processor you can use 1 2 3 etc to identify each word separately which is useful for DOS batch file processing A CMD file can use the EXECDOS command to pass user parameters to a batch file as follows EXECDOS DOSPROG 0 When the CMD file processor sees this the DOS shell is invoked the program or batch file called DOSPROG is run and the parameter 0 is passed to the spawned proc
6. the only way to send from the GOLD directory itself This is a DOS issue where dot is the current directory The backslash is needed to separate the dot from the filename sendtext location dat lt lt END OF LIST gt gt This file has a lot of comments in it a good idea when writing your own CMD files that others may use or that you will maintain The two highlighted lines do the work First the execdos command calls ic_loc bat a file located in the main GOLD directory It passes the parameter s that were typed by the user by referring to the 0 The IC_LOC BAT file will be shown in a moment 84 InterFlex Systems Version 9 New Features The next highlighted command uses the DOS syntax which is way to refer to the default directory Without a directory specified like this GOLD reverts to the default directory for sending files namely the upload directory We want to perform the callsign and station information lookup in the GOLD directory Here is what IC_LOC BAT has in it echo off rem Put this BAT file into the GOLD directory IF 1x x goto Nocall S ICALL S 1 S gt location dat edlin location dat lt fixdata cmd gt nul GOTO ENDBAT NOCALL ECHO Need a callsign to lookup gt location dat ENDBAT This batch file takes the commands from the execdos command in the locate cmd file that were typed by the remote user The callsigns requested have traveled through the network to GOLD
7. you use the bright background bit blinking is disabled and vice versa a limitation of all display cards In windows Blinking is not supported Use Enter to go through each color Change a color with the cursor keys then Enter to confirm Do this until asked if the colors are Okay The DOS color settings are more pleasant in DOS and the Windows settings match more closely the typical Windows application Many users prefer the DOS colors even Windows Try them both Show names when available will display the remote operator s name or whatever you stored as a handle when the callsign is shown in the banner if this is Yes and if the name is unavailable it can be entered with Alt N and will be available for display on future contacts with that callsign Log all connections is the built in date time comments log Selecting the logbook txt option will also add the external logging that can be used with other programs This creates a quoted comma delimited file that can be read by other programs Use SSID for logging will log the same callsign but with different SSIDs as different stations Generally speaking it is best to leave this set to NO Nodes will assume callsigns during the process of linking stations and they distinguish the incoming from the outgoing connect 101 InterFlex Systems Using Setup by changing the SSID of the callsign Therefore the same station will often have a different SSID yet be the same stat
8. AEA tnc the center frequency of the received morse is 750 Hz or 800 Hz On the KAM it is user selected with the CWTONE command If you have a spot switch on your radio find out what frequency it generates the FT 990 used by WA4EGT is set to 700 Hz and set CWTONE to that same frequency This way you can tune a station by zero beating the spot tone and know that the TNC is receiving the CW tone in the middle of the receive filter The Mark Space tuning indicator will jump to one side on each CW tone and back to the center or other side on silence The TNC is a computer with a digital section for logic and link control and an analog section for tone modulation and demodulation As with any computer it may need resetting at times as described in the troubleshooting chapter The analog section is wired to your radio transmit and receive audio and will properly only if audio levels and frequencies are properly set and baud rates are properly selected 96 InterFlex Systems Using Setup Using SETUP You will find a number of program settings can be viewed and changed in the Setup menu area There are two ways to get to the setup menu 1 Use Alt S while the program is running 2 Use the S switch to start the program from DOS for example KAGOLD S Enter Quick Connects Station Info Set up Add path Add user Communications Delete path Delete user Screen settings Edit path Edit user Monitor Colors Logging File Transfe
9. Disconnecting Alt F7 When you are through chatting press Alt F7 and select Normal disconnect A D is displayed after the link state to signify that this channel will be disconnected after all outstanding text is sent When the channel is disconnected the program will send SK in Morse through the computer speaker You may then press F2 to go back to monitoring or press F3 to review the QSO on the Previous Sessions screen Connect to as many stations as you wish just as you did with the single station above Type a callsign then hit F7 for each connect Switching among session is easy using F4 This is one of the unique advantages of Packet mode the ability to handle multiple sessions on the same frequency Learn to make connects when you feel like it and do not think you must disconnect with one station before starting a QSO with another Suppose you are W1XYZ N6QRZ sees the conversation on his screen and decides to connect to you When he does a box pops up on your screen telling you that N6QRZ has connected and you will hear N6QRZ in Morse from the PC speaker if the morse speed is not 0 set in the SETUP area of the program You can switch between sessions with the F4 key If you see F4 N6QRZ in the banner outline when you press the F4 key the ongoing QSO is saved and the display jumps to the Next session Pressing F4 will jump to the next session or to the session with the most recent incoming tex
10. EXIT to return from DOS shell SIAM OK on AEA units Brag File transmit only on an active session Disconnect in packet ARQ and transmitter control Mail PBBS check access maildrop Repeat Search for the same text as specified in F9 Quit Program loads Shutdown tnc and exits to DOS Temporarily assign an active session to view above the banner that is usually occupied by a small number of netview lines This is useful for packet cluster operators running a dual port version In the next chapter we will describe several digital operating modes 26 InterFlex Systems Digital Operating Modes Digital Operating Modes Your TNC can operate in Packet mode and in other digital modes if it is a multimode device This chapter offers a framework to better understand digital modes and how they interrelate Morse CW Baudot RTTY ASCII and all of the TOR FEC modes are operated the same way and are covered in this manual as Broadcast modes To operate one of these modes type the name of the mode e g RTTY on the KAM or BAUDOT on the PK type TNC and operate according to the instructions in the Broadcasting chapter ARQ linked modes Amtor Pactor G tor all operate the same way different in some ways than Broadcast modes and are covered in the ARQ Linked Mode chapter Packet mode HF and VHF is covered in a chapter by itself and still another chapter is devoted to packet nodes and how to use them In this chapter you will lea
11. Robot CQ from a RTTY Baudot get the TNC into a non packet mode then use Alt F1 and follow the prompts Select a file to send and let the system do everything automatically The first time you try this it is a good idea to turn off your transmitter and watch what is going to happen Let it go through a couple of calls Then use ESC to cancel the automatic CQ The Robot CQ defaults are 10 seconds between CQs and an unlimited number of CQs This may change so do not be surprised if the values differ when you actually run the program You can set it to 5 CQs or some other value 37 InterFlex Systems Broadcasting Modes CQ mode can be canceled using the ESC key a single time It cancels the CQ but any text in the transmit buffer will be sent then the station will unkey and the CQ mode will be finished You can use Alt F7 and Zap the transmit buffer An automatic FEC CQ is ended with another station Links to your station in ARQ mode Entering a callsign with Alt C also ends the CQ Mode as does changing modes from AMTOR to RTTY BAUDOT for example Unkeying Immediately If it is an emergency and you want to terminate the CQ immediately or if transmitting you want to unkey immediately change modes using the Alt Fn method Switch back to Packet with Control F1 or to another HF mode with Ctrl Fn e g from Ctrl F2 to switch to RTTY Suppose your CQ is answered by AZ6ZZ Use Alt C to enter the callsign not
12. Unfortunately some operators and BBS systems send lines without any End of Line EOL character which may result in a hanging line at the bottom of your screen Your text will seem to be going in the screen above the incoming line This is caused by the remote not sending an 51 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating appropriate EOL character You can force the software to see an EOL using Control Enter Sending a local Line Feed will end the wait for new line condition and release the line segment into the text screen Do not make regular use of the Local Line Feed option unless you find the split line condition annoying or in error You should ask the other station to Hit the return key more often if the condition occurs frequently Connect to a BBS system and type H for Help and press return After some text appears press the F5 key A clipboard menu appears Highlight the Select Block and then press Enter The screen is now displayed with a line of text highlighted Use the Pg keys or the Up and Dn arrow keys to move the highlight to the first line you want to select then the End key to indicate one end of the block then move the highlight to the other end of the text you want to select and press End key again The selection is now appended to whatever was in the clipboard buffer probably empty at this point Select Print or File or Quit followed by Enter Note To
13. additional information BONUS is another optional directory that may be included during install that may contain programs of interest It is not needed to run the program but the files in this directory may be of interest to some users Also in the main directory KaGOLD PKGOLD you will find the log files GOLD DB the database and GOLD DBI the index These log files are created by the installer and if an old version of the logs exists the installer will convert them to the new format Starting with version 9 all versions for AEA and Kantronics tncs use the same log file layout so GOLD DB and GOLD DBI created by PkKGOLD can be used if you switch to KaGOLD and vice versa Information about TNC files CMD files BRG files and the program setup is in the rest of this manual This page is intended to give you an idea of what directories you will find after installation InterFlex Systems Software Installation Software Installation For those in a hurry simply insert the release disk or better a copy of it in a floppy drive and type INSTALL There are very few questions to answer Most can be answered by taking the defaults presented on the screen If you want a more organized step by step approach follow the installation steps that follow Some users will find a TestDrive disk included with the software or a subdirectory on the disk labeled Testdriv or Demo The TestDrive consists of all of the files necessary to inst
14. and select the Base address and IRQ manually in the Setup menu Run the program with S switch then Setup Communications and use OTHER to specify any base address and interrupt Then go through other settings then back to DOS and rerun the program The standard COM1 through COM4 defined by their Base address and IRQ You can use any serial port and interrupt but the settings for COM1 through COM4 used by the program are as follows COM Base Addr IRQ 1 3F8H 4 2 2F8H 3 3 3E8H 4 4 2E8H 3 If you have a serial port that is not one of these standard ports or if the program cannot find the port using Search for TNC use the Setup Menu to specify the port and interrupt used Conflicting software If you have a mouse driver loaded in config sys or autoexec bat using the same serial port as you are using with the software the mouse driver will interfere with serial communications causing serial errors and or initialization failures TNC settings can affect program operation Resetting the TNC may be necessary if you find the tnc or program behaving in unusual ways Here are a few commands that are guaranteed to cause problems Other commands like HBAUD the packet baud rate and SHIFT KAM or VHF ON OFF on the AEA affect multimode units where different modes use different settings Be sure to refer to the HELP system and the TNC manuals as well as this manual for information on each mode But if all else fails resetting the TNC
15. and when the program is shut down Hint Create a new tnc file with your callsign as the name and TNC as the extension the TNC extension is added automatically if you create the TNC file from inside the GOLD tnc file editor In this file put in all of the relevant callsign information for your callsign For example 105 InterFlex Systems Using Setup WA4EGT TNC file for the KAM mypbbs WA4EGT 1 mynode LNONOD ptext Welcome to Jeff s PBBS Numnodes 4 NDWILD ON KNXCON ON And any other relevant commands To load the WA4EGT file simply push F10 type WA4 or move the cursor to the file and hit Enter to load these settings Typically it won t be necessary to load this more than once but each time you reset the TNC it is a simple matter to simply load up this file to setup your TNC the way you like it Testing your TNC file is easy You can simulate program startup and shutdown by pushing F10 and picking the startup or shutdown file In fact after you create a tnc file it is a good idea to check that it makes the changes you want If you change a parameter that you want to remain unaffected by startup or shutdown make the change then load startup using F10 ST using the first few letters to navigate to the startup file or F10 and move the cursor to startup push Enter and after the file loads check your parameter to see if it changed If it did then it must be referred to in startup tnc If this is not what yo
16. as the radio antenna etc and then push F10 to exit the electronic QSL screen InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation The Network View screen is the first screen you see each time you run the program You will notice a Status banner at the top of the screen and a function key line at the bottom of the screen that should look something like this Normal Function Key Line 1Help 2NetVu 3PrvQSO 4Next 5TxtOps 6Xfer 7Connct 8Path 9Search 10Cmd Function Key line with Alt key depressed 1Conf 2MHeard 3Term 4DOS 5 6Brag 7Discon 8MailCk 9Next 10Quit The numbers refer to function keys 1Help means push for Help 2Net Vu means pushing switches to the Network View monitor screen start contacts and when you hold down the key the bottom line changes showing 7Discon which means that F7J is the disconnect or link down key f accesses your maildrop and Fo is how to quit the program and return to DOS E is different it is the DOS shell which suspends the program saves the current state of buffers and gives you a DOS prompt To leave the DOS shell type aj Note The use of Brackets is used in the text to indicate a key on the keyboard If you see ESC in the text this means the fg key If you see Alt X this means hold down the key and then press x Ctrl F1 means hold down and press the F key Type some text it will go into the cmd text entry area at the bottom of the screen Edit the line with cursor keys
17. changeover TNC command Changeover String The optional changeover string from defaults to lt gt but you can change it to GA gt or whatever suits your preference The default setting of lt gt is intended to look like the Amtor changeover string but with the angle brackets around it to indicate that it is not the same as AMTOR In Pactor and Gtor a changeover string is not used to cause the changeover it is simply used as an indicator to the sender and receiving station You can change the string used in Pactor and Gtor in the Setup menu To summarize The ESC is used when you are finished sending text In a broadcast mode use ESC when you are finished sending and want to unkey and in ARQ use the ESC when you are finished sending and want to let the other station become the sending station In both cases ESC is used to let the other station send text 41 InterFlex Systems ARQ Linked Modes If your station is the receiving station you must either wait until the remote station turns over the link or you can force a changeover from the receiving mode This is done with the Alt F7 key which brings up the transmit control menu Choose Force Changeover This is considered poor form when operating TOR but it may be necessary in some cases The sending station breaks an ARQ link If you are the sending station push Alt F7 and pick one of the disconnect methods from the list A very ab
18. computer system can cause memory errors some of which may be in areas of memory critical to DOS 107 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting Serial Port The software uses serial interrupts for sending and receiving data No other process generates as many hardware interrupts as serial data flow Interrupt driven software also requires that other programs running at the same time do not take too long to process their functions causing serial data to be missed Typical problem programs are memory managers virus checkers screen blankers phone dialers and other software that is unaware of the demands of serial interrupt driven programs Serial Cable The cable should be shielded to keep RF out and because the program runs in HOST mode it must have data and hardware handshaking lines 2 3 4 5 and 7 at a minimum Commercial cables or store bought cables typically meet these specs Power Supply Low voltage or noisy power supplies cause serial errors TNC startup problems and other strange behaviors Receive Audio Should be speaker audio Line levels out of some radios or discriminator audio too much or too little audio all cause the TNC to have trouble decoding digital data Transmit Audio Too much will cause distortion too little cannot be decoded at the receive end FSK vs AFSK First time users should use Audio Frequency Shift Keying AFSK when running their HF equipment This means wiring the TNC output audio into the MIC jac
19. digipeaters If you setup the path in your quick connects list then any time you wish to connect to the remote station you simply request a connect from the list Node Hopping The program knows how to work through NET ROM KaNODE Texnet MSYS and other nodes that behave like NET ROM nodes It connects waits for responses then issues the next connect just like you would manually If you manually connect to NODE1 VIA DIGI1 then NOD2 NOD3 and finally connect to W1ABC you can specify this path as follows NODE1 VIA DIGI1 NOD2 NOD3 W1ABC F7 The backslash is the node path separator just like DOS or you can use the vertical or bar above the backslash shift backslash on most keyboards The help system has more information on quick connect paths 50 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating Adding a Quick Connect Path To add a quick connect path use Alt S for setup then Quick Connects then Add Path There are two important entries in a quick connect the remote station s identifier such as the operator s name or tactical callsign on the first line and the actual route or Path to the station on the second line The route or path might be just a callsign or a Callsign via Callsign or a node name followed by the or bar or pipe symbol the vertical bar over the backslash key The program will insert an Amtor ARQ Selcal for you either a 4 letter or 7 letter SELCAL depending on the setup option you c
20. file will be sent This allows you to send short files on HF and longer files on VHF Third the program looks for CONNECT BRG and sends it if it cannot find another file to use If you create CO HF BRG and K8TNK BRG and have the standard CONNECT BRG in the BRGFILES directory here is what would be sent under each condition K8TNK connects on either HF or VHF send K8BTNK BRG WA2VSM connects on HF send CO HF BRG WBS8TKE connects on VHF send CONNECT BRG Hints for usage You can use the callsign brg approach to leave a message for another station It will be sent every time the station connects until you delete that file but you may have a message that is intended as a reminder for another station In addition to the major changes explained in this chapter there are several minor adjustments that will improve the operation of the program For example the logging system uses a B tree index rather than a hashing index This is a technical matter but the new system is faster and has much larger capacity and is much faster The monitor screen has been modified to show information frames with a bright 89 InterFlex Systems Version 9 New Features color attribute with headers in a dim or normal brightness The on screen clock uses a different technology that improves reliability of the program when operating in a multitasking environment The technology for determining when to unkey the transmitter in the non packet modes has bee
21. files automatically supports restartable transfers see above With earlier versions of PkGOLD and KaGOLD the restartable transfer is not supported but you will still be able to send and receive files while connected to some earlier versions of PKGOLD and KaGOLD YAPP C protocol The YAPP yet another packet program system for sending and receiving files has been extended to YAPP C with and without restarting With PkKGOLD and KaGOLD this is entirely transparent If the remote station supports restarting your station will handle it automatically If not again the software knows and handles things automatically Just transfer files with YAPP to a local BBS or other user and if YAPP C or restartable YAPP is supported your station will automatically comply with the newer protocol You can use the Setup menu Alt n message selection to alter your one line Alt n messages alt 0 through alt 9 or use a new feature in this latest version the setalt lt n p gt lt 0 9 gt text pseudo tnc commands The syntax of this new command is the setalt command the alt n message you want to change and the text string The lt n p gt means Non packet OR packet and the number 0 through 9 must be included to identify which Alt n message to change In any of your TNC or CMD files you can put one or more of these new commands You can also type the command from the command line to change an alt n message For example setalt p5 My QT
22. files might be as follows CMD File 1 Help cmd file contents used to list other commands 2NAME you may use any of the following commands note some may provide additional help INHO To list who else is connected TICALL MYCALL Information about MYCALL CALL CALL Callbook information about yourself HFPARMS Help about HF Packet Parameters LISTMODS List of Radio Modification files lt lt END OF HELP gt gt CMD File 2 LISTMODS CMD file 2NAME here is a list of MOD files SENDDIR S MODS MOD Note Use GETMOD lt filename gt to get a mod file lt lt END OF LISTMODS gt gt CMD File 3 GETMOD CMD file SENDTEXT S MODS 0 lt lt END OF RADIO MOD gt gt CMD File 4 ig Call CMD file returns callsign data SENDCALL 0 These examples show a number of features built into the CMD file processing First the use of the comment line to show the file name You can document your CMD files using the asterisk comment line and it is a good idea to make liberal use of comments The use of the Quoted text line the quote mark signals GOLD to send the text to the remote user A good way to tell them what is coming and notice at the end of each file we ve put a line to clearly indicate to the user that the command file is finished The senddir command described below sends a directory and can use wildcards for the directory mask just like DOS
23. for example Try setting the following UNPROTO CQ VIA LNDIGI F10 Now any text you send will be addressed to CQ as well as digipeating your Unproto signal via the LNDIGI digipeater If you don t have a digipeater named LNDIGI the frame will simply not be digipeated but no harm is done if it isn t digipeated Set your UNPROTO back to just CQ for now UNPROTO CQ F10 You can add text to your CQ Unproto frame by typing it before hitting Enter It will go out as a UI using the UNPROTO path Note Leaving the Network View screen turns off Unproto CQ mode If you return with F2 reissue the Alt U command to turn on the Unproto feature again from the Network View screen Beacons are transmissions made automatically every few minutes or hopefully less often to announce your station BTEXT is the text sent and BEACON sets the time interval The tnc manuals and the help system go into more detail Generally speaking beacons are unnecessary and frequent beacons are annoying to other users Keep them to a minimum or better only use them in rare instances or for special purposes The F2 Key gives you the Network View screen and the Alt F2 key gives you a list of stations heard on the network On Dual port units a InterFlex Systems Packet Operating separate Mheard list is displayed for each port Switch to the port and use Alt F2 for that port From any screen type a callsign of a station you know to b
24. indicate that you have both SAM and CD callbooks The program will search for callbook data in the following order 75 InterFlex Systems Version 9 New Features CD based calldata first then the SAMAPI or SAMAPICD CD Callbook Buckmaster AmSoft and QRZ In Setup select CD ROM callbook data If you also have SAM select CD ROM and SAM The search for callbooks is described above The reason we don t choose the and by default is to save the time required to check for the SAMAPI if it will never be on your system We create index files for most of the other CDs On Buckmaster CDs after January 1995 you need to run BUCKTSR Look for a DOC file that explains this for example bucktsr doc Local use of the Callbook You can access the callbook using Alt I then enter a callsign You can also send callbook data to a session using SENDCALL lt callsign gt more callsigns F10 This causes the program to access the callbook for each callsign in the list one or more and produce a mailing label format for each callsign sending it to the current session packet amtor pactor etc Last if you are using AIt E to edit the logbook entry for the callsign showing in the banner a connected station you can then use F9 to look up the callsign in your on line callbook If you have enabled remote commands on the Alt Z menu a remote user can type CALL WA4EGT or even a log list of callsigns separated by spaces or com
25. is often the most useful procedure See the section on resetting the tnc MAXUSERS and USERS Leave these at 10 always Or 10 10 if operating a dual port TNC or dual port program If you change these to some other number s the program will behave unexpectedly Do NOT change these 111 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting PASSALL This allows the tnc to print packets that fail the crc check that is have errors Several side effects result if this is ON For example MHEARD fails to operate properly It is normally OFF but at times putting this ON may be useful Check this parameter out in the HELP system and in the TNC manual HPOLL This is an AEA command It should be ON to allow the program to control data flow from the tnc and to avoid lost frames Note You may want to set HPOLL ON in your shutdown tnc file to allow the tnc to dump text that normally fills up the TNC buffer when the computer is not in direct control of your tnc FULLDUP This one should be OFF for most users If you set to ON the TNC will attempt to acknowledge every packet regardless of whether the remote station or any other station is transmitting It causes the TNC to ignore the DCD line It is possible to communicate with it set to ON although your station may trash packets sent by other stations When a file transfer is attempted with MAXFRAME set to more than 1 the receiving station will attempt to ACK every frame even though the remot
26. mapped to and from the character set in your computer This mapping occurs in morse baudot code amtor and ascii In Packet Pactor and Gtor characters sent and received are mapped 1 1 to the character set in the computer allowing any of the 256 characters to be sent without any conversion Next came the 5 bit fixed word length teleprinter using Baudot code or a similar one called Murray code Many surplus machines were available to amateurs after World War Il starting in about 1946 and have been in service ever since RTTY is operated at many baud rates from 45 to 75 and faster and at different frequency shifts from 170 Hz narrow to 425 and 850 with some other non standard shifts used by certain companies like AEA in their PK 232 and other TNCs 28 InterFlex Systems Digital Operating Modes Instead of long and short tones being used to differentiate between dits and dashes or 1s and Os RTTY is based on character frames of a known time interval with individual bits being determined at every interval If the signaling rate is 50 bits per second and 1 bit is encoded in each baud or signaling element it will take 20 ms 1 50 of a second to encode each bit The RTTY station sends a constant tone or mark signal until it is ready to send a 5 bit character The beginning of each character is a start pulse or start bit which is either the lack of a mark tone or a space tone on frequency shift keyed station
27. necessary if in Pactor or G TOR Then immediately hit Alt 1 the first alt n message which reads CALL de MYCALL to create an identification exchange line and hit Enter While AZ6ZZ s text is being received you may begin typing your response As you type each line it will be placed into the outgoing buffer area and shown in the space above the banner if the transmit buffer is being shown If you were connected in an ARQ link see the next chapter If you were answered by another broadcast FEC RTTY etc use the ESC to key the transmitter when your turn arrives Any outgoing pending text is echoed to the session screen as it is sent and you can add more text Turn it back to the other station by pushing ESC and your station will go into receive mode when the buffer is empty Broadcast modes Morse CW RTTY ASCII and FEC are all easy to operate The ESC keys and unkeys the transmitter PTT line and text you type is transmitted or queued up in an outgoing transmit buffer The TOR modes Amtor Pactor Gtor go into an FEC mode when you push ESC from one of the standby modes and FEC is also used to send Cas prior to entering a linked ARQ mode The next chapter goes into ARQ linked modes 38 InterFlex Systems ARQ Linked Modes ARQ Linked Modes These are two station only modes This includes AMTOR Pactor and G TOR While each mode has technical differences they are all operated in virtually the same way One stat
