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WinPack User Manual - Clay County Amateur Radio Emergency

1. have chosen not to announce it on packet myself because to keep my life as hassle free as possible don t do that sort of thing any more Therefore please put sufficient detail in any packet message to ensure that it won t result in people asking me questions about it which are clearly answered in the docs Here is the first paragraph of the the TXT file NODE2BAY EXE V1 3 c G4IDE June 1997 This file contains some very useful information The last paragraph might be just as interesting and useful as the first so please try and read it all What It Does NODE2BAY EXE acts as an interface between G8BBPQ s BPQCODE node software and G7JJF s BAYDRV Baycom driver for Windows that is why it is called NODE2BAY It allows Windows packet applications which support BPQ such as WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 192 6 13 2002 Appendix G Using WinPack with BPQ and a Baycom Modem WinPack to be used with BAYDRV and therefore with a Baycom modem NODEZ2BAY is not in itself a Baycom driver BAYDRV VXD is the driver which is Jon Welch G7JJF BAYDRV is a very clever piece of software and would like to thank G7JJF for giving his permission for it to be used in this application If you have any problems using BAYDRV in conjunction with NODE2BAY EXE please contact me G4IDE DO NOT contact G7JJF GW 7LHI s helpful notes on getting WinPack going with NODE2BAY a Baycom modem and BP Q are in the WINPAKGO TXT file available a
2. If you have a sound card in your PC then WinPack can announce the DX spots as they come in This feature is enabled from the Options gt Use Speech Announce DX Spots menu option WinPack User Manual version 6 80 72 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Enhanced Mail Facilities This section describes three facilities that are available with some BBSs They help to make reading mail and bulletins sending mail and collecting the BBS message list easier and more efficient First will describe these facilities and then will describe how WinPack handles them FBB Unproto List F6FBB BBSs only lf an FEFBB BBS has the unproto list facility enabled then each time that a new message arrives at the BBS it will send out an unproto transmission giving the message headers The transmission looks like GB7OPC gt FBB 10758 B 928WINPAC GBR G8MZX 951005 Servers If your local BBS is sending the unproto list these beacons are very obvious Software that can use the beacons such as WinPack accumulates them into a message list Therefore it becomes unnecessary to connect to the BBS and use L or LR to update your message list The first software to make use of this facility was F1EBN s brilliant TPK program If you want to use the FBB unproto message beacons you must ask your sysop to give you U status On FBB V7 to be able to use compressed download and compressed forward you also need F status The idea behind unproto messag
3. To connect to the node from the terminal use C To connect to another station use e g C GB7IDE If you press the Pause button the windows aren t updated until you either click the button again or 30 seconds elapses This is to allow you to view the scroll back buffer more easily The Disconnect button can be used for breaking a connection If you drop down the System menu the menu accessed by clicking on the top left hand corner of the screen there are options for changing the fonts and the background colours for the windows You can set different colours and fonts for each terminal So if you have opened two terminals Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 and you change the fonts or colours for Terminal 2 the fonts and colours used by Terminal 1 on this session or future sessions are not affected If a custom set of fonts and colours have never been set for a terminal then the default is to use the Terminal 1 setup An idle Terminal i e one not connected to anything can pick up an incoming connection to your callsign if WinPack is occupied with another connection Mail Setup When Using BPQ Callsign Outgoing connections when using BPQ are made using BBSCALL as set up in BPQCFG TXT If you want to use NODECALL for outgoing connections see PACKET INI For most people BBSCALL and NODECALL will be the same Unproto Beacons If you are using the FBB unproto beacons you must make sure that UNPROTO in the BPQ Terminal is s
4. command and request with the browser using the WWW_RegisterProtocol DDE command Only Netscape supports this it has never been implemented in Internet Explorer If a link is clicked which has a protocol type of ax25 or yapp Netscape passes the link information to WinpScape the file is fetched and then WinpScape passes it back to Netscape to display it If it is YAPP then it is captured with WinPack s Auto YAPP feature When WinPack has successfully received the file it sends an html document to WinpScape saying that the file has been received WinPack User Manual version 6 80 116 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs A description of the command and request protocol types is given in Creating Some Pages To minimise downloading time WinpScape holds its own very simple cache of html documents It keeps a record of the owner of each file and the time when it was downloaded The default lifetime for documents in the cache is 24 hours but this can be changed by editing the CACHE_LIFETIME parameter in WINPSCAP INI Housekeeping of the cache occurs every time WinpScape is started or terminated Graphics are also cached The default life time is 7 days 168 hours but this can be changed with the IMAGE_CACHE_LIFETIME parameter in WINPSCAP INI Pages downloaded by means other than clinking links in Netscape are still put in the cache but are given names based on the date and time and are never reloaded This is because WinpS
5. If you don t want an icon on the button there is room for only about two letters as a text caption To specify a text caption you would put for example BUTTON MT If you don t put in a BUTTON line then no button is added to the button bar WinPack User Manual version 6 80 100 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs Example 1 if you wanted to have Windows Notepad available from the WinPack file menu go into the WINPACK directory and create a file called NOTEPAD XTR Put the following lines in the file Windows Notepad c windows notepad exe False False Example 2 if you find the Alarm program useful and would like it to automatically start whenever you run WinPack edit the ALARM XTR file and change the third line from False to True If you would like to add a button for it to the button bar then add a line saying for example Button WINP_PATH ICONS CLOCK ICO Example 3 an Add on for viewing the 7plus log file Go into the WINPACK directory and create a file called VIEWLOG XTR Put in the following 4 lines View 7plus Log C WINDOWS NOTEPAD EXE WINP_PATH 7PLUSLOG TXT False False This will allow you to view the log file using Notepad Note for Programmers When an Add on is started from the File menu WinPack does not attempt to change to the Add ons directory Therefore the path for any work files should be derived from the EXE file s path E g by using App Path in Visual BASIC or by pars
6. See Reece at cen E E E E E me eee EAE E E E E 122 AGWP E eE 131 E270 EE EEE E A A E ON EA 134 De DM ooa e i E O E A E E 138 Host Mode Virtual TNC oso fs ces cones Aes dasa nelenansdeensennateieass iempades adheres beebasessamatoncdeieds 142 Multi channel Terminal serres een acta cdo ee ea aee aeneae aeee Eeee a kaei 143 WinPack User Manual version 6 70 ii 6 13 2002 Table of Contents 13 Trouble Shooting and FAQG cccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesanees 145 Comms Emor LO sags eee iene eee anna 145 Frequently ASKEC OWES MOINS as ccescecsteetchstepencecienes E aa 146 APPENDIX Bs soca toca teacsecoaeat Ene E E E E OE 155 Aa Menu Lavo 155 Files WLW coe E E E E CTT 155 EdC 191 eee E E E E E E E E E E E E 156 WTI ig 9 peereneee ne a A rerrnr sts rs 157 PRCUOM AVION eeose ereenn eere Ee eree Ee E EEEE eE EE eCe EC EEEE ECES 159 Options Men ceceree eee aise eee 162 Scripts M nU saereireae nanea A E E E EE E EOE RERS 170 YAPR MENU n E E ck E tat E E E E ape teh 170 HelD MeNUsessoene aeabes dimeatadvanalansbuasanitabasitans 171 B EAUONMEVAN expulsion teceecaxs vaca cavaneaeeesacsavaszvanssaveheonseaszavnuesieceiseussesaeavnmaeiseaassiesssecesenns 172 Customizing the Button Bar sco cece sccatecetccs tase ncatesstocetaseneatossteca lane nceatesstecatasenceetesnesen 172 What the Buttons DO sisccsrisccccscccnssesnsdsaasnacsocadeasdaaesnaddnsasoncdansavanirasseacdoaadmsdeanieaddenade 173 C Suggested I
7. Dial Up Networking as reliably as 32 bit apps do For initial testing you must make sure your PC is already connected to the internet Step by step remember you need to be connected to the internet already 1 Find out either the host name or the IP address of the BBS you are going to use and the port number Also you will almost certainly need to ask the SysOp for a password WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 119 6 13 2002 Telnet 2 In the Comms Setup window Options gt Comms Setup menu option select Host mode TELNET 3 Make a manual test connection to the BBS Enter the connectin command in the WinPack Transmit window The format for the connection is C host_name port_number or C IP_address port_number Examples C gb9xxx anisp co uk 6300 C 123 456 789 321 6300 4 When you succeed in making a connection enter your callsign and password when prompted Put yourself in expert mode on the BBS with the X command and turn off paging using the OP command Take note of e the BBS prompt e read any message and take note of the format of the message headers To From Date Time Message Title and Message End identifier Disconnect with the B command 5 Correctly configure Personal BBS Info window Options gt Personal BBS Comms Info menu option using the information collected in step 4 Do this with care 6 Edit the BBS TXT script in the WinPack s SCRIPTS directory and change it to something like this first s
8. RS 232 status lines Red is positive Green is negative unless you have selected an alternate option for DCD CON Connected red when you are connected to another station CTS Clear to Send red TNC can accept data green TNC is OFF or the buffer full DSR Data Set Ready Data Set TNC red the TNC is ON and connected WinPack User Manual version 6 70 10 6 13 2002 4 Getting Started DCD Data Carrier Detect red you are connected to another station if your TNC supports DCD See DCD for additional information Hint Double clicking on the status line towards the left hand end is a short cut to the Action gt Statistics menu option See Statistics Printing You can print the contents of either of the receive windows or the Edit Window if it s visible by selecting the File gt Print menu option or by pressing the Print Button on the tool bar If you aren t using split receive windows and the Edit Window isn t visible WinPack will print the main window otherwise you will be offered a choice as to which window you want to print If there is any selected text in the window drag the mouse to select then you will print the selected text otherwise you will print all the text in the window Because of an apparent problem with Windows I daren t say bug the title line of the Print Dialogue Box simply says Print even though am telling it to say Print receive window or Print edit window You can c
9. Resources d The settings of any address and IRQ jumpers on additional COM port cards match the settings in Device Manager e No two COM ports should be using the same IRQ f For now remove any commands from AUTOEXEC BAT that are attempting to load BPQ but keep a copy because you ll need to put them back later You can of course just REM them out rather than removing them If you cannot achieve a to f then give up now because if you carry on you re going to have big problems 2 Create Two Hardware Profiles In Control Panel select System then Hardware Profiles Highlight Original Configuration and rename it to Original Now select Copy and make a copy of Original as BPQ Reboot the PC and it should offer you a menu with two options Original and BPQ Select BPQ 3 Remove The COM Port in the BPQ Profile WinPack User Manual version 6 80 126 6 13 2002 BPQ In Control Panel select System then Device Manager Expand Ports COM amp LPT and highlight COM2 or whatever port you want BPQ to use Click Remove select Remove from specific configuration select BPQ You will now probably be prompted to reboot When you reboot select BPQ from the menu Check in Device Manager and it should now no longer list COM2 NOTE if COM2 is listed and marked with a red cross you haven t followed the above instructions correctly Repeat the above for any other COM ports that you want BPQ
10. TERMINAL section You can suppress it by changing it from REPLY_QUOTE wrote to REPLY_QUOTE Using the Quick Reply feature will probably give you a better idea of how works than this explanation WinPack User Manual version 6 80 29 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins Bulletins Bulletins are the general messages or postings on Packet Bulletin Board Systems Executing a LIST command will produce a summary list of bulletins similar to this format varies by BBS software Msg TSLD Dim To BBS From Date Time Title 143767 BF D 2933 WINPAC WW LU8FBC 0318 1609 SPY P03 143766 BF 1515 SOLAR WW IW2MLN 0318 1608 Geophysical Alert 143765BF 1006 EQUAKE WW IW2MLN 0318 1604 Seismograph project 143764 BF D 1180 AGW WW LU8FBC 0318 1602 MHEARD12 One of WinPack s particular strengths is in helping you managing the bulletin list by e Automatically downloading the bulletin summary list and then let you mark specific messages for which you want to download the full content e Downloading the full content of those messages during the next auto download session e Assisting you in processing downloaded messages by marking them as Have Read Have Not Read Delete or Archive Set Bulletin Columns Menu bar Options gt Bulletin Columns Any program like WinPack that processes the raw message list from a BBS has to know where the various columns of information are i e where the To column is in the list where the From column is etc Onc
11. in a faster connection but it means that WinPack will announce the connection in the above example as being to 123 rather than to GB9OXXX If you want to revert to the previous system then edit PACKET INI when WinPack isn t running and change RESOLVE_IP_ADDR in the TELNET section to TRUE WinPack User Manual version 6 80 121 6 13 2002 BPQ WinPack can be used as a terminal on top of the GBBPQ node software To use it you must have version 4 08a or later of the BPQ code You can download the BPQ software at http Awww ui view com winpack bpq408a zip To enable support for BPQ start WinPack and use Options gt Comms Setup gt and set Host mode to BPQ The link should then work without any problems provided of course that you have got BPQ running underneath Windows In BPQ mode a few things work differently The split receive screen is used as a main window and a monitor window The screen splits into a 1 3 and 2 3 ratio rather than splitting into two halves Don t forget that the ratio can always be changed by dragging the bar dividing the two sections If you are using the FBB beacons they are monitored all the time even while you are connected to the BBS If you use WinPack with BPQ you need to set up your system to send and receive mail slightly differently see Mail Setup When Using BPQ below Please note that BPQ can have a significant impact on Windows performance if the node is busy You may find that the perform
12. irrespective of what else you run on your PC Here are a few tests that a properly configured Windows BPQ system should pass a If you open a Windows comms application e g Terminal or Hyperterminal it should not allow you to select a port that BPQ is using b You should be able to run Windows comms programs on other COM ports without BPQ stopping working c If you connect to the BPQ switch and send the command s then RX Overruns should be no more than a fraction of a percent of L2 Frames Heard If you are using BPQ in polled mode Undrun Poll T O should also be a very small number If either of these statistics are showing high values then you need to reduce SPEED in the BPQ port configuration Also try and make sure that you are using a port with a 16550 A port without a 16550 will suffer badly from RX Overruns unless you run it a low speed Changing WinPack s BPQ Application Number PLEASE ignore this section unless you really understand BPQ By default WinPack is BPQ application 1 That means it will pick up incoming connects to the BPQ BBSCALL and respond to the BBS best to change it to PMS command from the switch You can change WinPack s application number by editing PACKET INI so that it will respond to a different command from the switch For example if you make it application number 4 and make your applications line in BPQCFG TXT APPLICATIONS PMS SYSOP then WinPack will respond to the SYSO
13. to another station you should get a cmd prompt just as if you were using a normal TNC The virtual TNC only understands a few commands It will accept abbreviations for the commands very much like a normal TNC Tthe minimum abbreviation for each command is shown in upper case The supported commands are as follows BText The text that WinPack will pass to BPQ to send as beacon text BPQ sends the beacon text as a Ul frame at the interval specified by BTINTERVAL in BPQCFG TXT Setting BTINTERVAL 0 disables the beacon text The UI frame is sent to the address specifed by the UNPROTO entry in BPQCFG TXT BTEXT can include WinPack tokens see the tokens list The default BTEXT is WinPack BPQ If you wish you can make BTEXT multi line To make it multiline you must edit PACKET INI when BPQ isn t running look for the BTEXT entry in the BPQ section and use M two characters to split the lines E g This is line 1 MAnd this is line 2 MAnd this is line 3 Multi line BTEXT is limited to a total of 250 characters Note do not confuse the beacon text with the IDMSG which is set up in BPQCFG TXT and sent at the interval specified by IDINTERVAL in BPQCFG TXT Connect Connect to the node Connect lt callsign gt Connect you to another station E g C GB7OPC WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 189 6 13 2002 Appendix F BPQ Virtual TNC Commands CText The text that WinPack will send to a station that connects to your syste
14. 12 which definitely worked this way However would think that there might well be a ROM update available for the TNC to fix the problem WinPack User Manual version 6 70 17 6 13 2002 5 Completing the WinPack Setup Host Mode Options This list box allows you to select a host mode if desired For direct TNC use you must select None NOTE If WinPack is being used in modem mode run with a command line option of modem this list box is disabled Host mode For detailed information about the various host modes available see the Host Mode section of this manual Here s a brief overview of the modes TELNET uses the internet to make a telnet connection to a BBS It does not use a radio connection See Telnet for more information BPQ use this option only if you are running BPQ node software underneath Windows See BPQ for more information AGWPE use this option only if you are running AGWPE which is a Windows 95 utility program that acts as a switchboard between one or more Radio TNC combinations and one or more packet programs It also has a feature for running packet with the computer sound card instead of a TNC See AGWPE for more information TF2 7b to use this mode you need a TNC specially fitted with either TF TheFirmware or WA8DED firmware or an SCS PTC lle TNC See TF2 7B for more information TFEMU to use this mode you need to load PC Flexnet software and its TFEMU module first Please see T
15. 1200 baud sound card modem module smafsk12 REM set the mode and txd for channels 0 1 2 and 3 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 139 6 13 2002 TFEMU fset mode 0 1200c fset txd 0 50 fset mode 1 1200 fset txd 1 50 fset mode 2 1200 fset txd 2 50 fset mode 3 1200 fset txd 3 50 REM set the sound card SB16 input to line REM and set the input and output gain smmixer s line il18 ir18 ol 25 or 25 REM load TFEMU with DRSI interrupts and TFPCX port numbers tfemu dx Testing PC Flexnet To test Flexnet without using WinPack used BCT EXE V1 60u which downloaded from the Flexnet web site in a DOS Window in Win95 If you will be using more than one channel for connections don t forget that Flexnet expects the channel to be specified after the callsign so to connect to GBMZX via channel 1 it s C GBMZX 1 SER12 Problems The docs for SER12 say Note Problems have been reported running ser12 on some notebooks and some state of the art computer mainboards with onboard UARTSs It seems that some brand of I O controllers lack special features that are needed for the ser12 driver to perform properly So far have tested it with three PCs and have found that it does not work at all well either with the 16550 UARTs in the Triton chipset of my Pentium PC motherboard or with a 16550 UART on an expansion card It works fine with 8250 UARTs on expansion cards Running WinPack with PC Flexnet First make sure you ca
16. 2125 will be mail only 0025 0325 0625 0925 1225 1525 1825 MAIL 2125 MAIL WinPack User Manual version 6 80 108 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs Themes Editor Menu bar File gt Themes Editor The Themes Editor is a separate Add on program which allows you to create and edit filter themes combinations of criteria which can be used when reading bulletins in WinPack For more information on themes see What Are Themes When the Themes Editor starts up an empty theme is loaded and the 4 top criteria lists TO FROM AT and TITLE TEXT are empty The bottom half of the screen shows the existing Selection List Editor criteria also titled TO FROM AT and TITLE TEXT in case you want to use them They are only there for reference and using them is optional E WinPack Themes Editor 2 0 Me x File SelEdit Help T0 FROM AT TITLE TEXT AA rs ee These are the available selections from the Selection List Editor TO FROM AT TITLE TEXT WINPAC SPORADIC E WINPAK STORNO WINP You can create a new theme from this empty theme or you can load an existing theme using File gt Load a list of saved themes will appear and you can select a theme by either double clicking to highlight it and then pressing the Enter key or highlighting it and then clicking the Select button You save a theme using File gt Save You can delete a theme using File gt Delete Themes are identified by their T
17. 63 AGWPE mode 131 MH List program 132 Alarms add on program 102 APRS Weather Beacons 97 Auto BBS session 20 24 25 31 32 37 38 43 54 56 58 60 61 62 63 68 77 78 85 121 147 157 160 161 scheduling 24 auto exit program 68 automatic pause feature 81 AX25 Mail protocol 90 Baycom driver NODE2BAY 152 192 193 Baycom modem 131 139 192 193 and AGWPE 153 and BPQ 152 and Flexnet 152 BPQ mode 122 bulletins 23 30 auto download content 36 columns 30 165 deleting 165 list pruning 35 68 106 165 166 number gaps 151 reading 31 renumber message list 39 topics list TO 179 button bar 9 172 customising 172 capture 10 12 16 56 59 67 155 163 173 CHANGES TXT 3 171 channel spacing 12 5 kHz 151 character mode 168 colours screen 167 Comms Setup 13 communication errors 15 135 136 145 160 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 202 compressed download 37 39 73 74 75 76 82 145 148 149 185 194 compressed forward 37 39 73 74 75 82 148 149 186 CON indicator 10 CTS indicator 11 152 DCD 10 11 16 17 149 195 DDE See Dynamic Data Exchange deviation TNC 152 downloading WinPack 3 drag and drop 70 DSR indicator 11 DX Cluster 60 71 88 144 164 169 Dynamic Data Exchange DDE 71 94 102 188 Edit Window 45 email list reflector 8 error 145 bulletin doesn t download 146 communications 135 FBB
18. 75 151 version changes See CHANGES TXT viewers 1 2 78 93 94 112 150 167 184 SPK 95 UIV 96 Viewers Editor add on program 112 virtual TNC 118 122 132 134 135 141 142 144 189 Visual BASIC 84 101 154 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 204 Index WAS8SDED firmware 18 118 134 136 141 143 187 WAV files 60 88 161 weather beacons APRS 97 website WinPack 3 8 WinpScape add on program 113 WISP 68 word wrap screen 168 write messages 41 YAPP 1 12 15 26 48 49 50 51 52 61 70 83 113 114 115 116 164 167 169 170 175 177 178 183 188 194 6 13 2002
19. BBS is very busy and you frequently get disconnected during a session you may find that bulls often get listed twice this is because FBB only updates your list pointer when you make a disconnect with B In this case try using a list command of LR NUM this will list from the last message in your message list Using this command also allows WinPack to process a partial list if you get disconnected whilst downloading it NNA NNA the order in which messages are listed is set by using the BBS s LR command You should set it so that the BBS tells you that they are being listed in WinPack User Manual version 6 70 21 6 13 2002 5 Completing the WinPack Setup chronological order The BBS will save your setting so you only need to do this once Set the WinPack list command to L Please note that on NNA the sysop can set the maximum number of messages that you can list This is to stop you listing hundreds and hundreds of messages if you haven t connected for a long time If you set WinPack to connect two or three times a day then this won t give you any problems Alternatively you can set the list command to L NUM this will list from the last message in your message list List Personal The following is irrelevant if you are using the FBB unproto beacons This is the command that WinPack sends to the BBS to get it to list your unread personal messages For an FBB BBS it should be LN for an NNA BBS it should be LM If necessary
20. E g some of the settings listed may be status messages and so won t be suitable for sending back to the TNC 5 Save the file Now if you ever need to put the settings back into the TNC simply use the Send option to send SETTINGS TXT to the TNC and restore your settings Complete the Comms Setup settings Note Please note under Baud Rate the sixth comms speed option shown 38400 can be toggled between 38400 and 57600 by right clicking on the number Connect String E Connect String This is a portion of the message that the TNC sends when a connection occurs It is almost always CONNECTED to lt callsign gt You ll have to connect with a station to find out If your TNC doesn t use DCD to show the connected state any self respecting TNC should be capable of using DCD then WinPack tries to monitor the connected state by looking for the TNC sending this string This Method Can Never Be Reliable To enable it you must also set DCD shows con state to No See DCD Behaviour below This string of characters is also used to work out the callsign of the station to which you are connected so it is important that you input it correctly Disconnect String WinPack User Manual version 6 70 16 6 13 2002 5 Completing the WinPack Setup Disconnect String This is the message that the TNC sends when a disconnection occurs It is almost always DISCONNECTED You ll have to disconnect with a station to find out If