28. network is one the repeats what it hears retransmitting packets directed through it This is a digital repeater or Digipeater Typically all stations will digipeat packets To turn off this feature on the AEA tnc set DFROM NONE or on Kantronics units set DIGIPEAT OFF You can do some forwarding by digipeating but this has some serious drawbacks in terms of access to a backbone or second frequency and most notable the requirement that packets must be digipeated accurately without being trashed by other interference all the way from originator to destination and all acknowledgments of packets must traverse back through the entire set of digipeater hops without error to have a successful delivery of a packet from source to destination NET ROM Network System Read Only Memory was written by Ronald E Raikes WA8DED Concept design and documentation by Michael D Busch W6IXU It is the basis for most of the networking that exists today It allows your station to connect into a node have packets transported in the network and pop out of the network by connecting from the last node to a distant station or BBS The principal idea behind NET ROM is to provide connectivity through the various ROUTES that can be used to move packets to and from your station and a remote station For more information about NET ROM call Software 2000 Inc 1127 Hetrick Avenue Arroyo Grande California 93420 Telephone 805 489 1977 They ha
29. programs including memory managers memory manglers mouse drivers screen drivers screen blankers disk cachers keyboard enhancers and more The easiest way to figure out what is causing software conflicts is as follows e Save copies of Autoexec bat and Config sys e Puta REM in front of every line of both files This remarks out each line You may need to keep one or two lines in the config sys file if you are running doublespace or stacker or some other disk doubler e Reboot and check the software If you do not have problems you re on the right track to solving the conflicts e Starting with Config sys remove one REM in front of the first line with an REM Reboot and rerun the software 113 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting e Continue removing one REM in front of each line starting with Config sys and through Autoexec bat until when you reboot and run the software some problems begin to occur The last thing you added by removing the REM is probably the culprit Another source of conflicts has been seen in some users PATH statement After installing several software programs each adding itself to the path the path becomes recursive that is doubling back on itself by referring to an earlier subdirectory From the DOS prompt type PATH return and read the path statement Be sure that the same subdirectory path is not specified multiple times If it is you should edit the Autoexec bat file to remove th
30. select monochrome video in setup C_ select color video in setup D_ allow program to choose setup colors Q disable morse bells quiet mode R enter registration number H_ help with KaGOLD DualPort lt file gt contains the start up parameters default extension is TNC If desired the start up file must be the first parameter If you type the program name followed by H and the program loads and brings you to the Help Index you have successfully installed the software If you see Bad Command or Filename then you have either misspelled the program name or have not started in the right subdirectory See the Troubleshooting chapter page 109 InterFlex Systems Software Installation The Table of Contents and the Index are designed to allow you to find answers to many of the questions you may have about the software and about solving problems both computer problems tnc problems and software problems Note If you find that the program operates differently than the manual says it does the ultimate authority on how the program should run is the program itself Internet Visit our web page http www interflex com to get information about the software and more information on how to contact us with questions or to place orders The most productive way to get help is to visit the web page Fax With the advent of the internet we have reduced our need to handle fax messages While we do have a fax machine it is n
31. station can direct members to pass traffic between themselves on secondary connects The net control station can send a directed message using callsign message or broadcast directions such as N6WIK pass your traffic to WA4EGT on another connect which tells N6WIK to establish a direct or non conference connect to WA4EGT to pass traffic For those running two ports there are some other options available for monitoring the activity of each port The dual port version s support either merged monitoring or split monitoring Merged means that monitored frames coming from either port are shown on the same Network View screen To keep you aware of which port is involved the program will put the Port Prefix at the start of the header line the line with the callsigns and date and time In addition the monitored frames will be tagged with different color attributes one port tagged with the incoming text attribute and the other tagged with the outgoing text attribute If you select Split monitors each port has its own individual Network View screen To see what is on the first port use F2 to toggle to the Network View screen for that port 61 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating Switching Sessions The F4 key switches among active sessions see page 16 It will take you to the other port if necessary making dual port operation easy To start a connect on the other port use F2 to toggle the network view scree
32. support for the built in functions in newer TNCs capable of larger maildrops 100 K in the case of Kantronics TNCs built in nodes or station visibility when the computer is turned off In the next few chapters we will show how to operate the software in each of the three basic modes of broadcasting ARQ linked and multi station packet operation 34 InterFlex Systems Broadcasting Modes Broadcasting Modes All broadcast modes are simple to understand and operate A station goes on the air transmits a message then unkeys This can be used for normal QSOs by broadcasting text then letting another station broadcast for a while Other stations can monitor the broadcasts easily as though they were part of the communications Broadcast modes are often used for Cqs nets and roundtable discussions For now type AMTOR F10 to put your TNC into AMTOR Standby Within this category different signaling techniques can be used The chapter on Digital Modes described Morse RTTY Baudot Ascii and FEC modes Each of these uses a different number of bits to encode data and some support upper and lower case characters others upper case only The baud rate is user selected in RTTY BAUDOT and ASCII or fixed in AMTOR FEC or one of two as in Pactor FEC The Mark Space shift can be narrow or wide normal or inverted But despite the apparent differences all broadcast modes operate the same way using GOLD software Once you learn to ru
33. the INS key to insert text the DEL and Backspace key to delete text Go to the beginning and end of the line of text using the HOME and END cursor keys Each session screen has its own cmd text entry line Sending Text Enter is used to send text The program requires that you are on an active session screen connected to your personal maildrop or in a mode that allows text to be sent unconnected If you do type text hit Enter and the program has nowhere to send the text you will see an error message The chapter on Packet operating goes into more detail on how to send UI text for example See page 47 Editing the Command Text line Use the cursor keys to move around the command entry line You can use the Ins key to toggle the insert overwrite mode and the cursor keys to edit the line 10 InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation Clear the CMD Text line Use Alt X to clear the text line and Alt R to retrieve the last line of text transmitted with Enter or sent as a command with the F10 key In the TNC hardware manuals you will see reference to COMMAND and CONVERSE modes In GOLD you do not enter Command mode or Converse Mode because both are available at all times If you push Enter this means Send text if you push F10 this means treat the text as a command F10 is the Command key The TNC manuals tell you that to view a TNC parameter setting type the parameter name from t
34. the PIF file Command Line J KAGOLD KAGOLD PIF and the ICOf Working Directory J KAGOLD file or type in the path amp Shortcut Key filename CI Run Minimized You can add a Program Group to put this and other HAM RADIO programs items into if you wish If another program is on your system that you want in the Ham Radio group use Window Tile to arrange several program groups on the screen then drag an ICON from some other group to your new HAM RADIO group To run this or any other program Double click on the GOLD icon and soon the program will be running in a Window Note There are many ICONS available in windows that you can assign to this or any other program Look for MOREICONS DLL or other exe ico or dil files that may contain ICONS Adjusting the Window Size While GOLD is running click the mouse pointer on the Control Button upper left corner or use Alt Spacebar to pull down a menu Choose Fonts or type F and pick a font setting that looks good to you We use the 8x8 font to cause the program to take up about 1 2 the screen in 640x480 VGA mode The 6x8 font is good for higher resolution screens or those with good eyesight The Edit menu item is used to copy and 119 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting paste text to from the GOLD program Some Windows display drivers do not support FONT changes but most do In the upper left corner of the GOLD window is the control button a ho
35. the program This one has a collection of files To select Baudot type the letter B and the selection cursor jumps to the first item starting with B You can use the cursor keys but using the matching letters method is faster If you typed the letter F the cursor would jump to FILEFIND If you then typed O the match to FO is FORECAST TXT The idea is simple When you see a pick list you can type the first letter or several letters and the program will perform a match and move the cursor to the first item that matches your letters This is much faster than using a mouse or 19 InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation the cursor keys to select items The bottom of this list indicates that the down arrow or PgDn key will show more items Directory Navigation The second item of interest is the navigation of directories and drives when looking for files The reference to UPDIR in this example means you can move up one directory level by hitting Enter on this item Use HOME key to get to the top of the list then Enter to go up one directory Doing this several times will let you pick different drive letters and eventually you can traverse Down to new sub directories in search of the item if it is a file in the directory tree Last when asked for a file name type part of the name using wildcards for the rest such as Filename EXE This will restrict the file pick list to only
36. the radio to check out the TNC but if you have a radio hooked to the TNC turn down the radio receiver volume This avoids on the air activity to interfere with the first time initialization Connect the TNC to a serial cable With the TNC on run the program A dspGOLD user would type DSPGOLD J or PkGOLD KaGOLD After typing the program name and hitting the Enter key or clicking on the Icon in Windows wait for the program to display the opening Network View screen If you selected as your COM port Search for TNC you will be asked to turn on or off the TNC follow the instructions on the screen During initialization you may hit F10 to abort the process if you see obvious problems like your telephone modem responding rather than your TNC meaning you chose the wrong serial port or didn t switch a switchbox in the right position If you have trouble starting the program turn to the chapter on Troubleshooting for ideas When the TNC is in CMD mode not in HOST mode it takes more time to establish communications This is why we suggest leaving the TNC in HOST mode all the time After initialization you may be asked for your callsign If you have a dual port unit just enter your callsign once Enter your name handle when asked and your QTH These items are sent to other GOLD users automatically so type them the way you want them to appear to another user Last enter some information about your station such
37. use the transmit or Enter key to send the text to another station This is a one line entry area If you want to create a multi line message before sending it you can use the clipboard editor accessed with the with the F5 key See page 54 Function Key Line Below the Command line is a listing of function keys and what they do The Alt and Ctrl keys affect what you see If you depress the Alt key this list will change to the Alt key definitions Try it Pressing the Ctrl key in Packet mode shows all callsigns currently connected In non packet mode the Ctrl key shows different modes If you are in BAUDOT RTTY and wish to switch to AMTOR you can do so using Ctrl F4 as indicated when you hold down the Ctrl key Network View Screen F2 The first main screen that appears after the program has completed initializing is the Network View screen From this screen you may switch to the Previous Sessions screen using the F3 key typically blank when you first startup the program then back to the Network View screen with the F2 key Note On the Dual Port software F2 also switches between ports Depending on your setting for monitor and mcon and other monitor parameters a copy of all frames meeting the conditions will be put on the Network View See your TNC manual for an explanation of these commands Type DISPLAY M F10 for a list of current monitor command settings Mini Network or 2nd S
38. 2 on a dual port unit KAM or dual port AEA unit you will switch radio ports In the example screen that follows we pushed the Alt F8 key to connect to the Personal BBS or Maildrop The maildrop prompt is sent to the screen by the PBBS The banner shows the mode in this case Packet and the station It may look slightly different on an AEA tnc because the maildrop is accessed differently than on a Kantronics unit but the basic idea and layout is the same The maildrop screen is similar to other connect screens At the top are a few lines of monitored activity from the Network View screen Then comes the status banner with the mode callsign QTH and TNC status information Below that is the session screen that shows text sent to you and text that you send and receive 12 InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation Status Banner ak 3 What I rau on vacation 2 18 10 Eagle 52 26 Comics Anri Pic 84 13 Lets go Fishin The Status Banner The status banner is present at all times except when you are in the Setup menu area or in Direct Terminal mode It contains information about the status of the session and of the TNC itself In the border surrounding the banner you will see general information Date Time Port name if applicable Rather than look at the TNC front panel to find out what is going on in your TNC look at the Status Banner In Packet mode if you are connected to another station you will see
39. 3 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting Packet is simpler to get into but potentially more complicated it has much more depth than the other modes because of the shared frequency idea network connectivity and cross band potential Explore the program explore the help system ask friends and be sure to refer to the Hardware manuals that came with your TNC and your radios Good luck have fun and please tell your friends about our software InterFlex Systems Design Corporation P O Box 6418 Laguna Niguel CA 92607 6418 Be sure to visit us on the web http www interflex com 124 InterFlex Systems Software Specifications Software Specifications All material including design layout original concepts and terminology is the intellectual property of InterFlex Systems Design Corp and Jeffrey G Towle Ph D Computer IBM Compatible PC XT AT PS2 computer with a minimum of 450 K free Ram memory 1 Serial port with interrupts enabled Any monitor type DOS 3 0 or greater Windows all versions Different versions of the program operate different hardware TNCs It is up to the purchasor to determine which version of the software to use with a particular TNC AEA tncs owners should use PkGOLD PK 88 PCB 88 PK 232 PKGOLD 900 PK 900 DSP GOLD DSP 1232 or 2232 Kantronics tncs with version 5 ROMS or later should use KaGOLD for KPCs and KAM and KaGOLD DE Data Engine These programs are supplied as is without warrant
40. AM or Kantronics All Mode tnc uses filters called SCAFs switched capacitance audio filters that allow the user to select tones either by choosing a standard shift or setting the Mark and Space tones individually With the SHIFT command the user can choose 170 425 or 850 Setting SHIFT MODEM instead of a numeric value lets the user specify the Mark and Space frequencies directly The KAM also supports the setting of the CW Morse center frequency and bandwidth This is useful for setting tones that match other users such as PK 232 users Shift Modem followed by SPACE 2310 MARK 2110 will result in a KAM running the same 200 Hz using the same Mark Space tones as the PK 232 and many other TNCs For KAM users a tnc file called PKTONES may be included that selects the PK 232 tone pair so that you can agree with a PK 232 user about a particular HF frequency and find each other Shift Modem is highly recommended not Shift 170 etc Note To set Mark and Space tones the SPACE must always be set higher than the mark As a trick you can change from any Mark Space pair to another by first setting SPACE to a large value such as 4000 Then set Mark and Space to your desired settings FSK users Tone pair and Modem settings apply to received tones Transmitted tones are set by the radio s built in precision AFSK tone generator Most radios set the mark space tones with dip switches Be sure to find out what tone pair is used by the radio a
41. Clear the Clipboard use F5 and find the ZAP or clear clipboard entry Notice the number of bytes in the clipboard may be non zero before you Zap it and will go to zero when you zap it This is how to clear the clipboard If you have text in the clipboard that you wish to send to another station use F4 to switch to an active session Push F5 then Copy to current session Your clipboard selection is sent to the screen and is delivered to the remote station On Dual Port units you can switch ports and cut paste text between bands and modes or send the text to a file Emptying the Clipboard Text remains in the clipboard buffer until it is Zapped one of the F5 menu selections is Zap New text is always appended to the clipboard contents Remember to zap the clipboard regularly if you are expecting it to be empty You may send any number of copies of the text to other stations to the printer or to disk Text may be selected from any connected screen from the Network View screen or the Previous Sessions screen 52 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating Merging data into the Clipboard While in the Clipboard editor you operation inserting the disk file at the cursor position There you can edit it and prepare it for transmission While in the clipboard editor use F1 for help with various edit keys You can read files save files and perform editing using various keystrokes outlined in the editor help screen To wr
42. D mygroup etc This is an example of MYPTcall WA4EGT what you might do for your own MYGTcall WA4EGT tnc file with settings specific to your MYPBBS WA4EGT 1 station and preferences PBBS 95 NUMNODES 4 Next line shows use of M for new line Use carat and the letter M Ntext X Connects on 14 103 Mhz MConnect to WA4EGT 1 for Informatoin NDWild On WText de wadegt Htext CA USA This file sets the callsigns for the station the digipeater node pactor and G TOR callsign then sets the PBBS to 97 so that the number of nodes on the KAM can be set to 4 and still have plenty of i o memory The maildrop parameters are also setup in this file To use this file if the tnc gets reset or a different tnc is hooked up all that is needed is to push F10 then highlight wa4egt on the list of tnc files push Enter and all of the parameters are entered as a group Another TNC file you might create is for a net or roundtable If you have 4 stations that you want to quickly connect to you could create file called net tnc or net1 tnc net2 tnc etc and it might contain a list of connect requests as follows net tnc used to connect to several stations c n6wik via wa6hif c wb6uut c ocean cOast nz1m c wa6hif You could quickly connect to all four stations by hitting F10 typing N and maybe E to point to NET then push Enter and your station will begin connecting to all five stations Notice that the
43. During a conference use the Alt V key to view the conference statistics Here you will see how well your station is doing delivering conference text to the various stations To remove or disconnect a station in a conference use Alt F1 to bring up the conference list and toggle the check mark using the Ins key When you hit Enter the conference will resume with the tagged stations If you then want to disconnect the station use F4 to get to the session screen then Alt F7 60 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating Remotely Started Conferences Turn to page 77 concerning the Conference Bridge Server mode Linked Conferences More than one GOLD station can have a conference going and connect to another GOLD station conference that station and have what we call linked or multi level conferences Two or more stations located across town from each other can have local stations connected and link to each other across town bringing members of one conference into another conference This is worth trying it works smoothly The WHO and callsign commands do not work across conferences but WHO does indicate stations that are Linked conferences See the section on Conference Commands on page 81 for more details Conferences and Nets The conference bridge can be used to coordinate traffic handling during emergencies or traffic nets All stations can be connected to a conference and the net control
44. EARD list capabilities while it is ON PID Kantronics or MPROTO AEA is a command that when ON will allow your station to monitor frames that are not ordinary AX 25 frames This will include Net Rom frames TCP IP frames and others Turn it 44 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating ON if you want to see even more packet activity that is on the frequency AEA users turn on the maildrop with the MAIL ON command Kantronics TNCs enable the maildrop by allocating memory to it using the PBBS n F10 command The PBBS defaults to 5 K or 100 K depending on your TNC and memory Set your maildrop callsign to your call with an SSID of 1 which means if your call is N6WIK you would use N6WIK 1 AEA MYMAIL N6WIK 1 F10 Kantronics MYPBBS N6WIK 1 F10 You can name your maildrop some 6 character or less name such as WIKBBS if you wish but this is atypical Next decide if you will allow 3rd party traffic That is can some other user leave a message for some 3rd party If you are N6WIK will you allow WA4EGT to leave a message for WB6UUT on your maildrop If so make the following changes AEA 3RDPARTY ON F10 Kantronics PBPERSON OFF F10 Access the maildrop or PBBS using the Alt F8 key Do it now and then create a Bulletin to All as follows SB ALL ALLUS Enter This Send Bulletin to ALL ALLUS means you want to send your message to everyone in the US Not a good idea at this point but will useful as a tes
45. H is Laguna Niguel CA F10 setalt nl call de mycall F10 You can include any number of setalt pseudo commands in your tnc or command cmd files Be sure the strings do not exceed about 100 characters Even better do not exceed about 65 characters so that you can read the entire line when you hit the Alt n 88 InterFlex Systems Version 9 New Features Hints for usage Some users have suggested that we have a set of Alt n messages for each mode not just packet and non packet This new feature allows you to create a set for each of the non packet modes and put them into a tnc file that also calls up the mode For example an AMTOR TNC file might contain several setalt messages for usage in amtor It might be good as well to create a tnc file with a collection of default alt n messages RESETALT TNC would be a good name You can do some new things with connect files If you have enabled the sending of connect brg when a station connects do this in the Setup menu under Alt n messages you will have a few new options for naming the files The program will look for any one of three files First a file with the same name as the callsign of the connecting station Second a file with the name CO xxx brg where xxx is the name of the port the name you give the port on dual port tncs For example create a short file called CO HF BRG and a larger CO VHF BRG file Then when a station connects on HF the HF connect text
46. HOST mode and for virtually every advanced serial communications program Enhancing SYSTEM INI The serial buffer in Windows defaults to 128 bytes Increasing the buffer size to 512 or 1024 bytes may reduce serial overrun errors Some serial driver authors even suggest as much as 10 K buffers Another setting is ComBoostTime It defaults to 2 try 4 or 8 this tells windows to spend more time servicing serial interrupts Run SYSEDIT and look in SYSTEM INI for the 386Enh section Add a ComXbuffer statement for each port that you think will work better with a larger buffer E g COM1BUFFER 1024 Increases serial COM buffer COM2BUFFER 1024 sizes for COM1 and COM2 ComBoostTime 8 Increase serial interrupt service time Put away the SYSEDIT if that is how you are editing SYSTEM INI 118 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting Adding GOLD to a program group Use FILE then NEW ITEM to bring up the NEW ITEM dialog box identical to this Program Item Properties dialog shown below Fill in the Command line with the drive path and name of the PIF file see below for KaGOLD PIF Then change the ICON Hit Okay when a message tells you that no icon exists in the EXE file You can Browse to get to the path and pick the KAGOLD ICO file or PkKGOLD ICO etc Finally hit OKAY and you will see an ICON for the GOLD program You can drag that ICON to any program group if you want to move it Use Browse f Description aGOLD to find both a
47. On AEA tncs we set MYALTCALL according to our data preserving system In future versions more use will be made of the 7 letter Selcal Default typing mode is a preference item Many users are familiar with having the insert mode be the default as it is in many other software programs and word processors Whatever the default the Ins key will toggle the mode from insert to overwrite and back again Unkey speed applies to non packet broadcast modes such as RTTY baudot FEC Amtor or Pactor and Morse or CW Read the text and make changes as you deem necessary A TNC file is a text files with TNC commands like FRACK 5 blank lines and comment lines a starting with an asterisk Any plain ASCII text editor can be used to modify or create a TNC file including the EDIT command with DOS 5 and DOS 6 or the Notepad editor in Windows TNC files reside in the directory called tncfiles The program has a built in TNC file editor that can only be used when the program is running and talking to the tnc It checks each TNC command and parameter value you enter by sending it to the TNC and getting back a response to be sure it is a valid TNC command If you get an invalid command fix the command or put an asterisk at the beginning Startup and Shutdown are special files that are processed when the program is started startup tnc and when it is shut down shutdown tnc Typically these files turn on monitoring when the program starts
48. Pending and Tries Pending means the number of frames in the TNC itself that are waiting to be sent and acknowledged or already sent but not yet acknowledged Tries is the number of attempts to get an acknowledgment after the first try If you mostly see Tries 0 this means the link is excellent and no additional tries are required to get acknowledgments of each packet sent Typically these numbers are 0 but on a busy frequency they will change Type TRIES F1 for help on this tnc parameter In non packet modes this screen has information about mode shift baud rate and in AMTOR and Pactor it displays the various FEC or ARQ states such as IDLE Send Receive RQ Phasing etc If I O buffer memory is shown not supported on all TNCs it shows the remaining size of the tnc memory allocated to serial communications to and from the TNC Pending transmitted text uses up this memory Also it is tnc workspace memory not total tnc memory As data is sent to the TNC you will see this number get smaller and as data is successfully transmitted the number goes up In DUAL mode _ operation Packet RTTY for example two numbers are shown one for packet the other for non packet modes 13 InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation Command Text input line At the bottom is the screen is the command text input line From here you type commands and issue them with command enter or F10 key You also type text in this same place and
49. Performance Software from InterFlex Systems Design For AEA PK 88 PK 232 DSP 1232 DSP 2232 Kantronics KPC 2 KPC 3 KPC 4 and KAM Dual Port Versions Requires MS DOS and runs under Windows Desqview OS 2 PkGOLD amp KaGOLD Software Guide and User Manual Published in Adobe Acrobat format Manual covers PkKGOLD KaGOLD dspGOLD PkGOLD 900 Installation Procedures Operating Mode Descriptions Software Operation Program Reference Customizing Options New Features Explained InterFlex Systems Design setting the Performance Standard for Digital Mode Software GOLD PkGOLD KaGOLD PkGOLD 900 dsp GOLD Packet PLUS used in the context of digital mode communications software are names and trademarks used by InterFlex Systems Design Corporation Copyright C 1994 2001by InterFlex Systems Design Corporation Post Office Box 6418 Laguna Niguel CA 92607 6418 Web Page http www interflex com The manual begins with a Welcome chapter on the next page InterFlex Systems Welcome to PKGOLD KaGOLD Welcome to PKGOLD KaGOLD Thank you for choosing one of our advanced digital mode software products You will soon discover an array of unique and powerful features that are easy to learn and use The program does many things for you automatically including memory management You do not have to decide about the number of scroll back lines or size of the scroll back buffer as you do on some other programs The buffer siz
50. WILD ON and an Alias for the MYNODE parameter and can be used in a multi connect way The AEA gateway however adds a new twist as yet to be proven effective but a new way to gateway between different modes like vhf packet to HF pactor If you have the capability to offer VHF and HF connectivity consider setting up your station to allow other users to benefit and turn on your KaNODE with NUMNODES 3 and MYNODE given a name and KNXCON ON or on the AEA give a callsign to MYGATE and set GUSERS to 3 See the AEA and Kantronics documentation for more Packet is unique in allowing multiple stations to operate on the same frequency As a result your station must be operated in a way to avoid undue interference and impact on the channel In the next chapter we get into connectivity issues using nodes 64 InterFlex Systems Using Network Nodes Using Network Nodes Nodes are packet stations running software that adds connectivity between geographic locations frequencies or protocols There are Digipeaters NET ROM KaNODES MSYS BPQ TexNet ROSE TCP IP and others out there that all operate differently which adds significant confusion to users Explaining in detail the operation of each kind of node is not the objective of this chapter but an overview of node usage is Simply stated if you want to get the most out of packet radio you must learn the basics about nodes and how to use them The simplest node in the