21. FBB BBS indicates that it supports FBB forward resume version 1 protocol then WinPack will use that protocol If you want to stop it using forward resume for any reason then put RESUME_ALLOWED FALSE SEND_FQ the default of SEND_FQ TRUE means that after using FBB compressed forward WinPack will disconnect from the BBS by sending FQ rather than by using a hard disconnect If you want it to use a hard disconnect you must put SEND_FQ FALSE Please Note V6 1 and earlier defaulted to FALSE Section BULLETINS By default WinPack removes the R lines from messages If you put STRIP_R_LINES FALSE then it leaves them in If you leave WinPack on the read bulletins screen then it will time out after a default of 10 minutes of inactivity or whatever other value is specified by TIME_OUT and return to the main screen If you put TIME_OUT 0 then it will never time out If you are reading bulletins and you select the To button WinPack will prompt you as to whether you want to create a list of all topics in the message base If you will never want to create a list of topics put TOPICS_LIST FALSE If you always want to create a list of topics and don t want to be prompted every time put TOPICS_LIST TRUE Section SHORTCUTS See Using Short cut Keys Section BPQ By default WinPack is BPQ application 1 which means it is the application that uses the BPQ BBSCALL and responds to the command BBS or better PMS from the node If you
22. If you prune the bulletins list or delete a block of lines from it then normally any lines within the deleted section for which a bull has been downloaded and which have a status of Y will not be deleted Normally to get rid of those lines you must first kill the bulletin However if you enable Block Delete Bulletins from the Options gt Bulletin Deleting menu these lines will be deleted and the associated bulletins will automatically be killed Even with this option selected you cannot delete bulletins with a status of N WinPack will assume that if you downloaded them you want to read them So you ll need to open them and then delete them Bulletins marked D will always be deleted irrespective of the setting of Block Delete Bulletins because they are 7plus parts from which the 7plus has been extracted and put in the 7EXTRACT directory If while you are in Read Bulletins you click the Prune button and you haven t marked a block of bulletins then the list will be pruned down to approximately the number of bulletins set by the Bulletin List Prune Size option under the Options gt Bulletin Deleting menu For example if you have Bulletin List Prune Size set to 2 000 and you have 10 000 lines in your bulletins list then the first 8 000 lines will be deleted and the WinPack User Manual version 6 80 35 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins last 2 000 or so will be left The final number left in the list may be slightly more depending on the
23. Keplarian Elements Kantronics gear Land Rover topics LINUX operating system Lottery information Macintosh MFJ gear Modem topics Request or info equipment mods Morse operating and comment Motoring news sport amp leisure Msdos info Music info NASA news amp Information News bulletins Information about GINNA software NOS tcp ip system Novice news and information Ob 2 info PacComm gear Information about the packet net Pactor PAKET program info help Penpals info PMR equipment mods etc Propagation topics QRP topics RAE notes and information RAFARS RAIBC topics amp news Rally news Raynet version 6 80 180 6 13 2002 RIG RIPOFF RMG RNARS RSARS RSGB RTTY SAT SATTV SCAN SCHOOL SOLAR SPACE SSTV STATS STOLEN SWL TCPIP TECH TNC TPK TREK UFO UHF UKIP UNIX WinPack User Manual Appendix D Bulletin Topics Lists Remote Imaging Group Ripoff comment RSGB Repeater Management Group RNARS RSARS RSGB RTTY general information All satellite information TV Satellites Scanner info School amp Education topics Solar data Flare etc SpaceNews items etc Slow Scan TV info Network amp mailbox Statistics Stolen Ham Gear reports SW Broadcast news TCP IP topics Technical Enquiries Info TNC information general TPK program help info StarTrek U F O s UHF all bands above 1000MHz UK IP information Info about UNIX systems
24. OP until paging is ON 3 Send L 4 When you get the first Continue lt A gt bort message send A to stop listing 5 Send OP until paging is OFF 6 Send b to disconnect Your list pointer is now updated to the top of the message list If you are using the FBB message beacons the above procedure is not needed but you must ask your sysop to give you U status on the BBS If your FBB BBS profile is set so that when you connect the BBS lists any new personal mail it is worthwhile disabling this feature It isn t needed because WinPack will find out what new mail you have and it wastes air time Also the more text you receive before you get to the first BBS prompt the more chance your BBS TXT script file has of seeing something in the incoming text that looks like a BBS prompt but isn t which will totally mess up the Auto BBS session To stop the BBS sending you the list of new mail when you connect manually send the command OM It is a toggle alternately enabling and disabling the feature WinPack User Manual version 6 80 25 6 13 2002 Reading Mail Menu bar Mail gt Read Mail To read your personal messages or any bulletin texts you have downloaded either go to the Mail gt Read Mail menu option or select the Read Mail button This will bring up the Select a Message to Read window From the message list select a message either by double clicking it or by moving the cursor bar to the required line and the p
25. TXT A second message from G4IDE received on that day would be archived as 99122502 TXT Message Window either personal mail or a downloaded bulletin message When you open a mail message in the Select a Message to Read window Menu Mail gt Read Mail or in the Bulletins list Menu Mail gt Read Bulletins if you select the UNREAD button or double click on a downloaded message N or Y content of the message will be displayed WinPack V6 72 20 Mar 2002 13 36 UTC File Edit Mail Action Options Scripts Yapp Help KB2UQW KC2RLM PN 26 Mar 61 16 12853_WAZSNA 143925 WinPack Advice Needed This message has been read 2 times so far in this BBS Testing Testing WinPack Advice Needed End of messsage 143925 to KC2RLM from KB2UQW Keep Message Delete Message Archive To File Reply To Sender Buttons at the bottom of the screen provide some or all of the following mail processing options depending on whether you are reading a personal message or a bulletin Next Unread This option will cause the next unread message if there are any to be displayed The currently displayed message will be marked as read Y but will not be deleted If you are reading bulletin text and have selected only a part of the message list to view e g you have filtered messages according to a particular To field then this option will be disabled WinPack User Manual version 6 80 27 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bu
26. TXT file in your WinPack directory If communications with the TNC are lost WinPack attempts to re establish the link There are also two WinPack menu options to help you recover from problems Host Initialise Menu bar Action gt Host Initialise This menu option attempts to re establish communications with the TNC and sends all the setup information to it This process automatically occurs whenever the program is started in host mode Host Reset Menu bar Action gt Host Reset This option attempts to totally reset the host mode firmware and then reinitialises it It is put in because of the possibility that switching from the norrmal firmware to the WAS8DED firmware in a Tiny 2 Mk2 may leave some rubbish in the TNC RAM which causes WA8DED problems would recommend that this option is used with Tiny 2s whenever WA8DED has been reselected WASDED in a BSX2 TNC The following comments are my findings with my own TNCs would be interested in any learned opinions on this If put WA8DED DED firmware V2 5 from a Tiny 2 in a BSX2 TNC the results are very poor in fact it is more or less unusable The problems is not caused by WinPack because have done extensive tests using WA8DED firmware in terminal mode with a simple terminal program i e WinPack was totally removed from the equation What happens is that the frames sent by the TNC are often not decodable by the receiving system Even on a solid link with two systems r
27. Use Of The Packet Radio Network Packet users can experiment with software nodes without affecting the node tables of local network nodes by setting the software parameters of the node to stop propagation of the node into the Network Advice can be sought on the setting of software parameters from local node Sysops or BBS Sysops b Do not send Open Bulletins to individuals c Do not write in the heat of the moment Word process your bulletin first then reread it You may feel differently after a few minutes d Stop to think before sending GIF images and the like which sometimes are in large multi part files do you really need to send them are they amateur radio related would they be better sent on disc in the post e Please try to show some consideration for your local Sysop Remember that you are using in most cases his own equipment which is in his home Try to comply with any requests he makes of you f When accessing your local Mailbox at busy time and are having problems holding the link try not to turn your power up just to maintain the link Try later when it is not as busy g Obey the Golden Rule If you would not say it on voice do not send it on packet RSGB Data Communications Committee Radiocommunications Agency July 1995 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 201 6 13 2002 INDEX 7plus 3 4 35 42 48 53 54 55 57 93 94 101 105 111 150 162 163 166 167 184 194 Add on programs 99 AEA TNC
28. WinPack allows you to enable compression but not to select to use the unproto list This means that the message list will be collected using L or LR but mail will be downloaded and forwarded in compressed format If you turn your system off a lot you may find that it is better not to use the unproto list even if your local BBS sends the beacons That is because most BBSs impose a limit as to how far back they will go with the beacons in response to a sync request E g if you start up WinPack and it sends out a sync request for message number 1000 when your local BBS has now reached number 1500 it is unlikely that the BBS will go back that far It will probably send a special unproto message to tell your system to reset its message number to say 1400 so you will never see the message titles between 1000 and 1400 2 FBB Version 1 protocol WinPack supports the Version 1 extension to the FBB compressed forward protocol and therefore supports FBB forward resume That means if you lose the connection to your local BBS in the middle of uploading a message the upload can be restarted from the point at which the disconnection occurred To use this facility your local BBS must have Version 1 protocol enabled some do not 3 R Lines If you have ever read a message by using v lt msg_no gt rather than r lt msg_no gt then you will know that at the top of each message there are lines that contain routing information Sometimes this inform
29. WinPack will behave as if you have clicked the Reply To Sender button A message header form will be filled in with the WinPack User Manual version 6 80 90 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features address as specified in the link and with a message title based on the title of the sender s message It is also possible to use the AX25MAIL protocol type to automatically submit a reply to a form included in an HTML document If the sender makes the FORM tag something like lt FORM Name A Test Action ax25mail g8mzx gb 7skg 15 gbr eu gt then clicking the Submit button on the form causes a message to be generated containing the information you have put in the form It will be addressed as per the Action field of the FORM tag Don t worry you can look at the message so there s no way it is going to disclose your darkest secrets In addition starting with Version 6 35 links that are compatible with WinPack style text links can now be put in an AX25MAIL link For example clicking on the following HTML link lt A HREF ax25mail To g8mzx gb7skg 15 gbr eu Title REQFIL FILE1 TXT Content REQFIL FILE2 TXT gt Mail To Roger lt A gt would automatically send a message to G8MZX The title of the message will be REQFIL FILE1 TXT and the message content will be REQFIL FILE2 TXT Please note that the format of the HTML and text links means that this link will work if it is clicked in your HTML viewer or if it is double clicked when read
30. add a signature at the end of the text You will be presented with a list of available signature files and you can pick which one you want to use This option has the same effect as selecting Options gt Signature Note that if you use the signature button rather than this menu option then the default signature is used you won t be able to select your signature See also Signature Options Quote If you mark a section of text in the Edit Window by dragging the mouse over it and then select this option the text will be quoted That means a gt will be put at the beginning of each line The idea is that you can load a message from someone else into the edit buffer and quote sections of it in your reply How successful the quoting is depends on the line length used by the sender However the program attempts to do some intelligent reformatting on the text if the lines are too long Save This option allows you to save the contents of the window to a file Load File This option allows you to load an existing text file into the window Any existing text in the window is lost See also Using Drag and Drop Paste From This option allows you to insert an existing text file into the Edit Window It is inserted at the current cursor position in the window Any existing text in the window is retained Clear If you select this option the window is cleared Hide Selecting this option will hide the Edit Window again However its cont
31. any group of from three to six letters would suggest that you use your initials or an abbreviation of your name Online Internet Registration Online registration via credit card payment is available from http www ui view com winpack winpreg html The on line registration service uses a secure server for inputting your credit card information and is quick and easy to use It s the preferred method of registering Q Exactly how much will pay for the registration A You will pay exactly 10 GB pounds GBP That is the equivalent of about 15 US dollars or 16 Euros If you are outside the UK when your credit card company processes the transaction they will convert 10 GBP to your local currency using the current exchange rate There is no surcharge and paying on line with a credit card is much cheaper than sending an international money order WinPack User Manual version 6 70 5 6 13 2002 3 License and Registration Q What if the user s name and address is different to the credit card name and address A If the user s name and address is different to the credit card name and address please input the user s name and address in the Shipping Details section of the order form on the Secure Server Registration By Mail Send 10 cash cheque or UK Postal Order to Roger Barker G4IDE 79 South Parade Boston Lincolnshire PE21 7PN UK Please make sure you include your callsign your name and your address A suitable r
32. attempts to consolidate all the above information into one source In addition plese note there is a WinPack email list reflector which you can join to ask for help learn about program enhancements report bugs etc You can join at http groups yahoo com group winpack join An email posting to the group usually gets a quick response from a knowledgeable user or even the WinPack author himself Roger G4IDE Remember if you get stuck read the help Context sensitive help is always available by pressing F1 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 8 6 13 2002 4 Getting Started The Main Screen Getting Around in WinPack Throughout this manual references will be made to the various parts of WinPack s Main Screen Please note the locations of the Menu and Button bars the Receive and Transmit Windows and the Status Line The Main Screen Title Bar JA 2 Sy e Menu Bar n H Button Bar Receive Window Transmit Window l Status Line 5 Capture TODAY Botter 0 con csi snoof Menu Bar Nearly all the key features of WinPack can be controlled from the menus and submenus available on this bar Sections of this manual will be making continual reference to this bar There is also a Menu Bar appendix to this manual which describes each menu and its submenus and options Button Bar Some of the features accessible through the menu bar are also available from buttons on the button bar There is also a Button B
33. called LOGFREQ TXT and put some settings in it Here is an example of the required format for the data in this file 144 650MHz 10dBW 144 675MHz 10dBw 432 675MHz 13dBW When you select an option on the menu that frequency and power will be used in log entries but WinPack will always return to the default values when the program is restarted Colours Receive Window 1 Background This option gives access to a submenu that allows you to Receive Window 2 Background change some of the colours used in WinPack You can Transmit Window Background change the background colour of the text windows the Edit Background colour of the LEDs and the colour of the progress LED Active indicators in the YAPP and compressed forwarding LED Passive windows Progress Indicators gt Viewers For more information on what viewers are please see Viewers Use Viewers If this option is checked then WinPack will use viewers whenever a suitable viewer is available If it isn t checked then WinPack will not attempt to use any viewers Auto Viewers If this option is checked then if a viewer is available for a message WinPack will use it without first asking View this file using The default is that this option is not checked and so WinPack will always ask before using a viewer Ignore TXT In Titles If this option is checked then a viewer for TXT files can be configured but it won t be used when reading bulletins or mail even if the m
34. check with the BBS HELP for the command to list just messages to me Ok Select this button to accept the new data It will be written to PERSONAL TXT Cancel Select this button to discard any new data you may have entered WinPack User Manual version 6 70 22 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins This is the aspect of WinPack where it really excels Bulletin Board System BBS message management Most of the features and the apparent complexity of WinPack derive from its ability to simplify the uploading downloading and processing of BBS messages both mail and bulletins Mail is a message addressed to a particular individual bulletins are messages addressed to anyone interested in the topic Here s an overview of what WinPack can do 1 Initiate an automatic logon to your BBS perhaps at scheduled times 2 Upload any mail or bulletins from you Download any mail to you Download a summary list of new bulletins Download the complete text of selected bulletin types you want to read End the current BBS session Assist in processing downloaded mail amp bulletins e g read hold delete archive Assist in composing a message you want to send e g necessary fields address book spell checker mailing lists ONDOARW For you to really understand this section of the User Manual you should be familiar with your local BBS the mail and bulletins features it provides and the basic commands it expects for
35. come The RSGB Data Communications Committee in consultation with the Radiocommunications Agency has devised the following guidelines with which all operators are urged to comply These guidelines have been split into five sections in order to reflect 1 The need for messages to be within the terms of the licence conditions and the implications if they are not 2 Messages which could result in legal action being taken by other amateurs or outside bodies 3 Actions to be taken when amateurs identify cases of abuse 4 Unattended Operation 5 General Advice SECTION 1 Types of Message a All messages should reflect the purposes of the amateur licence in particular self training in the use of communications by wireless telegraphy b Any messages which clearly infringe licence conditions could result in prosecution or revocation or variation of a licence The Secretary of State has the power to vary or revoke licences if an amateur s actions call into question whether he is a fit and proper person to hold an amateur licence c The Radiocommunications Agency has advised that the Amateur Radio Licence prohibits any form of advertising whether money is involved or not WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 198 6 13 2002 Appendix Guidelines For The Use Of The Packet Radio Network d Messages broadcast to ALL are considered acceptable but should only be used when of real value to other radio amateurs in order to avoid ove
36. compared to V5 15 1 Users need to have the F flag set in their status or they usually can t use compressed download and compressed forward at all You need to consult your sysop about getting the F flag set WinPack User Manual version 6 80 148 6 13 2002 13 Trouble Shooting and FAQs 2 FBB V7 will not allow a user to use both compressed download and compressed forward in the same session Therefore WinPack users should either not use compressed forwarding Mail gt Mail Options gt Compressed Forwarding or they should edit PACKET INI and put SPLIT_SESSIONS TRUE in the FBB section This stops WinPack trying to use both compressed forward and compressed download in the same session Please note that from V6 3 onwards Split Sessions can be set from the Mail gt Mail Options window in WinPack so you don t need to edit PACKET INI 3 When a BBS changes over to FBB V7 the BBS prompt may change so you may need to change BBS prompt in Personal BBS Info If you find the BBS sends you a multi line prompt the best thing to do is to manually connect to the BBS and send the X command to put yourself in expert mode WinPack does not handle the multi line prompt very well Please Note that when you open the Personal BBS Info dialogue help is available if you press F1 Help on setting the prompt is also available in the WinPack BBS Prompt FAQ see FAQ 2 above 4 When a BBS changes over to FBB V7 the layout of the message list may change If
37. directly to your local BBS callsign e g UNPROTO GB7OPC or to a path via a digipeater that will enable your sync requests to be heard by the BBS e g UNPROTO GB7OPC VIA STUMP This is explained in more detail in enhanced mail facilities XFLOW OFF Although WinPack supports XON XOFF software flow control please don t use it if you have any intention of using compressed mail or YAPP file transfer If you do you ll get in a terrible mess and the TNC will probably have to be switched off and on again to bring it back to life So set XFLOW OFF hardware control unless you have a really good reason for not doing WinPack User Manual version 6 80 178 6 13 2002 D Bulletin Topics Lists When sending bulletins you are much more likely to receive a reply if you send them to topics To fields that are in common use A lot of people select the messages they read by topic e g by using L gt on FBB BBSs The topics list TOPICS TXT is in WinPack s BULLS directory It is a subset of a list suggested by Brian G8ASO have removed some that thought were not used much in the UK and altered one or two others Here are the topics it contains Topic 144MH 50MHZ 70CM 9600 AERIA AMIGA AMSAT Z L AMSTRD AMTOR APPLE ARCHI ASTRO ATARI ATV BARTG BAYCO BBC BBCTX BEACO BIKE BPQ CLOVE COMMD CONTE CQ DCC DEBAT DISAB DOS DX DXCC FAX M M N R R S E L DXNEWS Description 2m new
38. documents web pages It captures any it finds and automatically displays them using your web browser Not only are they captured and displayed but if your browser is Netscape then you can click on specially configured links in the pages and WinpScape will automatically download the corresponding documents Links can also be configured to automatically download files using YAPP If there are any graphics included in pages WinpScape can fetch them using YAPP The limitations of the DDE links mean that fetching graphics works differently to when you are using the internet When the page has been fetched it is displayed then the graphics are fetched After each graphic has been fetched the page is redisplayed If Options gt Use Speech is enabled WinpScape will tell you when it is fetching graphics and when it has finished WinpScape will hold a cache of recently downloaded pages so if you select a link to a document that has been downloaded within the last hour it will display the copy in the cache rather than downloading it again At this point you are probably not understanding what am saying Here s an example A BBS puts some web pages in a directory in its files area You start WinpScape connect to the BBS using WinPack and GET INDEX HTM WinpScape will capture WinPack User Manual version 6 80 113 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs the document as it is received and display it using your configured web browser Let s say INDEX HT
39. don t have to do anything else 4 WinPack tells the other station how much of the file it already has and the transfer carries on from there If the file does not already exist then the program behaves as if normal YAPP Receive had been selected If the transfer fails then you will get a message saying why If you get an immediate abort then the sending station does not support FBB style resume YAPP Auto Receive Menu Bar YAPP gt Auto Receive If you enable this option then all the time you are connected to another station the program will continuously scan all received text for the special characters that signify that the other station is trying to send you a file using YAPP protocol As soon as these characters are received the program will behave as if Receive Resume has been selected from the YAPP menu Therefore YAPP files can be received without you having to do anything at all Because resume mode is used you need to be a little bit careful about leaving files in your download directory If a file exists with exactly the same name as the one being received the program might attempt to append incoming data to the existing file YAPP Options There are some YAPP options that can be altered but have deliberately made it a little difficult to change them to deter casual fiddling To change these settings you have to edit the file PACKET INI which is created in your WinPack directory the first time you run the program L
40. file name includes a path WinpScape will not attempt to fetch it WinpScape understands graphics references of the form IMG SRC filename xxx and it also understands BACKGROUND filename xxx on the lt BODY gt tag WinpScape will cache graphics for a period specified by the user but the caching isn t very intelligent If you use a graphic called FRED GIF and someone else also uses FRED GIF one will overwrite the other in the cache so try and use names for the graphics files that are likely to be unique 2 Any links that WinpScape needs to process MUST have a protocol type of ax25 yapp command or request E g in INDEX HTM you will find ax25 link1 htm If your html editor doesn t let you put in non standard protocol types simply put in normal links and then edit in the ax25 or yapp with a text editor The meaning of the protocol types is as follows ax25 WinpScape will fetch the file as ASCII text yapp WinpScape will fetch the file using YAPP command the text following command will be sent back to the system from where the page was loaded WinpScape does not expect to receive anything back request the text following request will be sent back to the system from where the page was loaded WinpScape expects to receive a file WinPack User Manual version 6 80 115 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs You also need to tell WinpScape the YAPP download command different from the GET _COMMANDS for the BBS