51. _ Brief Explanation of Function or Usage Alt A Display ASCII Character set Toggle ON OFF Alt B Line Begin Prefix string Default is blank Alt C Enter Callsign into banner Logging Alt D Enter current Date into command line Alt E Edit QSL information for this station Alt F Enter Frequency for logging and display Alt G Flip to Graphics screen ANSI Pic mode Alt H reserved for future use Alt l Station Information access callbook Alt J Set right Justify and line wrap Margin for this station Alt K reserved for future use Alt L Lines Full Half Duplex Text Toggle Alt M Memory usage Display Alt N Enter Name of remote operator Alt O Display connect status information Alt P Print Toggle ON OFF Alt Q Enter QTH of remote operator Alt R Retrieve last sent line or command Alt S Enter Setup Menu area Alt T Time string entered into text Alt U Enter Unproto mode on Network View Alt V Version of software and tnc Alt W Wipe Clear current screen Alt X Erase text on Command Line Alt Y Save Sessions toggle for this station Alt Z Zoom Menu several screen items Alt 1 Send 1st Alt n message for this mode Alt 2 Send 2nd Alt n message for this mode etc etc Alt Alt Dash shows all Alt n messages for this mode The Alt L is like a Full Half duplex toggle It hides outgoing text but rather than dumping it as a true full duplex system would outgoing text can be redisplayed with Alt L On the Network View screen Al
52. a BPQ node you might have to issue a command like this C 1 N6ABC In a Quick Connects path you would specify a path something like this BPNOD C 1 N6ABC If BPNOD is a local BPQ node the program will connect to BPNOD and when connected will issue the command C 1 N6ABC MSYS Nodes These are similar to BPQ nodes The major difference you will see is the way connects are specified that leave the node The BPQ node uses C PORT CALL with a space between the C and the Port Number 72 InterFlex Systems Using Network Nodes MSYS does not allow the space so the same connect above for an MSYS node would be C1 N6ABC ROSE Switches This technology uses digipeater syntax even though it is not really digipeating If the switches were known as SW1 SW2 SW3 etc you might issue a connect request as follows N6ABC VIA SW1 SW2 SW3 F7 This technology is growing rapidly in the Southeastern parts of the US and elsewhere CQ magazine has run several articles about ROSE and more information is available from the Radio Amateur Telecommunications Society P O Box 93 Park Ridge N J 07656 0093 By Modem call 201 387 8898 for software downloads and the latest versions KaNodes Kantronics has built a node into every tnc The node is especially useful if it is setup properly The default settings should be changed to improve the value of the node to other users Enable the node with NUMNODES 3 or some other v
53. a conferenced station to send a message to another conferenced station directly If N6bWIK and WA4EGT are both connected the following N6WIK Let s start Conf C type JOIN C would send the message to N6WIK only Users can log OFF a conference ask WHO else is connected and create a new conference with JOIN C or any letter up to J Users who connect to your station can issue 1 to 8 letter commands that you create through the use of command files A command file is a file in the directory cmdfiles off the GOLD directory It must have a cmd extension and can contain any of the following kinds of lines e Comments any line beginning with an asterisk is a comment and is ignored e Message lines Any line beginning with a quote is sent as is to the station who has caused the command file to execute e Process Commands which we call pseudo commands because they are immediate commands that have the appearance of being TNC commands and can be used in CMD files as well as TNC files and from the command line using F10 Most of the pseudo commands would not be issued directly by you but would be put into CMD files for use in developing commands that remote users will find helpful 77 InterFlex Systems Version 9 New Features CMD file layout In the CMDFILES directory which must be a subdirectory of the GOLD directory you will create one or more files with CMD extensions A simple collection of 4
54. a file is created with date time callsign name qth mode frequency This file is in a standard format quoted and comma delimited ready to be renamed or copied to an acceptable name for your particular database or spreadsheet program Canceling a log entry Depending on the mode and whether a connect or session has already taken place you may be able to cancel a log entry using Alt C and then Alt X to cancel Names Alt N Use AIt N on an active session to enter the name of operator of connected station Then each time you are connected to that station the name will appear on the Session screen next to the call sign This is the default behavior assuming you are allowing the Log all connects feature under setup logging The name may change automatically if the remote operator has changed his her name and the auto recognition detects the change The same is true of the QTH and even callsign Connecting to a remote GOLD user through a node may result in automatically fixing the callsign appearing in the banner changing it from the node call to the actual remote callsign QTH Alt Q Add QTH to the station information shown This may be retrieved from the other station automatically in Packet mode or from a callsign database or entered manually 18 InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation QSO Log Edit Alt E Edit the on screen QSO log Saves last connect information has editing window to write
55. acket operation TONE for receive tone equalization and various baud rate parameters such as HBAUD for the packet baud 92 InterFlex Systems Understanding the TNC rate RBAUD for the RTTY baud rate The Morse mode uses a fixed tone as well In all cases the concept of selecting a Modem is used A modem is a device as well as a concept with parameters that set or define a mark and space frequency and affect the signaling rate or baud rate Mark and Space tones and the signalling speed e g 300 baud packet 100 baud amtor are modem issues as they affect the characteristics of the filters used to modulate and demodulate signals AEA uses modem numbers on their newer tncs Kantronics uses modem settings PK 900 Modems the PK 900 defines modem 1 on Radio Port 1 as FSK 45 bps 170 2125 2295 which means FSK or AFSK operation 45 baud 170 Hz shift with Mark tone of 2125 Hz and space tone of 2295 Hz which is 170 Hz above the Mark tone Modem numbers and their meanings are listed in the PK 900 manual and different modem numbers are used on the DSP 2232 PK 900 and DSP 2232 Q commands When you switch modes you will likely want to switch modems The Q commands allow you to select a modem to use with each mode Then when you switch modes the modem will change to your desired setting As an example QHPacket HF packet modems defaults to 10 2 By definition AEA world HF packet means the VHF parameter is OFF The QVPack
56. all the TestDrive program You may give copies of these files to anyone who is interested in the program to let them learn more about the software and how it works You may want to install the test drive on your own system The TestDrive has a Sound Demo portion that is helpful in identifying the various signals that can be heard and decoded on HF It runs for 30 minutes at a time and asks the same set of questions each time it runs It does NOT save any settings or data to disk between runs The TestDrive also has larger DOC files which you may find useful The release version saves settings and comes on line much faster Naturally you will want to run the release version but knowledge of the TestDrive and how it works will help you explain the software to others and give you something to given other users if they ask for a copy of PkGOLD or KaGOLD to check out You can install and check out the software without a TNC Later you can hook up the serial port to the TNC and test the software and TNC together Then wire up the TNC to a radio speaker output and monitor some digital activity Last hook up the microphone jack or FSK connector HF only and make some on the air contacts If you do things in stages you will be on the air quickly Make a Backup Copy As with any new software you should make a backup copy of the files on the original disk before installing We suggest using the DOS Copy command By copying the files you
57. also work fine with GOLD software The program needs about 450 K of memory minimum and Extended or Expanded memory if available Note The program uses about 20 file handles if several sessions are active and the callsign database function is in use Set FILES 30 or more in your CONFIG SYS or if you have QEMM use the LOADHI FILES statement see your QEMM manual in AUTOEXEC BAT to set the number of file handles in upper memory If you run FSK not AFSK the transmitter uses an internal calibrated tone generator rather than having you providing the tones using your TNC You provide FSK shift voltage and the transmitter applies the FSK signal to its own AFSK tone generator Clearly if the internal tone generator Mark Space pair differs from your TNC Mark Space tone receive filters you will be unable to zero beat or be on frequency with other stations This is one of the problems with FSK operation The other is that some transmitters are not setup for 200 Hz shift used in HF Packet and 121 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting Pactor but use the 170 Hz shift for all HF modes But the advantages of FSK are a cleaner signal because the tone generator is more calibrated and not prone to RF getting into the audio lines something that can happen easily when using AFSK Obviously when in receive mode stray RF is not a problem and your TNC works fine with received audio AFSK If you find it necessary to use RIT incremental tu
58. alue The default is zero 0 or off Second change the MYNODE callsign from the 3 setting to an alias with no dash number but with a number appearing somewhere in the first three characters NET ROM nodes typically will NOT connect to a KaNODE alias but it is possible to fake a callsign that is also an alias by putting a number in the first three letters of the alias For example LN2NOD would qualify as an alias and be mistakenly identified as a callsign by a NET ROM node whereas LNANOD would cause an Invalid Callsign if a user were to request a connect to it from a NET ROM node The LN2NOD type alias passes as a callsign in the validate callsign algorithm used by NET ROM and it can still be setup as a Wild Node with the NDWILD ON command meaning users can connect to any SSID from 0 to 15 Automatic node hopping through KaNODES is only possible with NDWILD ON and including NET ROM nodes is possible only if the alias passes as a callsign If the node is used on a dual port unit and will support packet on both ports enable the cross connects feature with KNXCON ON The Gateway method setting MYGATE to some callsign should be avoided on a Kantronics unit as this cross port digipeating is not nearly as 73 InterFlex Systems Using Network Nodes useful as the X connect store and forward method that is enabled with KNXCON ON A properly configured KaNODE will respond as a Wild Node when you connect to
59. an manually enter the remote operator name using AIt N and QTH using Alt Q Notice if you connect to a user of our software the Name QTH and logbook entry will be handled automatically Also if you have one of the callsign databases supported by GOLD the data will appear automatically See page 75 for more about calloook support Sending Text in a Session As you type your QSO text don t worry about hitting the Enter key the program automatically does word wrap just like a word processor splitting lines between words when appropriate If JUSTIFICATION is on in the Zoom menu Alt Z the program will also insert spaces to justify 48 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating your outgoing text Packet mode only Like using a word processor program you only hit the Enter key at the end of a thought or paragraph or to force immediate transmission of a partial sentence You can set the right margin with Alt J up to column 80 The default setting is 0 which uses column 72 for VHF and HF packet mode and 68 in all non packet modes To see text that has scrolled off the visible portion of a screen use the Up arrow cursor key or PgUp Return to the bottom of the window using Dn or PgDn or just switch to another session and back again Also try Ctrl PgUp go get to the beginning of the text and Ctrl PgDn to get to the end of the text Check the Network Screen with F2 and return to the session screen with F4
60. anner defaults to transmit buffer but can be changed by other settings such as Shift F4 or Alt Z Screen Settings Alt Z Many screen related options can be toggled on or off on the Alt Z menu Press Alt Z move the cursor to one of the options or type the first letter of the choice and push Enter to toggle the setting Use Esc if you do not want to make a change The AIt Z options include Sound 43 line screen 50 line screen Justification Zoom Watch for CQ Screen Blanker Junk filter Process Monitor Monitor other port Merge monitor ports Auto Conference Remote Commands Sound means morse announcements and other beeps The number of screen lines can be set to 43 50 or 25 To return to 25 line mode set both 43 and 50 to OFF Justification is a packet mode related item and when ON text is justified left and right margins align Zoom means show the session as large as possible when ON or allow split screen when off Watch for CQ will send CQ in Morse when a packet station sends a frame to CQ Screen blanker is self evident and is used to avoid burning an image into your screen Junk filter will remove monitored frames from the network view screen packet only if they are mostly non printable Process Monitor is for Kantronics TNCs only and it is used to rearrange the Monitored headers to make them more readable Monitor other port and Merge monitors are dual port unit settings Experiment with these set
61. axed timing sessions Be sure ARQBBS Kantronics TNCs or TMAIL AEA tncs is OFF If it is on your attempts at FEC or ARQ will be unsuccessful The ARQ mode maildrop must be turned OFF in order to operate your tnc in non maildrop mode This is the end of the user manual but it is not the end of the program documentation Many times you have seen reference to the on line help system because it contains information that is not in this user manual especially when it comes to TNC specific things such as parameters and what they do The InterFlex Systems BBS system is another source for additional documentation and ideas about running the program Even if you do not have access to a telephone modem you can probably find someone running PKGOLD or KaGOLD that does and ask them if they have called the BBS and asked questions or downloaded files Other users have been very helpful to new GOLD users and hopefully when you get an opportunity to be helpful to a new digital mode enthusiast you will help them too The manual has lumped all of the broadcast modes together because the program operation is the same for RTTY Baudot as it is for ASCII and for the FEC modes of Amtor Pactor and Gtor Even Morse or CW operation is handled similarly The same is true of ARQ the linked operation in the three TOR modes described Amtor Pactor and G TOR They all operate pretty much the same way so are discussed together in a single chapter 12
62. by disconnecting If you initiate a file transfer to a station that is not running a compatible program you will have to disconnect to cancel the transfer The fastest way to stop a transfer is to use AIt F7 then select emergency disconnect This will stop the transfer and put your station into the disconnected mode 55 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating Transfer Protocols Supported GOLD has a proprietary file transfer protocol that allows unattended file transferring and simultaneous QSOs on the same session YAPP a more generally available protocol is also supported allowing files to be transferred to and from BBS systems and other users that support the YAPP protocol GOLD also supports a raw binary mode for sending or receiving bytes of data exactly as they appear in a file on your system What follows is a description of the method of file transfers using the internal proprietary protocol Those wishing to do YAPP transfers or raw binary transfers should read this section first and then read about these other methods File Transfer Impact on the Channel Use good judgment when sending or requesting a file as the transfer protocol sends 8 bit binary and some stations may be monitoring the channel and find their screens completely messed up by your file If a station is using Procomm for example the file you send or receive may contain a sequence of characters that looks like an ANSI screen command to change col
63. can assure that the disk files are readable on your disk drive and that you have an archival copy of the 5 InterFlex Systems Software Installation files in case you damage the disk You can copy the files from a 5 25 disk to a 3 5 disk or vice versa if necessary If you have two disk drives is to put the release disk in A and a blank disk in B and type COPY A B If you are not familiar with DOS ask a friend or consult your DOS manual about how to copy files We don t write anything to your diskette so put a write protect on your 5 25 disk or slide the plastic tab on the 3 5 disk to expose the square hole Insert Disk then type Install Put the program disk or disk 1 if a 2 disk install into a disk drive then from that drive type INSTALL If the installer loads and things seem to be going smoothly skip the following note Note the installer requires about 450K of RAM memory to run so if you run a menu program you may need to exit the menu program and return to DOS to run the installer The installer presents a screen telling you about the program Read the screen and hit Enter to continue Use Enter to take defaults unless you have a reason to override the them Follow the on screen instructions Enter your Registration Number s Look on the DISK label or on the mailing label or on some other document for a user registration number If you bought the program from a retailer look on the packagin
64. can be coded as 11111001 a B dash dit dit dit as 11101000 and so forth The secret to the coding is to begin each letter as unknown byte or 11111110 The decoding of each new incoming morse character begins with this byte initial byte The decoder uses the time of each burst to separate dits from dashes Dits are coded as Os and dashes as 1s There are just two issues remaining 1 how to add a new bit to the initial byte and 2 how to convert the result into a printed character To enter a dit or dash shift the byte left by 1 bit then set the rightmost bit to the decoded dit 0 or dash 1 value When a period of quiet time comes along this is the end of the morse character This scheme will generate a unique byte for every morse code sequence Now it is a simple matter to use this byte to access an array of letters and numbers representing the printed character To send a morse character using this scheme take the printed character and find the associated morse code byte Then shift the morse code bits left until the first O bit is found This is the start morse character bit Then for the remaining bits send a short burst for each 0 and a long burst for each 1 until you get to the end of the byte WA4EGT designed and hand assembled a morse code and baudot decoder in 1978 using a 6502 computer with 1 K of RAM memory using this technique Note This scheme shows how each character in the signaling set can be
65. connect requests can include digipeaters and in node aliases for working through nodes using the automatic node hopping feature Creating a TNC file Any ASCII editor can be used to create a TNC file You can use the F5 edit clipboard feature to do it Enter your commands then Alt X to 23 InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation save to the clipboard then Write to disk file giving the file a name ending with the tnc extension such as NET TNC Editing a TNC file While in GOLD you can use Alt S then TNC files to show a list of existing TNC files to edit As you make changes they are verified against the tnc Commands in error will show the error If you put an asterisk in front of a line it will be considered a comment line Push F1 once while in the TNC editor for help on inserting and deleting lines Push F1 twice while on a line with a parameter at the beginning for help on that parameter While in the setup area changes to TNC files are checked to be sure they will work but tnc settings don t get changed until the tnc file is loaded This is a TNC file editor not a tnc editor When changes don t stay changed Many times you will change a parameter such as CTEXT or PERSIST and the next time you run the program it seems to be set back to where it was This is easily explained Each time you run GOLD the program loads and processes a tnc files called STARTUP TNC If CTEXT is referred to
66. d Capture capabilities The program opens a file and sends or receives bytes directly without modifidation On receive the program opens a file and takes bytes 58 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating directly as received and puts them into a file This is the meaning of Raw when discussing this transfer approach You can send a command while in the receive mode which is useful when you want to turn on raw capture and then signal to the remote station to start sending Raw Send Receive also work in non packet modes The TNC may modify data sent or received in non packet modes due to the settings of EOL parameters that is end of line processing Use the help system to learn more about EOL by typing EOL F1 If you have CRADD ON or LFADD ON and the TNC sees a CR it may add another CR Carriage Return character and or a LF Linefeed character depending on the settings of these and other settings GOLD runs in Transparent mode and to date transparency has been honored by most ROM releases thus raw send and receive remain possible in Packet and Pactor amp G TOR modes On the receive side the TNC can also affect what is captured based on modifying incoming lines with such things as ALFRTTY Automatic Linefeed on RTTY or ACRDISP Add a CR after so many characters have been sent to the display In order to receive RTTY pictures for example all EOL processing must be turned OFF To Send a RTTY picture all outgoing charact
67. d by hardware conflicts See above but most often they are the result of other software running at the same time 114 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting Screen blanking programs are TSRs Terminate and Stay Resident that attach themselves to the keyboard interrupt which is how they unblank the screen the timer interrupt which is how they know when to blank the screen and they typically shut off all interrupts including serial interrupts when they remove and restore the screen They also wait for an opportunity to do their blanking and unblanking Many serial characters can be lost while the screen blanker does it s thing and holds off interrupts in the process PKGOLD and KaGOLD have built in screen blankers that avoid losing serial characters Some ROM BIOS interrupt routines are slow and cause serial interrupt problems leading to serial errors EMS memory manager programs disk caching programs and others all contribute to serial errors due to timing problems While most programs are unaffected by these problems serial communications programs cannot tolerate missed characters and retain an error free exchange with the tnc Solving Serial Overrun Errors The single most important addition to any computer system running a multitude of programs drivers and resident programs is a replacement for the serial chip on their serial cards or a new serial card with this new part A 16550A UART chip This is a pin compatible r
68. de and finally to the radio port on that distant node This is a classic wormhole Single Port Nodes A routes list with 0 for the ports indicates a single port node that does not have direct connectivity to a backbone All internode traffic will occur on the user frequency Basically this is not the way nodes should be setup but some people do install single port nodes They help a little but dual port nodes are superior for many reasons Use the nodes and routes command to explore the network If you ask for a nodes list try connecting to one of the aliases in the list that looks interesting Instead of using up your current connect to your local node try using the GOLD multiple sessions approach If the local node is NIGUEL and the distant node is LAS do the following NIGUEL LAS F7 The vertical or bar between the node names is found above the backslash key on most keyboards It looks like two small vertical bars one above the other You can also use the backslash This 69 InterFlex Systems Using Network Nodes command tells the software to establish a connect with NIGUEL n and then to LAS While the program is off doing that you can return to the first node session with the F4 key and look for another node to explore If you found another node such as NYC you could ask for a connect there too as follows NIGUEL NYC F7 note the use of You may be wondering how it is possible to have multipl
69. e redundancy If you run Smartdrv be sure buffers is 3 not larger To solve port or interrupt conflicts or to test other serial ports you may want to alter the port and IRQ used by the software To set a non standard IRQ such as COMS3 using IRQ 5 you can run the program with the S option to take you directly into the setup area Select Setup then Communications and either choose Other and set the base address and IRQ or select Search for TNC and let the software find non standard interrupt settings The program searches for IRQ 2 3 4 5 and 7 Other IRQs must be set manually in the OTHER serial port setting area Serial Port Checking The program COMTEST is available from InterFlex Systems It may be included with your program If you run this program it will tell you the serial ports you have and the IRQ settings for those ports as well as indicate whether the UART is of the 8250 16450 type single character buffer or of the 16550 type that supports buffered serial up to 16 character buffer Run COMTEST as follows COMTEST base address X If you include a base address of some non standard port the program will search the standard addresses then look at the address you specify If you add the X switch the program searches Extended AT IRQs that can be used on some machines This is less serious than a hard lockup The program may continue to operate but it is not an ideal situation Serial errors can be cause
70. e 3 bits allow frame numbers to range from 0 to 7 The largest setting allowed for the tnc parameter Maxframe 7 is related to these frame numbers The protocol identification PID section of the frame tells what kind it is Normal link layer frames have one PID F0 Frames between nodes may use another PID e g CF The TNCs have commands to suppress frames that are not the Normal type AEA uses MPROTO and Kantronics calls the command PID Lookup the meaning of these and notice they are related to the protocol ID of the packet mode frames The address fields in packet allow for a source callsign destination callsign and several intermediate callsigns or digipeaters which are stations that will repeat packets if they recognize their own address as being the next one to repeat a packet Packet radio has the following advantages over other digital modes 1 Multiple stations can share the same frequency This allows for networking of stations chat nodes and multi way QSOs 2 Stations are linked in a balanced mode allowing either station to send data at any time There is no need to provide for a link changeover it is not necessary 3 All data is transported error free due to the protocol 4 Any kind of data can be sent including zip files word processing files GIF images etc 33 InterFlex Systems Digital Operating Modes 5 The protocol is part of a networking model which promotes the networking o
71. e in the area then press F7 the connect key The program will pick an available TNC channel and request a connect The banner may show Connect in Progress and if it takes more than one attempt you will see the number of tries as it establishes a connect When the link is established the status will change to Connected and then begin displaying other tnc status remarks in the banner A message may pop up and the program will send the station callsign in Morse code through the PC speaker or sound board unless you disabled sound on the Alt Z menu If you don t know any stations to connect with keep reading and let your TNC listen for you Soon you will see some callsigns appear Callsigns marked with asterisks next to them are stations you can hear directly You may see stations with SSIDs which are the numbers after the callsign like WA4EGT 15 These may be nodes not the actual station itself Nodes will assume the callsign of a user of the node in order to establish connects on behalf of the user Thus you may not be able to connect to every callsign you see with an asterisk only those that are real stations and not assumed callsigns of a local node Connected to a Gold User Once connected you may send a greeting If you see the word GOLD user appear in the lower right corner of the banner just wait the remote operator s Name and QTH should arrive at your station momentarily Otherwise you c
72. e sessions all going through one node GOLD software handles this for you if you let it You will see that each time you use the or bar approach to working through the node the program makes the first connect to the node alias followed by a number or ssid It will use a number from 6 to 15 to make its connection to your entry node NET ROM allows even encourages the alias to take connect requests to any of the possible ssid numbers from 1 to 15 and to the alias without an ssid or really ssid 0 If you wish to manually connect to the node more than once use ssid numbers between 1 and 5 such as NIGUEL 2 F7 Note Some node owners defeat the multiple connect capability of their nodes by using lower case letters for the node name or not having an alias defined or by some other means This is typically the case for node operators who are unfamiliar with networking or who have a need to limit usage of the resource to just one connect per person In some cases it is a built in limitation of the node software such as AEA s gateway which does not support aliases with ssid s Routes to Distant Nodes A variant of the NODE command is to add an alias or callsign with ssid to the node If you don t know the alias of the node using a callsign will still produce a report that tells you the node alias The most useful purpose of this command is to show alternative routes to get to the node in question Asking NIGUEL node how to
73. e sessions function Session text will be saved in the Monitor directory under each callsign Using the Clipboard to save text Push F5 to bring up the clipboard menu The important menu items for text selection and saving are as follows 53 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating Select Block a block of text Select Lines individual lines Write to text file Save clipboard Zap clipboard contents empty it Quit keep clipboard contents Note If the clipboard is not empty it has more than 0 characters you might want to hit Z to zap or empty it before grabbing new text Select Block produces an inverted video cursor on the screen Move it to the first line of text you wish to grab push the End key to mark one end of the block move to the other end of the block you want to copy push End again The Clipboard menu reappears You can use Select Lines to pick out specific lines from the screen In this case the Ins key highlights one line at a time Use the Ins key to continue adding text Using the cursor keys skips lines End the Select Lines process using Esc The clipboard menu pops up again allowing you to edit the clipboard write to a file or quit retaining the text in the clipboard area Sending Clipboard Text F5 Traffic handling and even routine QSOs often involve sending text received in one QSO or mode to another or posting the text into your BBS as a message Ca
74. e station may be sending multiple frames in a single burst Setting this parameter to ON is useful in full duplex environments such as operating through OSCAR in which case your TNC can both transmit and receive simultaneously which eliminates the concern for packets crashing into each other On noisy channels if both stations set MAXFRAME to 1 and FULLDUP ON the stations will send packets regardless of other channel activity This is very aggressive but if the noise is not other stations but a carrier nearby or some other source that will not be interfered you can really push the packets through just about any noisy environment using FULLDUP ON It is NOT a recommended procedure and definitely not a good idea on a crowded frequency PACLEN Must be 150 or more for GOLD file transfers may be set shorter otherwise When operating HF packet the slower baud rate 300 vs 1200 for VHF means it takes 4 times longer to send the same number of characters To keep your transmissions to about 1 or 2 seconds at 30 characters per second given 300 baud you may want to set paclen from 30 to 60 characters in length Hardware conflicts cause lockups RF getting into the serial port the keyboard or the computer memory causes lockups and sluggish 112 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting operation The message Internal Stack Failure is one of the many RF problems caused by RF getting into your computer If you have lockups when you tran
75. ee page 17 for more macro strings Hint To see the settings of the Alt n messages for the current mode of operation use Alt hyphen where hyphen is the dash to the right of Alt 0 on the keyboard Alt 0 is a special Alttn message that can be sent whenever a station connects It defaults to sending Alt 0 It is also possible to send a file called CONNECT BRG when a station connects See page 89 Bell Char Treatment defaults to one beep per bell as it would in any other program You can also select to ignore BELL characters to ignore multiple BELL characters or to create a unique sound siren telephone ringer etc for 1 2 3 and 4 BELL characters Tab Char Treatment can be shown as the equivalent IBM graphic character or expanded to the nearest position that falls on a multiple of 8 characters this is a standard default The program expands tabs by default Received text prefix for data saved to disk This can be a very useful setting especially when used with the next setting Transmitted text prefix for data saved to disk You might consider setting these to lt for received text and gt for transmitted text Later when reading a QSO it will be clear what was received and what was transmitted Received and Transmitted text prefix for text sent to the printer Here you might use printer escape sequences to produce emphasized print for received data and normal print for transmitted data 103 InterFlex Syste
76. en though the initialization seems to have failed Also try turning off the TNC and turning it back on again This performs a soft reboot of the TNC Then rerun the program 109 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting When you start the program turn down the radio volume to avoid having the TNC decode packets while you are attempting to configure it Normally this is not required but if your are having trouble turn down the radio audio Host mode uses Hardware Handshaking while CMD mode does not The cable between the TNC and Computer must have pins 2 3 4 5 6 7 20 wired For CMD mode programs only 2 3 7 need to be wired If you have a switchbox is it set correctly for the serial port and try again Command mode programs do not require hardware handshaking and may work on an incomplete cable no handshaking lines For a 25 pin connector a full cable would have pins 1 through 8 and 20 wired We use commercially fabricated straight through modem cables to run our TNCs on single function serial ports Caution Some Laptop computers use a 25 pin dual purpose port for their serial interface On these ports more pins are wired than are necessary for serial communications A problem may arise because on Kantronics units pin 25 has 12 volts DC coming from the TNC and some AEA TNCs have printer output signals on unused serial pins in the 25 pin cable Do not wire a straight through cable to a laptop with a dual purpose port If yo
77. en highlighting or navigating to RESET and pushing Enter As an alternative to modifying RESET TNC You can create a TNC file called with your callsign such as WA4EGT TNC in which you put all your favorite settings Whenever you wish just hit F10 and type the first few letters of your callsign and soon the pick list will be pointing to your TNC file Now hit Enter to load all parameters You can run GOLD software in Windows and Desqview and OS 2 It is multi tasking aware and behaves well in such an environment We will discuss the Windows environment and users with Desqview and OS 2 can adapt the ideas to those environments Changes in Control Panel Ports Bring up the Windows Control Panel and then select Ports For each COM port If the Flow Control is XON XOFF you should change it to Hardware Using XON and XOFF characters to control data flow will not work on most devices you will use in Windows including TNCs which use Hardware handshaking while running in HOST mode 117 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting Control Panel Ports select a port and then Settings Set Flow Control to Hardware for each port see below Baud Rate 9600 Data Bits s H Parity None Stop Bits ho H Flow Control Hardware Note Windows defaults to Xon Xoff Flow Control which is guaranteed to fail for all software that supports binary data transfer Hardware Flow Control is required for TNCs in
78. engineered 30 InterFlex Systems Digital Operating Modes by others Kantronics has a license and as a result the KAM adheres closely to the protocol as defined by the developers This mode is not yet formally recognized by the FCC but it does improve computer to computer communications and probably falls under that part of the rules Pactor is gaining popularity because of it s advantages over AMTOR which in turn is better than RTTY Like AMTOR it has two sub modes FEC and ARQ Here are some of the advantages 1 Pactor uses regular callsigns rather than AMTOR selcals This reduces confusion and makes it easier to operate 1 Pactor uses an 8 bit code which means it can send and receive any IBM graphic character and send receive binary files such as EXE ZIP etc files without any additional special translations This also means that upper and lower case characters are easily handled 1 Pactor operates at two baud rates 100 and 200 depending on band conditions The rate increases when the receiving station is hearing frames without errors and slows down when errors occur 1 It uses a memory scheme known as Memory ARQ that sums up incoming frames that are received in error and by a technique of averaging attempts to create a good frame out of several bad frames This reduces the number of automatic requests improving speed 1 Real time data compression is supported known as Huffman coding This speeds up data th
79. eplacement for a 16450 or 8250 UART that are used with most AT and XT systems This 16550A UART has on board character buffer that can handle up to 16 characters before a serial overrun error occurs Both Windows and our software PKGOLD or KaGOLD support the 16550A as do many other advanced programs Variants of the 16550A include dual quad Com port versions If you cannot decode signals or cannot communicate with other stations it is often due to poorly adjusted TX or RX levels Too much audio causes distortion and too little audio is also difficult to decode Use the Calibrate command below for setting TX audio levels Receiver RX Volume On a VHF receiver open the squelch control all the way so that you produce open squelch noise on the speaker terminals You can tell that noise or sound is being heard by observing the DCD light on your TNC or other LEDs that indicate the presence of noise or carrier Set the volume just above the level required to turn on the DCD or Data Carrier Detect led Now turn the squelch control until the DCD light goes out 115 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting On HF the receive audio level must be sufficient to light the display Mark Space LED indicator but not much beyond that Transmit TX Level Listen to your station while adjusting the transmit volume level You can produce a signal by going to the Netview screen hitting Alt U for Unproto operati
80. er modification must be disabled as well Sending and receiving RTTY pictures are perhaps the only environment in which EOL processing needs to be overridden These pictures use overstriking and long lines to produce pictures which are at best useful only with impact printers Laser printers and standard displays are of no use in displaying overstriking But it is possible to capture and send such pictures with the RAW send and capture functions on the F6 menu Note You can send Binary files in packet and in Pactor with this method and it is the way to send and receive ANSI picture files Several stations wishing to communicate as a group can use the GOLD conference mode It is worth trying at least once to see what can be done with a group of stations Any station may be added to a conference but avoid network nodes and BBS stations These will create nonsense responses to incoming conference text and cause unnecessary interference You can work THROUGH a node to a conference member that s fine just avoid conferencing a BBS or node directly 59 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating Note A conference is considered a new session and as such all of the text from each conferenced station is moved to the previous sessions area If you need to go back and look at text that was on the session screen prior to the conference use the F3 key Automatic Conference Node Push Alt Z and move the cursor to Auto Conference then
81. ers There are many pages of useful information in the help system For example look at the Help Index section about Packet Monitoring and use PgDn to look at ALL of the pages Check out TNC Installation for information on setting levels and calibrating the tones A group of TNC settings or commands stored in a file and readily accessed is called a tnc file The group is loaded into the tnc using the cmd key or F10 key In GOLD such files are stored in the TNCFILES subdirectory on Version 9 and all have the extension tnc for easy identification The rules for setting up a TNC file are simple e Blank lines are ignored use them to make your files readable e Lines starting with an asterisk are ignored use them for comments e Leading blank characters are ignored use them for readability e TNC commands are followed by settings e Text strings all must fit on a single line Why use TNC files On some tncs you may wish to set several parameters as a group One of the most useful TNC files you can create is one that has all of your identification data in it For example WA4EGT has a file called 22 InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation WA4EGT TNC and in it are a collection of ID parameters maildrop settings and node settings Here is an example TNC file for WA4EGT MYcall WA4EGT There are several other callsigns you MYAlias LNODIG might want to set including myautost MYNode LNONO
82. es type RESET if an AEA TNC or RESTORE D if Kantronics to reset the TNC to default settings You may have to hit an ASTERISK to autobaud the TNC to the terminal baud rate Then Alt F3 to exit direct terminal and DONE to return to DOS Try the program now If you cannot get to a CMD prompt get to the TERMINAL mode see above and turn off the TNC and turn it on do you see any characters or anything appear If so the port is right if not the serial hardware or 116 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting cable is not working Try resetting the TNC check the cables If this doesn t work try a different serial port using Search for TNC setting as your COM port RESET TNC file After a reset or when the program resets your TNC it loads the contents of RESET TNC prior to loading STARTUP TNC This is useful to avoid having to reenter your callsign maildrop name aliases and other favorite settings every time you start the program and do it only when you have reset the TNC To avoid needing a RESET put the batteries in the PK 232 to help retain information Second edit the RESET TNC file it s an ASCII text file and add commands to set your callsigns such as this Contents of RESET TNC for WA4EGT existing contents MYCALL WA4EGT MYALIAS LNODIG MYPBBS WA4EGT 1 and so on for other settings Remember RESET TNC is used when the TNC is actually reset and can be loaded manually if you wish using F10 th
83. es are all han dled dynamically with memory used as it is needed and returned to the system when appropriate No other digital mode program offers this transparent and fully automatic management of your system s multi connect scrollback memory Vlulti Connect The software also makes it easy to handle multiple sessions During packet mode operation you can ignore the details of which session is on which channel or stream The program does this for you SO you can quickly become adept at handling multiple packet QSOs without the confusion you may have experienced with other software The idea is simple as text from another station arrives the software gives you a signal that another session needs attention and provides you with a single keystroke F4 to switch to that session It also saves the current text you may be typing saves the QSO screen and pops in place the new screen for you You can also switch from session to session manually using F4 or go directly to a particular QSO using Ctrl Fn keys The easiest approach is to let the software be your guide and do things automatically Starting new sessions is also easy type a callsign and push F7 the connect key And for text handling no other program offers the huge scroll back buffer sizes and automatic session management capabilities of GOLD software Auto Recognition The automatic exchange of station information name qth and other information in packet mode with ot
84. ess as a single parameter string as though typed at the DOS command prompt Note The at sign is similar to the percent sign used in DOS Batch files The 0 is the entire user string and the 1 through 9 are the individual words parsed out of the string in the 0 string CMD file functions Senddir path filespec This cmd file function will send the directory of the default upload path if no parameters are passed to it If you include a path the directory of the files in that path are sent to the user connected that issued a CMD filename with a SENDDIR Examples Senddir S MODS MOD Senddir S 1 79 InterFlex Systems Version 9 New Features The first example simply sends a directory of all files matching the MOD filespec Similar to the DOS directory command and how it proc esses this kind of filespec file specification The second Senddir takes the first parameter or the only one provided by the remote user and substitutes it for the 1 A remote user typing a command followed by mods IC will get all files that match S mods IC due to the substitution that follows the S in the above example Sendyapp path filename This command sends a filename using YAPP protocol The file name can be provided as hard coded or it can use the substituted parameter approach similar to the SENDDIR above Examples Sendyapp S mods ft990 mod Sendyapp s 1 The first example sends one file that
85. ession View When off the Network View screen in one of the other screens a small portion of the network view may be visible The number of lines in this small screen are selected in the setup area and also depends on the Alt Z menu setting 25 43 or 50 line mode You can temporarily assign text from another session to appear here using the Shift F4 key This is useful for packet cluster users on dual port TNCs who want to operate RTTY for example while keeping an eye on the activities on the packet cluster Push Shift F4 and pick another session to display 14 InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation The mini network assignment will end when you disconnect shut down or change the assignment with another Shift F4 Also the program will show the Network View when you are on the session assigned to appear above the banner The program will not show the same session above and below the banner as this would be a waste of resources Note If you do not see the mini network view screen above the banner while on a session use Alt Z and turn OFF the ZOOM state In Non packet modes text that has been sent to the TNC may appear in this area when it is titled Transmit Buffer In BAUDOT RTTY for example you can type ahead while off the air and your type ahead text will be released to the TNC and may appear in the screen above the banner which in this case will be the type ahead buffer contents What you see above the b
86. et command sets the modem for VHF packet Typically the default settings are best until you have some special reason to modify these See the AEA manual for details on Q commands Caution The PK 900 Mark and Space commands apply to the transmit tones but not to the receive tones according to the manual so changing these may produce unusual results DSP 2232 Modems Unlike the PK 900 the 2232 selects modems in Pairs The Q commands described above are also supported on the 2232 But most modems on the 2232 are single port only Very few support dual port operation For all single port modems you will operate on port 1 regardless of the radio plug being controlled This is consistent with operating the DSP 2232 with software that does not support dual port operation MODEM 28 9600 baud FSK K9NG G3RUH is for port 2 which really means radio plug 2 and is controlled from logical port 1 Reminder All single port modems regardless of the radio plug controlled are run that is operated from Logical Port 1 93 InterFlex Systems Understanding the TNC The PK 232 and PK 88 can use different tone pairs by selecting the VHF ON or OFF for packet The PK 232 uses WIDE ON or OFF for non packet modes to switch between 200 and 1000 Hz The PK 88 and PK 232 do not support 170 425 or 850 Hz shift KPC or Kantronics Packet Communicator tncs operate in 1200 baud 1000 Hz shift mode compatible with other 1200 baud Vhf packet K
87. et MFROM N Yourcall or have them set MFILTER to eliminate the Esc character the Bell character and the Formfeed character The command would be MFILTER 1B 7 C You can use the YAPP protocol to transfer files Starting with version 9 YAPP is also restartable using YAPP C Most Yapp transfers require the sender or receiver to be in attendance Some BBS systems will send and receive files with YAPP On a BBS a request for a file might look like this DB YAPP BINARY THISFILE ZIP This means Download Binary using YAPP from the BINARY directory a file named THISFILE ZIP The BBS will respond by sending Begin your YAPP transfer or some similar language At this point hit the F6 key and select the option to receive a YAPP file transfer To Send a file using YAPP tell the BBS you want to upload a file The command looks like the download command except that the DB is changed to UB for Upload Binary After you send the command the BBS may send Begin your YAPP transfer You can hit F6 select the option to send a YAPP file then use the file selection mask or specify a file name for transmission During a YAPP transfer no other activity can take place on that session You can however use your other connect screens to carry on with your other activities YAPP users and others are unable to do anything else during a file transfer but as a GOLD user you do not face this limitation The transfer menu has a Raw send an
88. etitor for best HF mode Unfortunately it is not presently operated as a two station linked mode on HF but you may be one of the users who will experiment with this approach More on this topic later Meanwhile let s go through more on packet operation picking up where we left off in the previous chapters The advantages of packet radio are also the source of problems when users do not understand how a shared frequency should operate Impatient users often set parameters that dominate a frequency causing other users to respond with equally or more aggressive station and tnc parameters with the eventual result that nobody gets any data through and the frequency is trashed 43 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating Running high power putting digipeaters or nodes at high elevations and Dxing on VHF packet take what should be a cellular network concept and try to make it into a wide area coverage system with a single or few nodes Packet should be though of more like mobile telephones working through relatively short range cell sites interconnected on high capacity backbones which is what makes cellular telephones work You will hear more enlightened packet users talking about cellular concept backbones connectivity of nodes wormholes nodes connected by satellite or telephone links user frequencies etc all in an effort to improve the Local Area network concept of packet You will quickly see other users doing what th
89. eturned to often When USOS is ON the number sequence 1432 4434 5523 1234 for example must be sent with a FIGS shift in front of just the first number or in front of every number group In 1980 the FCC added ASCII a 7 bit word system to the list of permitted modes Now amateurs could send upper and lower case characters over the air without resorting to the FIGS and LTRS shift in Baudot Further 128 unique combinations exist whereas even with 29 InterFlex Systems Digital Operating Modes LTRS and FIGS shift BAUDOT only has less than 1 2 the character combinations of ASCII Unfortunately ASCII never really caught on due in part to the high error rates that occur at higher baud rates typically associated with ASCII At 110 baud errors are commonplace on all but the best signals ASCII at lower baud rates should work better but few amateurs seem to make much use of this mode The signaling techniques of baudot rtty using mark and space tones start bits stop bits and individual bit encoding based on mark or space tones are the same in ASCII AMTOR Improvements to this original teleprinter system came in the form of ship to ship and ship to shore systems based on TOR or Teletype Over Radio the commercial version known as SITOR The amateur radio version AMTOR was tested in 1982 and added to the FCC regulations in January 1983 as a permissible operating mode The improvement over existing Radio Teletype RTTY is evident to an
90. ey think will work with beam antennas power amplifiers and hot tnc parameters Watch the network view screen and be sure to watch your own transmissions as well to assess the impact your station is having on the other users of the frequency This is responsible packet operation MXMIT This command allows monitoring transmitted data You can watch a packet session get started see how data is sent and acknowledged and how the session is disconnected Not all TNCs support the MXMIT command but if yours does set MXMIT ON With MXMIT on you should have a fairly complete picture of what your station can hear including your own packets MONITOR is a parameter on both AEA and Kantronics TNCs Type the parameter name and push F1 for help on how your tnc uses this command On the AEA tncs MONITOR 6 is the highest degree of monitoring On Kantronics MONITOR ON is the master switch and other monitor settings need to be enabled as well The Help system has a lot of information about getting the most out of the monitor settings A related command is MCON or Monitor While Connected and it too should be ON during normal program operation PASSALL is another setting that will let your station print or show frames that do not have good frame check values that is were received in error Normally PASSALL should be OFF but if you are hearing weak stations or want to print more things set PASSALL ON Note this defeates the MH
91. f nodes mail forwarding and complex interconnections of frequencies even the mixing of modes on the air stations mixed with telephone links satellite links etc often referred to as wormholes In the late 1970s amateur radio packet began with on the air usage In the early 1980s more developments and testing of various packet protocols were done including HF packet and bulletin boards By 1984 the AX 25 protocol version 2 was developed and approved by the ARRL Since then packet has seen growth in numbers and in capabilities including network nodes of all sorts several kinds of BBS systems bulletin board systems even internetwork nodes bridging the AX 25 packet world with more conventional wire network TCP IP Other protocols are in use including the Datagram that is used by TCP IP stations running NOS or NET Addressing is contained in every packet and KISS mode Keep It Simple Stupid is used and these are both sources of problems and inefficiency In addition the user interface is weak and complicated and the need to leave computers on all the time to maintain station visibility is another disadvantage KISS mode creates unnecessary duplicate frames but one answer for improved performance is to operate at higher baud rates But even at high baud rates other problems persist Most important for owners of multimode TNCs NOS does not support other non packet modes nor mixed mode operation And even on packet it offers no
92. following command NODE AB6CD 2 NIGUEL N6WIK 10 Routes to LN220 AB6CD 2 255 5 1 AB6CD 2 68 InterFlex Systems Using Network Nodes Notice that the Node command followed by a callsign gives the alias of the callsign as well as referring to a route You can use the nodes command to inquire about routes to any of the entries in the node list Think of the NODE CALLSIGN command as requesting information about the node such as its alias and how to get to it Dual Port Nodes The way a node gets access to a second frequency is very interesting The 2 meter node transmitter is tied to a TNC in this case a TNC 2 running NET ROM The TNC serial port is cabled to second TNC serial port This second tnc is running NET ROM and its radio port is on a different frequency This is a dual port node It has a wire link between the TNCs and radios on different bands typically one on a user frequency 2 meters and one on a backbone frequency 220 Mhz A user connects to a 2 meter port and by using the node can send packets across the serial link to the other port and come out on the backbone Net Rom and other nodes know how to talk to each other both on the air and on wires Dual Port nodes can tie one city to another across a phone line also known as a wormhole Simply hook he RS232 cable side of one node to a modem that is talking to another modem across the country and thus to the serial port on the distant no
93. ft remains 1000 Hz Amateur radio Rtty Baudot RBAUD is typically 45 or 75 AMTOR calls for 100 baud and is not adjustable Pactor and Gtor change baud rates but the changes are handled automatically based on band conditions CWSPEED on the KAM or MSPEED on the AEA tncs sets the Morse code speed Mark Space LEDS On HF where tuning affects the received mark and space tones it is very helpful to use a tuning indicator when setting the receive frequency The KAM uses green LEDS the PK 232 uses red LEDS and the DSP 2232 and PK 900 use LCDs Whatever tnc you use on HF the trick is to tune an incoming signal so that a mark tone appears as a lit mark led or Icd and a space tone appears as a lit space led or Icd Note If you have selected the wrong Mark Space tones the tuning will be very difficult as will agreeing on frequencies with other users IF Shift Using a 2110 2310 mark and space tone the tones are fairly high pitched relative to voice The typical SSB radio is peaked for audio signals at approximately 1500 Hz well below the 2110 2310 pair Using the IF Shift control on your radio you can slide the IF passband around to favor passing the higher pitched tones It is easy to hear the affect simply tune the IF shift and listen If the pitch of the noise level goes up you are tuning in the right direction On the Kenwood TS 430 and on the Yaesu FT 990 setting the IF shift fully Counter Clockwise on 95 I
94. g Iwho Display a list of Who is connected and what conferences are in progress if any with letter identifiers You can JOIN any conference Outside of the conference a user typing who can access a WHO CMD file to perform a similar function The file might look as follows who cmd contents or name it USERS CMD At Time SENDWHO Understand that the Awho command issued by a station in conference will be processed by the internal who command parser and will list only the connected stations Outside of the 81 InterFlex Systems Version 9 New Features conference the same who command is processed by the CMD file processor using the SENDWHO tnc pseudo command You can issue SENDWHO locally as you can with any TNC or Pseudo TNC command type it and push F10 name yourname A conference member may fill in his her name or change his her name that is associated with the callsign Join lt conference letter gt This causes the station to be joined into a conference or to create a conference with the letter chosen lt callsign gt lt text to send to callsign gt Send a string of text directory to the callsign typed out Callsign must include the station s SSID if that is how it appears in the conference Off Exit from the conference but remain connected to the station Useful to issue other remote commands get files etc Here is another conference command that can have a counterpar
95. g QSO is a Qso counter QSO is also a pseudo TNC command so you can type QSO F10 to see the current setting or setting for each port on a dual port TNC BANDQSO is a counter for each band on a dual port TNC Use either QSO or BANDQSO for your qso counting Basically this is intended to be set to 0 at the start of a contest and will increment each time it is used not just on each QSO If you determine that a station is unique not a duplicate use the Alt n message that contains QSO to increment the counter and report the value to the other station 17 InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation Every contact that is on an active session can be logged easily Remember an active session is one with a callsign in the banner The callsign can get there automatically in Packet Pactor Gtor or manually RTTY Morse or is entered when you enter a callsign and push F7 in all TOR modes and Packet In all broadcast modes you will enter callsigns manually Other data such as Name and QTH can be entered manually or read from a callsign database see the chapter on Version 9 features Start Stop Logging Alt C Entering a callsign whether manually or if it is done automatically begins the logging operation for that callsign recording the date and time of the session in all modes if enabled in the setup menu area Entering a blank callsign ends logging f the external logging is turned on in the setup menu area under logging