41. files by clicking one file name and then holding the shift key down and clicking other file names Print Selecting this menu option allows you to print the contents of one of the WinPack text windows For more information see Printing from WinPack Exit This option allows you to exit from the packet terminal Besides the above options this menu may also display some WinPack Add On options These will come between Print and Exit see WinPack Add Ons WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 155 6 13 2002 Appendix A Menu Layouts Edit Menu These menu options are only active in certain conditions e g when you are in a window with text Even then some options will be gray ed out and in active Cut Ctri X If you select this option the currently highlighted text is cut and placed on the clipboard Copy Ctrl C If you select this option the currently highlighted text is copied to the clipboard Paste Ctrl V This option is only available if the Edit Window has the focus and there is text on the clipboard Selecting it causes the text from the clipboard to be pasted into the window at the cursor position Paste amp Quote Ctrl Q This option is only available if the Edit Window has the focus and there is text on the clipboard Selecting it causes the text on the clipboard to be pasted into the window and then quoted as if you had pressed lt F10 gt and selected Quote from the pop up menu The idea of this option is to make it e
42. functions such as reading mail or listing bulletins Therefore before you try to use WinPack s automated features suggest you manually log in to your BBS and do any of the following exercises for which you are unfamiliar If necessary use the BBS s Help command to find the appropriate command Send a message to yourself Read and then kill that same message Download a listing of the most recent 5 bulletins Read one of those bulletins Set paging to off so that message lists and text flow continuously ON ee Armed with that knowledge you will in a good position to understand this section of the Manual which is divided as follows Auto BBS Session Scheduling Auto BBS Sessions Reading and Processing Mail Reading and Processing Bulletins Using Themes to Filter Out Unwanted Bulletin Listings Writing Messages Sending messages Creating and using a Mailing List WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 23 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins Auto BBS Sessions One of WinPack s most powerful features is that it can automatically connect to your local BBS and carry out the tasks you would otherwise do on a manual connection Auto BBS sessions will only work if you have filled out the BBS Information on the Personal BBS and Log Information screen Options gt Personal BBS Info menu option Note that if you do fill out the BBS Information WinPack will automatically begin Auto BBS session at the times specified in t
43. is a subdirectory of the Program Files directory So my ZIP command is ZIP C progra 1 winzip winzip32 exe min a e To have WinZip unzip any ZIP files you receive you ll also need to add a second line with an UNZIP command UNZIP C winzip winzip exe e o j but again with the correct path and name for your copy of WINZIP Parts per Day based on the overall size of the file and the part size set in Options gt 7plus Setup gt Part Size WinPack will split the file into parts If more than 3 parts are created WinPack will ask how many parts per day you want to release In the interest of not overloading the network you should consider sending only a few parts day on non critical files Here s how WinPack handles the release of files Say the file you are sending has been split into 9 parts and you choose to release 3 parts per day All WinPack mail files have a time stamp encoded in the file name that is used to store them on your PC The Seven Plus parts will be time stamped e 3 with the current time e 3 with the current time 1 day e 3 with the current time 2 days When WinPack uploads mail to the BBS it will not send a file if the time stamp is ahead of the current time so your files will not be sent until the current time has passed their time stamp Seven Plus Receive During Auto BBS Sessions Please Note from V6 onwards WinPack handles received 7plus slightly differently to earlier versions There are no
44. it will roll back is set by the sysop and varies widely My local BBS will roll back up to a few hundred but other BBSs may have the limit set as low as ten If your sync request asks the BBS to roll back by more than its limit then it sends a special unproto message to your system telling it to update your message pointer this results in a gap occurring in your bulletins list The following example may help You have had your WinPack system switched off The last message number you received before you switched it off was 10 000 Whilst your system has been off the BBS has seen another 1 000 messages so its latest message number is 11 000 The sysop has set up the BBS so that the Unproto beacons will only roll back by a maximum of 100 messages You switch on your system and it sends a sync request based on message number 10 000 The BBS sees that this would mean rolling back by 1 000 messages but its limit is only 100 so it sends an instruction to your system to update your message pointer to 10 901 The BBS then sends the unproto beacons for message numbers 10 901 to 11 000 This is actually a slight simplification because if you have any personal mail between message numbers 10 000 and 10 901 the message numbers will be skipped only up to your first personal message that number is then beaconed and another block of numbers is then skipped etc kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
45. left in the 7EXTRACT directory Both the system message and the log entry will show whether or not the file was moved If a COR file is received for a 7plus file for which all the parts have been received but which contains errors WinPack will attempt to use the COR file to repair the 7plus file If the decode is unsuccessful then a ERR file will be produced in the 7EXTRACT directory The above process can obviously go wrong in several ways If some parts of a set are never received the parts that have been received will languish for ever in the 7EXTRACT directory Also if you are happen to receive two different sets at the same time with the same file name this does sometimes happen then things can get very messy Therefore it is a very good idea to occasionally look in the 7EXTRACT directory and delete any rubbish that has accumulated If a ERR file is produced then to send it to the sender of the 7plus data as follows 1 Select Mail gt Write a Message and start a message to the sender 2 From the Edit Window menu select Load and load in the ERR file form the 7EXTRACT directory 3 Send the message Seven Plus Receive During A Manual Connect If you want to read and decode a 7plus file whilst you are manually connected to the BBS then you must do the following 1 Make sure that Scan Capture Files on the Options gt 7plus Setup sub menu is checked 2 Manually connect to the BBS WinPack User Manual version 6 80 5
46. line then WinPack will run in a mode designed for use with a telephone modem on the land line port of an FBB BBS If you want to sometimes use WinPack with a TNC and sometimes with a telephone modem then would suggest creating two icons for the the program one with the IMODEM option and one without it For more information see phone modem support Suppress the Splash Screen INOSPLASH will stop WinPack displaying a splash screen when it starts up By default it displays SPLASH BMP to give you something to look at while the program loads Automatic Prune AUTOPRUNE will cause WinPack to automatically prune the bulletin list when the program is started See Pruning The Bulletin List Options for use with Wisp Three options were put in for a user who wanted to run the program alongside the Wisp satellite system The idea was that GSC in Wisp would run WinPack in between satellite passes The AUTO BBS and NOCOM options are possibly of use in other situations IAUTO BBS specifying this will cause an Auto BBS session to start 30 seconds after WinPack is loaded An optional delay can be specified so AUTO BBS15 will result in the session starting 15 minutes after the program is loaded IAUTOEXIT the program will exit 1 minute after the first Auto BBS session ends Designed to be used in conjunction with AUTO BBS INOCOM WinPack will not attempt to use a COM port It allows you to use the program just to read mail Mult
47. list 35 receive window 9 11 12 81 165 registering WinPack 5 7 153 171 registration number 5 6 remote access 83 169 right click 12 29 43 68 183 scripts 58 59 63 64 71 170 183 195 control characters amp tokens 63 keywords 59 scrolling pause window 81 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 203 Index Selection List Editor add on program 36 104 send file 48 send messages 43 serial port use without 68 servers request files 84 short cut keys 86 signature 46 65 87 159 162 174 Sound Blaster 149 150 sound card 18 72 88 102 118 131 139 140 164 speech 88 149 164 speech viewer 149 spell checker 45 89 split window 10 168 statistics 160 status line 10 11 30 165 195 synchronisation FBB unproto list 73 Telnet mode 119 text links 47 90 92 text links editor 92 Texto LE 95 149 TF2 7B mode 134 TFEMU mode 138 TheFirmware 18 134 Themes 33 34 109 110 TNC BSX2 136 DRSI cards 131 Kantronics 150 PK 12 17 PK 232 63 149 177 PK 88 149 PK 96 177 SCS PTC lle 18 134 Tiny 2 136 168 USCC cards 131 TNC settings 13 15 177 saving amp restoring 16 tokens 64 65 66 83 86 87 92 100 183 189 190 TPK 25 38 73 74 75 185 transfers file 48 transmit buffer 10 transmit window 10 86 122 165 168 189 6 13 2002 TZ time zone statement 132 UART 16550 129 134 135 140 145 150 192 194 unproto list FBB 38 59 73
48. messages that don t exist You have been warned Renumbering the Message List Included in the WinPack directory is a separate program called RENUMBER EXE This program is designed to allow you to renumber your WinPack message list after an FBB BBS sysop has renumbered the messages on the BBS This is quite a complex procedure and results are not guaranteed If you value the bulls you have on your system please back them up before attempting to renumber When the BBS sysop renumbers the BBS He must do the following 1 Tell you when he is going to do it so you can avoid automatic WinPack connects until WinPack User Manual version 6 80 39 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins 2 He must tell you the offset of the message numbers on the BBS After a renumber the message numbers will have moved downwards by a fixed amount This will usually be a multiple of 10 He can only tell you what the offset is after he has renumbered If he puts the information in the BBS log on on message you can simply make a manual connect get the offset and then log off If the sysop won t co operate in this you can work it out for yourself by looking at the number of a message on the BBS before and after the BBS has renumbered subtract one from the other to give you the required offset 3 Once you know the offset run RENUMBER tell it the offset and click the Renumber button It will then renumber the WinPack message list and the result shou
49. nodes broadcasts also wanted to log everything heard on the 10m port for later analysis so added the Log Alarms menu option If it is checked then all lines which contain an alarm text and don t contain an exclude text will be logged The log files are put in the TEXT subdirectory of the main WINPACK directory and have names like AL970620 TXT which would be the alarm log file for 20th June 1997 Restrictions If an alarm is still sounding when another line containing an alarm string is monitored the second line is ignored Alarm sounds particularly the siren may cause WinPack to lose characters It doesn t happen with my system but it is something to watch out for WinPack User Manual version 6 80 103 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs Selection List Editor Menu bar File gt Selection List Editor MW WinPack SELECT TXT and AUTOTIME TXT Editor 1 31 Auto Times F1 for Help These are for things you want to automatically download F1 for Help FROM AT TITLE TEXT SPORADIC E STORNO WINP These are for things you DON T want to download they override the above NOT TO NOT FROM NOT AT NOT TITLE TEXT B E ee The Selection List Editor SELEDIT EXE is an Add On program that lets you specify parameters to e download the complete text of selected bulletins types during an Auto BBS session e schedule automatic Auto BBS sessions at prescribed times Cancel CO Ok Pest The Sel
50. of for a telephone WinPack has full support for e mail reading and mail writing e bulletin listing reading replying e FBB unproto beacons FBB is a Bulletin Board System BBS program e compressed downloading and forwarding of BBS messages e auto connection to your local BBS e script files to automate such tasks as connecting e YAPP File Transfer e automatic 7plus file encode and decode e external servers e remote PMS Packet Mailbox System commands and more Because it runs in Windows your packet system can be running all the time while you use your PC for other things It supports TNCs in terminal mode and it also has support for several host modes It will run on top of the G8BPQ node software AGWPE and Flexnet with TFEMU If you are unable to connect to a packet BBS via radio WinPack can be used with a telephone modem to connect to the land line port of an FBB BBS see phone modem support for more information and it can use the internet to connect to a packet BBS via Telnet WinPack supports a wide variety of servers and external programs including viewers for special message formats e g HTML WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 1 6 13 2002 1 Welcome to WinPack My Philosophy on Amateur Radio A message from the program author believe that the essential elements of amateur radio are self training and experimentation If you remove those then radio amateurs become no different to PMR users
51. see any beacon transmissions MCom MCOM can be ON or OFF It controls whether protocol control frames are monitored NB because of the way that BPQ works the MCOM command affects all Windows tasks using the node Minbuffers MINBUFFERS sets the minimum number of buffers which must be available in the node for WinPack to queue any more transmitted frames the default is 30 Monitor MONITOR can be ON or OFF It controls whether monitored frames are displayed Even with MONITOR OFF the frames are still processed for FBB beacons WinPack User Manual version 6 80 190 6 13 2002 Appendix F BPQ Virtual TNC Commands MTx MTX can be ON or OFF It controls whether frames transmitted by your node are monitored NB because of the way that BPQ works the MTX command affects allWindows tasks using the node Paclen The PACLEN used by WinPack when sending frames to the BPQ node The default is 120 Unproto The unproto address for sending FBB sync requests It defaults to the BBS callsign which is usually correct If you want to include digipeaters then put for example GB7OPC G8MZX G4IDE G8MZX and G4IDE being the digipeaters UPort The node port on which FBB unproto sync requests will be sent It defaults to port 1 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 191 6 13 2002 G Using WinPack with BPQ and a Baycom Modem From http www ui view com winpack bpgqiif htm Note you ll find several other useful Baycom related links at the ab
52. setting of Block Delete Bulletins and whether you have any bulletins in the section to be deleted which are marked or N The default value for Bulletin List Prune Size is 5 000 Automate the Download of Selected Bulletins Normally if you want to read the content of a bulletin you must 1 First download the list of bulletins headers in one Auto BBS session 2 Then review the bulletin list and mark the bulletins for which you want to download content in the next Auto BBS session 3 Then download the content of those bulletins in the next Auto BBS session However using the Selection List Editor Add on program it is possible to immediately download the content of all bulletins that meet specific criteria This saves you the steps of reviewing bulletin headers and waiting until the next Auto BBS session to read the bulletin For more information about this feature and about scheduling automated Auto BBS sessions see the Selection List Editor section of this manual WinPack User Manual version 6 80 36 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins Mail Options Menu bar Mail gt Mail Options Mail Options Press F1 For Help Don t make any changes before you have read the help BBS programs have different enhancement and limitations which WinPack handles via the Mail Options window Use compressed forwarding Use compressed download WinPack s default is to have none of thes enhancements enabled and the o
53. should see RUNNING MD2PASS appear in the Script status window and when the BBS sends the password challenge it should send back the correct response to the BBS If it doesn t send a response at all check the prompt line in MD2PASS CFG If it sends the wrong response then the password string you have put in MD2PASS CFG is probably not the same as the one you have registered with the BBS WinPack User Manual version 6 80 80 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Pause the Receive Windows Normally WinPack s receive window s will automatically scroll as new data is received and the latest data is always visible This can be a nuisance if you are trying to scroll back to view something that has gone off the screen any new data will make the screen scroll down again exe If you press the Pause Button x then the automatic scrolling is disabled and you can now scroll back and view previous data Don t leave pause on for too long because while it is enabled all new data that is received is put into a buffer which can only hold about 30 000 characters Automatic Receive Window Pause An automatic pause feature is also available It works by triggering a timed pause whenever you scroll the active receive window backward At the end of the specified time period usually set to around 15 seconds the pause is disabled It can also be disabled by clicking the pause button By default this feature is disabled To enable it proceed as follow
54. support Flexnet don t know enough about it You should regard obtaining and setting up Flexnet as a separate task to getting it to work with WinPack These notes aren t intended as instructions they are intended as guidance to help you in your experimentation The last URL have for Flexnet is http www afthd tu darmstadt de flexnet You can do a search for FLEXNET in a web search engine if that no longer works The Introduction link on the index page gives a good overview of Flexnet and the concepts behind it If you are lucky enough to have a local Flexnet node then your node sysop may well be able to help you or another local radio amateur may be able to supply you with a copy To use Flexnet with WinPack you must obtain a recent version of Flexnet which has support for Win95 am using V3 3f Please note Flexnet does not support Win3 1 If you do not have a pc with Win95 on it you cannot use Fexnet with WinPack PC Flexnet runs underneath Win95 and puts a significant load on the processor would say that a 486 DX2 and 16Mb is a minimum for using it with WinPack Loading PC Flexnet How to load Flexnet is fully covered in the Flexnet docs am not going to cover that here except to say that the stages are WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 138 6 13 2002 TFEMU 1 Load FLEXNET the kernel 2 Load your drivers 3 Activate the kernel with FLEX 4 Load any other required modules 5 Run FSET as requir
55. t registered If you have no intention of ever registering the program and you think the reminders might become annoying and you d like to prevent them please do not try to circumvent this by installing this version on top of an existing older version of WinPack Once WinPack is registered the not registered reminder box will stop appearing Instead it will show your personal registration details when the program starts or when Registration Details is selected from the Help menu If your registration information is displayed there is a check box which is labelled Show At Start Up the default is that WinPack briefly displays your registration information every time the program is started If you don t want it to do that then uncheck this box Please Note you cannot uncheck this box if the callsign in the registration information is not the same as the Callsign set in Personal BBS Info Q What do I receive when I register A You will immediately receive an email comfirming your order Within 48 hours usually much sooner you will receive your registration information You should then use the Register WinPack option on the WinPack Help menu and input the registration information callsign name address registration number Q What do do if haven t got a ham radio callsign A The WinPack registration number is calculated from the user s callsign name and address so you must put something for callsign You can put
56. the beacons from your local BBS Gaps occur when your system fails to hear beacons With perfect reception of the beacons the list will always be empty and the option will be unavailable If there is a list each line is the text of a message header preceded by a second copy of the message number This second copy is always padded with 0 s to 6 digits in length and enables WinPack to easily sort the headers into numerical order The message number in the header is left justified and so will not always sort into the correct order Ctrl B provides a shortcut to this option Statistics This option gives a display of some statistics relating to the current WinPack session Start time up time number of auto sessions number of messages downloaded and uploaded and comms errors NOTE comms errors are not reported if you use BPQ AGWPE or TFEMU because with all those modes the COM ports are controlled by the host software not by WinPack See also Comms Error Log Double clicking on the status line on the main screen towards the left hand end is a short cut to this option Sync Request Selecting this option sends an FBB sync request to the local BBS This is intended to be used in preference to the old method of using F5 which runs a script to send the sync request However F5 will still work Shift F5 provides a shortcut to this option The option is only available if you are using the FBB beacons Please Note WinPack will ne
57. the large numeric channel buttons or you press Alt 1 Alt 2 etc wecra 4 E N20Ae 4 E f a channel is being used for a connection the connected tation s CALLSIGN will appear on the channel button Die Jo Lia_jo in red if it s the active channel using the main and transmit windows or black if it s not The small square to the right of the channel button will be green if there is no new traffic on that channel and red if there is If you select channel button 1 you are returned to the main WinPack screen because that always uses channel 1 You will find it very easy to switch between the main screen and the Mulit channel Terminal screen by pressing the 1 button in the Multi channel terminal or the terminal button in WinPack Windows task bar win e mu ajajaa The small monitor buttons at the top right of the Multi channel Sd ciel sie terminal screen let you select which channel you want to display in the top monitor window The default is to display monitored unconnected traffic which is virtual channel 0 but you can select another channel if you wish The monitor channel button that is selected will turn red or the program screen buttons in the Here s an example of what is possible e Split WinPack s main Receive Window with Ctrl S or Options gt Split Window In the top receive window display monitored traffic channel 0 Use the bottom receive window always channel 1 to give you access
58. these notes but not beyond the scope of your TNC manual In all situations where you can t establish any communication take the following approach forget about WinPack for the time being and use the Windows Terminal program Once you can communicate fully satisfactorily with your TNC from Windows Terminal using 8 data bits no parity 1 stop bit hardware handshaking you ll find that you can also communicate with it from WinPack 4 Set MYCALL Once you have WinPack and the TNC working together set the MYCALL parameter in the TNC e inthe Receive window make sure the TNC has given you the CMD prompt If it hasn t enter a Ctrl C key combination e Inthe WinPack Transmit window enter the MYCALL change command for your TNC along with your call sign Example MYCALL G4IDE e You can verify the change by entering just MYCALL alone At this point WinPack and the TNC should be properly set for a simple packet exchange You can test this by trying to connect to another station such as a BBS in the WinPack Transmit window enter C target callsign where target callsign is replaced by the actual callsign of the other station example C G8MZX there is one space between the C and the callsign End the connection by logging off the BBS typically with a B or by a forced disconnect enter a Ctrl C key combination and then aD WinPack User Manual version 6 70 14 6 13 2002 5 Completing the WinPack Setup TNC Setup recommend these C
59. to an hour glass and WinPack will attempt to communicate with the TNC You may see some Invalid Command messages appear on the screen but eventually the cursor will return to an arrow and a cmd prompt will appear If that doesn t happen but instead you get an error message close down WinPack make sure your TNC really does have either TF or WA8DED firmware and restart WinPack see below If Things Go Wrong WinPack assumes that the TNC is not in it s host mode and sends the command to put the TNC into host mode WinPack then sends a whole series of initialisation commands Unlike when it is using a TNC in command mode WinPack does not assume that the correct parameters are in the TNC instead it reinitialises them all from the values saved in PACKET INI or from default values within the program If any initialisation command fails to be acknowledged by the TNC WinPack goes into a recovery routine and tries to re establish communication If the recovery fails then an error message is displayed Virtual TNC Parameters Different for SCS PTC lle TNCs The following is important Some of WinPack s Virtual TNC commands take different parameters when used with an SCS PTC lle as compared to parameters used with TF firmware The difference is in the units used The commands are FRACK RESPTIME SLOTTIME and TXDELAY The default values for these commands and also for INICMD will be different for a PTC lle WinPack User Manual version