96. g for instructions to obtain a registration number Type in the first registration number carefully and hit Enter If you have additional numbers enter them as prompted The installer leaves you in the GOLD subdirectory If you switched to a different directory or rebooted the computer you need to change to the GOLD directory For example a PKGOLD user might type The subdirectory name is typically the same name as the program file name If you have KaGOLD the subdirectory should be called KAGOLD Like any DOS program you must be in the right subdirectory to run the program InterFlex Systems Software Installation Note Advanced DOS users can add the drive directory name to the PATH command in Autoexec bat DOS will use this path environment variable to find and load the program Access the Help System from DOS Run the program with the H switch to access the help system directly from DOS You don t need a TNC or Radio hooked up yet just start the program with the H switch For example a KaGOLD user would type KAGOLD H 2 A PkGOLD or dspGOLD user would type the program name followed by the H switch Navigate around the Help System then use ESC to back out of the help system and return to DOS Other command line switches are shown if you type after the program name Here is what you might see by typing KaGOLD Command line options 5 KaGOLD lt file gt lt options gt S_ set up configuration mode M_
97. g one of the two LISTEN modes GOLD will flip your TNC to standby if a call comes in to your station All ARQ modes operate the same way in GOLD software you establish and break links in the same way and you turn over the link in the same way Once you know how to operate one ARQ mode you will know how to operate the other ARQ modes From the standby mode of Pactor Amtor Gtor you can type in the remote station s linking callsign and push F7 In AMTOR this callsign is typically the station s 4 letter or 7 letter SELCAL In Pactor and Gtor it is typically just the station s callsign To cancel an ARQ request in progress Use AIt F7 followed by Enter There is more about the process of breaking an ARQ link later in this chapter If you type the remote station s callsign and push F7 an ARQ link will be started with the remote station In Pactor and Gtor using the callsign is expected in AMTOR a SELCAL is expected GOLD will automatically create a 4 letter or 7 letter selcal from a callsign Simply type WA4EGT F7 and in AMTOR ARQ the program will create the proper 4 letter SELCAL and begin an ARQ link with WEGT the expected SELCAL Quick connects are also supported Pushing F7 with no callsign or selcal will produce a list of stations in your Quick Connects list When you entered quick connects one of the parameters was the SELCAL and if in AMTOR GOLD will use this selcal Otherwise GOLD will begin an ARQ sessio
98. get to reno node might produce the following response nodes reno the command you type NIGUEL N6WIK 10 ROUTES TO RENO AAVEN 4 126 6 1 k7up 11 108 5 0 aa5aa 1 The listing is not the same as that produced by just the routes command In this output from the node the first number is a measure of quality of the route with 255 indicating a wire link and 192 being the best over the air quality The second number is a counter that 70 InterFlex Systems Using Network Nodes decrements each time the routes broadcast is missed If the second number reaches 0 the route is dropped from the routing table In this example k7up 11 has a higher value of both route quality and it has been heard recently its counter is 6 when the node is heard If you were to ask NIGUEL for a connect to reno it would choose to go through K7UP 11 If you want to force the route through the AA5AA station you can request a connect to aadaa 1 or better find out AA5AA 1 s alias using the node aad5aa 1 command and connect to that alias instead From there you would ask that node for a route to reno using the nodes reno command If you want to let the NIGUEL node decide which route to use to connect to RENO simply ask for a connect to RENO as follows C RENO Enter Note To send commands to nodes and BBSs use the Enter key because the text must be sent to the node or BBS for action not to your local TNC Remember F10 is for local com
99. grams If you run some other modem type program you can always pop the TNC out of HOST mode if applicable as described by the TNC supplier Typically this means sending three Control C characters to an AEA tnc or FEND Q FEND Alt 192 Q Alt 192 to a Kantronics tnc Note If you elect to exit in CMD mode the contents of shutdown tnc are sent followed by the contents of HOST2CMD TNC file This is important to remember and a good way to set special parameters when existing in CMD mode Name for Ports is asked if you have a Dual Port program Use the defaults On the KAM Port 1 is the VHF port and Port 2 is the DIN plug HF port On other units you may want to simply name the ports PORT1 and PORT2 Handshake during disk I O GOLD software uses overlays a technology for bringing in machine code only when needed Some systems turn off interrupts for more than one character time during disk accesses and EMS page frame changes that cause a serial errors 99 InterFlex Systems Using Setup GOLD knows when it access overlays and can handshake off the TNC during those times Some background TSRs including disk cache programs with delayed disk writes access the disk at unexpected times On most systems this causes no problems but some systems will also lose serial data during these accesses One solution is to use a 16550 UART chip a pin compatible replacement for the standard 16450 and 8250 UARTS on many serial cards Conside
100. h of existing TNCs and existing TOR operating modes This mode is based on a bit oriented frame or packet protocol called High level Data Link Control HDLC or Synchronous Data Link Control SDLC that developed in the 1970 s The International Standards Organization ISO adopted HDLC in 1979 as a standard Frames are of three basic types Information frames supervisory control frames 32 InterFlex Systems Digital Operating Modes and Unnumbered frames SDLC the IBM version very similar to HDLC but restricts the information portion of the frame to be integrals of 8 bits which makes it appear to be more of a byte oriented protocol 8 bits per byte As a bit not character oriented protocol DLC it is very much oriented toward bit oriented transmissions of which serial data synchronous or asynchronous is one An DLC frame has a flag part at the start and end of each packet an addressing area a control part that indicates what the frame is and a data part if applicable The frame also includes a frame check sequence or CRC to determine if the frame is error free Packet radio is based on this DLC frame with changes to the addressing portion to accommodate callsigns The protocol called AX 25 for Amateur X 25 is a link layer system for moving data from one node or address to another error free A frame in AX 25 Packet and in SDLC has a control field with two 3 bit counters to keep track of frame numbers Th
101. he command mode In GOLD type the parameter and push F10 SLOT F10 View current setting of SLOT The response will appear in a window and stay on the screen for the time period set under Screen Settings the item Popup window status display time which defaults to 5 seconds To change a TNC setting type the parameter name followed by a setting then F10 SLOT 30 F10 Change SLOT to 30 Parameter Groups Type DISPLAY F10 for a menu of parameter groups Pick the ID group and push Enter The program reads the current settings for several identification parameters from the TNC Use the cursor to move up and down through the list You can get help on the parameter on the same line as the cursor by pushing F1 twice Push ESC to return to the program Parameters in STARTUP TNC or SHUTDOWN TNC override any temporary settings you make while in the program because these files are loaded when the program is started and shut down respectively If you edit or change a parameter and it doesn t stick between runs it is probably being set in either the startup or shutdown tnc file Note a tnc file is a plain ASCII text file with one or more parameter settings The files have the extension tnc and are found in the tncfiles subdirectory Using F10 with nothing on the CMD Text line brings up a list of these tnc files Hit Enter to load the parameter settings in the selected file These file
102. her GOLD users which comes in handy when you work new stations You don t have to ask who they are or where they are it s done automatically Text Handling Another advanced feature is the automatic saving of QSO text to the F3 Previous Sessions screen After a packet session or after switching modes for multi mode TNCs QSO text is moved to a single screen called the Previous Sessions screen This feature allows you to have all of your prior QSOs in a single large buffer area You can print this screen to a printer and file to produce a complete record of your QSOs You can also use the F5 clipboard to InterFlex Systems Welcome to PKGOLD KaGOLD copy parts of the buffer to the clipboard and then write the copied text to a file to the printer or copy to another session This and other text operations are available on the F5 menu Non Packet support On multimode TNCs there are several features that make operating RTTY PACTOR AMTOR and MORSE simple and easy These include Alt F1 Robot CQ mode automatic logging Alt F6 Brag file support automatic generation of AMTOR SELCALS from ham callsigns when using the F7 Connect key approach You still have all of the advantages of the packet mode including huge scroll back buffers text handling printing and more Callbook support The software has built in support for four CD based callbooks Buckmaster AMsoft QRZ and SAM SAM is available as disk or CD Callbook da
103. hose It defaults to 4 letters You can override the selection by typing any SELCAL and when running AMTOR the quick connect list will begin an ARQ session with the selcal shown Tell the program to save the entry then back out of the setup area using multiple ESC characters Don t hit the ESC more than necessary or the program will insert an ESC character into the command line If it does clear the command line with Alt X or backspace over the extra characters Using Quick Connects With Quick Connects in the system you simply hit the connect key F7 with no callsign on the command entry line You will be presented with a Pick list of names and callsigns Move the cursor to the one you wart hit Enter and let the program do the work of connecting This is especially useful if the target station is several nodes away through a complex route or path The program will do the waiting and issue the connect requests for each subsequent node automatically A Local Line Feed can be invoked with the Control Enter key combination This is useful when you see text being split strangely on the screen One of the powerful features of this software is that it attempts to keep all incoming lines together by holding local line feeds until the remote sends a Line Feed If the remote station has his PACLEN set to less than the line length the software will do what it can to re attach the split lines onto a single readable line
104. ill run packet before running other modes even though the other modes are often easier to use But hopefully you read the other chapters even if packet is the only mode you plan to use On the other hand many of the features available in the Packet Mode are available in the other modes if your TNC supports multiple modes so you should read this chapter even if you don t plan to run packet mode We designed the software to make it easy to operate different modes without having to learn different keystrokes As a result ARQ modes work very much like packet mode as you will see Packet mode is unique because it supports multiple users on the same frequency promotes multiple connects or sessions and it allows the use of intermediate stations to help achieve connectivity to other stations Many software programs do not take advantage of these unique capabilities of packet mode but GOLD fully supports multiple sessions background file transfers conference mode quick connects through nodes and digipeaters and more Of all the digital modes packet is the most versatile even though it is often misunderstood especially on HF frequencies Multiple sessions and connectivity means many stations compete for time on the same frequency If packet were operated in a manner similar to AMTOR or Pactor with only two linked stations at a time sending short frames one at a time with lower baud rates it could prove to be a formidable comp
105. in STARTUP TNC then each time you run the program CTEXT will be set to the value in this startup file And when you shut down GOLD the SHUTDOWN TNC file is processed and it too may contain parameter settings that override the ones you may have set If you exit GOLD in CMD mode a third TNC file is automatically used after shutdown tnc and this one is exit2cmd tne and has parameters that are most beneficial to cmd mode You can easily check to see if a tnc file does what you want it to do by simulating the loading of that tnc file Simply push F10 and highlight startup tnc or shutdown tnc or exit2cmd tnc or any other tnc file that appears in the list and see if a parameter you are trying to set is altered by any of the standard tnc files Most parameters you change will remain changed especially if they are not referred to in any of the standard tnc files Therefore don t clutter up tnc files with things that don t change This is one of the reasons why the wa4egt tnc file has all of the identification parameters 24 InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation There are several Alt letter keys functions built into the software Here is a brief explanation of each Alt Key that you may find useful Read through each brief explanation In some cases such as AIt N the key will not do anything until some other condition is met Such as having a callsign in the banner But Most of the keys work most of the time Alt Key
106. information about station such as address equipment interests etc Leave this screen with F10 as indicated on the QSO log screen This is not the same log file or format as the detailed log quoted command delimited file Callsign Lookup Alt I Use Alt I and enter a callsign The QSL card for this station will be shown indicating the last date and time you worked this station along with any comments you may have put there For those with on line callbooks this function will also access the callbook See page 75 Frequency Alt F Set the logged frequency for the QSO This is used in the log file if detailed logging is enabled For dual port units the frequency is specific to each port The frequency is remembered between runs of the program If you change frequency on your radio enter the new frequency with AIt F This also fills the 7F REQ macro string A pick list is a collection of selectable items surrounded by a single or double line border box They appear in many places in the program from selecting files to picking callsigns out of the Quick Connect list Navigating pick lists We are often asked about mouse support in GOLD software As it turns out even experienced mouse users can find faster methods to select items from dialog boxes using hot key methods In GOLD we use the faster hot key approach in all Pick Lists and Menus The pick list box appears in many areas of
107. ion Under some situations it may be beneficial to set this to YES but these are rare Saved monitored data to disk will capture the Netview screen data to disk in the Monitor subdirectory Unless you have a reason to want all monitored data captured automatically leave this set to NO Save previous sessions to disk will save session text by callsign A file with the callsign and TXT extension is created or if it exists opened and appended to when this is set to Yes This is a default for all new contacts Using Alt Y while in QSO with a station will toggle the save session text setting from ON to OFF to ON Use AIt E to display the current setting for the station shown in the banner Look at the bottom of the popup for Alt Y Save sessions setting Toggle it with Alt Y Save conference sessions to disk is will put conference session text in a disk file Some users run nets or during emergencies may want to run a conference and save the text for future review Set this to Yes if you want to automatically put conference text into a disk file Drive directory path for saved text defaults to the monitor subdirectory in the main program directory Drive directory for printed text defaults to the print subdirectory off the main program directory The Alt P print function can print to a file and this is the default subdirectory where the print file will be placed by default The Download path and Upload path are defaulted t
108. ion the master station issues a link request to another station the slave station after which the master is the sending station Data is sent and the receiving station acknowledges or requests a repeat of the last frame This is ARQ which means automatic repeat request Type AMTOR F10 to enter Amtor Standby if your TNC is on and the program is running The Information Sending Station ISS sends data to the Information Receiving Station IRS Then the sending station issues a changeover giving up the up the sending status and becoming the receiving station In many ways this is like the broadcast modes with only one station at a time transmitting but unlike broadcast modes it is a two station mode with continual data and acknowledgments flowing back and forth For this reason ARQ linked modes are very good at holding frequencies because any interfering station is bound to hear one or both of the linked stations at frequent intervals ARQ links are typically started like any other QSO beginning with a CQ message sent using a broadcast mode see page 35 In AMTOR and GTOR it is AMTOR FEC in Pactor it is PACTOR FEC The CQ message will indicate whether the answering station should come back in ARQ or FEC and in which mode in the case of GTOR or AMTOR Data in ARQ modes is transmitted in bursts or frames The frame is received analyzed for errors and answered with a short burst of data that is either an ACK acknowledg
109. is is no guarantee at all that it will succeed so do not depend on this to save your radio No guarantee is implied and none will be honored in any way if your transmitter burns up because you left it on the air We try to help but make no guarantees Announce call on connect Select a preferred message to use to announce a connect This is sent in morse code when a station connects in Packet or Pactor In Windows use C as there is no reliable way to send morse code that sounds good Show Quick Connect progress is used when you make a connect request using a Quick Connect The Path used can be shown and the commands sent can be shown as they are being sent to the TNC and ultimately to the nodes being used Make sure printer is on before printing uses a relatively standard test to check that the printer is on and ready for data before sending text to it 104 InterFlex Systems Using Setup Generate Amtor Selcal will create an Amtor selcal according to the 4 character or 7 character specification When you type a callsign and request an Amtor ARQ connect the program converts the callsign you typed into a selcal according to one of the specifications shown Most users will keep the 4 letter setting as that is perhaps the most common We use a special 7 letter conversion approach that preserves the callsign data allowing KAM users to see your callsign when you connect AEA uses an approach in their MYALTCALL system that loses data
110. isplayed in response to a parameter setting or query e g PERSIST F10 will query the TNC for the setting of Persist and display the result for the number of seconds specified here The default is 5 seconds Date and Time display is used for the on screen clock and the display when using the Alt D for date and Alt T for time and for the Date and Time macros used in Alt n messages and BRG files You can pick from among a few display formats 100 InterFlex Systems Using Setup UTC offset is the number of hours to add or subtract from local time the time in the Computer to arrive at UTC time From PST California the value is 8 that is add 8 hours to California PST time to get UTC Show clock on screen is self evident It defaults to Yes The time shown is the computer clock time plus the UTC offset above Show TNC I O buffer memory may be asked it is relevant for some TNCs and not asked for others This number shows some of the TNC telemetry available in HOST mode You may change the colors of several items in the program Caution is advised when changing colors Until you are very familiar with the program it is strongly recommended to leave screen colors the way we originally set them F10 sets DOS default colors F9 sets a Black White or Mono default color set and F8 sets colors that work well in Windows F6 and F7 affect the bright bit vs the blink bit These are mutually exclusive If
111. issue the following command C W2Z2D 15 to answer the CQ message This may seem odd if you think about it You are connected to NIGUEL and typically you would connect directly to WZ2D not WZ2D 15 This is the way NET ROM handles CQ If you see the CQ callsign in the users list you can connect to the callsign shown inside the parentheses IDENT IDENT or I by itself gives the callsign and if the sponsor has given the node a name the alias of that local node Once you know a NODE ALIAS you should use it rather than the node callsign You can connect to a node alias several times by using ssid numbers but only once to the node callsign In other words you could be connected to NIGUEL and to NIGUEL 5 and to NIGUEL Y all at the same time But you can make only be connected to N6WIK 10 Any other SSID used will not be the NIGUEL node If you try to connect to N6WIK 4 it is guaranteed NOT to be the NIGUEL node NODES This command produces a listing of other nodes that are accessible from this node Connecting to a distant node may require using a few intermediate nodes but any node shown in the list can be accessed without being concerned about the details of how it will be 67 InterFlex Systems Using Network Nodes accomplished The NODES list will give both ALIASes and CALLSIGNS Note Use a node s ALIAS if you want to connect to a remote node and do NOT use the callsign Aliases have the advantage that if the r
112. it meaning it allows dash numbers If the node callsign is not an alias but has a dash number itself the Wild Node feature is of no value If you see for example WA2VSM 3 and Wild Node this is a mistake Ask the owner to come up with a real alias like VSMNOD if it is not going to be used with Net Rom type nodes or VS1NOD if connects from Net Rom nodes will be supported Remember a node alias is not the identification it is simply an alias or pseudonym Every 10 min or less the node will identify with the owner s callsign so the identification issue is handled See the Kantronics manual for more details AEA Gateway This is the simplest of all store and forward systems It does not support the Wild Node idea so multiple sessions through the AEA gateway are not possible with the original release To enable the node set MYGATE to your callsign with a dash number and GUSER to some value between 1 and 3 Explore the network Use the multisession capability of our software to get the most out of your exploration 74 InterFlex Systems Version 9 New Features Version 9 New Features Starting with the 1994 release of PkKGOLD and KaGOLD version numbers are now consistent across different GOLD programs This is a result of bringing all versions up to the same set of features Version 9 represents a significant departure from the earlier versions of GOLD software Commands from remote stations are now allowed two sc
113. ite text to a file from inside the clipboard use Ctrl KW to Write to disk enter a filename and hit Enter You can use Ctrl KB to mark the beginning of a block of line and Ctrl KK to mark the end of a block The block can be deleted with Ctrl KY or copied with Ctrl KC or written to a file with Ctrl KW Push F1 while in the clipboard for the many functions supported by the clipboard editor You can print to a printer or to a disk file or to both simultaneously Alt P turns on and off the print function You can select the following options e Where File or Disk or Both e What New Text or from beginning of buffer ALL Print from any screen but only one screen at a time To save text from multiple sessions such as during an emergency print the Previous Sessions screen Text will be printed is when each session ends Saving Session Text to Files You can save text based on the callsign of the station shown in the banner if you turn on the save sessions feature for a callsign or for all sessions The program creates a file for each callsign and adds text from each QSO to this file You can toggle the save sessions feature for each callsign using Alt Y If you are in QSO with a station use Alt E to bring up the QSL card screen At the bottom of the popup window screen will be a message indicating whether Save Sessions is On or Off for this callsign Use Alt Y to toggle the state of the sav
114. k of a SSB transmitter The reason is simple if you can decode and print tones you will be on the right frequency when you transmit tones FSK on modern radios is really AFSK using an internal tone generator that may or may not be on the same tone pair as the TNC and herein lies the biggest problem for FSK users The TNC and radio must be using the same tone pair in the same polarity for RTTY and Amtor in order to avoid being off frequency Handhelds The battery saver feature must be turned off When it is ON the receiver pulses and is likely to be off at the beginning of a packet and your TNC will not decode a packet with part of it missing You will be able to connect to another station but typically the QSO stops at that point if battery saver has been enabled This is a DOS message not a message from the program It means that DOS could not find the program name you specified either in the current directory or by looking in every directory specified in the path environment variable 108 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting e Did you type the name correctly e Are you in the right subdirectory The subdirectory name is typically the same as the program name which means if you have KaGOLD the subdirectory and program name are both KaGOLD Use CD to change to the directory then type the program name to run the program For example CD PKGOLD Enter change to directory PKGOLD Enter run the program If you a
115. ll look at the first few lines of a text file before listing it as an available file to send using the Text transfer method Text transfers can work with any other program because all it does is send the file as though you typed it directly If you send text files the text is simply put into the outgoing text buffer and send as though you typed it Transfer Status F6 Use F6 during a GOLD file transfer to display the status of the file transfer The other methods show the transfer status at all times because nothing else can be done on the same session The GOLD protocol supports other activities on the same session screen conversing with the remote operator so a special key is needed to popup a status screen In addition to the Minutes Remaining information appearing in the status area this option gives you information about the total number of frames in the file the number already sent the percentage complete and the effective baud rate The Effective baud rate is a moving average of the last few frames and will change every 10 to 30 seconds or more often to reflect current band conditions Abort Transfer Alt F6 Use F6 to show the File Transfer status window and select Alt F6 to abort a transfer in progress This only works if the other station is actually processing your file transfer and can acknowledge the abort request If it is a maildrop or does not support the protocol you will have to abort
116. make your changes to the name AIt N QTH Alt Q and Electronic QSL using Alt E This is a quick way to change the data about your own station without using the setup menu area 98 InterFlex Systems Using Setup Several Program settings are in this pulldown menu These are all stored in the program configuration CFG file If you ever get the selections so fouled up that you must start from scratch be sure to delete the CFG and CBK files the Backup for the Configuration before re installing the program Communications COM Port Selection can be automatic or manual If you know the port is a standard one select COM1 through COM4 If you have a non standard serial port such as COM3 with IRQ 5 select other but to use other you must know the port base address and interrupt number of that port Use the up and down arrow keys to select the port then press Enter Pick Search for TNC if you have no idea where to start Terminal Baud Rate is the Computer to TNC rate not the over the air rate which is set with a TNC parameter Select 4800 baud to cover virtually anything you can do with the program Or 9600 baud for AT style machines If you run other programs such as PKFAX select a rate that is compatible to the other program or change the other program to the same baud rate Note 2400 baud is NOT recommended TNC Mode on Exit is either HOST or Command mode Use HOST mode unless you plan to use other pro
117. mands only CONNECT This asks the node to establish a circuit to another node or to another station Learn to request connects to NET ROM aliases rather than callsigns The reason is pretty clear If the alias does not exist in the nodes list you will be told immediately that the node is unknown as follows Cc REENO NIGUEL N6WIK 10 Invalid Callsign Here you will notice that the node alias is misspelled You will be informed that the node is not in the routing tables and that it is not a valid callsign so the command is ignored and you are given an error message If you had tried to connect instead to callsign of the node AA7EN 4 this is of course an error because this is not the right ssid and the node would still look in the routing tables for AA7EN 4 but if not found it will assume that this callsign is that of a local station and proceeds to make a regular not a node to node connect to AA7EN 4 Clearly this is not your intent It will take the node several retries to AA7EN 4 before telling you that the connect failed You would have wasted no time and reduced channel interference as well had you tried to connect to the alias RENO rather than the node callsign AA7EN Basically using a node ALIAS rather than a node callsign saves time reduces channel loading and is more versatile If the node has been removed from the routing table for some reason you will be informed immediately invalid callsign and waste no further ti
118. mas to request callbook information from your station How does this work The answer is simple we think it is anyway CALL is the name of a CMD file Here is what CALL CMD contains Contents of CALL CMD this is a comment SENDCALL 0 Use zero not the letter O The command SENDCALL lt callsign list gt is a command in GOLD just like other TNC commands and can be entered in a CMD file as above The 0 commercial AT sign followed by zero is filled in with the string of characters supplied by the user who issued the CALL command This means you can change the CALL command to some other command like LOOKUP lt callsign gt if you wish All you need to do is 76 InterFlex Systems Version 9 New Features change the name of the file call cmd to lookup cmd and inform users that the new command name is lookup Changing the names of this and other CMD files may introduce a lot of confusion If you have enabled remote commands in the Alt Z menu another station can connect to your station and join a conference without your assistance This means that your station can be an unattended conference bridge or conference server A remote user can connect and issue the following commands NHO To list stations amp conferences JOIN A To Join or create conference A IOFF Exit conference remain connected IBYE Exit conference and disconnect callsign text message send a message to callsign The last command allows
119. me If you request a 71 InterFlex Systems Using Network Nodes connect to the node callsign even if you typed it correctly if it has been removed from the routing table you will cause a delay and unnecessary channel loading In Summary Use Node Aliases USERS This command gives a list of stations connected to or through the node It shows who is UPLINKED by callsign and what circuits are being established lt lt gt gt and what circuits are made lt lt gt gt You may find other node types such as G8BPQ nodes and others ROSE switches operate like NET ROM in terms of store and forward but use the syntax of digipeater lists which makes them handle multiple node routes differently You can put a list of ROSE switches in the VIA list and ROSE will handle the routing Then there are other nodes that are simply NET ROM code reverse engineered slightly modified and promoted as original works BPQ nodes G8BPQ developed code that runs on PCs that performs much like NET ROM It has a few differences For example if you request a connect to a node alias it will determine how to connect just like NET ROM If it is a dual or multi port node and you request a connect to a callsign that is not in the nodes list it requires that you specify which port you mean Instead of defaulting to the current port the one you came in on it requires entering a port number So to connect to a station on the same frequency in
120. ment frame or a request for a repeat of the data The objective in ARQ modes is to transfer data without errors Each ARQ mode has a different technique for assuring error free communication as described in the chapter on Digital Modes but the user need not be concerned about the details only the fact that error free communications is an objective of ARQ The ARQ link is time critical and tightly coupled with each station going on the air as the sending or receiving station at precise time intervals In AMTOR ARQ the interval is very short in Pactor the intervals are longer and in G TOR the interval is even longer 39 InterFlex Systems ARQ Linked Modes ARQ can be monitored using the Listen mode of AMTOR ALIST or LAMTOR and Pactor PTLIST At this time there is no support for monitoring GTOR ARQ In each of the listen modes you will print ARQ data packets the longer of the two type packets in ARQ but not ACK packets the short ones Note when in any non packet mode use the Ctrl F6 for Amtor Listen or Ctrl F9 for Pactor Listen On the AEA tncs the ARXTOR command will when on automatically switch among various modes see AEA documentation and PkGOLD will track the TNC mode changes without any problem The Standby modes will usually print any FEC transmissions if the TNCs are operating with default settings SRXALL on the AEA is one such setting that should be left in the default state which is ON If you are operatin
121. ms Using Setup Be sure to remove any special prefix characters if you are not using them routinely Some have called for technical help asking why saved is prefixed with extra characters and the answer is of course because they typed some characters in response to this option Send ARQ disconnect message applies to Amtor and Pactor ARQ contacts If you are the sending station and initiate the disconnect with Alt F7 this question is asking whether to send the file ARQ SK or to take down the link immediately Pactor change over siring is defaulted to lt gt and is sent in ARQ pactor when you use the ESC key to go from being the information sending station to the information receiving station The lt gt is intended to look like the Amtor but not exactly Pactor is not exactly like Amtor Once you get the idea you may want to edit this string to lt over gt or something else of your own design for example GA gt for Go Ahead Morse announcement speed is the speed of the morse code used to indicate significant events such as a connect Morse messages can be silenced using the Alt Z menu by turning SOUND OFF Transmitter watchdog timer defaults to 2 minutes It is used in non packet modes to help you avoid burning up your transmitter when nothing is going on If you walk off and leave your station on the air after 120 seconds of inactivity no characters being sent the program will try to unkey the transmitter Th
122. n Packet is the only true conversational mode that supports text flow in either direction at all times In the non packet modes there is a Sending and Receiving station and text flows in one direction at a time You can type text and it is held in a type ahead area It is sent and echoed to the session screen when it is your turn to transmit Maildrop Access Alt F8 If your TNC has a maildrop use Alt F8 to connect to it Use B ye Enter when you are finished to free it up for use by other stations When the program sends Alt n messages BRG files and CQ files it looks for special words or macros that start with or CALL substitutes the callsign in the banner for the string CALL The question mark causes the string to be inserted pushing characters to the right as necessary The exclamation mark overwrites starting at the position of the 2name and name both write the name of the remote operator but name inserts and name overwrites the text Type Macro F1 for help on using macros in the software and look at the BRG and CQ files provided for some examples Macro strings include CALL MYCALL NAME MYNAME QTH MYQTH FREQ and contain obvious values during a QSO If you are K8TNK connected to N6WIK The Alt 1 message that reads CALL de 7MYCALL would be sent as N6WIK de K8TNK If these macro strings are referred to in CQ or BRG files the program makes substitutions accordingly One strin
123. n RTTY you will know how to operate the program in other broadcast modes Switch your multimode TNC into any mode that uses or supports broadcasting You can type the mode name then push F10 to enter the mode The TOR modes use FEC as a broadcast submode AEAPkemd KAMcmd_ Morse Code MORSE CW Baudot BAUDOT RTTY Ascii ASCII ASCII AMTOR Stdby AMTOR AMTOR PACTOR Stdby PACTOR PACTOR Packet Packet Packet Note Morse mode on the AEA is the same as CW mode on the KAM Likewise Baudot on the AEA is the same as RTTY on the KAM Use the appropriate mode name for your particular TNC Type the mode name and push F10 Mode commands are processed just like any other tnc command but the result is a change in modes 35 InterFlex Systems Broadcasting Modes rather than a popup confirmation message Like all tnc commands you type the mode name and push the command key F10 The new mode name appears in the banner Note On Dual Port TNCs the non packet modes will be available only on the HF port KAM or Port 1 AEA It is suggested that you turn OFF your radio to test out the broadcast modes until you are ready to go on the air With the radio off you will still be able to learn how to broadcast how to unkey and how to send text You can use the LED on the TNC to visually see that the PTT line is active Note The ESC key is used to Key Down and Key Up in Broadcast modes We refer to this as the push to type key
124. n beefed up to assure that unkeying occurs as quickly as possible when the buffer empties The way the program does overlays is improved to be faster and more reliable on systems that are slow to switch between real and protected mode The program handles more types of nodes including TEXNET which uses the commercial at sign in certain parts of the connect commands Other changes to version 9 are the result of the months of beta testing that this program has been through When other users ask what is new about Version 9 tell them the major new additions which are 1 Callbook support for 3 CD ROM based systems and SAM 2 Support for ANSI graphics on all sessions simultaneously 3 Conference server mode with remote started and changed conferences 4 Remote command files that are user defined and able to send textfiles directories and start binary file transfers and 5 File transfers are now restartable with both YAPP C and GOLD protocols supported Some changes may be more useful than others to certain users but we hope that you find these additions fun and easy to use 90 InterFlex Systems Understanding the TNC Understanding the TNC Understanding the basic operation of the Terminal Node Controller or TNC will help you get the most out of your TNC your radio and this software You operate your station as a terminal or end node or station originating or receiving messages Even in a QSO you are ty
125. n to the other port then start a session as you normally would entering a callsign or path then F7 Monitor Other Port The Alt Z menu has choices to simplify dual port operation Monitor Other Port causes the small Network View to show above an active session to show activity on the Other port It is easy to switch to watching the current port just use Alt Z M Enter When on a Network View screen this option shows both ports the active port below the banner the other port above To swap the Network Views use F2 You can also Merge Monitors to show monitored frames in different colors and with port names We like Monitor Other Port but some users like merged monitors When operating both packet and non packet the Monitor other port function will display the activity on the other port in the window above If you are on VHF packet and monitoring AMTOR and in the Monitor Other Port mode you will see the AMTOR data above the banner and the packet session below A non packet mode is considered active and subject to the F4 key action only if a callsign has been entered in the callsign field using Alt C This way you can simply monitor or you can make your non packet session active causing the F4 key to be active When no callsign appears in the non packet banner use F2 to switch to the non packet screen F2 means change port in dual port operation HF packet is often viewed as a poor mode
126. n with the callsign shown in the quick connects path 40 InterFlex Systems ARQ Linked Modes Note Version 9 adds a new capability Put a callsign in the banner using Alt C When you push F7 with a blank text cmd entry line GOLD will assume you wish to connect to the station shown in the banner and it will begin an ARQ link with that station This is a fast way to setup your station for a connect Put the callsign in the banner with Alt C then when you are ready just push F7 to connect After the sending station finishes a message or wants a response from the receiving station the sending station issues a changeover In AMTOR the changeover is strictly done with characters appearing in the text In Pactor and Gtor the link is changed with a TNC command to request the TNC to send a changeover command to the receiving station Note Just like Broadcast modes use ESC to unkey after the text is sent buffer is empty ARQ uses the ESC key to changeover the link after the data is sent In both modes if you are sending data use the ESC key to let the other station send data GOLD uses the ESC key in all TOR modes to cause a changeover to occur when the buffer empties You can hit ESC before the outgoing text is finished sending When the buffer empties the changeover occurs In AMTOR GOLD puts the required in the text stream In Pactor and Gtor GOLD adds an optional changeover indicator string and then issues a
127. nd match that tone pair to the TNC This is necessary to be on frequency when you tune in a signal for clear printing and then go on the air and transmit with your FSK transmitter There is more in the troubleshooting chapter about FSK and AFSK Suggested Tone Pair 2110 2310 For most users select Mark 2110 Space 2310 On the KAM select Shift MODEM as well to allow the Mark and Space settings to be used for all non packet modes For purists who want to specify 170 Hz shift select 2125 and 2295 The PK 232 uses the 200 Hz pair when VHF OFF is selected the DSP 2232 and PK 900 select tone pairs by 94 InterFlex Systems Understanding the TNC selecting modems Pactor and G TOR use Mark Space settings ignoring SHIFT 170 425 or 850 Learn to set your own Mark and Space settings and use SHIFT MODEM to avoid problems Note Mark and Space tones default to 1600 1800 on the KAM Next run your radio in Lower Sideband LSB unless you are using FSK or are an advanced user Read through the troubleshooting chapter for more ideas about tone levels settings etc to make your TNC work best with your radio Also read the hardware manuals Most VHF Packet uses 1200 baud while 300 baud is used on HF packet The HBAUD parameter sets this rate HDLC Baud rate On the KAM HBAUD affects only the HF port port 1 The VHF port stays at 1200 The KPC 3 and other KPCs can operated at different HBAUD settings below 1200 but the shi
128. need to do is TYPE the file and let the ANSI interpreter display the graphic ANSI graphics with animation do not show very well if at all using this approach but it is a quick way to review pictures The command would be TYPE sample ans assuming this file exists Other programs can be used to edit and create your own ANSI pics There is at least one program available on the InterFlex Systems BBS that can be used to create ANSI graphics files It is TheDraw You can download the zip file called TDRAW450 ZIP extract the files and take a shot at creating your own ANSI files Here is the most important caveat when you write your files or save them set the right margin or maximum line length to 75 or some length below 80 characters Using 75 allows others to copy paste the ANSI sequences In Version 9 file transfers using a protocol like YAPP C or GOLD are restartable Text files and raw send for ANSI pics are one way type transfers and have no protocol and do not always result in creating a file on the other user s system GOLD and YAPP do create files on the 87 InterFlex Systems Version 9 New Features receiving station s computer If the transfer is stopped or aborted the partially received file is saved with a special header that allows the transfer to resume or restart rather than start from the beginning This saves time GOLD protocol On the F6 transfer menu sending or receiving
129. ning to receive incoming ARQ links and are running FSK it is likely that your transmitter MARK and SPACE tones are not matched to your TNC If you have a KAM simply set MARK and SPACE tones to match the documented Mark Space tones in your transmitter it will be documented somewhere If you are running an AEA PK 232 it is setup for MARK 2110 and SPACE 2310 a 200 Hz shift tone pair Notice that Mark 2110 Hz is 15 Hz below the standard Mark tone of 2125 Hz and that Space 2310 Hz is 15 Hz above the standard Space tone of 2295 Hz This is why the PK 232 with its fixed 200 Hz shift can work fine with other systems running 170 Hz shift because the 232 straddles the standard 170 Hz tone pair On more advanced radios like the FT 990 FSK RTTY and FSK Packet use different tone pairs The RTTY Baudot and AMTOR are designed or standardized on 170 Hz shift Packet and Pactor are supposed to use 200 Hz shift It is possible to run any of the HF modes on either tone pair standard but if you can use the recommended settings In addition to being off frequency see above there are a few reasons for problems in AMTOR One is the ARQ delay setting described in the help system another is the Normal Inverted setting of your Mark Space tones use Lower Sideband with Invert OFF Pactor does not use levels it uses changes or transitions from mark to space so Normal inverted is not an issue in Pactor Another is the AGC automatic gain contr
130. nterFlex Systems Understanding the TNC Lower Sideband produces the best printing of digital traffic The FT 990 however has a RTTY and PKT setting which does this IF shift automatically when selected Printing Noise On the PK 232 the DCD LED data carrier detect must be lit to print or decode digital signals There is a UBIT setting to allow HF packet to print that is below the DCD threshold by setting UBIT 0 ON but in general a signal must be loud enough to light the DCD before it will print Turning up the Threshold control until the DCD lights when a signal is present is a must on the PK 232 The PK 232 will print noise if the DCD is lit even if there is just noise on the frequency This is often confused with sensitivity of the AEA units when compared to other TNCs Note The DCD on the PK 232 must also light on VHF packet in order to decode VHF 1200 baud packet On the KAM it is possible to print into the noise just like it is with AEA units By grounding the external carrier detect line on the HF DIN connector the user can issue the CD EXTERNAL INTERNAL to cause the HF port to use the external CD By grounding the external CD line and setting CD external for the HF port the unit will print noise just like the AEA units thereby raising its apparent sensitivity This has the added advantage of print an occasional good character if the signal is indeed very noisy Tuning Morse CW If you run an
131. nto various formats to operate different digital modes on multi mode controllers lots of timing functions and sending and receiving data to the analog section In all modes the digital section assembles and disassembles bits of data sent and received over the air It maintains the links in ARQ modes keeps track of frames in packet mode and controls the built in mailbox functions as well as other functions 91 InterFlex Systems Understanding the TNC The ROM code is designed by software engineers working for the TNC makers just like the terminal programs we write are designed and written for MS DOS based systems The TNC maker puts their software into Read Only Memory chips which plug into your TNC and we put software onto disks which ends up in your computer Change the ROM and you will change the capabilities of the TNC just like changing your computer software changes its capabilities In the past several years all of the major upgrades to TNCs have been ROM code changes and occasionally memory upgrades or expanded ROM code size This is the case with AEA s Maildrop board handled two ROMS and more memory and Kantronics enhancement board which holds a larger ROM and more RAM memory The Analog Section takes the data generated by the digital section and turns it into mark and space tones which are then sent through your radio The analog section also has filters that can take mark and space tones from the speaker audio of y
132. ny users with an interest in giving their friends on VHF an opportunity to work stations hundreds or thousands of miles away on a different band A gateway as originally defined by Kantronics is a VHF to HF digipeater A signal comes in on one band and is blindly retransmitted on another band If an error occurs along the way the whole process from sender to digipeater to receiver has to start again A node is a store and forward entity with the ability to uncouple the sending and receiving stations treating the resulting circuit as two separate sessions One between node and originator and another between node and destination The advantage is obvious An error occurring one one side of the circuit can be handled between the node and the station on that side of the circuit The digipeater on the other 63 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating hand has no intelligence of its own so an error on either side of the circuit means the frame has to start completely from the beginning The other advantage is that the node can take several frames from the originator acknowledge them then proceed to deliver them to the other station at a different baud rate using a different setting for maxframe persistence etc because each side of the circuit is a separate connect The Kantronics KANODE is more versatile than the AEA gateway really a node for packet to packet operation because the KANODE can be configured to accept any SSID using ND
133. o directories called download and upload You can edit these to the same path for simplification When you use the Clipboard editor and write the clipboard to a file it will go into the Download path When you use the F6 File transfer menu and send a file the search begins in the Upload path If these are both set to the same directory name e g both set to UPLOAD you may find it easier to find files that you have just saved when you decide to send them to another station The Swap file directory may be used when you Shell to DOS on systems without EMS memory Unless you have a RAM disk with space available there is no good reason to enter a path at this point 102 InterFlex Systems Using Setup These are one line messages that you can modify and use during QSOs There are two 2 sets of Alt n messages Those for Packet mode and those for all other modes They are accessed using Alt 1 through Alt 0 Use the 1 through 0 at the top of the keyboard not the 1 in the number pad You will notice that several of the messages have words preceded by question marks These refer to Macros which are words that hold the place in the text and will be filled in with the contents of the macro as the string is written to the text entry line of the program If you are connected to a station and the remote user callsign is showing CALL will be filled in with the remote station callsign and MYCALL will be filled in with your callsign S
134. o return to the submenu item When in the program you can push the Connect key F7 and a list of your quick connects will appear including this one You can select the item with the cursor or start typing MV and the cursor should be resting on this entry Hit Enter and the program will automatically connect to each node in the path and finally to MRACES This is what is meant by a Quick Connect what could be simpler or Quicker See the section on Packet Operation for some other examples of Quick Connect paths that you can try You can test them manually before adding them in the Setup menu area In this menu you can Add Edit or Delete callsigns along with the station information which includes the Name of the station not the call but the person s name or tactical callsign QTH or location and if you have been in QSO with that station you can edit the Electronic QSL information It is recommended to add station information as you work the stations and not all at once in this menu area The reason is simple Connecting to other GOLD users any current version results in an automatic exchange of Station information If you have manually entered the data it may override some of the data that is automatically retrieved from the remote station There is a trick you can use to enter station information or to edit your own or other station information Begin a packet connect to yourself or the station you wish to add and
135. of things to note First all directory references begin with the GOLD directory as the default directory The DIR command if issued from the GOLD directory need only refer to BRGFILES subdirectory to cause the output to be redirected there It is not necessary to fully specify the directory name That means for example you can write these relatively benign generic CMD files that will work on ANY drive letter and can be used no matter what name was given to the main GOLD directory Second this example demonstrates the power of CMD files coupled with the EXECDOS command Here is what the GETBRG CMD file might look like to allow users to request one of your BRG files GETBRG CMD file used to get a BRG file Here is a copy of 0 sendtext brgfiles 0 Radio Modifications server example Here is group of files that provides radio modifications lists Helpmod cmd file explains how to use MODS list To get a list of MODS or a partial listing type MLISTMODS for all MODS LISTMODS FT all mods starting with FT ILISTMODS TS4 TS430 TS440 TS450 etc This first HELPMOD CMD file is straightforward It uses the quote character to send help information to the remote station that typed the command HELPMOD This next file does the LISTMODS command from a remote user listmods CMD shows mods from QRZ dir senddir s mods 0 mod Use GETMOD lt Modfilename gt to get file 83 InterFlex Systems Ve
136. ol setting of your receiver it must be fast or off In Amtor when you type a CALLSIGN and pushing F7 in AMTOR causes GOLD to automatically create a 4 letter SELCAL according to the standard used in amateur radio for converting a callsign to a SELCAL If the remote station has used some other SELCAL standard it is unlikely that the automatically generated SELCAL will work The same is true of the 7 letter selcal AEA calls this MYALTCAL For these CCIT 625 SELCALLS 7 letter GOLD uses a system that preserves call data as does the Kantronics KAM but not the AEA Our 7 letter generated SELCAL can be decoded by KAM units and turned 122 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting back into a callsign If you cannot connect using CALLSIGN F7 then manually type the SELCAL of the remote station and then push F7 In Pactor the callsign setting is MYPTCALL in G TOR it is MYGTCALL Callsigns must be set correctly Some users forget to set their ARQ callsigns call CQ and find that nobody can connect back Another ARQ problem is timing If the station you are calling is very close or very far away it may be necessary to use the long path option which essentially slows down the ARQ exchange This is done by entering an Exclamation point in front of the callsign IVK1AC F7 This is explained in more detail in the Kantronics manual as the long path option Simply use the exclamation point in front of the call for long path or rel
137. ommand can be used in CMD files that need to use this raw send capability It is this command coupled with SendText and SendDir that can make your station into an ANSI Picture Server and allow remote users to receive ANSI graphics in an unattended mode Recvyapp This command puts the current session into a YAPP receive mode It will be ready for a yapp transfer from the other station It does not require any parameters and the files will be put into the default download directory that is specified as the download path in the setup area under file transfers There is no need for a recvgold because this is handled automatically when GOLD gets a here comes a file type packet SENDCALL callsign or list of callsigns or 0 This was described above in the example for the call lt callsign gt command file It will access whatever callbook it can find and produce the callbook information sending it to the remote station The use of 0 means the entire line of text several callsigns will be passed to the SENDCALL routine with several callsign lookups You can use this command to send calldata to a friend try SENDCALL W1AW F10 Conference Commands The following commands are specific to the conference only and are built in internal commands read directly by the software and processed immediately While they look like the other commands using the cmdname format they are unique to the conference processin
138. on Now each time you depress the Enter key your radio should be keyed and send a UI frame over the air Adjust the transmit audio level until your packets are the same or slightly less in volume that the other packets you hear For non packet modes using AFSK the TNC hooked to the Mic input use only as much audio as is needed The TNC has a calibrate command that can be run only from the Direct Terminal mode Calibrate mode will generate tones useful to set transmit audio levels Read the section on Calibrating in your TNC manual Here is a synopsis Get to Direct terminal mode using Alt F3 From the cmd prompt type CALIB Enter AEA uses K to toggle PTT line Space to toggle high and low tone D to toggle single or dual tone and Q to leave the Calibrate mode Kantronics uses T to activate the PTT line and transmit dual tones mark space M to generate a Mark tone S to generate a space tone R to unkey and go into a measure incoming signal and X to return to CMD mode Use Alt F3 to return back to the normal program environment See the help system for more information on TNC installation and the subareas in that part of the help system Also look at the TNC manual s The TNC has a computer in it and like any computer may require a complete reset at times Look at the TNC manual for RESET instructions Try the S switch on program startup and select the TERMINAL mode Do you get a CMD prompt If y
139. or operating on the same equipment on the same band at the same time Tests comparing Clover and Pactor CQ Magazine Feb 1994 p 40 ff show Clover to be only about 1 6 times faster than Pactor At first glance G TOR appears to be significantly faster than Clover These modes are not supported by standard TNCs They use multiple tones and therefore TNCs designed for two tone operation cannot be retrofitted or adapted to these modes by simply changing a ROM chip Further radios with FSK i e internally calibrated AFSK tone generators cannot be used in FSK mode with a multi tone system as the FSK input generates only two tones or frequencies There is one interesting feature of Clover that could be adapted to other modes and that is automatic RF power adjustments to reduce transmit power to the lowest possible to maintain the link This could be done in existing TNCs and or radios by altering the AFSK tone levels dynamically or the RF power output based on the number of Repeat Requests in an ARQ link With computers at either end of a link and the ability to send special frame types with error information such control could be done with existing TNCs using a computer controlled audio stage or computer control of the transmit RF power through the AGC input on some radios Some added external control circuitry would be needed to use existing TNCs and the software like GOLD would need to be adapted but the concept is clearly within reac
140. ors erase the screen or do some other strange thing to their system GOLD is immune to characters that it receives or monitors that may cause trouble In fact you can send and receive just about anything on your screen and it will not affect the program This means you can send a smiling face Ctrl A or Ctrl B to a remote user and it will be seen as the display character Some programs strip the topmost bit from every character rendering their terminals limited in their ability to view the full IBM ascii character set Starting a Transfer F6 When connected in Packet or in a non packet mode use the F6 key to start a file transfer If you are the sender select Upload Binary File from the pick list or Send Yapp or Text file You will then be given the opportunity to navigate around until you find something you wish to send to another GOLD user If you go to the top of the pick list you will see that is possible to change directories to the parent of the directory you are presently in You will always start from the Upload directory To get to another directory hit Enter on the top item in the pick list Then select another directory or a file See page 19 for more on Pick Lists 56 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating If you change directories you will see another list of files If you continue to proceed to the root directory you will eventually be given the opportunity to change drive let