60. to take advantage of them The file DDE ZIP on the distribution disk contains a simple program which should provide sufficient information for any programmer who wishes to investigate the possibilities of writing programs to link to WinPack using DDE What might these programs do Lots of things Here are two ideas that have occurred to me 1 A program that would link to WinPack and monitor DX information from a DX cluster As each spot was received the program could automatically look up the DX callsign on a CD ROM callbook or perhaps operate a rotator to turn a beam in the required direction 2 A packet checkers or chess game that used WinPack for the communications so the game would not have to include all the code to link to the TNC etc DX Clusters Although WinPack is not written specifically as a program to use for connecting to a DX Cluster it does have several features which make it very useful for that purpose You can use a script file to automate the process of connecting to the Cluster which is very useful if you have to connect via two or three nodes In the WINPACK SCRIPTS directory you will find a sample script file named DXCLUST TXT You can edit this file to make it pertinent for your DX Cluster link callsign path prompt etc I suggest you first make a copy of the original file under another name in case you need to reference it later Note that the F3 key is the current default hot key for the DXCLUST TXT f
61. want it to have another application number put for example APPLICATION 4 If you want to use the NODECALL for outgoing connections put USE_BBS_CALL FALSE If you want to change WinPack s BPQ application number edit the APPLICATION entry WinPack User Manual version 6 80 186 6 13 2002 Appendix E PACKET INI File Settings Section WINPTF deals with TF host mode INIT_ALL_CALLS when used with TF firmware WA8DED firmware or PC Flexnet and TFEMU WinPack initialises the callsign on channel 0 and channel 1 when it starts up to whatever callsign has been set in Personal BBS Info Unless you often change the callsign on the terminal channels to a completely different callsign initialising channel 0 and channel 1 is quite adequate If you do use different callsigns note different callsigns not different SSIDs on the terminal channels then putting INIT_ALL_CALLS TRUE will make sure that all the callsigns get reset to the the default callsign each time you start WinPack but it makes WinPack take slightly longer to start up TFEMU_POLLRATE if you use WinPack with PC Flexnet and TFEMU WinPack constantly polls TFEMU for received data The default is that it polls it 20 times a second You can if you wish set a lower poll rate but this variable was really put in for my own experimentation during development TFPCX_INT if you use WinPack with PC Flexnet and TFEMU WinPack expects TFEMU to be using DRSI style software interru
62. where the copyright holder has given permission to allow distribution As this is Amateur Radio the files should reasonably be expected to have relevance to the hobby When you receive all the parts of a file distributed using 7plus it is simply re constructed by running the program and telling it the name of the segmented files If there are errors it will generate an error report which would then be sent to the originator and a correction file generated The program is run again with the original sections and the correction and it should all come together or generate another error file If the original was sent as bulletins watch out for corrections also sent as bulletins WinPack User Manual version 6 80 57 6 13 2002 9 Scripts About Scripts WinPack supports a simple form of script A script is a series of commands that the program can process It makes it easy for you to automate such functions as connecting to your local BBS downloading the message list etc Sample Scripts Three sample scripts DKCLUST BBS and SETTIME are provided with the program If you want to try using scripts please read the comments in these examples using the Edit Window suggest you leave these scripts without changes and create copies with new names if you want to create a new script Note All Script files have a TXT extension Special WinPack Scripts There are three special scripts STARTUP EXIT and BBSBYE that will be executed automa
63. with his KPC 9612 His method is technically superior because it allows the link between the PC and the TNC to be kept at a high speed which is essential if you want to use 9600 baud on air e In Control Panel select System Device Manager Ports COM amp LPT and then Properties Port Settings Advanced for the port you use with your TNC e Leave Use FIFO buffers checked but move the Transmit Buffer slider fully to the left WinPack User Manual version 6 80 150 6 13 2002 13 Trouble Shooting and FAQs This disables the transmit FIFO on the port but leaves the receive FIFO working A final comment like with any other TNC you must use a cable that connects the RS232 handshaking lines A simple three wire cable is not sufficient See the Suggested TNC Settings kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk 7 Problem sometimes get gaps between the message numbers in the bulletins list am using the FBB unproto beacons Answer There will always be some message numbers missing because WinPack will not include other people s personal mail in your list However if you find that a whole block of numbers is missing and this correlates with having had your system turned off for some time then it is because of the following When you send an unproto sync request to an FBB BBS the BBS will only roll back the unproto beacons up to a set number of messages How many
64. you aren t connected simply input the command just as a user would If you are connected then you precede the command with a singled quote character e g LOC This format can also be used when you aren t connected External programs live in the EXTERN subdirectory To create an external program you must have some knowledge of programming However anyone who has written an FBB PG program will find it very easy to write a WinPack external program Anyone who is interested in exploring the possibilities of external programs should unzip the file EXTERN ZIP on the installation disk and have a look at the example program called DEMO It is written in VB but FRMEXT FRM can be viewed in a text editor and the comments at the top of the ExternAction subroutine explain how to write a WinPack external program Of course if you want to write program using VB then you can use DEMO as a starting point What can external programs do Well a CD ROM callbook access external program is an obvious idea or some sort of information database or how about a noughts and crosses game Or even an adventure game WinPack User Manual version 6 80 76 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Network Use of WinPack From V6 43 onwards WinPack has some support for running on a network This support is really limited to the situation where a user wants to run WinPack on one PC and be able to read and write messages from another PC An increasing number of user
65. 0 characters See also automatic pause facility Disconnect ae Pressing this button should cause a disconnect assuming you are connected to somebody It sends a Control C and then D to the TNC This button will not work if you are in the middle of a YAPP File Transfer you must first abort the transfer and then disconnect 1 Window Button only visible if the Split Window option is selected If the receive window is split then this Window Button allows you to swap between the two windows If it shows 1 the upper window is selected 2 means that the lower window is selected For more information select receive windows If you are using WinPack in BPQ mode this button is replaced by one that allows you to start the BPQ Terminal program Terminal only visible in Host Mode See The Multi channel Terminal If you select Host Mode while operating with split receive windows the Window button above is replaced with the Terminal button WinPack User Manual version 6 80 175 6 13 2002 Appendix B Button Bar In amp Out Boxes show only if you have any new messages waiting to be read and if you have any messages waiting to be forwarded to the BBS The numbers against the pictures show the number of messages in each box If there aren t any messages waiting in either box the images are not displayed Clicking on the In Box has then same effect as selecting Mail gt Read Mail from the menu Clicking on the Out Box is eq
66. 0h61 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 97 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Telling WinPack Where The WX File Is You need to tell WinPack where to find the WX report file To do this you must edit PACKET INI when WinPack is not running and create a new section called WX In this section you must make a FILE_NAME entry e g WX FILE_ NAME C Wxprog Wxreport Txt This PACKET INI entry is the trigger for WinPack to try and send WX report beacons without this entry WinPack behaves as normal WinPack Ignores Old WX Reports If the report in the file is older than a certain number of minutes then WinPack won t send the report instead it will send the unaltered BTEXT The default maximum age is 5 minutes but this can be altered by editing the MAX_AGE_MINUTES in the WX section of PACKET INI Please Note the MAX_AGE_MINUTES entry will be created by WinPack provided that you have first created the WX section and put in the FILE_NAME entry WinPack User Manual version 6 80 98 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs What Are Add ons Add ons originally called Extras are programs that can be added to the WinPack File menu but are not actually part of WinPack Virtually any program can be used but it obviously makes sense if it is in some way related to WinPack St t l 4 Selection List Edits A newly installed WinPack system should show five Add on ER options at the bottom of the File menu Viewers Ed
67. 1st December 1995 The main purpose of the date time tokens is for setting the TNC s date and time from a startup script Have a look at the script called SETTIME TXT in the WinPack SCRIPTS folder which is a good example of how to use tokens actually use that script as my start up script The Script Status Window Dialogue windows are displayed when a script is playing One shows the name of the script and the command that is currently being processed There is also a cancel button available in case the script gets stuck WinPack User Manual version 6 80 66 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Capture File You can have WinPack automatically store all Receive window text in a special Capture File To initiate a file capture use either the File gt Capture menu option or the Capture button on the button bar a to initiate capturing the button changes to FEF when capture is on Open a capture file 2 x File name Folders OK tt c winpack capture Cancel L0G22102 TxT Sc TEST1 TXT HAMPRO 1 TODAY TXT upei Network E gt CAPTURE List files of type Drives Text files c DELL4100 The Open a capture file window will appear and ask you to name the captue file with a txt extension By default WinPack will keep Capture files in the WinPack CAPTURE subdirectory You can change this if you would like All received text will be stored in the file until you close it by deselecting the option Not
68. 5 6 13 2002 8 File Transfers 3 Click the Capture button or select File gt Capture from menu and input a file name This file is only used as a temporary store for the data so if you wish you can always use the same name and overwrite the file each time 4 Read the message or messages with the 7plus in them you can capture several in the one file 5 Close the capture file and the 7plus will be extracted and decoded just as if it was in a message that had been read in an Auto BBS session What is 7plus This following was written by Brian G8ASO thank him for giving his permission to use it It explains the basic theory of 7plus and why it is used As far as WinPack is concerned the only difference is that the tasks of encoding and decoding the 7plus parts selecting a suitable part size and controlling the release of the parts to only a few per day are automated Brian has also written an excellent series of notes intended to give help to packet users in understanding how the system works and answering some of the often asked questions thoroughly recommend them For a current list of the files available send a REQuest FlLe message SP REQFIL G8ASO GB7GLO 46 GBR EU Message Title STARTNDX ASO Message Text IEX What is this system that fills my screen with nonsense and compels otherwise sensible people to deride each other That is a quote from an enquiry recently It could be compressed forwarding traffic be
69. 6 80 0 134 6 13 2002 TF2 7b For full information on any command use the Virtual TNC s Help at the cmd prompt enter lt command gt where lt command gt would be replaced with the actual name of the command For example DISPLAY will result in help on the DISPLAY command You can get general help with the command help or simply Serial Port Requirement for TF2 7b mode The following is important When the TNC is being used in TF or WA8DED host mode WinPack has to continuously poll the TNC it will not send data to the PC until it is asked Also every command that WinPack sends to the TNC is acknowledged with a response of some sort This means that there is a tight continuous communications loop between WinPack and the TNC If this loop breaks down because of characters getting dropped on the PC COM port WinPack will attempt to re establish it Usually this is successful but it can result in some loss of data In testing found that with one PC a DX2 running Windows for Workgroups could not get satisfactory comms performance without using a port with a buffered UART 16550 Without a 16550 overruns kept occurring on the port when heavy disk activity was in progress Overruns occur because the Windows comms drivers don t service the port quickly enough there s nothing can do about that because the drivers are part of Windows not part of WinPack would certainly recommend the use of a 16550 Most new PCs
70. 88 ALL WW KBOMWR 6319 2616 Re Compressed SMTP fwd 143899 KEPS GWU F8RCI 6319 1952 ISS TLE day 878 16 K143898 DX RIR GB7LDI 6319 1952 Ducie Island 143895 ALL TRIBBS KB2QLE 6319 1716 skywarn training session 143894 16463 NTSNY W1iPEX 6319 1769 BRONX 718 549 143893 HUMOR USBBS W1GMF 6319 1338 HUMOR FOR TODAY 6319 143891 SAT GAMSAT W4DPH 6319 1235 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT Pf 143896 SAT GAMSAT W4DPH 6319 1235 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT Pf 143889 SPACE WW XE2ZARF 6319 1228 Contacto ISS 16 83 2682 143888 ROUTE WW G4EBT 6319 1227 Re I only use radio M 143926 ARRL G WW ZS6FB 6326 0122 Arrl Newsletter 15th Mar 143924 INTRUD WW KB2VUXA 6326 0102 Re MICTK gt 14 992 8 143922 KEPLER WW I6KZR 6326 6648 2L Keplerian Elements 675 143926 DX RIR DJSAY 6326 0641 DXNL 1285 14Mar 2 143919 RTTY GWW PI4VRZ 6326 0636 Bulletin PI4YRZ A 16 63 26 143917 SOLAR CUY 6326 6619 SFI GRAPHIK You can move around the list using the vertical or horizontal scroll bars the PgUp PgDn keys or by clicking somewhere in the All Messages horizontal bar graph at the top of the screen The bar graph will show you where you are positioned in the whole list the vertical scroll bar on the list only moves you around within a viewable section of the list for viewing the list is loaded in sections The first character on each line is the status of the message means it will be downloaded during the next Auto BBS session N means you have downloaded
71. Again the default setting is that DCD is permanently on kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk 5 Question am confused about the use of the speech viewer and the Sound Blaster Texto LE program in WinPack V6 3 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 149 6 13 2002 13 Trouble Shooting and FAQs Answer WinPack V6 3 has support for a special message viewer which can be used to speak messages An example speech viewer was supplied with the V6 3 update and this example viewer made use of the Sound Blaster Texto LE program The use of a speech viewer was an idea put into WinPack as an area for possible experimentation Apart from being a novelty with a little bit of development I m sure it could have some practical uses The actual speech viewer is SPKVIEW EXE As distributed with the WinPack V6 3 update that calls Texto LE but it was never my intention that SPKVIEW could only be used with Texto LE The idea was that alternative text to speech programs could be patched in by altering SPKVIEW INI Also hope that other people might produce better speech viewers than SPKVIEW The structure of SPKVIEW INI is described in SPKVIEW TXT Please note that there is an error in that file the key to activate the speech viewer is Ctrl T not Ctrl S As regards the controversy which has occurred on the UK packet network about what Sound Blaster packages include Texto LE all can
72. BBS and it will not attempt to add its own BID to messages when they are being forwarded It will behave just as if you were running a manual connection This should allow WinPack to be used with even the fussiest of BBSs and the fussiest of BBS sysops BBS software systems know might give problems are Win FBB depending on how the sysop has set it DOS FBB again depending on how it is set up AA4RE WORLI If you use a BBS that falls into this category you can get round it by using Human mode option on the Mail Options setup screen Ask Mail only this session When you manually start an Auto BBS session WinPack will prompt you Mail only this session in some situations If you say yes bulls will not be downloaded on that session WinPack won t always display this prompt because in some situations the question is not relevant The prompt was originally put in at the request of several users but several others have found it a nuisance If you uncheck the box on the Mail Options form WinPack will assume that you are always answering No and will not display the prompt If unchecked Auto BBS sessions will always download the bulletin list The normal choice of modes would be 1 If you have previously used TPK and your local FBB BBS sends the unproto beacons select TPK compatibility mode See above for some comments on using a TH D7 or similar device WinPack User Manual version 6 80 38 6 13 2002 6 Mail and B
73. F and you re reconfiguring your existing copy of WinPack rather than starting again with a clean copy then you need to get rid of any existing bulletins list Changing the setting of Use FBB unproto lists is an easy way to do it Also you should delete LASTNUM TXT in the WINPACK BULLS directory when WinPack is not running b You can use compression but the restriction on having to use Split Sessions still applies if you want to use compression in both directions That s a limitation of FBB not of WinPack You might find that a better arrangement is not to use compression or only use it for downloading Telnet is usually extremely fast 9 Run an Auto BBS session WinPack should connect to the BBS list the bulletins and disconnect 10 Go to Mail gt Read Bulletins and work your way through all the options on the Options gt Bulletin Columns menu If you don t do this then the auto selection formatting will never work That s it WinPack should now work via telnet exactly the same as it works on RF IP Address Resolution This is a bit technical The early versions of WinPack that had telnet support would always resolve the host address before attempting to connect This was done irrespective of whether you used a host name e g gb9xxx isp co uk or an IP address e g 123 124 125 126 From V6 59 WinPack does not resolve an IP address before it attempts to connect but resolves it after the connection has been made This can result
74. FEMU for more information Note that when any HOST mode is selected except for TF2 7b other options on the Comms Setup window e g COM port may be either irrelevant or handled by the host software so they are grayed out and not accessible Accept Abandon OK closes the screen accepting and implementing any changes you have made in the setup window Cancel closes the screen abandoning any changes you have made in the setup window Configure the Personal BBS Info settings WinPack User Manual version 6 70 18 6 13 2002 5 Completing the WinPack Setup Go to the Options menu and select Personal BBS Info This will bring up the window below Personal BBS And Log Information Press F1 For Help Personal Information Log Information First name Second name Callsign Frequency Power Mode QTH QRA WAB BBS Information BBS callsign BBS Prompt To label From label Date time label Message i label Title label Message end identifier Bulletins Personal Personal Information First Name Input your first name Second Name Input your second name Callsign Input your callsign QTH Input your QTH where you live QRA Input your QRA locator grid square if you know it WAB Great Britian operators only input your WAB square if you know it WAB Worked All Britian Log Information This information is used if you select the auto logging option on the Options gt Logging menu WinPack wil
75. FeR EEn FORG Fara Faea F EFO 23 Auto BBS oy cohol 8 9 eee ee ee ee ee ee eee eer ee ee ee eee eee tere eee re mee errr errors 24 eee 6 18 618 eRe aR ee a Ce ne ee eee ET Aa eer eee 26 Bulletins resine einni aae aaae aa ae aaa aE Ea aE EEE aaa aei Eaa EER Eik 30 St Bulletin C OlUMNS eee ee re EE 30 Reading Bulletins s iiciiiiaiiiieiiciini iieii aiaiai iiini 31 Automate the Download of Selected Bulletins 0 0 cece eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 36 Mail OPtIONS Goce tia ete eee 37 Renumbering the Message List 11eeeeeeeeeee ee eeee eee 39 Witing NS eM a te 41 Sending MESSAGES x 2sc cs cccsndarceaiecctacsenccosetbaccdactenccosetbacadactonccbaetbacatecenccnsetbacataatensabes 43 Creating And Using Mailing Lists 2 cccccccccceccceeccesecerecesscerecereeereeerecersteteeerevereterseeeeeenees 44 7 text Editor The Edit WindOW vcs 45 The Edit Window s Menu ODptlons lt c ccc0 ss0tsssaccesscecccstacsasseasdoaccenssaasdoanseacsenadens 46 Printing from the Edit Window a es ce cere ceeceseree varerundesiee aren ei ae 47 S gai es gic c cee ee eee ee ee ee 48 YAPP File TP SPOS is ese ce ecco cece cecctvecceceeveccucceveccecsececceeceeeceuestcessueseeeseeesteeseeesteeneuerece 48 7plus File Transfers rnedcestessdesecncedsiateralcatessds0 sbendscslgnadiesbeisletatecalin stainbstaberslsewocebeeeess 53 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 i 6 13 2002 Table of Contents OU US was tenant cian Acad naira San
76. INPAC and WINPAK headers to those from a particular person As you can imagine themes offer countless filtering combinations WinPack User Manual version 6 80 34 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins When you install WinPack no themes exist and pushing the Theme button at the bottom of the Read Bulletins window just produces an error message To create a theme you ll need to use a WinPack Add on program called the Themes Editor See Themes Editor section of this manual for more information More about Pruning The Bulletin List In addition to using the Delete and Prune buttons as described above WinPack prune the list automatically either when the program is started or at user defined times An automatic prune will behave as if you have used the Prune button without having marked a block see above 1 To prune the list when the program is started add a command line option of AUTOPRUNE see Command Line Options for more information on how to do this 2 To prune the list at user defined times use File gt Selection List Editor and add some times to the Auto Times list with PRUNE as a suffix For example 12 30 PRUNE 22 45 PRUNE An automatic prune will be run at those times each day assuming that WinPack is running PLEASE NOTE that as explained above your settings of Block Delete Bulletins and Bulletin List Prune Size will affect what happens See Bulletin Deleting options for more information on what these two options do
77. IRQ4 Keeping Win95 Happy If you are using Win95 it is easier to hide COM ports from Windows You do it by setting up a hardware profile which does not include the ports that BPQ is using It is very easy to set up two profiles one which includes the ports for when BPQ is not being loaded and one that excludes the ports for when BPQ is loaded These profiles can be linked to MS DOS multiple configurations so you can have a BPQ profile that excludes the ports and loads BPQ in AUTOEXEC BAT before Win95 starts and a normal one that includes the ports and does not load BPQ See Creating a hardware profile in the Win95 help Again please don t even attempt to share IRQs between a COM port that BPQ is using and one that Windows is using Keeping Windows 98 Happy From the Win98BPQ TXT file last update 30 September 1998 Running BPQ in Windows reliably i e so that it will keep running for days on end irrespective of what else you run on the PC has always required you to hide from Windows any COM ports that BPQ uses This was true for Win31 and Win95 and it is still true for Win98 have successfully used the techniques described below on several different PCs with Win95 original retail version Win95 OSR2 Win98 Beta 3 and Win98 release version If you have been trying to run BPQ with Win98 and had problems with it crashing hopefully these notes will help am making three assumptions 1 You understand B
78. L WINPLINK TXT gt That information can obviously be used by anyone but people using WinPack from this version onwards can simply double click on the link to automatically send a message and they know that the REQFIL information will be exactly as the sender of the original message specified Rules For Text Links Links are surrounded by lt gt and have a format like lt TO G4IDE GB70AR TITLE A test message CONTENT Some text gt All links must have the TO and TITLE fields CONTENT is optional If no content is specified then the message will include just a blank line All field text must be surrounded with string quotes or with single quotes However field text in AX25MAIL protocol links in HTML messages must be surrounded by string quotes see below Links can be split over more than one line Control characters can be put in the CONTENT field of links e g the two characters M will be translated to control M carriage return when the link is interpreted by WinPack The maximum length for a link is 250 characters Compatiblity with the WinPack AX25MAIL protocol If you use Netscape as your viewer for HTML files WinPack supports a special protocol type called AX25MAIL which is designed to make it easy to reply to the sender of the document If the sender puts in a link of the form lt A HREF ax25mail g8mzx gb 7skg 15 gbr eu gt Mail To Roger lt A gt in their message you can click on the link and
79. M has a WinpScape compatible link in it to BBSINFO HTM if you are using Netscape and click on that link WinpScape will automatically fetch the document from the BBS and pass it to Netscape for viewing If INDEX HTM has a link in it configured as a YAPP link to TEST EXE then clicking that link in Netscape will cause WinpScape to automatically fetch TEST EXE using YAPP Of course the web pages don t have to be on a BBS they can be in someone else s PMS Packet Mailbox System The single line window at the bottom of the WinpScape screen allows you to key in commands that are passed to WinPack Chicken And Egg There s one big problem in all this before you can download web pages someone has to set some up So it will need several people in an area to co operate before WinpScape can be used Oh well there s always hope Setting It Up You need to tell WinpScape a few things for it to be able to work Firstly you need to tell it the full path to your web browser If you have configured a VIEWER for HTM files in WinPack s PACKET INI then WinpScape will ALWAYS use that viewer as the browser Otherwise you must edit WINPSCAP INI and make an entry in the SETUP section fora BROWSER Here s an example SETUP BROWSER C NETSCAPE PROGRAM NETSCAPE EXE Please Note if you are using Win95 and the path to your web browser has long directory names you MUST use the short DOS compatible 8 3 directory names Secondly you need to tell W
80. Many peoplewould say no different to CB operators but have seen many CB operators who demonstrate these essential elements To me holding an amateur licence and being a radio amateur are not necessarily the same thing Because of this belief have always resisted making WinPack a completely push button system It still expects you to know something about your TNC it expects you to know something about your PC it expects you to learn how to use Windows WinPack will carry out many tasks automatically but it will also provide you with plenty of scope for experimentation yes even on packet you can experiment You can experiment with using host mode you can experiment with using BPQ you can experiment with HTML and using WinPack in conjunction with Netscape and other viewers you can experiment with using WinPack with PC Flexnet But Please don t regard these aspects of WinPack as facilities which will work straight out of the box without you having to give it a little bit of thought or having to read any of the available documentation to me that isn t amateur radio Have fun 73 Roger G4IDE WinPack User Manual version 6 70 2 6 13 2002 2 Downloading and Installing WinPack You can download the most recent version of WinPack at this website http www ui view com winpack index shtml Besides the installation and version update files you ll also find a few utility programs that might be of interest The WinPack inst
81. NC Settings sarsii EE En EEEE ES EDS 177 D Bulletin TOpICS EISIS srera epa a mre ene terete ete 179 E PACKET INI File Settings seien aaa iia A 182 F BPQ Virtual TNC COMMANGS wisccci lt isicarcdeonscssisdseatbiensonbsadsaahicctateralsenaincsatoaaiods 189 G Using WinPack with BPQ and a Baycom Modem cee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 192 H Using WinPack with a Kenwood TH D7 or D 700 eeeeeeeeeeteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 194 TA 7 Saat nee RON one ON OA SOR SIR DONE ROR DS ORS eRe NSP mr eee a eee 194 MIMS OU 2 cstensesseaescoesastas teste chess asaeaseeceucbededcsusjacssacadtcssaencd cece nidedienidussseasdadiaeeedededenig 197 WinPack STARTUP script for the Kenwood TM D700 ccccceseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 197 Guidelines For The Use Of The Packet Radio Network cccccecceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 198 INDEX Sateen aa teaset Acasesnnae E E E E E E ease E E E N E E EE 202 WinPack User Manual version 6 70 iii 6 13 2002 1 Welcome to WinPack WinPack is a terminal program used by Amateur Radio operators to communicate in a digital mode called packet Packet gets its name from the short sentences or packets of data exchanged by radio in the form of tone bursts WinPack provides a full featured Windows interface to use with a Terminal Node Controller TNC a device that generates the tones that are sent to the Amateur radio and transmitted Think of a TNC as a modem for a radio instead
82. OT TITLE TEXT will stop most of them WinPack User Manual version 6 80 105 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs PLEASE be careful in how you use SELECT TXT It can prevent WinPack users getting themselves a bad name by indiscriminately downloading the text of a large number of bulletins Clicking the Ok button terminates the program and saves the lists in SELECT TXT Clicking the Cancel button terminates the program and doesn t save any changes you might have made NOTE Any changes in SELECT TXT will not take effect until you restart WinPack AUTOTIME TXT Editor For help on the selection lists see SELECT TXT The Auto Times list in the Selection List Editor window allows you to tell WinPack the times at which you want it to make automatic connections to your local BBS run an Auto BBS session If you are using it with WinPack V6 3 or later then you can also use it to tell WinPack the times at which you want the bulletins list to be automatically pruned or when you want a script to be run If an entry is further marked MAIL then on that connect any personal mail waiting on the BBS will be downloaded and mail waiting to be sent will be uploaded but bulletins will not be downloaded MAIL can be abbreviated to M Times marked PRUNE tell WinPack to automatically prune the bulletins list PRUNE can be abbreviated to P The pruning method used by WinPack during autotimed Auto BBS sessions is as if you have selected Review Bulletins an
83. P command from a user connected to the switch If you make it application 5 4 1 then it will respond to both PMS and SYSOP BPQ Application Patches A problem has been discovered which very occasionally occurs when decoding nodes broadcasts The problem manifests itself as a GPF in BPQDLL DLL if the Windows application using it calls the function in the DLL which decodes monitored frames and a crash in PAC4 EXE and SWITCH EXE if monitoring is enabled The problem occurs very rarely because for a nodes broadcast to trigger it the broadcast itself must have a very unusual structure WinPack User Manual version 6 80 129 6 13 2002 BPQ The problem was discovered as a result of GPFs occurring when using BPQDLL DLL with WinPack also crashes in PAC4 EXE were noted would like to thank G4ZEC who was lucky or unlucky enough to regularly get the GPFs for his help and persistence in tracking down this problem Once the cause was found a suitably constructed nodes broadcast would always crash the programs but finding the cause was a very prolonged exercise The versions of the programs which have been patched were from the BPQ 4 08a release Normally would not consider issuing altered versions of someone else s software but my understanding is that the author no longer actively supports the programs The patches have no effect other than to make these programs more robust and so feel that in this case releasing the patches is ju
84. PQ well enough to have already set it up so if you boot into DOS rather than into Win98 it works properly and reliably 2 You don t already have any DOS multiple boot configurations set up in CONFIG SYS and AUTOEXEC BAT 3 You are using BPQ with a KISS TNC These notes do not apply to using it with Baycom modems WinPack User Manual version 6 80 125 6 13 2002 BPQ If you follow the instructions below then you will finish up with a configuration where Win98 offers you two boot options one will boot your PC without BPQ and one will boot it with BPQ The assumption is that the PC will be used for things besides packet and so you don t always want to have BPQ loaded The following example is based on using COM2 2F8H IRQ3 in BPQ you will need to make alterations according to what ports BPQ is actually using 1 Clear Up Any Mess You must check the following a In Windows Control Panel gt System gt Device Manager gt Ports COM amp LPT should show ALL the COM ports on your PC None of them should have red crosses through them b In the BIOS all the COM ports on the motherboard should be enabled If the BIOS allows a setting for a COM port of automatic it should not be used You should use an option that assigns a specific address to the port c The address and IRQ you are specifiying in BPQCFG TXT for any COM Port that BPQ is going to use match the address and IRQ shown for that port in Device Manager Properties
85. T T for talk whilst reading a message then the SPK viewer will be called even if the message title doesn t include the SPK indicator See the SPKVW10 ZIP file in the main WinPack directory The UIV Viewer If you set up a viewer for UIV files then this viewer has a special function It is intended that either Ul View or Ul View32 is used as the viewer program for UIV files Ul View 32 will regard the message as being either a log file or a Station List snapshot depending on the structure of the message If the viewer program is already running WinPack will pass the message to the viewer using DDE so a new copy of the program isn t started each time If you press Ctrl U whilst reading a message then the UIV viewer will be called even if the message title doesn t include the 4 UIV indicator Enabling Use Viewers Make sure that Options gt Use Viewers menu option is checked It should now all work Complex HTML If you want to send an HTML document containing images or sound then you should be careful as to the order in which you zip the files The main HTML document should be the first file in the zip so that will be the file which WinPack offers for viewing If you do this then provided that all references to other documents images etc are local to the main document you should find that it can all be viewed successfully On the other hand if you build the zip and put say a GIF image as the first file then WinPack will
86. TLE lt text gt If you put a title line in a script then when you use the Play A Script menu option the list displayed will contain the title lt text gt rather than just the file name WAITCON lt text gt and WAITDIS Wait for a connection to be established The lt text gt is optional If used it should consist of words or phrases that will be received if the connection attempt fails You can include several options separated with characters Please note that it is case sensitive Example you might put WAITCON retry count exceeded If whilst waiting for the connection a line is received containing retry count exceeded then the Auto BBS session will be abandoned WAITDIS waits for a disconnection See also WAITPROMPT below WinPack User Manual version 6 80 62 6 13 2002 9 Scripts WAITFOR lt text gt and WAITLINE lt text gt These two commands are similar but NOT the same WAITFOR lt text gt waits for lt text gt to be received It checks the text character by character as it is received and exits as soon as lt text gt is found It doesn t wait for the end of a line WAITFOR can normally be used WAITLINE waits until a line of text has been received a line ends when a lt Enter gt character is received and then scans it for the specified lt text gt So it only exits after the lt Enter gt on the end of the line containing lt text gt is received You can also specify text that will cause the script to
87. TXT but you can also have BYE1 TXT BYE2 TXT up to BYE9 TXT If you have more than one version available WinPack will pick at random which one it uses This adds a bit of variety to what a user sees when he connects to your system HELP sends the file USERHELP TXT in your WinPack directory IMSG to leave a message in your Read Mail Inbox DIR list the files in your WINPACK PUB directory ICD change directory IYGET lt filename gt download lt filename gt using YAPP where lt filename gt is replace with the exact name of the file IGET lt filename gt download lt filename gt in ASCII where lt filename gt is replace with the exact name of the file ITALK alert you that the user wants to talk When someone connects to your system and sends the TALK command WinPack sends them the message in the file TALK TXT which is in your main WinPack directory This files can contain WinPack tokens see the tokens list You can also have more than one option for the file You must have TALK TXT but you can also have TALK1 TXT TALK2 TXT up to TALK9Y TXT If you have more than one version available WinPack will pick at random which one it uses This adds a bit of variety to what a user sees when he connects to your system Note There is no upload command To upload a file to you they simply send it using YAPP As long as you have Auto Receive checked on the YAPP menu the program detects they are sending a
88. UltraPak program help info VHF news amd information Computer virus warnings info WAB info Windows 3 1 3 11 help info Windows 95 help info WinPack program help info Weather Information Weather Satellite info not Keps Yaesu equipment info version 6 80 181 6 13 2002 E PACKET INI File Settings Most of the setup information for WinPack is held in a file called PACKET INI which is in the WINPACK directory The majority of the entries in this file are changed by using the various WinPack menu options However there are some things which can only be changed by editing the file The file is divided into sections each section has a header line e g TNC The following list shows all the entries that may be edited If you need to change any of the options listed below exit from WinPack before you edit PACKET INI If you don t all your changes will be reset when the program is closed down Section TERMINAL BUTTON_GAP the gap in screen pixels between the buttons on the button bar The default is 0 DATE_TIME_FORMAT allows you to specify the format for the date time on the WinPack title bar The default is dd mmm yyyy hh nn which gives a date time like 02 Nov 1998 13 45 If you use yyyy mm dd hh nn then you will get ISO 8601 format If you use yyyy mmm dd then you will get G1SMD s suggested modification of the ISO 8601 format Subject to my understanding of these date time formats being correct NOTE Mon
89. User Manual for WinPack by Roger Barker G4IDE This User Manual is a compilation of various WinPack references including WinPack s Help file the primary source of text Help files for some WinPack Add on Programs Informational TXT files which can be found in the WinPack directory Informational files from the WinPack web site Nearly all of this text was written by the WinPack program author Roger Barker G4IDE who has been diligent in keeping these items up to date In addition to providing a single source of how to use WinPack a primary objective of this Manual is to help the user learn what WinPack can do In compiling the text to meet those objectives some editing of the source text was done including e re ordering the sequence of Help topics e removing redundant text that occurs naturally in Help files e adding context that was lost when context sensitive Help is pulled away from program windows and screens e adding additional screen shot graphics Very little original language was added by the editor This material is current as of WinPack version 6 80 User Manual Editor Ralph Milnes KC2RLM v6 61 6 80 June 14 2002 WinPack User Manual Table Of Contents This Table of Contents is interactive if you are viewing it with Word or Adobe Acrobat Click on a topic with your mouse to take you to the topic Also within the document you will find hyperlinks that will let you jump to other sect
90. WPE and AGWPE normally does a good job adjusting communication settings However on busy channels have found that the AGWPE seems to start off with MAXFRAME set too high and so it wastes time until it reduces it to a more useful value There are some comments in the AGWPE help about controlling the range of the WinPack User Manual version 6 80 132 6 13 2002 AGWPE automatic settings and found that adding the following section to AGWPE INI made things much better AUTO MAXMAXFRAME 3 MINMAXFRAME 1 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 133 6 13 2002 TF2 7b To use this mode you must have a TNC specially fitted with either TF TheFirmware firmware WA8DED firmware or you must be using a SCS PTC lle TNC Want to try WinPack in TF host mode but haven t got a TF EPROM for your TNC In that case you can download TF EPROM images from this site http www ui view com winpack tf tf htm Before entering TF2 7B host mode make sure the TNC to computer baud rate is set to 4800 or more but don t go above 9600 unless you know the COM port used by your TNC has a 16550 UART with the FIFO enabled see below Serial Port Requirements In the WinPack Comms Setup window Options gt Personal BBS Info make sure that the Baud Rate and Com Port setting match those of the TNC The Data Bits Stop Bits and Handshaking settings are irrelevant and will be ignored When done with the Comms Setup settings click on OK The cursor should change
91. WinPack User Manual version 6 80 168 6 13 2002 Appendix A Menu Layouts Enable Beep Selecting this option alternately enables and disables the program s bell The bell can be useful if you are connected to the DX Cluster since the default is that the Cluster will send a bell with every spot When the bell is disabled the option does not have a tick against itt This option has the same effect to pressing the bell button Ctrl S is a shortcut to this menu option Restore on Beep Enabling this option means that If the program is minimised running as an icon and you have the bell enabled then the program will be restored to normal size every time a beep occurs The option was put in with the idea that you could leave the program running as an icon whilst connected to the DX Cluster and it would pop up whenever a spot occurred Icon on Top If this option is selected then if WinPack is minimised run as an icon the icon will always stay on top of other programs ans so remain visible This is useful since the following information is displayed on the icon label 1 If you are connected to the DX Cluster the callsign and frequency from any incoming spots is shown see also the DX Cluster support section 2 If you are carrying out a YAPP file transfer the file name and the number of bytes that have been sent received is shown Enable Remote This option allows you to enable or disable the WinPack remote co
92. a 10 second auto pause every time you scroll the screen PERMANENT_YAPP_LOG WinPack creates a log of all YAPP File Transfers By default the log is put in the MAIL RECEIVE directory and appears as an X status message in Read Mail The idea being that you will get a message whenever any YAPP transfers have taken place and you can read it and then delete it If you don t want the YAPP log put in the mail directory where it can be deleted easily then put PERMANENT_YAPP_LOG TRUE and the log will be put in the TEXT subdirectory PUB_DIR this gives the path to the WinPack public files directory The default is WinPack PUB you can replace it with any valid DOS path RECONNECT_DELAY sets the delay in seconds before a script will try to reconnect if a disconnection occurs see about scripts REPLY_QUOTE right clicking on the Reply To Sender or Reply To Topic buttons whilst reading messages will put you immediately into the Edit Window with any text you marked in the message quoted in the window There will be a lead in to the quoted text consisting of the sender s callsign and the words specified by REPLY_QUOTE E g G4IDE wrote gt some quoted text gt some more quoted text gt etc If you put REPLY_QUOTE then there will be no lead in text before the quoted text RIGHT_CLICK_WIN95 from V6 4 onwards if you are running Win95 and you right click in the Edit Window you immediately get the WinPack pop up edit menu On previou
93. alarm text string The text matching isn t case sensitive so whatever you input is converted to upper case You can input as many different strings of text as you want and they can be as long as you want When you have input your strings click Finished You can of course alter the text any time you want There are four alarm sounds available choose which one you want with the Options gt Sound menu option When you re done configuring Alarm minimize it again Then whenever any of the alarm strings is detected you will hear the alarm sound Alarm will stay remain minimised but you can click on the task bar button to bring up the Alarm window and see what message WinPack received that had the alarm text in it There are two other menu options which added to V2 of Alarm specifically for my own use They may well not be of interest to most other users Whilst running a 10m port on my BPQ node during the Sporadic E season wanted to have an alarm whenver anything was monitored on that port Therefore put Port 3 as an alarm text However that resulted in an alarm occurring every time my own system sent a nodes broadcast so added an Options gt Exclude menu option to Alarm which allows me to specify text which will cause a line to be ignored even if the line contains a specified alarm text By putting G4IDE 1 gt NODES as an exclude text WinPack User Manual version 6 80 102 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs could ignore my own
94. allation file is a self extracting archive EXE which is just over 2 MB Running the archive will start the automatic installation process You will however be given a choice on the path and name of the directory in which WinPack will be installed If you prefer to have the installation file on two floppy disks read FLOPPY TXT from the web page then download the special installation set for floppy disks Note these disk images are NOT the equivalent of splitting the installation file across two floppy disks with a third party file splitting or compression program These disk images allow you to install WinPack direct from the floppies without having to first rebuild the archive To update any version later than V6 51 the previous base version look for the update file to download Changes that have occurred in each update can be found in the CHANGES TXT file which is available at the web site It is also installed in the WinPack DOCS directory and directly accessible from the Help menu in WinPack Keep it Clean This isn t a health advisory it s a plea Please do not put any of your own files in the WinPack directory Do not create sub directories in it Regard it as a directory which WinPack uses and which you should not use Also do not create a file called TEMP in the WINPACK directory If WinPack can t create a sub directory called TEMP or it can t completely clear it from time to time then you may get problems with 7plus encodi
95. an browse your way to the required viewer program Please Note If you want to specify that a viewer program is compatible with Netscape s DDE features you MUST add NDDE to the end of the viewer name see Viewers When you have finished editing the viewers press Ok to save your changes in PACKET INI or press Cancel to abandon the changes WinPack User Manual version 6 80 112 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs WinpScape Menu bar File gt WinpScape WinpScape is an add on program that works with Netscape and maybe Internet Explorer It monitors all text received by WinPack looking for HTML documents web pages Any that it finds it sends to be displayed in your web browser Introduction WinpScape does things that no other AX25 packet application has ever done So you MUST read this You will never work out what it does by simply playing with it A starting point for using WinpScape is that you have WinPack working properly and you have Netscape installed and working on your PC cannot offer help regarding installing Netscape You can also use Internet Explorer V3 but it is inferior to Netscape in terms of DDE support and so most of WinpScape s features aren t usable What WinpScape Does WinpScape only works with WinPack V6 2 or later When you run WinpScape it makes what is called a DDE link to WinPack which MUST be running before you start WinpScape It then monitors all the text received by WinPack looking for HTML
96. ance of your Windows programs becomes unacceptably slow The BPQ Terminal If you are using WinPack in BPQ mode a simple terminal program is also available so that you can connect to the node on more than one stream This program can be started either from the WinPack program group or by clicking the BPQ Terminal button on the tool bar only available when WinPack is in BPQ mode You can start several copies of this program They will be indentified as Terminal 1 Terminal 2 etc The size and screen position of each Terminal is remembered between sessions The terminal uses the BPQ virtual TNC which supports a subset of the commands used by the WinPack virtual TNC for other Host modes To find out what commands are available use the DISP command or see BPQ Virtual TNC commands in the appendix The top Terminal window is a monitor window and the centre window shows the text received on your stream You can drag the bar between the windows to resize them The one line bottom window is the transmit window anything you want to send you must key into that window and press lt Enter gt There are eight scroll back buffers WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 122 6 13 2002 BPQ available for the transmit window so you can reuse previous commands by pressing the up and down cursor keys The small window at the bottom left shows either Disconnected or the callsign of the connected station and the stream being used E g GB7IDE 2
97. ar appendix to this manual which describes each button it also describes how to customize the button bar Receive Window s All incoming text goes into the Receive Window as does a copy of any text you send out The window can be either a large single window taking up most of the screen as shown above or it can be split into two smaller windows If it is split then the Window Button allows you to select one of the two windows as the primary receive window The sizes of the two windows can be adjusted as follows Put the mouse cursor on the WinPack User Manual version 6 70 9 6 13 2002 4 Getting Started separator bar between the two windows and it will turn into a horizontal bar You can then drag the bar up and down Note that you don t have to use a split receive window Regard it as an advanced option If you are happy with a single window then simply ignore it The idea of having two receive windows was put in before the program had proper support for reading bulletins It was so you could connect to your local BBS list the bulls in one window and read them in the other With split windows the incoming text only goes into one of the two windows at any one time The idea of this is that you can list the messages on your local BBS into one window and then read them in the other This stops the message list being scrolled away as you read the messages In fact when you have listed the messages into one window simply double cli
98. art a new paragraph e end the message by sending a Ctrl Z or EX on a separate from the Transmit Window 3 Manually using the Edit Window similar to 2 but you can compose the message before you log onto the BBS a first compose the message in the Edit Window File gt Edit Window When done use the Edit Window s menu F10 or right click to hide the window from the Transmit Window CONNECT to the BBS send the S or SP or SB send mail command at the title prompt enter the message s title at the message text prompt open the Edit Window File gt Edit Window or Edit Button and then the Edit Window s menu F10 or right click f select Send to send the Edit Window text g end the message by sending a Ctrl Z or EX from the Transmit Window oaos Hint When composing your message in the Edit Window you can even include the BBS mail commands in the message text with For example start the message with SP G4IDE send private mail to command on separate line New Information lt message title on separate line You can also include the end message command a Ctrl Z or EX by placing it on a separate line at the end of the message Then after you connect to the BBS step 3b just send the Edit Window text step 3e amp 3f and forget about steps c d and g WinPack User Manual version 6 80 43 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins Creating And Using Mailing Lists If you regularly want to sen