141. ot used for Technical Support Phone This is convenient and quick if someone is available to take your question but you may get an answering machine or voice mail system We have moved all technical support and ordering to the internet to keep costs down and to make it more convenient for you as well You can download programs and get news and help by visiting the web page Mail We welcome suggestions by mail but this is not a good medium for asking technical questions due to the lack of a reasonable dialog A timely exchange is necessary to determine the source of problems In our 10 year experience with PKGOLD and KaGOLD we have found that 99 of the problems are due to hardware problems or software that is conflicting with the serial ports That number has risen over the years as we have done everything possible to make the software reliable and have introduced no major changes since 1998 with the exception of supporting the fastest systems available PKGOLD and KaGOLD will run on systems over 1 Ghz in clock speed Now let s turn to the next chapter and get the program running and talking to your TNC InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation Basic Program Operation The best way to learn the basic keystrokes used in the program is to do it not just read about it Follow through the next few pages to learn how to startup the program navigate through some of the basic functions and get back to DOS You don t need to wire
142. our radio and turn them into digital signals to be sent to the digital section for analysis AEA uses analog filters with precision components to do the tone decoding in most of their popular TNCs including the PK 900 In the Kantronics KAM a more versatile technology is used called Switched Capacitance Audio Filters or SCAFs These are digitally controlled filters with characteristics that can be controlled by user commands allowing the KAM to operate over a wide range of Tone pairs The ability to create tones and to interpret them is where the term MODEM comes from Modulate and Demodulate Because the TNC does a lot more than a simple modem it is called a Node Controller Some can operate in different modes and are called Multi Mode controllers Others can operate two different radios at the same time in different modes if necessary and are called Dual Port controllers Whether singe or multimode single or dual port all modes and ports use tone pairs and baud rates as basic communications parameters And nothing is more critical to proper operation of a digital station than picking and then setting the right mark and space tones The baud rate or signaling rate is typically more standardized but it too must match the other station s rate for successful communications AEA tncs use relatively fixed tone pairs selected by commands like VHF ON OFF to select 1000 Hz or 200 Hz shift WIDE ON OFF same shift but for non p
143. oute disappears and the alias is removed from the routing table you will be given the message Invalid Callsign when trying to connect to a node that has disappeared from the network NODES This variant of the nodes command produces a more complete listing of nodes which includes hidden nodes shown by the pound sign in front of each node entry The hidden nodes are then followed by the rest of the node callsigns and aliases You can use these hidden nodes in your quick connect paths just refer to them with the pound sign e g C LN220 if this is one of the nodes ROUTES This command produces a list of adjacent nodes that are directly accessible by this node The ROUTES list may appear as follows 1 AB6CD 2 255 87 0 N6BIF 4 192 49 0 N6ACI 3 192 1 0 N6BKG 6 192 22 0 N6ELI 10 0 0 The best route out of this node is AB6CD 2 This path goes to a backbone or second frequency and 87 of the nodes in the list are accessed through this route Taking the information one at a time here is what it means The first number indicates whether the routes are on the same frequency as the node or a different frequency A 0 means this frequency and a 1 means different frequency If you ask for a nodes list and look for AB6CD 2 you might find the alias LN220 The backbone access would appear to be on 220 Mhz The next entry is the callsign of the node not its alias You can find the alias of AB6CD 2 using the
144. packet nets emergency communications or general discussions among a group Makes keyboard to keyboard packet a new and more interesting experience Restartable File Transfers YAPP binary file transfers are supported including remote controlled transfers and restartable transfers A user InterFlex Systems Welcome to PKGOLD KaGOLD can connect get a directory and start an upload or download Your station can even be a file server of sorts a place where binary and text files can be deposited and retrieved by other users See page 87 ANSI Color BW Graphics support You can switch between interpreting incoming text in ANSI screen graphics mode with Alt G or in straight ANSI escape sequence mode You will find ANSI graphics available on the air and on BBS systems Many users exchange ANSI graphics on HF using PACTOR and with GOLD software you will be able to do it too One of the differences with GOLD software is the ability to interpret multiple screens of ANSI graphics and on dual port versions get graphics from different ports and even in different modes VHF Packet HF Pactor PKGOLD and KaGOLD may not be the first programs to support ANSI color graphics but they are the first programs to do it on multiple sessions See page 85 Or click this link to go to ANSI Pics Custom Remote Commands Allows you to develop batch like files of commands that are accessible to remote users These CMD files can set tnc parameters start file t
145. pically at the sending or receiving end which is one reason for calling the radio controller a TNC Some people want to give other names to multimode controllers but basically the name TNC is used because it describes what the unit does Some think of the TNC as a MODEM like a telephone modem that is used with some phone modem communications program True a TNC can be operated with a telephone modem type program but this greatly reduces the capabilities of the system We are often surprised to hear experts suggesting to new users of digital modes that all you need is your favorite telephone modem terminal program to run a TNC This is unfortunate because modem programs are just not capable of operating the tnc in anything but its most basic mode the command mode Even some programs designed for digital modes still run in command mode or are revisions of programs originally written for that mode which again reduces their capabilities as multi mode multi task multi connect programs A TNC has two sections a computer section that does the digital encoding decoding data handling and an analog part that deals with the tones sent and received The digital or computer section includes a computer chip some RAM memory and the computer software in Read Only Memory format ROM The digital computer section handles several functions including communication to and from the computer on the serial port the assembly of data i
146. pturing text is easy as described in the previous section Quit the F5 menu and switch to the session that should get a copy of the text or connect to your BBS and start a message To send the text bring up the F5 menu and use Copy to current session to paste the clipboard items into the outgoing text stream It s that simple If you have saved the text using the Write to text file you can send the contents of the text file using the F6 file transfer menu Pick text as the transfer method and use the pick list navigation system see page 19 to find the file hit Enter and the file is pasted into the outgoing text stream Again very simple Sending files involves picking a protocol or method then selecting a file then waiting while the transfer completes With GOLD you can 54 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating continue doing things on other sessions and when using the GOLD binary transfer method you can even QSO on the same session The F6 key brings up a list of options for sending files The simplest option is Text where the files are text lines using Carriage Return Line Feeds at the ends of lines and can be sent as though you typed it Text transfers end up on the other person s screen just like plain text All other modes involve sending binary data which includes text files that is all text files can be treated as binary files but not all binary files are text files In fact GOLD wi
147. push Enter to toggle the setting from OFF to ON This causes all new connects to your station those initiated by other stations connecting to your station to be automatically added to your first conference Note The Auto conference mode setting is saved between sessions so if you turn it on it will stay on until you turn it off This mode can be useful for emergencies or for club stations during nets Simply setup a central station and turn on Automatic Conference mode For Dual port TNCs the conference works across ports as well Stations connected to the conference can still get remote directories if they are running a GOLD compatible program and start file transfers Also names will be inserted into the conference when a GOLD compatible users connects as soon as the automatic recognition sequence finishes Manual Conference Before manually entering stations into a conference check each session screen to see that each callsign has a name tag If not use Alt N to add or edit the name Names are used along with the callsigns to identify conference members The conference works without names using just callsigns but it nice to have the names if at all possible Go to one of the session screens and press Alt F1 to bring up a list of connected stations Use the Ins key to toggle a check mark next to each callsign you want to include in the conference Then press Enter to start the conference That s all there is to it
148. r Alt n Messages Special Characters CallBook Other Notice the bold letters in the menu choices These are Hot key methods of choosing the items The pulldown submenu items appear as each main menu item is highlighted so you will not see the menu appear as it does in the table above Pushing the keys SC will jump to the Setup column then select the submenu item Communications The cursor keys are also active so you can select an item and hit Enter Selecting one of the pulldown menu items leads to the individual settings area There may be several items on each submenu topic Use Enter to move through the list of items editing those you wish to change as you move forward When you have worked through all the items the pulldown menu will reappear You can then use the ESC key to exit the setup menu area You can add edit or delete a name tactical calls first names or a callsign and a Path or way to connect For example you want to 97 InterFlex Systems Using Setup regularly access a local RACES station at Mission Viejo EOC Emergency Operations Center and to get there you have to connect to a local node LGNOD then to another node DPOINT and then to MRACES The path might be Name Mv EOC Path LGNOD DPOINT MRACES Next the program will change the backslash characters to a vertical bar then add a SELCAL ignore the SELCAL as it is not useful here Add more quick connect names and paths or use ESC t
149. r replacing the standard UART with a 16550 Choose Default on this question about Handshake during disk I O unless you wish to experiment with different settings How fast should data scroll should be left on Fast for real time scrolling Some people like a smoother and slower scroll rate but the displayed lines may get behind the actual received data if you select a slower rate Screen blanker interval The program s screen blanker can be turned off completely from the Alt Z menu while running the program The no activity time interval can be changed by this setup item and is only effective if the screen blanker is actually on Check the Alt Z menu for the blanker setting Check monitor for snow is only relevant for CGA monitors Many CGA display cards show snow or obvious glitches and setting this to Yes will hold off screen writes except during horizontal retrace intervals This will slow down the screen access considerably so only use this if you have a CGA display that shows snow all the time How many Net View lines is asked twice once for 25 line mode and once for 43 50 line mode This affects the number of lines of Network monitoring or Monitoring of the other port for dual port programs shown above the banner The defaults are recommended The Alt Z menu item Zoom must be OFF to see the split screen How long for pop up windows depends on how familiar you are with the program A popup status window is d
150. ransfers send messages and even initiate connects The capabilities of the CMD files is one of the new features that advanced users will want to try See pages 77 to 84 Advanced access to your TNC PkKGOLD and KaGOLD give you enormous flexibility and control over your TNC You can issue TNC commands directly or issue them in batches with TNC files You can transmit and receive files while doing other tasks even access the maildrop while connected to other stations While some users familiar with the CMD prompt may miss seeing it we ve put it on the F10 key for easy access Type a parameter name and push F10 to see the current setting Type DISPLAY F10 and see groups of parameters Scroll back in the text cut paste text It s all possible with PKGOLD and KaGOLD You will have more control over your TNC than available with ANY other software Examples occur throughout the manual Now that you have an idea about some of the capabilities of the software let s begin by installing the software and running it through some tests on your computer Then in the chapter after that the hardware is described and connected Then we will cover the help system Finally we will get into the details of each operating mode Review the directories used by PkKGOLD and KaGOLD Then turn to the next chapter to install the software InterFlex Systems Welcome to PKGOLD KaGOLD This page contains a brief explanation of the file locations and directory st
151. re unsure of the current directory type PROMPT P and hit return Leave a space after the word Prompt This changes the DOS prompt until you reboot to something useful and informative You might want to add this Prompt command to autoexec bat If you use a registration number for one callsign and change the callsign while the program is running it may exit with a message indicating that it does not recognize your callsign If this occurs try re entering your registration number as follows KAGOLD R nnnnnnnn Enter Where the program name is followed by R then a space then your registration number If you have a M A R S call or another callsign e g foreign callsign and need a registration number for these extra callsigns call InterFlex Systems for an additional numbers On units with Pactor support check MYPTCALL to be sure it is also set to your registered callsign The most common reasons are 1 TNC is locked up 2 wrong serial port is selected 3 wrong interrupt is selected 4 cable is missing hardware handshaking lines 5 other hardware or software is interfering with communications 6 baud rate selected is not supported by the tnc 7 power supply is noisy or is not delivering enough voltage If the LEDs blink or change during startup you have selected the right serial port In this case try running the program again Often the 2nd attempt will find the TNC in the correct mode and baud rate ev
152. reen modes are supported for every session the normal text character screen and a new ANSI graphic screen direct interface to callsign databases SAM Buckmaster QRZ is supported restartable file transfers and improved operation in Windows and other multitasking environments and support for CW announcements through ad lib type sound cards If you have AmSoft BuckMaster QRZ or SAM disk or CD based callbook the program will access these automatically as well as allow other users to lookup callsign data through your system To activate the support use Alt S then Setup then Callbook SAM Callbook First find and load the SAMAPI SAM Application Programmers Interface The SAM callbook access requires this SAMAPI program It is included with SAM possibly in a subdirectory of one of the SAM disks To load SAMAPI from the GOLD directory you might type C SAM SAMAPI C SAM Disk Based Version C SAM SAMAPICD S SAMCDDAT C SAM for CD ver If this does not load SAMAPI check your SAM disks for SAMAPI and copy it to the SAM subdirectory The second parameter in this command is the Path to the actual dataset If you wish make up a batch file to run GOLD and put this command before the KAGOLD or PKGOLD command To unload SAMAPI from memory C SAM SAMAPI R Remove from Memory While in SETUP see above select SAM as your callbook type if this is the only callbook you plan to use If you also have CD ROM callbooks
153. ries to keep everything playing and directs events to occur but to work as expected all of the players must be doing their part correctly Our software reports problems that other software fails to report It does this to help you solve hardware problems We often hear I don t see serial errors with other software but what that really means is that other software does not report serial errors that do occur RF interference with serial cables is not detected by other software but if it causes character framing errors or screen blanking TSRs may cause interrupts to be shut off for longer than one character time producing an error but other software does not report this GOLD reports errors that give you an opportunity to fix problems Like other software perhaps even better than other software GOLD can recover from errors but you can rest assured that if errors occur they will be reported Last this is a software manual not a hardware guide The wiring of hardware is explained in the TNC manuals and in the radio manuals But a few components are worth noting as they tend to cause the most difficulty with new digital mode users Here are a few hardware components and observations that deserve special attention Disk System The software reads and writes files and data using DOS If there are any disk problems sector errors file allocation problems they cannot be fixed by the software and will cause trouble RF getting into a
154. rizontal bar that is used to pull down the ee control menu Minimize Maximize Restore Move Size Notice the item Fonts This is where you alter the font used and the resulting size of the GOLD window Switch To CtrltEsc Edit gt Settings Fonts Note If you don t see Fonts in the pulldown menu you can enable this by editing the System ini file to allow Fonts to be changeable In the Non Windows App section add the line shown below NonWindowsApp FontChangeEnable 1 Windows is a multitasking environment A program that stops running in one window may not be the one causing the problem You may see a message This program has issued a command that violates system integrity or some such comment Typically the cause of this message is a TSR that is running in the same or another DOS window PkGOLD and KaGOLD have been tested together both running at the same time without problems But if we load a TSR that can be hot keyed into action Windows will often fail with the violates system integrity message pointing at PKGOLD or KaGOLD when in fact it is the TSR that has caused the violation Other than TSRs another place to look is the Control Panel under Ports and be sure the port used by GOLD is properly setup Hardware Handshaking must be used not XON XOFF The Base address and IRQ setting must be correct Windows handles the serial buffering and GOLD gets characters f
155. rn more about the modes themselves Consult your TNC manuals for hardware makers idea about how to use these modes Then read the chapters in this manual to learn how to run your tnc in Broadcast ARQ Linked and Packet mode Samuel F B Morse invented and developed the electrically operated telegraph system in 1832 By the civil war wires were strung all over the continent allowing messages to travel from the east coast to California The connection between the West and the rest of the Union and the Western Union company is obvious The transatlantic cable between the U S and France was completed in 1866 and the rest is history The International Morse Code as it is called uses signaling elements of short and long bursts called dits and dashes combining to make letters The way a computer deals with Morse Code is a bit complex but for those interested here is a brief explanation of how it is done You can skip to the next section if you wish A dit is a short burst tone followed by a short time interval and a dash is a longer burst like three dits hooked together followed by a short time interval The Dits and Dashes are grouped into characters with the end of a character being identified by a time interval longer than a dash Morse characters can easily be mapped into the 8 bit binary character 27 InterFlex Systems Digital Operating Modes world of 1s and Os easily For example an A dit dash
156. rom the Windows buffer If Windows serial driver is set for XON XOFF flow 120 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting control the default setting or the IRQ setting is wrong the GOLD program will not work properly If you have 16550 serial UARTS GOLD will not report that serial buffering is enabled because the Windows serial driver has already done the buffering As far as GOLD knows it is running on a very reliable single character buffer system and Windows driver handles the 16550 features If you have a Sound Card using the same IRQ as the serial port Windows will stop working when you bring up the serial application like Pk or KaGOLD Windows will not multitask two devices on the same IRQ setting at the same time Sound Cards typically use IRQ 5 or 7 as do many additional serial cards If the program works in DOS but not in Windows it may be the result of a Sound card and the Serial port using the same interrupt This is guaranteed to fail Did you use the PIF file supplied with the program Look for the DOCFILES EXE file on the disk copy it to your GOLD subdirectory and run it A PIF and ICO file will be put into the main GOLD directory along with a WIN31 DOC file that explains how to get running in Windows When you add a DOS application to a Windows group always use a PIF file Program Information File to help Windows run the program and assign appropriate resources Multitasking environments like Desqview and OS 2 will
157. rom your maildrop AEA users will then assign the HOMEBBS parameter to the callsign no ssids just the callsign of the local BBS Kantronics users don t have to do anything special to accept or reverse forward mail Newer Kantronics units also support true mail forwarding that is they will connect to a remote BBS do mail forwarding and disconnect all automatically This is handled by the PBFOrward command Read more about PBFO in your Kantronics manual Note PBFO on Kantronics units will only work if HTEXT is set with some heirarchical address Refer to the Kantronics manual To log off your own maildrop type the letter B Enter Read more about your maildrop in the TNC manual and the help system AEA MYMAIL F1 for help Kantronics MYPBBS F1 for help 46 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating We briefly touched on this subject earlier You issue CQ messages from the Network View screen while in Unproto CQ mode Normally you cannot type messages from Network View as it is a monitor screen This avoids transmitting frames by mistake But to call CQ in packet requires sending out unnumbered information UI frames From the Network View screen switch to the Unproto CQ mode using Alt U You should see Unproto CQ in the banner You may now just hit Enter to send a UI frame The address of the frame is set with the UNPROTO command You can specify that your UI frame be digipeated and addressed to TEST or GROUP
158. roughput 1 Polarity is not important you can operate AFSK Pactor and Gtor and Packet too in either upper or lower sideband or FSK Pactor Gtor and Packet without concern about polarity This is different than AMTOR or RTTY BAUDOT in which tone polarity is critical for proper decoding This is a new mode developed by Kantronics It represents another significant advancement to the array of ARQ modes Higher throughput is not its only advantage G TOR is strictly a software ROM based enhancement which means that existing hardware can be used Unlike some other modes that claim to be faster than Pactor users wishing to run G TOR do not have to purchase another TNC or computer board Gtor was tested on the air during January 1993 between WOXI and WA4EGT on over 20 separate occasions under different band conditions G TOR and Pactor were used to send a 9 K file and in every case G TOR was 3 to 4 times faster than Pactor In summary 31 InterFlex Systems Digital Operating Modes 1 G TOR is a ROM software enhancement no new hardware 1 It uses standard shifts 200 Hz same as Pactor and can be used on radios with AFSK or FSK 1 It operates at three baud rates Presently the rates chosen are 100 200 and 300 baud 1 G TOR uses an error correction code called Golay code in both the data packet and in the response frames which greatly improves reliability and data recovery 1 G TOR throughput is 3 to 4 times faster than Pact
159. rsion 9 New Features Line 1 is a comment line it begins with an asterisk Line 2 sends a directory from the S MODS directory using the remote request and adding the asterisk followed by MOD If the user were to type GETMOD FT the 0 MOD would become FT MOD which will give a directory of all files beginning with FT and having a MOD extension The last line tells the user how to actually retrieve one of the mod files The getmod cmd file might look like this Getmod cmd file sends the mod requested sendtext s mods 0 lt lt end of mod file gt gt In this example the user would have to type the exact filename including the mod extension Calling a batch file example This last CMD file example shows how to call a batch file using EXECDOS and how to refer to the GOLD directory itself The objective here is to call the Buckmaster ICALL program and request the extra station information that comes along when you use the S option supported in the BuckMaster Callbook CD The user will be told to type LOCATE lt callsign gt and LOCATE CMD is the file we need to create In addition a batch file is needed that does the actual work of calling ICALL once the program shells to DOS and gives control to the batch file Here is the listing of LOCATE CMD LOCATE CMD for locating Lat Lon by Callsign Usage LOCATE lt callsign list gt Processing call s execdos ic_loc 0 This next line is tricky
160. ructure for the GOLD program and support files Users of prior versions will notice a difference and new users will want to know where to find certain files GOLD directory e g PKGOLD or KaGOLD contains the EXE file the configuration file and the HLP help file Off the main GOLD directory are fhe following ANSFILES contains files saved during ANSI picture capture BRGFILES has files with BRG extensions such as CONNECT BRG and your station description BRG file if you create one CMDFILES has a collection of files with CMD and several are put in this directory when you install the program and you can add more commands TNCFILES has files with TNC extension which are text files with several TNC commands useful for switching modes or reconfiguring your tnc Here you will find Startup tnc and Shutdown tnc DOWNLOAD has text and files that you write from the clipboard or that are sent to you by other users UPLOAD is the directory used when you start a file transfer You can navigate to other directories from this directory but this is the starting point PRINT is the directory where data saved with Alt P goes by default MONITOR is where monitored data goes if you enable save monitored data to disk in the setup area of the program DOCFILES is an optional directory that may exist after installation and have additional files of interest This directory is not needed to run GOLD it may be included as a source of
161. rupt and fast way to drop a link is to change modes You can use Control F2 to switch to RTTY BAUDOT or even faster turn off your TNC The preferred method is to use Alt F7 and use the method defaulted to by the program The normal way to bring a link down is to be the sending station use Alt F7 hit Enter and let GOLD send the file named ARQ SK which has the message about dropping the link You can modify the text in the ARQ SK file with any ASCII editor to customize your Link down message The ARQ modes AMTOR Pactor and G TOR all operate the same way Use the TNC manual for parameters that apply to each mode and the on line help system for more details Basically you will use FEC to broadcast a CQ using one of the methods described in the previous chapter on Broadcast modes Pactor and Gtor use normal callsigns for linking AMTOR uses a SELCAL typically just the 4 letter version but this is generated automatically when you type a callsign and push F7 You can read about the 4 vs 7 letter variety in your TNC manual You link with F7 do changeovers with ESC if you are the sending station or grab the link with the appropriate Alt F7 menu choice You end the ARQ if you are the sending station with Alt F7 There isn t much mystery and just a few simple keystrokes to run ARQ modes In the next chapter we will cover Packet radio 42 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating Packet Operating Most users w
162. s An ANSI sequence is easily recognized by its use of the ESC character which prints as a left arrow and the opening square bracket If you see lt in some text this is very likely the beginning of an escape sequence that contains cursor position color or other information for an ANSI interpreter When an ANSI picture is received Every session has its own memory buffer allocated and deallocated automatically When an ANSI picture is detected a second buffer is created for the session and it becomes the scratch pad or canvass to draw the resulting ANSI picture This buffer is only created when the software detects the need for it Therefore as you read the next few sections about ANSI pictures realize that Alt G the keystroke used to flip to and from the graphic will only work if there is or was a graphic for this session The purpose here is to save computer memory another aspect of dynamic memory management that is built into GOLD software If you use Alt G and nothing happens then no ANSI picture is available for display on the active session Manual Display Alt G As explained above the ANSI screen is not always available You can use Alt G to see the ANSI graphic only if one exists Alt G is a toggle switching between the graphic if any and the normal text screen Auto Capture By default ANSI pictures are captured into the ANSFILES directory Automatically cap