99. asy to quote text from a message to which you are replying You mark the passage you want to quote select Copy put the cursor in the Edit Windowand then select Paste and Quote Many on thes menu options are also accessible by right clicking in the window with the text WinPack User Manual version 6 80 156 6 13 2002 Appendix A Menu Layouts Mail Menu WinPack 6 72 18 Mar 2004 File Edit Mail Action Options S Read Mail Read Mail This option allows you to read personal mail Write a Message Edit a Message Write a Message Copy A Message This option allows you to write a message either a Delete a Message personal message or a bulletin See also the write Read Bulletins message window Auto BBS Session Mail Options Edit a Message Repair Bull List This option allows you to edit a message that you have Change LASTNUM already written and which is currently in your outgoing mail Test Servers queue t Copy A Message This option allows you to easily send someone a copy of a message that you have already written and which is currently in your outgoing mail queue You select the message you want to copy and the write a message header form is displayed When you fill in the recipient information and click OK the message you selected to copy is loaded into the Edit Window Delete a Message This option allows you to delete a message that you have already written which is currently in your outgoing mail queue Read Bulletin
100. ata rushing into the TNC buffer in the same way as the cps You can disable the display of the estimated time by putting SHOW_TIME_ESTIMATE FALSE in the YAPP section of PACKET INI Sent or Received This shows how many bytes of the file have been transferred If you are sending the file then it will be labelled Sent if you are receiving the file then it will be labelled Received Abort If you press this button then the transfer is aborted Don t use it unless you really have to This is an uncontrolled abort and the other end of the link will still think you are transferring the file All normal failures are handled automatically Using YAPP to Send a File Menu Bar YAPP gt Send a File The following describes what to do if you want to upload the file to a BBS If you are wanting to send it to a friend directly without a BBS then it is easier jump to step 4 I ll assume the file is called TEST EXE 1 Tell the BBS you want to send it With FBB you have to go into FBB DOS and then send the command YPUT TEST EXE With an NNA BBS you use the command YU TEST EXE 2 The BBS will then ask you for a description key in something suitable 3 The BBS will now prompt you to send the file 4 If you are sending the file to a friend then ignore 1 2 and 3 and start with this step Select Send A File from the WinPack YAPP menu A standard Windows file dialogue will open up If you don t know how to use a Wind
101. ation is useful but not often If the message has travelled a long way then it is not unusual for the R lines to take up a lot more space than the actual message If you use R then the R lines are squashed into a simple list of BBSs through which the message has passed E g GB7OPC GB7IOE GB7ZPU etc When compressed download is used FBB sends all the R lines WinPack squashes the R lines very much as if you have read the message on the BBS using R except that the R line of the BBS from which the message originated is left intact think this is the optimum way to process R lines WinPack User Manual version 6 80 75 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features External Programs WinPack has a list of remote commands all preceded with a forward slash character that are available to users of your system for carrying out functions like downloading files or leaving you a message It is possible to add to this list of commands by using external programs The way it works is that if WinPack receives a command preceded with that is not on its internal list See remote access it looks to see if it has an external program available by that name If it does then it will start that program An example external program is supplied with WinPack it is called LOC and it works out distances and bearings between locations A user of your system would send LOC to activate it You can also run the external programs yourself from within WinPack If
102. ave a copy of the BBS TXT file under a different name e g BBSorig txt for future reference HOTKEY F2 TITLE Telnet connection to a BBS SEND c host port_number see below for substitutions WAITFOR Callsign Winsock error SEND MYCALL WAITFOR Password SEND password lt see below for substitution WAITPROMPT host The BBS host name or IP address port_number The port number used by the BBS preceded with a colon password Your password for the BBS Notes e MYCALL is a WinPack token for the callsign you enter in the Personal BBS Info window Options gt Personal BBS Comms Info menu option NOTE There s a dot in front of MYCALL That dot is VERY important e The Winsock error on the WAITFOR line will make WinPack abandon the script if a connection error occurs Save the changes WinPack User Manual version 6 80 120 6 13 2002 Telnet 7 Make a test connection to the BBS using the F2 hotkey If it doesn t work or gets stuck check your script and also check the BBS prompt entry in Personal BBS Info Correctly setting the BBS prompt is the aspect of WinPack that seems to cause most problems mainly because some users don t read the help and others offer incorrect advice See Auto BBS Session Problems 8 In Mail Options Window Mail gt Mail Options menu option a Uncheck Use FBB unproto lists If the BBS with which you are going to use telnet is a different one to the one you have been using on R
103. be available you can disable it by editing the BULLETINS section of PACKET INI If you choose to list all the topics and you have a large cae oan message list reading it and listing all the topics can take some time However once you have viewed the topics list in a bulls reading session then displaying it again is instantaneous The resulting Select a Topic window will show the number of topics in total The number next to each topic is the number of bulls in the message list for that topic Select a topic from the list by either highlighting it and then pressing the Select button or by double clicking it A maximum of 350 messages can be displayed in the list when you use this filter If more than 350 are available then only the last 350 are shown At This buttons allows you to filter the displayed message list by the at address A maximum of 350 messages can be displayed in the list when you use this filter If more than 350 are available then only the last 350 are shown Title filter the message list by Title A window will appear prompting you to input text that you want to occur somewhere in the title This button allows you to filter the message list by title A maximum of 350 messages can be displayed in the list when you use this filter If more than 350 are available then only the last 350 are shown Themes This button allows you to select a theme from a list of the bulletin themes that you may have created F
104. be cancelled You put this text after the text that you are waiting to receive Example WAITLINE Welcome To WinPack DISCONNECTED no PMS Will wait for Welcome To WinPack but will cancel the script if either DISCONNECTED or no PMS is received WAITLINE was specifically introduced to allow scripts to process FBB sysop passwords FBB sends an identifiable prompt followed by the password numbers E g GB7OPC 0 gt 23 45 32 78 57 Therefore you have to look for the prompt but you cannot move on to the next stage of the script and process the password information until the whole line has been received WAITLINE GB7OPC 0 gt allows you to do this WAITPROMPT lt text gt Wait for a line which both contains the text specified in BBS Prompt in Personal BBS Info and ends with a gt The lt text gt is optional If used it should consist of words or phrases that will be received if the BBS is not available You can include several options separated with characters Please note that it is case sensitive Example you might put WAITPROMPT Busy fromjall ports in use If whilst waiting for the BBS prompt a line is received containing either Busy from or all ports in use then the Auto BBS session will be abandoned See also WAITCON above Control characters and Tokens The SEND command will normally put a carriage return on the end of lt text gt There aren t many situations where you wouldn t want to send a lt E
105. cancelled if the file lt filename gt doesn t exist KILL lt filename gt delete file lt filename gt LOG_FREQ lt frequency power gt sets the frequency and power for subsequent log entries Example LOG_FREQ 144 950MHz 10dBW PLAYTUNE lt tune_name gt and PLAYWAV lt tune_name gt Both commands work exactly the same PLAYWAV is only retained for compatibility with older versions of WinPack The WAV or MID MIDI file lt tune_name gt is played The file must be in the WinPack WAV subdirectory WinPack looks for a WAV file first if there isn t one it looks for a MID file E g PLAYTUNE TALK will play the file TALK WAV or TALK MID in the WAV subdirectory If you create your own WAV files they must be 8 bit mono 11kHz sampling rate The special option PLAYTUNE RANDOM will select at random a MIDI file from WinPack s WAV RANDOM directory and play it You need to create the directory and put some MIDI files in it before you can use this option Example of how this command might be used In the BBS TXT script you could put C BBS WAITCON PLAYTUNE RANDOM etc This would result in a random tune be played whenever WinPack runs an Auto BBS session RECONNECT has the following effect 1 A button with the caption R will appear on the status bar 2 If a disconnection occurs the script will be rerun This will carry on happening until you click the button which makes it disappear 3 After the first r
106. cape does not know the correct name for the document think about it They will eventually be expired by WinpScape s cache housekeeping WinPack User Manual version 6 80 117 6 13 2002 12 Host Modes Menu bar Options gt Comms Setup gt Host Mode In addition to working directly with a TNC WinPack can also work in host mode as a client with specially programmed TNCs or host programs that handle the interface with a TNC or sound card WinPack will run in the following host modes Telnet internet connection in lieu of a radio connection BPQ G8BPQ s network node software AGWPE the SV2AGW Packet Engine TF2 7b TNCs with The Firmware TF or WA8DED firmware or a SCS PTC lle TNC TFEMU a TF emulator program running as part of PC Flexnet Click on the hyperlinks above to read more about each mode in the sections that follow If you want to put WinPack in any of these host modes go to the Options gt Comms Setup menu to call up the Comms Setup window and the Host Mode selection field In general WinPack behaves in a host mode much the same as it does when used in its terminal normal mode with a regular TNC Therefore most of the features and information in this manual remain relevant Some sections such as TNC Settings obviously are not relevant In addition WinPack has two additional features to take advantage of some of these modes 1 The Multi channel Terminal helps you manage up to 10 simultaneous co
107. channel Terminal In host modes other than BPQ WinPack has a separate Multi channel Terminal window that supports up to 9 channels in addition to the 2 possible channels used in the main WinPack screen BPQ mode has its own terminal To open the terminal either select Action gt Terminal on the menu bar or click the terminal button on the button bar 1O x File Edit Mail Action Options Scripts Yapp Help E Multi channel Terminal 22 Mar 2002 11 33 UTC File Options Window Ld IO vesna weca naas fmt oso Lf io Pz jo __ jo Pj Le jo Assigned channels Ch 1 NETWORK KC2RLM 2 Fri 22 63 62 12 31 via WB2SNN 2 Ch 8 NETWORK WT3U 4 Fri 22 03 02 12 38 via WB2SNN elTe efef a 2 WB2SNN BBS H for help gt 1 Fm KCZRLM 3 To W2CRA 4 lt RR P F R2 gt 11 33 29 THE BASIC COMMANDS type H lt Enter gt THE CATALOG OF BULLETINS LC lt Enter gt UPDATED QRZ CD_ROM ff Fall Winter 1999 Volume 14 QRZ CD ROM with CALLS IGN NAME STATE The number of channels available will be shown by how many buttons are displayed Some versions of WA8DED firmware may only support a total of 4 channels The top window in the Multi Channel Terminal screen is called the monitor window the middle window is the main window and the bottom window one line is the transmit window WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 143 6 13 2002 Multi channel Terminal You select the channel you want to use by clicking
108. cking a message number will send a read command for that message to the BBS and it will be received into the other window Transmit Window Single lines of text can be keyed into the small transmit window near the bottom of the screen lt Esc gt will clear the line When you press lt Enter gt the text is sent to the TNC The upfand down cursor keys will allow you to scroll through your last 8 commands If you key in more characters than the line length specified on the setup screen the program will automatically insert a lt Enter gt and start a new line This is done in an intelligent way by looking for a gap between words See also Using Short cut Keys _ for another way to enter text Status Line This is the very bottom line of the WinPack window The status line shows information about the current state of the terminal It lets you see whether the Capture feature is on and also how much of the transmit buffer is currently being used If the Capture feature is on then the name of the current capture file will be shown The transmit buffer figure is a health check and unless you are sending a file it should always read 0 since the program buffer only starts to fill when the TNC s own buffer is full Although not shown on this picture if you are connected to another station the callsign of the connected station will be shown on the left The red and or green squares on the right of the line show the status of the TNC
109. d from the WinPack command line Help on the individual commands is available using followed by the commandn name e g 7MONITOR Please note that most of the TNC on air parameters are set in AGWPE so they cannot be set from within WinPack See the AGTNCHLP TXT file in the WinPack directory If you have more than one port set up in AGWPE then some commands can take a port number as a parameter MHEARD 2 CONNECT 3 G4IDE etc If you don t give a port number then port 1 is always assumed You can split the WinPack screen to give a monitor window at the top and a window for your traffic at the bottom by using Options gt Split Window or just press Ctrl S You access the Multi channel Terminal screen using Actions gt Terminal or click the terminal button MH List Time Stamps in WinPack AGW MHPE V1 0 is a smart MH list for WinPack when used with the SV2AGW Packet Engine It has tabbed notebook format You can download it at http www ui view com winpack mhpe10 zip PLEASE NOTE For the MH List to work correctly check your AUTOEXEC BAT to see if you have a time zone TZ statement in it If you don t then you should put one in This is not essential but without it you are likely to find that the time stamps shown in the MH list in WinPack are incorrect A suitable TZ statement for the UK is SET TZ GMTOOBST A Hint on Setting AGWPE Parameters configure my AGWPE ports with the Program adjusts Parameters option in AG
110. d reason to use a different font you should always use the WINPACK font However it is a screen font and so is not available for printing kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk 12 Problem WinPack Won t Run Answer If when you start WinPack it immediately shuts itself down without a warning message there are three possibilities a You have a WINPACK REG file on your system that has become corrupted b Your PACKET EXE file has become corrupted c PACKET EXE has been infected by a virus It s up to you to find out which of the above is irrelevant A re installation from files downloaded from the WinPack website _http www ui view com winpack index shtm should fix that Also WinPack installs some Visual BASIC support files in your WINDOWS SYSTEM directory If you have severe problems running WinPack at all e g it persistently stops with GPF messages or the screen colours are weird then check to see if there are old copies of any of these files in your WINDOWS directory If there are try moving them into a temporary directory where Windows can t find them You should be able to safely delete them but wouldn t do that until you are happy that all your applications still run ok The files concerned are VBRUN300 DLL CMDIALOG VBX MCI VBX MSCOMM VBX and THREED VBX WinPack User Manual version 6 80 154 6 13 2002 APPENDIX A Menu Layouts File Edit Mail Acti
111. d the same message to several recipients then you may find it helpful to create a Mailing List Mailing Lists live in the MAIL LISTS subdirectory Each list contains the packet addresses of the recipients for messages sent to that list It can also contain comment lines these must start with You should create a list with a plain text editor either the WinPack editor or NotePad is recommended The file name of a list must obey the following rules it must be a valid DOS file name with an extension of TXT and the first part of the name cannot have more than five characters Therefore CLUB TXT or LOCAL TXT would be valid list names but MYCLUB TXT would not be too long Here is an example of a list which called TEST TXT This is my list for testing WinPack GOOPC GB7WNM G8MZX GB7SKG G4IDE GB7OAR 16 GBR EU To send a message to the members of a list you put the list name preceded by an exclamation mark in the To field of the Write A Message header form With my example list would sent the message to TEST WinPack will check if the list exists and it won t allow you to proceed if it doesn t When you connect to your local BBS and upload mail WinPack copies the message to each recipient in the list and deletes the original Please note that this is not as efficient as using a carbon server on the BBS because you have to upload the message once for each recipient whereas if you use a carbon server you only upload it o
112. d then clicked the Prune button without marking a block ie the list is trimmed back to the number set in Options gt Bulletin Deleting gt Bulletins List Prune Size using whatever option you have set for Options gt Bulletin Deleting gt Block Delete Bulletins More help on pruning can be found in the WinPack on line help Times marked EXIT tell WinPack to automatically close down at the specified time PLEASE NOTE This is an unconditional close down and will occur irrespective of whether WinPack is connected to another station An alternative is to use the CLOSE keyword in a script which will wait until WinPack is disconnected before closing down For any time that is followed by any word other than MAIL PRUNE or CLOSE then it is assumed that the word is the name of a script file and WinPack will try and run the script at the specified time Example 12 30 SENDFILE will run the script SENDFILE TXT at 12 30 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 106 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs To add new times to the list key them into the one line window underneath the list and press lt Enter gt The input format is fairly free all the following are acceptable 1234 12 34 12 34 MAIL 12 34M 1234P 12 34 PRUNE etc To delete a time from the list highlight the time and press the lt Delete gt key Clicking the Ok button terminates the program and saves the lists in AUTOTIME TXT Any changes you make to AUTOTIME TXT will not take effect
113. d up to the full size of the WinPack screen by selecting Zoom from the pop up edit menu or by pressing Ctrl Z when the cursor is in the Edit Window Using either option again returns the window to its normal size The top line of the Edit Window shows a character count for the text being edited helps you keep within the message size guidlines This isn t visible in the picture above If you have the Quinion spelling checker installed see README TXT on your PC then pressing Alt F9 will allow you to check the spelling of the text in the window If you have Microsoft Word installed on your PC then pressing AIt F7 will allow you to check the spelling of the text in the window See Spell Checkers WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 45 6 13 2002 7 Text Editor The Edit Window The Edit Window s Menu Options The pop up edit menu is activated by either pressing F10 when the cursor is in the Edit Window or right clicking with the mouse twice for Win95 in the window Here s what the menu choices do Send If you select the send option the text currently in the window will be sent to the TNC The idea is so that you can easily compose messages in an editor rather than sending them a line at a time straight to your local BBS When the text is sent the window is cleared However the text is also copied to the Windows clipboard so if you want to get it back press Control V Signature Selecting this option will allow you to
114. da e e e a RE 58 ADOUt UGE bar rosee Sdn ee og eden aa es 58 Creating bol si 01k eee ee eee ene ene ee 58 Playing A SO acicccekeee tee eed edad decade te cade ctaacedentedcadentenceteatedcades 58 Script KV WOR OS rasercich ceria atirensnc ti anssiuconsasostnnsodbseengnsaasecutensedestessesielangadnenatncneens 59 Control characters and ORG IS apie aietieitaeeniicnsieicecieteastet oceania eee 63 WNS TOKENS LISa ccccedincaceeseneoccs E sevens neeepeceeneneesnaicpeacdenopenceenencven 65 The Script Status WiNdOW acc nectar carck eas he cersk ssc Nat eases alana aetna 66 10 Advanced Features xc 2222cc22ccdscclssckscdcesstactiessdacseessdacdbeccdssteeichcdooasdsdesesbansiesseade Reds 67 Capture Files xc specssasscucsectcenseasseedanceacenssasssaszessuecuanecueecsbaraeacaeavtbeuasasssaveneeapenmbesssecuenines 67 Command LRG Options sesser tinea 67 DAG ANG g BIK o mA E 70 Dynamic D ta Ea ce cee te tt he ed 71 DX Cl S ETS rederien pinar a eaaa Se A Ea AE OaE 71 Enhanced Mail Facilites es cccccscxcccceccverecsesseiceseceseecsocesereneeceeeeresecsecvecetceeeenseceneaezenebecdees 73 External Programs ee ee ee ee eee er ere rere i vere vere 76 Network Use Of WINP CK cccccsssecccccseseeceeceeeececeeaeaeceeesauaseeeeseeaseeesssaaeeeessaaaeees 77 Password SUPPONI screreeiser scenie isei enpeis ent peah Ep ee Pe Eipri 79 Pause the Receive WINQOWSiscrisisicii iniedi ean api aana aap ainara aeei 81 Phone Modem SUPPOMG sisitincstesscnssinadiessauncas
115. dix A Menu Layouts If this option is checked then all personal mail and bulletins are scanned as they are received to see if they contain 7plus data If they do then the data is extracted and put in WinPack s 7DECODE directory When all the parts of a 7plus set have been received the program will decode the file and send you a personal message as to whether the decode was successful or not If it is successful then the parts are deleted If it is unsuccessful then a ERR file will be produced Scan Capture Files If this option is checked WinPack will scan Capture files for 7plus parts The scanning is done immediately after Capture is turned off Any 7plus parts found will be identified in the log as coming from a capture file apart from that the processing is exactly the same as for mail Keep 7plus Parts If this option is checked then when a set of 7plus parts have been successfully decoded the parts of the file are moved into WinPack s 7PLUSOLD directory If the option is not checked then the parts are simply deleted This option is only available if either the Auto 7plus Decode or Scan Capture Files option above is checked Log 7plus Decode If this option is checked then every time that WinPack attempts to decode a 7plus file an entry will be made in the log file 7PLUSLOG TXT By looking at the log you can see when a file was decoded if the decode was successful whether it was received as a bulletin or as personal ma
116. duces the usage you make of the channel and can make the download process significantly quicker To read a message in compressed format from an F6FBB BBS the user s software must send something like F lt 12345 this would tell the BBS to send message number 12345 in compressed format With a GINNA BBS the protocol is slightly more complicated but the end result is the same On FBB V7 to be able to use compressed download and compressed forward you you must ask your sysop to give you F status Compressed Forward You can forward mail to the BBS in compressed format This should work for any type of BBS provided that it supports FBB style compressed forwarding WinPack Specific Issues So far have described what is available from the BBS the following comments are specific to how WinPack uses these facilities Obviously WinPack supports the F6FBB unproto list compressed download and compressed forward If it didn t wouldn t have bothered with this section See Mail WinPack User Manual version 6 80 74 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Options In doing so WinPack behaves very much like TPK but there are some differences 1 The Unproto List and TPK You can use compressed download and compressed forward even if your local BBS does not send out the message beacons You could do that with TPK but it required the use of an external program to create the message list such as my MAKELIST software The Mail Options dialogue in
117. e Capture will not work in HOST mode operation unless you are connected with a station That s because the monitor stream and the connected mode stream are completely separate in HOST mode With a TNC in terminal mode it s all one stream For capturing connection information only another option is to use Logging Options gt Logging menu The Auto Log feature will automatically capture connection information while the Auto Dump feature will automatically capture all transmitted and received text of any connections Command Line Options From V5 5 WinPack supports a few command line options They were all requested by users who had fairly specialised requirements None of them are relevant to my use of the program and so haven t really been able to test them WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 67 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features You ll probably find it best to keep the normal WinPack icon without any command line options and set up a new one with the required options To set command line options in Windows 3 1 highlight the icon then select File gt Properties in Program Manager and add the required options to Command Line for example C WinPack Packet Exe NOCOM In Win95 if you haven t created a shortcut to WinPack Packet exe then you should do so You can then right click on the shortcut icon select Properties Shortcut and add the options to Target Modem Mode If you add the option MODEM to the WinPack command
118. e WinPack PC to also periodically scan the mail directories then edit PACKET INI and change the RECOUNT_MAIL setting to TRUE Note that rescanning the mail can cause the PC to freeze for several seconds if you tend to keep a lot of mail in the list after you have read it WinPack User Manual version 6 80 78 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Password Support Menu bar Options gt Password Some BBSs only allow their users full access if they supply a password This normally works on the basis that the user sends some sort of trigger e g with NNA style passwords the BBS then sends something back often a string of numbers and the user has to give the correct response WinPack has internal support for F6FBB sysop style passwords G1NNA style passwords and MD2 passwords Other types of password are supported by external servers Servers for virtually all BBS password systems are available A bulletin to WINPAC saying what sort of password system your BBS uses is the best way to get information To automatically send an FBB or NNA password you have to tell WinPack the style of password being used provide a suitable BBS TXT script file and provide a text file containing the required user password information F6FBB Sysop Style Passwords 1 Select F6FBB on the Options gt Password submenu 2 Use the script file SCRIPTS TXT as a guide for your BBS TXT script file 3 Put your password matrix in the file WINPACK_FBB TXT an exam
119. e an ACK timer for AX 25 connections it won t ACK until the other station times out and retries with the Poll bit set the D700 TNC always sets the Poll bit which is why the lack of an ACK timer doesn t impact throughput between D700s appreciably The following Startup script will simplify the parameters changes necessary for regular packet WinPack STARTUP script for the Kenwood TM D700 The Scripts directory has a suggested TM D700 txt script for the TM D700 You can access it from the Scripts gt Play Script gt TM D700 Initialisation menu option WinPack User Manual version 6 80 197 6 13 2002 l Guidelines For The Use Of The Packet Radio Network in the United Kingdom but makes sense everywhere The packet radio network in the UK and throughout the world is an immensely useful tool for the dissemination of information the seeking of help and advice and the publication of amateur radio related news It is not uncommon to find messages giving information on AMSAT RAYNET or other similar AMATEUR RADIO related activities The GB2RS news is also available on the network as is local club news in the area of a particular mailbox This use of the network is what was in many operators minds when they spent large amounts of time and money indeveloping it With the advent of high speed modems and use of dedicated links some in the microwave bands the Packet Radio Network is developing and hopefully will continue to do so for many years to
120. e as soon as some new data arrives the screen scrolls down again If you select this option then the automatic scrolling is disabled and so you are able to scroll back and view previous data Don t leave pause on for too long because while it is enabled all new data that is received is put into a buffer which can only hold about 30 000 characters Selecting the option whilst pause is on turns it off This option has the same effect as pressing the Pause button See also automatic pause facility Disconnect Pressing this button should cause a disconnect assuming you are connected to somebody It sends a Control C and then D to the TNC It has the same effect as pressing the disconnect button WinPack User Manual version 6 80 159 6 13 2002 Appendix A Menu Layouts Auto BBS Disable If this option is checked then Auto BBS sessions will be temporarily disabled The setting is not retained if you check the option it will be unchecked the next time you start WinPack If you want to permanently disable Auto BBS sessions use File gt Selection List Editor and remove all the times from the Auto Times List Unproto Buffer This option is only available if your BBS is using the FBB beacons see FBB unproto lists This option displays a form which shows any FBB unproto beacons that are currently being held in memory waiting for gaps in the list of received beacons to be filled It gives an idea of how well or how badly you are receiving
121. e beacons is that if users leave their systems on for most of the time they can collect the BBS message list without connecting Also in theory it reduces the bandwidth needed for users to collect the message list because one frame provides information for a lot of users In practice it doesn t work all that well because most users don t leave their systems on all the time so their systems miss messages and they get out of synch with the beacons To regain synch WinPack and other packet programs have a sync mechanism see next paragraph whereby users can ask the BBS to transmit all the message headers theyu have missed So someone puts their system on in the evening sends a sync and the BBS transmits the beacons for a lot of messages Then someone else turns on their system sends a sync etc and we are right back to everyone making individual bulletin list requests FBB Synchronisation Requests A mechanism is available by which your system can tell the BBS that it has missed some message beacons This will happen either because a beacon collided with another transmission on the frequency or because you have had your system switched off You can request the BBS to resend all the message beacons starting from a particular number by sending out a synchronisation sync request WinPack User Manual version 6 80 73 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features WinPack will automatically send out a sync request whenever it hears a beacon with a messa
122. e buttons can now be edited by the user They are in a subdirectory of the main WINPACK directory called ICONS It should be obvious from the names wihch icon belongs to which button When WinPack starts it loads the icons from that directory if they exist and uses them to replace the default ones Perhaps someone will be able to produce a really nice collection and send them out on packet they zip up into only a few kb The icons can be either icons created with an icon editor file extension ICO or small bitmap files file extension BMP For example if you want to create a bitmap file to appear on the bulls button call it BULL BMP If you use bitmaps don t use a colour depth greater than 256 colours Adding Buttons Buttons to run Add ons external programs can be added to the button bar See WinPack Add ons for more information WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 172 6 13 2002 Appendix B Button Bar What the Buttons Do Edit Button pe Pressing this button opens an Edit Window in the bottom half of the screen It has the same effect to selecting Files gt Edit on the menu When the Edit Window is open the button will no longer have a cross or X on it If you hide the Edit Window whilst you are composing a message the message is not abandoned You remain in composing mail mode until you unhide the window and either Send or Abandon the message There is an edit submenu which can be accessed from the Edit Window by pressing t
123. e managed it You need to load the BPQ node software underneath Windows configured to use a Baycom driver You then run WinPack in BPQ mode this is selected from Options gt Comms Setup BPQ is quite a complex piece of code it has a lot of documentation with it but it is in several DOC files so you need to do quite a bit of reading to work out how to use it The version of BPQ you need is 4 08a it is the last version that was released and the only version with support for running underneath Windows The Baycom driver you should use is the NODE2BAY package which is available from the WinPack web site Do not try and use a DOS BPQ Baycom driver such as BPQAX25 If you get it to work underneath Windows you will be very lucky because there are sound technical reasons why it shouldn t work The NODE2BAY package contains a file called NODE2BAY TXT which gives some useful information on setting up BPQ PLEASE take note of the comments about possible problems with the CTS output of some Baycom modems when used with modern motherboards See also using WinPack with BPQ Baycom PC Flexnet WinPack From V6 3 onwards WinPack supports PC Flexnet Since Flexnet has its own Baycom driver it allows you to use WinPack with a Baycom modem To use PC Flexnet with a Baycom modem you must be running Win95 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 152 6 13 2002 13 Trouble Shooting and FAQs A description of PC Flexnet and what it does is beyond the scope o
124. e this feature by putting WARN_BULL FALSE ZIP and UNZIP if you want to use WinZip instead of PKZIP PKUNZIP for zipping 7plus files and for unzipping 7plus zips for the viewers you can put ZIP C WINZIP EXE min a and UNZIP C WINZIP EXE e o j If you are using Win95 the WinZip file name is probably WINZIP32 EXE Don t forget the ending parameters Obviously you should input the correct path for your copy of WINZIP Note that you must use DOS compatible path names i e no more than 8 characters so PROGRAM FILES becomes PROGRA 1 Section LOG DATE_FORMAT the default is dd mmm yy which gives a date format in auto log entries line 02 Nov 95 Experience tells me that dates in that format are universally understood and unambiguous However was once told that a popular logbook program could not import a log with the date in that format so a useful alternative might be dd mm yy LOG_FIELD1 A FIXED LOG FIELD you can put up to six fixed fields that will be appended to the end of each log entry _OG_FIELD1 to LOG_FIELD6 You can put whatever text you want in the fields and use as many of them as you want you don t have to use any This is to help with importing the WinPack log into logging programs that require some fields e g RST to be present USE QUOTES the auto log entries are in comma separated values CSV format All the fields are surrounded by quotes which is correct However if you put USE_QUOTES FALSE
125. e you have got WinPack working and have collected your first message list from your local BBS you should run the Bulletin Columns option on the Options menu Use each item on this submenu in turn FROM TO AT TITLE and follow the prompts on the status line Note Very Well Of all the avoidable problems that users have reported with WinPack not setting the bulletin columns is by far the most common If you are not using the BBS s unproto beacons and you choose not to bother setting up the Bulletin Columns then it is unlikely that any of the automatic mail functions will work properly Selecting bulletins to read using To From etc will not work and bulletin themes will not work NB if you are using the FBB unproto message beacons the list columns are automatically set and the Bulletin Columns submenu is unavailable WinPack User Manual version 6 80 30 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins Reading Bulletins When you select the Read Bulletins option on the Mail menu the message list will be displayed positioned at the start of any new messages that have been added since you last used this option WinPack 6 72 20 Mar 2002 01 16 UTC File Edit Mail Action Options Scripts yapp Help All messages 60 143964 PONDER USBBS KISCT 6319 2034 What the Bible Says 1144 143963 DX GWU GB7LDI 6319 2616 PS Operation Never agai 1439862 DX CRIA GB7LDI 6319 2616 Ducie Island 143961 DX EUY GB7LDI 6319 2616 Ducie Island 1439
126. e your video card has the latest drivers particularly if it is a Matrox If you are using more than 256 colours try changing to 256 If this helps then you definitely have a video card driver problem 4 On some systems Win98 seems to suffer very badly from overrun errors It affects modems more than TNCs because of the much higher data rate but have seen evidence to suggest that TNCs can also be affected Try rebooting and then see if you get any overrun errors during the first 10 minutes or so that the system is running If WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 145 6 13 2002 13 Trouble Shooting and FAQs you don t then you are probably suffering from this Win98 problem Unfortunately don t think there is yet any solution to it but the following might help In Windows go into Control Panel gt System gt Device Manager gt Properties gt Port Settings gt Advanced on the COM port you use and move the receive FIFO setting to one of its lowest two values Frequently Asked Questions From the WinPack FAQ Page at http www ui view com winpack faq faq htm I ve been meaning to do this page for ages send out a lot of replies to WinPack help requests and many of them are to the same questions which are asked time and time again used to send some replies as bulletins in the hope that my answer would help more than one person but for various reasons I ve now stopped doing that hope that the replies to the Frequently Asked Quest
127. eceive window 3 If Auto Receive on the YAPP menu is enabled the program will now receive the file completely automatically otherwise 4 Select Receive a File from the YAPP menu the rest of the process is automatic The YAPP transfer window opens and you don t have to do anything else If the transfer fails then you will get a message saying why Resuming a YAPP File Transfer Menu Bar YAPP gt Receive Resume If you have received a large part of a file and then the link between you and the sending station fails this option allows you to resume the transfer from the point at which it failed so long as the sending station can support FBB style crash resume I ll assume that you want to resume downloading a file called TEST EXE from a BBS Most of the following procedure is exactly the same as if you were starting a normal WinPack User Manual version 6 80 50 6 13 2002 8 File Transfers download If you are receiving the file from a friend directly without a BBS then jump to step 3 1 Tell the BBS you want to download the file With FBB you have to go into FBB DOS and then send the command YGETT TEST EXE With an NNA BBS you use the command YD TEST EXE 2 The BBS will prompt that it is ready to send the file and a couple of funny characters should appear in the WinPack receive window 3 Select Receive Resume from the YAPP menu the rest of the process is automatic The YAPP transfer window opens and you
128. econnection the caption will change to 1 the next time it will go to 2 When it reaches 9 it goes to A and then carries on through the alphabet The idea of this is to let you know how frequently you are getting disconnected The sole purpose of the reconnection facility is to enable you to automatically reconnect to a DX Cluster if the link drops out How successful it is depends on what causes the disconnect if it is caused by a Cluster crash then this instant reconnect will normally WinPack User Manual version 6 80 60 6 13 2002 9 Scripts fail The default delay before attempting a reconnect is 10 seconds You may find it better to increase this a Make sure WinPack is not running b Edit PACKET INI in the WinPack directory using a text editor such as Windows Notepad c Look for a section entitled TERMINAL In that section there is an entry which says RECONNECT_DELAY 10 Change the 10 seconds to a bigger value d Save the file RUN lt program_name Run a program The program must conform to the standard WinPack external program format and be in the SCRIPTS subdirectory This facility is designed mainly for dealing with password schemes Please Note that RUN will only work if you are connected External programs are designed to either send their output to the TNC if they were started by an external user or by a script or to the screen if the external command was input by the sysop Therefore an external pro
129. ection List Editor lets you edit the WinPack SELECT TXT and AUTOTIME TXT files to your liking SELECT TXT sets the bulletin download filters and AUTOTIME TXT sets the times for selective downloads Selection List Editor was designed in the hope that people will make more effective use of these features and is dedicated to all those who say that the UK packet network is only for mail It is dedicated to proving them wrong G4IDE October 1997 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 104 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs Getting Started For the Selection List Editor to work the SELEDIT EXE and SELEDIT HLP files must be in your main WINPACK directory If the lists in SELEDIT are coming up blank you ve probably put these files in the wrong place Once you start SELEDIT EXE there is help available with F1 That help is as follows SELECT TXT Editor For help on the Auto Times see AUTOTIME TXT The eight lists windows in the Selection List Editor window not including the Auto Times list window represent the eight sections in the WinPack SELECT TXT file These tell WinPack what bulletins you want to automatically tag for downloading top 4 and they also allow you to specify items that you don t want to download bottom 4 As the message list is received from the BBS each message header is checked against these lists and WinPack decides whether or not to tag that header for automatic download of the message To add an item to a list key it i
130. ed for your drivers WinPack interfaces to Flexnet via TFEMU the TFPCX emulator It is recommended that you use TFEMU with DRSl style interrupts tfemu dx because it is a little more efficient than using the default TFPCX style interrupts However WinPack will detect which type of interrupts are being used It will also find TFEMU even if the i flag is used to assign TFEMU to a software interrupt other than the default of FDh so you don t need to tell WinPack which interrupt number is being used As an example here is the BAT file have been using on my test system haven t used all these drivers at the same time but I ve put them all in as examples of what have successfully used The minimum is that you must load Flexnet you must load and configure one driver you must run flex and for use with WinPack you must load TFEMU You can use Ih to load the drivers high but on my PC loading Flexnet high uses up all the available upper memory REM load the kernel lh flexnet REM load the Baycom modem driver for my COM3 REM this will be channel 0 ser12 p 0x3e8 i 5 REM load the sound card driver using LPT2 for the PTT REM this will be channel 1 smsbc tl 0x378 REM load 6PACK to drive two TNCs in a ring on my COM4 REM these will be channels 2 and 3 6pack 4 b 19200 c 2 p 0x2e8 i 9 REM load the ethernet driver REM this will be channel 4 ether32 c 1 n0 ipx REM activate the kernel flex REM load the
131. efore you start using multiple users Otherwise you may lose it e If you write mail but don t forward it then it won t get uploaded to the BBS until you next use the WinPack system simply because packet BBSs won t allow another callsign to forward mail from your callsign it would infringe the third party regulations e Similarly mail will only be downloaded from the BBS for the callsign using WinPack at the time that the auto BBS connect occurs You won t lose mail but it can only be downloaded when you are using the system e Set the Bulletins List Options gt Personal BBS Info command to LR NUM Everyone shares the same bulletin list in WinPack but the BBS maintains a list pointer for each callsign So if any user uses LR messages could be listed more than once This is irrelevant if you are using the FBB unproto beacons WinPack User Manual version 6 80 69 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Drag and Drop WinPack supports drag and drop of files from File Manager First of all please note that there are some restrictions on when you can drag and drop The rough rule is that if anything else is going on e g reading mail running a script reading bulls then the drag and drop is ignored If you drop a file onto WinPack it normally assumes that you want to send it to the TNC there is an exception to this see the comments below If the file extension is TXT or BAT then it sends it as an ASCII file If the extensi
132. egistration form is available for you to print off on the next page You will be sent by return post a registration number If you prefer the registration number can be sent to you via internet email but it cannot be sent via packet You should then use the Register WinPack option on the WinPack Help menu and input the registration information Registering From Outside The UK If you are outside the UK then registering online may well be the easiest and cheapest method Or you can either get an International Money Order for 10 UK pounds from your bank or send me a personal cheque check If you do the latter then please calculate the amount at the current exchange rate 15 to allow for the cost of me negotiating the cheque can also accept cash payment in the following currencies US dollars Australian dollars and all major EU currencies Again please add on 15 to allow for the cost of me changing the money see FAQ 10 Registering WinPack will help to ensure that development of the program continues Many thanks for your support WinPack User Manual version 6 70 6 6 13 2002 3 License and Registration Registration Form This form can be printed by using Print Topic from the File menu at the top of this help window To Roger Barker G4IDE 79 South Parade Boston Lincs PE21 7PN UK would like to register my copy of WinPack V6 enclose a registration fee of 10 ukp UK pounds My registration information is a
133. elf a message via your local BBS entitled REQCFG The reply to that message will explain the use of the servers For example the REQFIL server responds to REQFIL request for file messages sent to your system For example if someone sends you a personal message entitled REQFIL AFILE TXT then WinPack will send them the file AFILE TXT assuming it exists on your system The REQFIL server will send files as either plain text or 7plus according to whether or not they contain binary data The root directory for REQFIL is the directory specified by the PUB_DIR entry in the TERMINAL section of PACKET INI The default is WinPack PUB You may make subdirectories in the main PUB directory and people can obtain files from subdirectories with requests like REQFIL SUBDIR FILE1 TXT To allow people to easily request images for HTML documents that you might send out REQFIL will also look in the HTMLIB directory Example You send out an HTML document which uses WINPACK GIF in your HTMLIB directory Someone reads the document but they haven t got WINPACK GIF so they send you a message entitled REQFIL WINPACK GIF WinPack can t find the file in your PUB directory so it looks for it and finds it in the HTMLIB directory The file SERVERS ZIP contains the Visual BASIC source code for one server That should form a good base for anyone who wants to write WinPack servers Besides servers that respond to a special request there are also several o
134. en you aren t using packet Downloading and Installing the AGWPE SV2AGW s web site is http www raag org sv2aqw You need to download AGWPE ZIP Make a directory for the Packet Engine say C SV2AGW and unzip AGWPE ZIP Run AGWPE and follow the instructions for setting up whatever ports you want to use it s very easy compared to BPQ or Flexnet To enable support for AGWPE start WinPack and use Options gt Comms Setup gt and set Host mode to AGW Note that when you are using the SV2AGW Packet Engine the COM port settings in the COMMS Setup window will not be used if fact those fields are gray ed out and inaccessible since your TNC is controlled by the Packet Engine and not by WinPack Click OK If you don t get an error message then that s it WinPack should be showing WinPack AGW on its title bar and it should now be able to talk to the AGWPE ports Depending on what you were previously running if you had created a STARTUP TXT script file it may need altering and there is a slight chance that BBS TXT will need altering but that is unlikely WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 131 6 13 2002 AGWPE Using WinPack AGW WinPack AGW has an internal virtual TNC this gives it a TNC2 like user interface even though it is being used with AGWPE What appears to the user as the TNC responding to TNC2 style commands is in fact part of the WinPack software For a list of the available virtual TNC commands use the comman
135. ents will be preserved To remind you that the Edit Window is still active the Edit button will gain a red box around it WinPack User Manual version 6 80 46 6 13 2002 7 Text Editor The Edit Window Abandon this option is only available when you are composing mail or editing a message If you select it then the message that you are writing the entire process is abandoned Zoom Selecting this option will Zoom the edit window up to the full size of the WinPack screen selecting it again returns the window to its normal size You can do the same thing by pressing Ctrl Z Insert Link This option allows you to insert a text link into a message It is an advanced and somewhat experimental option See Text Links Printing from the Edit Window You can print the contents the Edit Window by selecting the File gt Print menu option or by pressing the Print Button on the tool bar WinPack will ask you which window you want to print If there is any selected text in the window drag the mouse to select then WinPack will print the selected text otherwise it will print all the text in the window You can change the printer font by using the Options gt Fonts gt Printer menu option WinPack defaults to using the full print width available This is because many packet users still tend to use lines of around 80 characters and most printers have difficulty fitting that number of characters across the paper even when you use the full w
136. eone using the new version of WinPack reads it and his system recognises the htm as being an indicator of file type His system checks to see if he has a viewer configured for files with the extension HTM if he has then WinPack asks if he wants to view the file using the external program You therefore have a facility for sending and receiving messages which can be made far more readable than if they are viewed as boring plain text To send HTML you do of course need an HTML editor WinPack User Manual version 6 80 93 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Viewing decoded 7plus files When WinPack successfully decodes a 7plus file it sends you a SYSTEM message When you read that message WinPack will check to see if you have a viewer configured for the file type if you have then it will ask you if you want to view the decoded file A lot of 7plus is of course zipped up If WinPack finds a zip it will look in it and see if there is a viewable file One restriction is that you can only view one file in each zip otherwise it would become unmanageable However the vast majority of 7plus zips only contain one file The file offered for viewing is the first one in the zip for which a viewer is configured This has implications for viewing HTML see Complex HTML Configuring PKUNZIP PIF To be able to unzip 7plus files and allow you to view the contents WinPack has to be able to run PKUNZIP EXE and it does this by using PKUNZIP PIF T
137. er Because some servers carbon copy servers etc result in messages being put in the MAIL RECEIVE and MAIL SEND directories WinPack checks what messages are in these directories before the servers are run and removes any messages that are created as a result of testing the servers If it didn t do that you could finish up sending out large numbers of duplicated messages WinPack User Manual version 6 80 158 6 13 2002 Appendix A Menu Layouts Action Menu Note Some of the options on this menu will be gray ed out Signature gt and inaccessible if you are not using the features they Pause support Disconnect ae nig te Signature 3 i i i ee Selecting this option will allow you to add a signature to a Sne Floeuest shiteer message you are writing You will be presented with a list of Sa Gomene available signature files and you can pick which one you want Stop Tune Al Bksp to use sans Note that if you use the Signature button rather than this menu option then the default signature is used you won t be able to select your signature However right clicking on the Signature button gives a short cut to this menu option Host initralise Ho f He et See also Signature Options Pause Normally the receive windows will automatically scroll as new data is received so that the latest data is always visible This can be a nuisance if you are trying to scroll back to view something that has gone off the screen becaus