163. s for the duration of one baud time or 20 ms in this example The bits are then sent a mark or space or lack of a mark to represent 1s and Os Then at the end of the 5 bits a stop pulse is sent for one or more baud times 1 1 5 or 2 stop bits The next character repeats this process Prior to 1953 amateurs had to use ON OFF keying sending what sounded like fast Morse code The Mark or tone condition represented either idling between characters or a 1 bit The lack of a tone represented a start pulse or a 0 bit and the ending mark tone signaled the end of the character On Off keying or OOK demodulators worked somewhat but after 1953 amateurs could use two tones or frequency shift keying FSK sending one of two tones continually improving the decoding significantly The mapping from 5 level codes to 8 bit characters on the IBM PC for example involves keeping track not only of the 5 to 8 bit code mapping but the shift state A 5 bit code only has 32 unique combinations but with 26 letters 10 digits and punctuation more than 32 combinations are needed The solution is to use a shift and unshift character to signal which mapping is in effect The terms in BAUDOT are the LTRS shift and the FIGS shift This LTRS and FIGS shift idea causes some difficulty if it is missed that is received in error Therefore some stations set a parameter to unshift on space USOS to be sure that the LTRS mode is r
164. s are located in the tncfiles subdirectory See page 22 about TNC file layout Immediate Commands Some TNC commands are immediate and may be used to change modes For multimode TNCs typing AMTOR 11 InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation F10 is an immediate command to enter AMTOR Standby mode In this case no popup box appears the tnc simply does what you tell it to do like change modes This is one of the ways to change modes Shell to DOS Push Alt F4 to Shell to DOS which means putting the program in a state of suspension storing it to disk or EMS memory and running a copy of COMMAND COM You will see a DOS prompt Try typing a DIR directory command Change directories if you wish Then type EXIT to return to GOLD Quit to DOS use Alt F10 to Quit to DOS This ends the program after shutting down the TNC according to the parameters in the file SHUTDOWN TNC This is much different than Shelling to DOS which merely suspends the program and gives you a DOS prompt Note Alt and Ctrl are shift keys press and hold the key down before and during the use of the appropriate function key in order to have effect Also there is a difference between Alt 1 and Alt F1 The first is Alt and the number 1 key at the top of the keyboard and the second is Alt and the F1 function key The program begins with only two screens per port A Network View screen and a Previous Sessions screen If you push F
165. smit or have more problems on HF than on VHF or more problems when you use more power suspect RF Move cables away from antenna feedlines consider grounding everything or running lower power until you solve the RF problems A system with multiple serial ports may have a mouse on COM1 and communications software on COMS8 These ports typically share hardware interrupt 4 When either the mouse or the communications software is run all works fine When run at the same time the system may lockup This is a hardware interrupt sharing conflict If COMS is changed to use IRQ 5 the system may work But if a sound card is installed and set to use IRQ 5 things may work fine in DOS But when Windows loads it assigns IRQ 5 to the sound driver If PKGOLD or KaGOLD is using IRQ5 everything works fine until the software is run The IRQ 5 conflict causes the Windows system including the Program manager to become unstable and lockup requiring a reboot Sharing interrupts is just not a good idea and will cause your hardware and software to malfunction Software conflicts can also lockup a computer 386 and 486 and pentium systems are capable of running several kinds of memory manager programs ROM re mapping stealth and a host of other fancy things that may be the source of buggy machine behavior including hard lockups The two DOS startup files CONFIG SYS and AUTOEXEC BAT are often used to load a variety of terminate and stay resident type
166. t The maildrop will ask you for a subject then the message text itself followed by EX or a control Z as follows Maildrop L ist R ead S end SB Itn ST fc E dit K ill B ye SB all allus Subject Testing Enter Text Ctrl Z to end My First Maildrop Message to everyone everywhere lex Message 1 saved 45 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating Your maildrop may not look exactly like this but the concept is the same The maildrop commands Rjead L ist etc are single letter commands Some need an argument or value such as Read To list the messages use L for L ist Read the message you created If it is message number 1 you would issue the following command to the maildrop R 1 Enter read message 1 Last remove or delete the message using the K ill command for example issue the command K 1 Enter kill or delete message 1 Notice that the commands to the maildrop are sent to the maildrop using Enter and not F10 The reason should be clear these are commands or instructions to the maildrop not TNC commands Mail Forwarding The AEA tnc maildrop will reverse forward mail only if connected to by a station with the callsign specified by the HOMEBBS command The Kantronics maildrops will reverse forward to any other BBS station that responds with BBS type commands By reverse forward we mean send mail to a BBS when it requests it You can arrange with your local BBS SYSOP to do Auto forwarding to and f
167. t You do not need to know or worry about streams or session numbers Just how to move from session to session with the F4 key 49 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating Disconnecting the right session When you finish a QSO get to the appropriate session screen with F4 then press AIt F7 select NORMAL disconnect and the displayed channel will be disconnected after a few seconds without affecting any other session If you begin to disconnect and change your mind hit Alt F7 again before the countdown gets to 0 and select Cancel Disconnect Note Pressing the Ctrl key by itself will display a list of callsigns at the bottom of the screen As shown before you can use F4 to move from session to session or let the program jump immediately to the next session with incoming text or as a third alternative you can hold down the control key and pressing the Fn key associated with the callsign Connecting on another Port On Dual Port versions of GOLD F2 switches ports If you want to connect on the other port push F2 to get to the right Network View screen then make your connect on that port The F7 connect key always attempts a connect on the current band shown on the banner The program supports both manual and automatic Quick Connects which is simply a shorthand notation that tells the program how to get from your station to some remote station once The notation is a connect Path listing nodes and
168. t outside of the conference You could create an OFF CMD file or LOGOFF CMD file with the following format OFF or LOGOFF CMD file layout 73 from MYCALL OFF at 7DATE TIME DISC Bye Exit from conference and disconnect Again you could create a BYD CMD with a DISC command in it like the OFF command for use outside the conference You can create some interesting CMD files and with some planning make your station into a resource for radio mods information files propagation forecasts just about any collection of information you wish Here are a few CMD files with a brief explanation of what each does Use them as a prototype for making your own CMD files This sends a list of my brg files first line a comment Here is a list of my BRG files execdos dir w brgfiles org gt upload brgfiles Ist 82 InterFlex Systems Version 9 New Features sendtext brgfiles Ist lt lt END OF LIST gt gt Use GETBRG filename to have a file sent back to you The second line uses the Quote command to send the text Here is a list of my BRG files to the remote user The next line is more interesting It shells to DOS with EXECDOS does a DOS directory with W meaning wide of all files in the BRGFILES subdirectory with the BRG extension redirecting the output of the DIR command to the upload directory to a file called BRGFILES LST Finally the SENDTEXT command is used to send the list of files A couple
169. t L allows you to enter one or two callsigns to Look for and again hides other frames but does not ignore them 25 InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation Alt T and Alt D functions insert the Time and Date based on the Offset from local time that is entered in the setup area Alt W Clears or Wipes the current screen clear of text The function keys are summarized on the bottom of the screen with short names for each function Holding down the Alt key shows the Alt Fn of each key The keys change in the non packet modes so you should try them in both packet and non packet modes F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 F10 Alt F 1 Alt F2 Alt F3 Alt F4 Alt F5 Alt F6 Alt F7 Alt F8 Alt F9 Alt F10 Shift F4 Help for help index or help on a parameter or topic Netview and port change Previous session previous mode change port Next Session also other port if sessions active there Text Operations with clipboard and file editor File send receive capture etc only on active session Connect to callsign on command line to call in banner when in a non packet mode or bring up quick connect list Path shows digipeater paths in ax 25 address fields Search the current screen for text Enter some text to look for and the program will search backwards from the current position Command enter key Robot CQ in non packet modes Mheard list packet mode Direct Terminal mode for calibrating TNC resetting DOS Shell use
170. ta is displayed automatically in several operating modes In addition to automatic lookup you can use Alt I and the SENDCALL command See pages 19 and 75 Callbook Server You can setup your station to be a callsign server if you wish In packet mode a remote user running any program any TNC can connect to your station and request one or more callsign lookups See page 76 Conference bridge In Packet mode several connected stations can all converse with each other if you setup a conference using the Alt F1 function and the Insert key to toggle the conference tag for a station You can even add another GOLD conference to your GOLD conference another station running PkKGOLD or KaGOLD with a conference and create a conference of conferences This capability to create a network of conferences is not done by many users but it is a Capability built into the software For Dual Port units running Packet on both ports you can even have a cross band conference See pages 59 to 61 77 and 81 Remote Conference commands You can setup your station to conference all new incoming connects or let remote users decide to join or manually enter a station into your conference A remote user can check WHO is connected to your station and JOIN a conference and even create a new conference A remote user can also send a text message directly to another station in the conference without having it broadcast to all the other members Great for
171. ters Using the navigation system in the pick list you can get to any file on your system including floppy drives If you want to exit out of this process hit Esc key Once you select a file it will start to transfer to the remote station You now have the opportunity to change some parameters that will affect the rate of transfer Maxframe If you set maxframe to 7 your TNC may send as many as 7 complete binary frames of about 130 characters each This means it may take 7 seconds to transmit one burst Try setting Maxframe down to 4 or 2 if things appear to be bogged down or you see Rejected appear very often Persist As only one user of a channel with many other users be careful not to hog the channel Set your Persistence to a value of 255 n where n is the number of other users on the channel If there are about 8 people using the channel and your transmissions will affect them set your PER to 32 TxDelay Some transceivers cannot switch from transmit to receive very quickly If the remote sends an acknowledgment then switches to receive and your station immediately keys down and starts a burst of 7 seconds worth of frames it would be very wasteful if the receiver at the other end missed the start of your transmission because your Transmit Delay was too short If this happens your station will have to send the entire block of 7 frames again due to the way AX 25 works if a frame is missed Set TXD to abo
172. those items that have an EXE extension just like DOS wildcards Use this to limit the search list You can type a drive letter and colon e g B for the filename to have GOLD begin listing files on the B drive Then use the first letter approach to quickly select the file of interest This is a fast and easy way to navigate lists and directories The on line help system is filled with TNC parameter information and operating mode information and ideas and tnc specific documentation that is not in this printed manual KaGOLD has information about Kantronics hardware and commands and PKGOLD has AEA related material This is a valuable resource Accessing Help from DOS with H You may want to explore the help system without actually running the program with your TNC to learn more about AMTOR or even TNC wiring or adjustment To get to the help system bypassing the normal TNC initialization use the H Help switch as follows PKGOLD H Enter Access Help from DOS Accessing Help from GOLD with F1 After starting the program it begins talking to the TNC At this point you can access the main help screen index using F1 Then use the cursor keys to find and highlight a topic and hit Enter 20 InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation Push the F1 key for the Help System Index Use the Pg and arrow cursor keys to navigate through the Help System Use the ESC key to return to the Netview Screen Pushing the
173. tings to see which you prefer Auto Conference is as you would expect a way to put your station into an automatic conference bridge mode any station that connects is automatically in conference packet mode only Remote commands allows remote users to issue commands packet 15 InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation mode only that are defined in the cmdfiles subdirectory See version 9 new features for more information about remote commands Previous Sessions F3 Initially this screen is empty You may also have text from sessions that took place while the computer was off On dual port versions there is a previous sessions screen for each port When a channel QSO is disconnected all text is moved from the active session screen to the Previous Connects screen This screen is essentially a Connect History screen In non packet modes this screen keeps the results of previous modes This means you can monitor a NAVTEX or FEC station then switch to Packet and find the NAVTEX or FEC text there in your previous sessions screen This is most useful for transferring text from one mode to another mode All text from the Direct Terminal mode AIt F3 is also saved here Owners of PK 900 and DSP 2232 units can use Alt F3 to get to a cmd prompt type DIR Enter get a list of Modems then return to the main program with another Alt F3 Active Sessions F4 When you establish a connect or another station connects to
174. to the CMD file inthe 0 to the batch file and DOS sees the parameter as 1 The only twists here the redirection of the output of ICALL to location dat and the editing of location dat using the DOS line editing program EDLIN We pass EDLIN a filename to edit and tell it what to do in the file FIXDATA CMD The confusion about CMD files here is evident but this CMD file has commands to the EDLIN editor Here is what is in FXDATA CMD 1 3d e These EDLIN commands simply delete lines 1 to 3 of the resulting buckmaster icall output and then exit the editor You can learn more about using the EDLIN editor and passing commands to it by referring to your DOS manuals The idea of presenting these examples is to give you an idea of the power of the the new GOLD command file processing especially when combined with batch files KaGOLD and PkGOLD are the only programs available that can capture and display multiple ANSI sequences simultaneously capture them automatically and on dual port units capture ANSI graphics on both ports simultaneously The HF modes capable of supporting ANSI are Packet Pactor and G tor because they are error free 8 bit modes 85 InterFlex Systems Version 9 New Features American National Standards Institute defines several escape sequences that involve cursor positioning color setting screen clearing etc and with the GOLD ANSI capabilities you can view these ANSI Picture or Graphic file
175. too slow too much interference etc and for good reason Parameters that work on VHF packet simply do not work well on HF packet One obvious difference is the baud rate 300 baud on HF packet vs 1200 or faster on VHF But other parameters also need adjustment InterFlex Systems Packet Operating Parameter VHF mode HF mode VHF HBAUD PACLEN MAXF FRACK AX25 On AEA units VHF OFF must be set to switch to narrow or 200 Hz shift mode and HBAUD 300 The KAM uses narrow shift and 300 baud automatically There is no VHF parameter on the KAM Use the help system to learn more about each parameter Type the parameter name and push F1 to read more Tries and Retries The TNC parameter RETRY is the maximum number of attempts your station will make before abandoning the link and going into the disconnected state You can watch the number go from 0 to the maximum if you attempt a connect with a non existent station Try connecting to TEST by typing TEST F7 Then try overriding the retry counter by typing TRIES 0 F10 On HF and sometimes on VHF you may wish to set this counter back to zero to avoid the automatic disconnect Another way to avoid retrying out is to set RETRY 0 which means infinity or never retry out This is a poor practice and your station will never time out Kantronics was the first to have a VHF to HF gateway in their KAM units The whole idea of connecting VHF to HF frequencies appeals to ma
176. tured pictures are given file names as follows GOLDnnnn ANS where nnnn is a number from 0001 to 9999 If you collect more than 9999 pictures the file will be named GOLnnnnn ANS dropping the D in GOLD and using 5 digits to express the picture number Hopefully you will review the files occasionally and rename them to something more reasonable like BART ANS or TRAIN ANS You can turn this feature OFF if you wish in the Setup area under Screen Settings 86 InterFlex Systems Version 9 New Features Auto Flip The program defaults to flipping to the graphics screen when incoming ANSI sequences are detected You can change this to OFF in the Screen Settings area under Setup as above When the screen flips to graphics you can always use Alt G to return to the regular session screen and see the ANSI sequences in their raw uninterpreted form If you turn Auto Flip OFF you will always have to use Alt G to see ANSI pics The ON setting is probably the most useful but some users may want to avoid flipping to ansi graphics and do everything manually Reviewing ANSI pics A program called SHOW EXE may be in the ANSFILES subdirectory It is also available on the InterFlex Systems BBS Use this program to review ANSI graphics by typing the following command SHOW sample ans or whatever the filename is A second method is to have ANSI SYS loaded from your CONFIG SYS file If ANSI SYS is active all you
177. u have a 9 pin serial port laptop or not use a commercial all pins wired 9 pin to 25 pin modem cable for best results Homemade Cables can be fabricated easily Be sure to use shielded cable and tack solder the shield or the drain wire that runs along side the shielding directly to the D shell itself This will assure that the metal D shell and the cable shield are continuous which reduces digital noise from exiting the cable and from RF getting into the cable Then wire pins 2 through 7 and 20 If you have spare wires add pins 1 chassis ground and 8 Modem CD for a fully wired serial cable We don t use pin 8 but if you use the cable for a telephone modem it may need pin 8 for carrier detect Wrong Port Specified Let the software find your serial port Use the S switch go direct to SETUP e g PKGOLD S then go to SETUP COMMUNICATIONS and select Search for TNC as the COM port Go through the rest of the questions then DONE Now rerun the program and turn on and off the TNC as instructed to let GOLD find your serial port and interrupt setting 110 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting Just after installation the program will use the Search for TNC serial port selection to automatically determine the serial port is being used Note Any COM port can be used with the software If you have a non standard setup let the program try to find the serial port If it is not successful then you may override the Search routine
178. u want it to do edit startup tnc and put an asterisk in front of the line that changes the parameter you want to keep unchanged Test any and all tnc files that you create using this approach It will save you a lot of guesswork about why parameters seem to be changing Remember if a parameter is loaded in a tnc file it changes the setting of that parameter Only a few parameters are set by the program when it loads These are things like USERS 10 a required setting and putting the tnc into HOST mode an absolute necessity for advanced operation 106 InterFlex Systems Troubleshooting Troubleshooting In order for the software to run your TNC and let you communicate over the air your computer serial cable power supply radio feedline and antenna must all be working and wired correctly Most problems new users have with digital modes are related to hardware even though it may appear that software is not working right Although the software integrates the hardware into a working digital mode station it cannot fix or make up for faulty hardware When the software reports problems with the hardware serial errors link errors reject frames sent or received keep in mind that the report is about hardware or TNC problems For example during installation if the hardware or DOS cannot read a disk file on the distribution disk the installer reports a problem but cannot fix it The software is like the orchestra leader it t
179. ut 50 1 2 second if you see reject frames or several retries Frack The Frack value is the time your station will wait for an acknowledgment of a frame If you sending a file it may take up to 7 seconds to send 7 frames of about 130 characters each assuming 1200 baud and as long as 21 seconds if you do this on HF please don t send binary files on HF unless you set Maxframe to 1 even then it may be a bad idea The time out timer for ACKs starts when the first frame goes out If you have it set to say 7 Seconds it will have timed out long before your station unkeys Set your frack to a value that allows you to send the Maxframe number of 130 byte frames at the baud rate you are using At 1200 baud that s about 120 characters per second or 1 second per frame At 300 baud it takes about 4 seconds to send a single binary transfer frame 57 InterFlex Systems Packet Operating Paclen This parameter must be at least 150 for GOLD transfers Setting it lower than this will stop the GOLD binary file transfer and you will then have to use YAPP or Raw Binary Other Parameters The binary transfer rate may be affected by other parameters as well The ones given above are the most critical The others can be left at their AEA default levels Just remember that binary file transfers are not common and you may get some complaints at first until people know how to monitor If you do suggest to other stations that experience problems to s
180. ve NET ROM documentation and NET ROM software for those interested in developing a network system in their 65 InterFlex Systems Using Network Nodes area The documentation is worth getting if you want to know more about NET ROM What appears here is a condensation or a gleaning of what is in the NET ROM manual and from our experiences Storing and Forwarding With NET ROM you connect to a local node and send packets to the node It then forwards packets to the next node not by digipeating them but using a distinct point to point internode session This is called Store and Forward So instead of your packets making it across say 5 digipeaters without error they are handled as messages between each pair of adjacent nodes Any errors that occur in transmission are settled between the two nodes and not across the entire group of digipeaters Finding NET ROM Nodes You can find NET ROM nodes fairly easily Put your station on a frequency for 10 minutes or so If nodes are being used they will identify per FCC rules with their node name and callsign You will see something like N6WIK 10 ID UI Network node NIGUEL If the nodes are not busy you may have to wait longer for a different kind of identifier a ROUTES broadcast from the node It will be a bit different and not be a normal protocol You will want to set MPROTO AEA or PID Kantronics ON to monitor NET ROM protocol frames Without this parameter ON
181. xt is going out Push the ESC key before the text is fully transmitted you will see the lt lt U gt gt appear then possibly a lt lt u gt gt and finally the banner is cleared of the transmit indicator and the PTT LED indicator goes out Resending using Copy Paste buffer If you typed your CQ message manually and want to resend it you can use the Clipboard to select the text and then copy it again and again to the current session Text in the outgoing buffer will be sent when you press ESC to key down the transmitter When the text begins echoing back hit ESC again to setup the lt lt U gt gt unkey flag to unkey when the buffer is empty Sending a CQ Brag file Using the brag file approach is easier Press Alt F6 and the program will produce a list of files ending in BRG extension You may see file names such as CQAMTOR or CQBAUDOT for example Note A BRG file is just a text file with a BRG extension The BRG file contents are copied to the outgoing text buffer Push ESC to start sending and push ESC again to queue up an unkey The easiest way to send CQ is to use the automatic Robot CQ system built into the program It sends text in files that have a CQ extension You can create a CQ file starting with one of the BRG files that you may have For example COPY COFEC BRG CQFEC CQ This makes another file true enough but the two serve different purposes and can contain different text if desired To begin a
182. y either expressed or implied including but not limited to merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose Any and all program specifications conditions of sale and all other aspects of the software and documentation are subject to change without notice or obligation If you receive a diskette the media is warranted for 30 days to be free of defects in materials and workmanship In the event of media failure during the first 30 days contact InterFlex Systems Design Corporation for a replacement disk Visit the web page www interflex com This is a license for the original purchasor only You are licensed to use this program on a single computer If you have two or more computers or sites that will be running the program at the same time you must purchase a copy of the program for each computer or site You may not alter decompile debug modify or otherwise investigate the executible EXE files associated with any of the software supplied on the disk s The software is registered using a USER ID Additional USER ID numbers may be requested for additional callsigns This program may not be distributed resold or relicensed 125
183. yone familiar with both modes AMTOR and the other TOR modes that follow have two sub modes a broadcast mode called FEC Forward Error Correction and a linked mode called ARQ Automatic Repeat Request AMTOR FEC is a broadcast version of AMTOR that sends every character twice The receiving station can detect good characters using the scheme described below NAVTEX is FEC with a unique message format that conforms to certain rules The on line Help system has more about NAVTEX and how to create a NAVTEX message You can monitor this mode just like any other FEC transmission or you can use NAVTEX as a filter to receive only certain kinds of messages or from certain stations The error reduction in AMTOR is a great improvement over standard RTTY AMTOR operates at a fixed 100 baud signaling rate using a 7 bit word with only 5 bits containing data like RTTY The other 2 bits used at either end of the 5 bit coding are used to force every character to have 4 mark bits 1s and 3 space bits 0 Any character not having this 4 to 3 ratio of 1s to Os is considered an error AMTOR uses 4 letter and 7 letter SELCALS that bear little resemblance to amateur radio callsigns In FEC characters are repeated twice by the sending station and in ARQ characters are repeated only if the receiver requests it Auto Repeat Request Pactor is an improved AMTOR It was developed in Germany and has been licensed to some companies in the U S and reverse
184. you the program allocates a new connect screen for all incoming and outgoing text All text associated with the QSO is written only to that connect screen You may also find the text on the monitor screen which is nor mal as monitored frames may include your own incoming and outgoing frames The monitor screen displays frames based on the monitor level you select If a frame is also related to a connected channel and is in the proper frame number order the text will be transferred there as well You may see frames on Netview that do not appear in the session screen If you see frames 1 2 amp 4 missing 3 you will not see 4 in a session screen until your tnc hears frame 3 then 4 Think about this F4 switches only to Active sessions An Active session is defined as one with a callsign in the Banner On Dual Port units operating a non packet mode F4 will switch to the non packet only if there is a callsign in the banner A non packet screen without a callsign is considered an Inactive session or a monitor only screen To access a non packet monitor screen use F2 f you want the non packet mode to be included in the F4 switch sessions list put a callsign in the banner with Alt C 16 InterFlex Systems Basic Program Operation The Session Screen is where you see text that you send and receive Pop up status boxes menus and dialog boxes appear here as well In Packet mode you can send text at any time to an active sessio
185. you will not see NET ROM frames or routes broadcasts The routes will be broadcast under the N6WIK 10 callsign not the NIGUEL node name You can determine the node ALIAS by connecting to N6WIK 10 and issuing the IDENT command to the node Next we ll cover some NET ROM commands NET ROM Commands NET ROM supports several commands Only the first letter of the command is necessary except for the CQ command which is not supported by all nodes It is an optional setting controlled by the node sponsor Here are the basic commands CONNECT CQ IDENT NODES PARMS ROUTES and USERS CQ The CQ command can be followed by an additional 77 characters which are sent out of the node as a CQ with a message Other stations may see the CQ and respond by connecting to the callsign used by the 66 InterFlex Systems Using Network Nodes node The node assumes callsigns by appending an ssid number In the following example WZ2D connected to NIGUEL then issued the following commana CQ From Rich please connect The node will send a CQ as follows WZ2D 15 gt CQ From Rich please connect A user seeing this should connect to WZ2D 15 not WZ2D by itself If you were connected to NIGUEL and issue a Users command you might see the following USERS Enter NIGUEL N6WIK 10 NET ROM 1 3 Uplink WZ2D lt lt lt gt gt CQ WZ2D 15 Uplink KB6YOM The lt lt gt gt indicates that no circuit yet exists for WZ2D You may issue a then

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