138. es together Reply To Sender Selecting this option allows you to send a reply to the person who sent the message that you are reading An R will be placed in front of the message on the personal mail list and the Write a Message form will open See Writing Messages Reply To Topic Not available if you are reading personal mail Selecting this option allows you to send a bulletin to the topic relevant to the message which you are reading By topic mean the TO field of a bulletin See Writing Messages Quick Reply With Auto Quote A quick reply option is available by right clicking on the Reply To Sender or Reply To Topic button A message header form will be filled in with the same values as used when you left click on these buttons but you won t be shown in the Write a Message form Instead you will be put straight into the Edit Window as if you had been shown the form and clicked OK See Writing Messages WinPack User Manual version 6 80 28 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins If you mark some text in the message before you right click the reply button the text will be quoted in the Edit Window preceded with a short header saying who sent the message For example if you are replying to a bull from G4IDE the quoted text will be presented something like G4IDE wrote gt Some text from G4IDE gt Some more text from G4IDE gt etc The beginning wrote line is configurable constant in PACKET INI It is REPLY_QUOTE in the
139. essage title contain TXT The reason behind this is as follows The main idea of configuring a TXT viewer is so text files contained in 7plus ZIPs can be automatically viewed README TXT etc However it has become a common practice to put 4 TXT in bulletin titles I think it s something to do with HTML converters This results in the TXT viewer being triggered to read these bulletins which can be annoying WinPack User Manual version 6 80 167 6 13 2002 Appendix A Menu Layouts Scan For HTML If this option is checked the default then all messages are scanned for HTML and the HTML viewer is called assuming you have configured one if it is found that a message contains HTML that is how WinPack V6 3 behaved If this option isn t checked then the HTM trigger in the message title is used to decide if a mesage contains HTML that is how WinPack V6 2 behaved Which is best depends on how the use of HTML develops The V6 2 technique is not so good when people send replies to HTML bulletins and leave the 4 HTM in the title even though their reply doesn t contain HTML The V6 3 technique is not so good when people put a small amount of HTML in a message but the main content is not HMTL because you tend to look at the message in the viewer and you don t see the non HTML part Split Window Option This option allows you to split the receive screen into two windows If you select it while the screen is already split
140. et to the callsign of your local BBS optionally with digipeaters in the path Unproto Port If you are using the FBB unproto beacons you must make sure that UPORT in the BPQ Terminal is set to the node port on which you hear the beacons Other BPQ WinPack Information WinPack User Manual version 6 80 123 6 13 2002 BPQ BBS TXT When you are using BPQ a connect occurs as soon as you connect to the switch There if you send C GB7OPC you immediately get a connect so there is no point using WAITCON in BBS TXT The script must rely on WAITFOR WAITLINE and WAITPROMPT to work out what is happening A simple BBS TXT is nothing more than SEND C BBS WAITPROMPT Keeping Window 3 11 Happy It needs a bit of care to get BPQ working properly under Windows If you have never used BPQ with DOS and you try and get BPQ Windows and WinPack working all in one go you ve no chance One thing that often confuses people is that the BPQ code must be loaded before Windows is started it is not run in a Windows DOS window DOS tasks running in DOS windows can communicate with BPQ but the BPQ code is loaded underneath Windows The approach should be 1 Get BPQ working with DOS so that you can make successful connections using PAC4 You don t need any TNCPORT entries in BPQCFG TXT and you shouldn t load BPQHTNC2 2 Read the BPQ information file WINBPQ DOC and move BPQDLL DLL and BPQCODE 386 to WINDOWS 3 Get Windows to run on top o
141. ey are checked for any valid tokens from the tokens list Any that are found are substituted This is mainly of use for specifying a program path see the comment below Line 1 is the caption for the File menu if you don t want the Add on to appear on the menu leave this line blank Line 2 is the path name for the Add on program You can specify a full path or a path relative to the main WinPack directory using the WINP_PATH token To do the latter you must put a path such as WINP_PATH THINGDIR MYTHING EXE WinPack will automatically replace WINP_PATH with its main directory path If WinPack is in D then the above example would become D WINPACK THINGDIR MYTHING EXE Line 3 is either True or False according to whether you want the Add on to be automatically started when WinPack starts The default is False Line 4 is either True or False according to whether you want the Add on to be terminated when WinPack is closed down The default is False Line 5 optional new from V6 4 specifies the name of a picture file to use on a button that will be added to the button bar for starting the Add on Example BUTTON WINP_PATH ICONS MYTHING ICO This will add a button and use an icon for it called MYTHING ICO in your WinPack ICONS directory Line 1 in the XTR file is used as the tooltip for the button The picture file can be either an icon file file extension ICO or a bitmap file file extension BMP
142. f BPQ so that you can open a DOS window and run PAC4 with traffic being transmitted and received correctly and Windows not misbehaving 4 Still here You ve done the hard bit WinPack should now work fine in BPQ mode One problem that can occur is that if BPQ is using COM ports and Windows knows about those ports you re likely to have repeated system crashes The reason is that BPQ will load interrupt handlers for the ports and then Windows will install its own interrupt handlers a definite recipe for disaster You can easily check to see if Windows knows about a COM port by running Windows Terminal and trying to assign the port in Settings Communications My test system runs with BPQ and two ports one is a KISS TNC on COM3 the other is an ethernet link to my BBS use Windows for Workgroups 3 11 and it is completely stable arranged my COM ports so that BPQ was using COM3 with an IRQ of 9 In the Windows SYSTEM INI have removed all references to COM3 and put COM3IRQ 1 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 124 6 13 2002 BPQ minus one That stops Windows trying to take over COM3 There are other ways of doing it but I ve found this method to be the best Please don t even attempt to share IRQs between a COM port that BPQ is using and one that Windows is using It won t work That means if you assign a COM port to BPQ that is using for example IRQ4 INTLEVEL 4 you cannot have a Windows COM port that is also using
143. f this note See using WinPack with Flexnet for more information and the URL for the Flexnet web site Baycom AGWPE WinPack Using WinPack s AGWPE host mode you can interface with AGWPE which can interface with a Baycom modem may only work with some versions of Windows 95 98 although this may change A explanation of the AGWPE Baycom setup is beyond the scope of this note See AGWPE host mode for more information and the URL for the AGWPE web site Alternatively you could use your computer sound card as a modem with AGWPE instead of using your Baycom kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk 10 Question don t live in the UK How do I register WinPack Answer Registration is an option on WinPack V6 1 and later If you select Help gt Help Contents gt Registration then you will find all the information you need Registering WinPack gets rid of the unregistered copy nag boxes appreciate that paying the 10 UK pounds registration fee from overseas can be a bit of a problem Online registration by credit card is by far the easiest and cheapest way to register see the Registration section If for some reason you do not want to register online here are some other ways you can pay in my order of preference 1 In most countries you will find that your bank can supply you with an International Money Order This is effectively a cheque made out in UK currency and dra
144. f you prune the bulletins list or delete a block of lines from it then normally any lines within the deleted section for which a bull has been downloaded and which have a status of Y will not be deleted to get rid of those lines you must first kill the bulletin If you enable Block Delete Bulletins these lines will be deleted and the associated bulletins will automatically be killed WinPack User Manual version 6 80 165 6 13 2002 Appendix A Menu Layouts NB you cannot delete bulletins with a status of or N in this way WinPack will assume that if you have marked bulletins you want to download them and if you have downloaded them you want to read them However bulletins marked D will always be deleted irrespective of the setting of Block Delete Bulletins because they are 7plus parts from which the 7plus has been extracted and put in the 7EXTRACT directory Bulletin List Prune Size If in Read Bulletins you click the Prune button and you haven t marked a block of bulletins then the list will be pruned down to approximately the number of bulletins set by this option For example if you have Bulletin List Prune Size set to 2 000 and you have 10 000 lines in your bulletins list then the first 8 000 lines will be deleted and the last 2 000 will be left The final number left in the list may be slightly more depending on the setting of Block Delete Bulletins and whether you have any bulletins in the section to be deleted which are ma
145. file and stores it in the WINPACK DOWNLOAD directory Shouldn t DOWNLOAD be UPLOAD No The DOWNLOAD directory is primarily where you put files that you download from a BBS i e files that you receive So if you receive a file from someone it goes in the DOWNLOAD directory Clear as mud right All the above commands are internal remote commands WinPack also allows the list of remote commands to be extended by the use of external programs These work very much like FBB PG programs See WinPack External Programs WinPack User Manual version 6 80 83 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Servers WinPack supports servers These are programs that can process an incoming message and send information to the sender of the message without the WinPack sysop having to do anything A full discussion of how the servers work is beyond the scope of this manula or the on line help However the following explanation should help you understand them from the point of view of a user WinPack checks the title of every incoming personal message If the title starts with a then it checks to see if there is a program in its SERVERS directory with that name For example if the message title is REQCFG then it looks for a program called REQCFG EXE If it exists then the program is started and allowed to process the message Three servers are supplied with WinPack they are REQCFG REQDIR and REQFIL If you want to find out what they can do send yours
146. formation when applying to your local RIS ofice for permission to operate unattended digital operations 1 An external close down switch or other means of closing down the station which is separate from the rest of the premises 2 A list of 4 persons including telephone numbers who can close down the Station Not all need to be amateurs 3 Travelling times and availability times I E 24hrs of close down operators of the Station 4 Frequencies of operation within BR68 clause 2 4 c antennas and powers used 5 Use of Station for Digital Operation I E PMS NODE etc 6 Only the licensee can re activate the Station after permission from the RIS SECTION 5 General Advice a With the advance in software writing it is now possible for packet users to set up intelligent software nodes G8BPQ and similar applications via a PC and radio The RSGB DCC strongly recommend that users contact their local packet group and local BBS Sysop before starting operation of such nodes Appearance of such nodes without co ordination causes problems within the local and inter BBS DXcluster TC PIP Network routing tables Network Sysops work closely with each other to determine route qualities and node tables to aid the fast movement of traffic via the National Trunk System The appearance of uncoordinated rogue nodes causes in some cases severe problems in traffic routing WinPack User Manual version 6 80 200 6 13 2002 Appendix Guidelines For The
147. from where the interruption occurred so the whole message doesn t have to be resent This feature of FBB seems to be undocumented It has been implemented by observing what TPK 1 82 does and by analysing the data that FBB sends when a download resume is requested If WinPack finds the BBS is FBB 5 15 it will automatically enable download resume You can over ride this by setting DOWNLOAD_RESUME to TRUE or FALSE IM_A_SYSOP normally WinPack will not put other people s personal messages in the bulls list even though they are broadcast in the FBB unproto beacons The reason is that there is no point putting them in the list because normally you can t read them If you have sysop privileges then you my wish to put IM_A_SYSOP TRUE which will result in all the personal messages being put in the list MAX_SYNC_REPEATS this is the number of times WinPack will send a resync to the BBS for the same message number before it gives up and sends you a System message The default is 20 You can change it but if you need to increase it you shouldn t be using the unproto beacons because your path to the BBS is too poor Unless you haven t got HEADERLN ON in your TNC settings PERSONAL_MSG_TYPES this specifies what types of message should be regarded as personal messages the default is AP and doubt if it would ever need altering WinPack User Manual version 6 80 185 6 13 2002 Appendix E PACKET INI File Settings RESUME_ALLOWED if your local
148. ge number higher than the next number that it expects to hear it keeps a record of the last number that it has received in the LASTNUM TXT file in the WinPack BULLS directory There is a degree of sophistication built into this to stop it sending out too many sync requests within a short time period You can send out a sync request manually by pressing Shift F5 Before V6 4 WinPack used a script FBBSYNC TXT to send the sync request This script is attached to the F5 key and is still available However Shift F5 is a better option because it does not have the overhead of loading a script Please Note WinPack will never send a sync request if less than 20 seconds have elapsed since the last one was sent You may also find it useful to put FBBSYNC as the last line in your STARTUP TXT This will make sure that your message list starts to be updated as soon as WinPack starts up Note In order to be able to send sync requests your TNC s UNPROTO parameter must be set to the BBS callsign e g UNPROTO GB7OPC The only exception to this is if the BBS can t hear you direct in which case the UNPROTO setting must include a suitable digipeater path e g UNPROTO GB7OPC VIA STUMP This is identical to the requirement for TPK If you want to use the FBB unproto message beacons You must ask your sysop to give you U status Compressed Download Some F6FBB BBSs and some G1NNA BBSs allow the user to download messages in compressed format This re
149. ge that you are creating If the Edit Window is open then the signature will be added at the end of the text in the window If the Edit Window is not open but you are connected to another station then the signature will be sent to the TNC for transmission Note that this button uses the default signature if you want to select from a list of available signatures use the Signature menu option Right clicking with the mouse on the signature button gives a short cut to the Signature menu See also Signature Options Word Wrap x Pressing this button has the same effect as selecting Word Wrap on the Options z menu When word wrap is on the button will no longer have a cross or X on it WinPack User Manual version 6 80 174 6 13 2002 Appendix B Button Bar x Pause get it Paws Pause Normally the receive window will automatically scroll as new data is received so that the latest data is always visible This can be a nuisance if you are trying to scroll back to view something that has gone off the screen because as soon as some new data arrives the screen scrolls down again If you press this Pause Button then the automatic scrolling is disabled and so you are able to scroll back and view previous data When pause is on the button will no longer of have a cross or X on it Don t leave pause on for too long because while it is enabled all new data that is received is put into a buffer which can only hold about 30 00
150. gistration details Register WinPack This option allows you to input your registration information once you have registered your copy of WinPack For more information on registering the program see the Registration section of the help also in this manual see registration About This option shows some information about the program WinPack User Manual version 6 80 171 6 13 2002 B Button Bar The button bar is the row of buttons along the top of the main screen Customizing the Button Bar The button bar can be customised in several ways Show Button Hints Use the Options gt Show Button Hints menu option to enable disable the hints that appear when you pause the mouse over the buttons on the tool bar You may find the hints useful or totally irritating The Gap Between Buttons The buttons can be spaced farther apart by altering the BUTTON_GAP entry in the TERMINAL section of PACKET INI Changing The Icons have been asked by a few people from time to time to change the icons on the button bar with the black crosses on them Either on the grounds of ugliness or because the difference between the active and inactive states is not very obvious Unfortunately when God was handing out artistic talent was very near the end of the queue so the existing icons are as good as you re going to get from me However am sure that some users will be able to improve on the icons themselves so all the icons for all th
151. gram can only be run from a script if there is a connection There are some situations when this is too restrictive and so the PROC keyword was introduced PROC lt program_name gt Occasionally you may want to run a program from a script that does something like processing mail At the time the program runs there might not be a connection so RUN cannot be used PROC can be used in these circumstances It works exactly like RUN except that any status returned by the program is ignored and any output is sent to the WinPack screen SEND lt text gt send specified lt text gt to the TNC SENDFILE lt filename gt sends the file as plain text YAPPFILE sends the file using YAPP SENDPASSWORD sends a password Normally based on the previous line of text See Password Support STAY_CONNECTED This key word is only relevant to the BBS TXT script It tells WinPack to stay connected to the BSS at the end of Auto BBS sessions However if the session uses FBB compressed forwarding then STAY_CONNECTED will be ignored because FBB will not accept normal BBS user commands after compressed forwarding protocol has been used Note that using this key word will mean that WinPack always stays connected to the BBS at the end of an Auto BBS session If you only occasionally want to stay connected then the Stay Connected option on the Action menu is available WinPack User Manual version 6 80 61 6 13 2002 9 Scripts STOPTUNE stops whateve
152. h the WinPack font try Terminal WinPack User Manual version 6 80 164 6 13 2002 Appendix A Menu Layouts e On all the font selections for the text windows the text background colour is always whatever you have set for Window Background colour in the Windows Control Panel Color utility Receive Window 1 This option allows you to set the font size and text foreground colour for the upper receive window Receive Window 2 This option allows you to set the font size and text foreground colour for the lower receive window Transmit Window This option allows you to set the font size and text foreground colour for the transmit window Edit Window This option allows you to set the font size and text foreground colour for the Edit Window Printer This option allows you to set the font characteristics for the printer If you select a font that your printer doesn t support Windows will try and find a near match for it NB if you get in a mess the default font is Courier and the default size is 12 point Bulletin Columns Once you have got WinPack working and have collected your first message list from your local BBS call up the Bulletin list Mail gt Read Bulletins then go to this Options gt Bulletin Columns menu option Use each item on this submenu in turn From At To Title and follow the prompts on the status line to mark where each item is in your BBS s message header Bulletin Deleting Block Delete Bulletins I
153. hange the printer font by using the Options gt Fonts gt Printer menu option WinPack defaults to using the full print width available This is because many packet users still tend to use lines of around 80 characters and most printers have difficulty fitting that number of characters across the paper even when you use the full width If you want to set a margin then you can edit the PRINTER section of the PACKET INI file to alter the LEFT_ MARGIN_MM and RIGHT_MARGIN_MM settings You can use Print to save a message to a file If you check the Print to file box in the Print Dialogue then you will be prompted for a file name and the text will be saved in that file WinPack User Manual version 6 70 11 6 13 2002 4 Getting Started Saving the Receive Window Dialogue You can use the Capture File feature to automatically log all dialogue in the Receive window to a file Otherwise you can use Windows cut and paste feature to save the text to file e right click in the Receive window and choose Select All from th pop up menu other wise drag the mouse to select only a portion of the window e onthe menu bar select Edit gt Copy or right click again to select Copy to copy the file to the Window s Clip Board e open awordprocessing file and paste the clip board into it see Windows HELP if you need help about this technique Right Click Tricks There are a few things that you can access by right clicking If you right click in t
154. have them as standard Please Note if you aren t using Win95 the FIFO in the UART will not be automatically enabled With Windows for Workgroups you need to make an entry in SYSTEM INI see WINDOWS WRI COM1FIFO With Win 3 1 a third party replacement for COMM DRV such as CyberCom is a good idea If you are using host mode whenever a communication error occurs WinPack will make an entry in a file called COMMERR TXT which is in the main WinPack directory An overrun on the port will usually cause a series of three entries 1 First the overrun is reported 2 Next the comms loop will fail and there will be an entry saying the comms loop has been recovered 3 Finally there may be an entry saying the comms loop has been kicked back into life When you first start using host mode keep having a look at this file If you get a lot of overrun entries then you really should consider fitting a port with a 16550 If you get many entries of other sorts other than an occasional COMMS LOOP KICKED message then I d be interested to hear what they are Please Note turning off the TNC whilst WinPack is running can cause a lot of entries in the file because of the rubbish that may come out of the TNC as it powers down WinPack User Manual version 6 80 135 6 13 2002 TF2 7b If Things Go Wrong TF2 7b host mode Host mode should perform very reliably In the event of any communication errors occurring WinPack will make an entry in the COMMERR
155. he AUTOTIME TXT file It will also download any bulletin messages according to the criteria in the SELECT TXT file Both of these files can be editied by the Selection List editor Auto BBS sessions can also be intiated e if you select Auto BBS Session from the Mail menu e if you click on the Mailbox Button on the Button bar Note If you select Auto BBS Session when an auto BBS session is already running then it will toggle the visibility of the script and upload download status windows Exactly what happens during an Auto BBS session will vary slightly according to what Mail Options you have selected and what tasks are scheduled At the start of the session you may be prompted as to whether you want this to be a mail only session If you only want to upload messages and collect any personal mail that is waiting on the BBS then say Yes If you also want to collect the message list and any specific bulletin messages that you have selected then say No WinPack will then connect to your local BBS and carry out the following actions 1 Read any waiting personal mail save it in WinPack and then kill it on the BBS 2 Collect the bulletin list if you answered NO to the Mail only question but see the comment below 3 Download any previously marked bulletins of interest 4 Download the complete content of any bulletin types matching the criteria in the SELECT TXT file see the Selection List editor 5 Upload any mes
156. he Edit Window then the edit pop up menu appears If you right click on the connected station callsign in the bottom left corner of the screen then you can change the callsign It may be incorrect for outgoing connects via nodes If you right click on the CPS bar graph in the YAPP and compressed mail status window then you can alter the range of the bar In other windows of the program right clicking will bring up Windows editing functions such as copy cut and paste WinPack User Manual version 6 70 12 6 13 2002 4 Getting Started Quick Start Get WinPack working in 5 minutes or less l Il assume you ll be working with a TNC and without any host software such as BPQ AGWPE Flexnet TFEMU etc 1 TNC to radio cable must be properly connected If you need advice about that you ll need to consult your TNC and or Radio User Manuals With the radio and TNC turned on verify that they seem to be operating correctly the RCV or similar lamp on the TNC should blink when the radio receives a packet listen or watch the S bar on the radio to know when this occurs 2 TNC to PC cable must be attached to the proper port on the TNC and on the computer Please make a note of the computer port s name e g COM1 COM2 etc 3 Basic WinPack Configuration Start WinPack From the Menu bar select Options gt Comms Setup to pull up the Comms Setup window Comms Setup Press F1 For Help Baud Rate Connec
157. he PIF file assumes that PKUNZIP EXE is in a directory in your DOS PATH If it isn t then you must either put it in a directory that is in your PATH or edit the PATH environment to include the directory where PKUNZIP EXE lives Please check the above carefully an awful lot of people seem to have had problems setting up the PKZIP PIF supplied with WinPack have only tested it with PKUNZIP 2 04g I ve no idea if it works with earlier versions or with other unzippers Configuring viewers To be able to view files you need to tell WinPack what viewers to use for each file type This is done by creating a section in PACKET INI called VIEWERS and putting in it the information about the programs you wish to use as viewers The format of each line is lt file type extension gt lt path to viewer gt There is one important exception If a WWW browser is used as a viewer it can take an awful long time to load Netscape allows you to pass files to the program whilst it is running by using a DDE link so avoiding having to keep reloading it Internet Explorer V 3 is compatible with this feature of Netscape If you use a browser that is compatible you can put NDDE at the end of its line to tell WinPack to use Netscape style DDE Please note my own tests suggest that Internet Explorer V 2 is not compatible If you want to take advantage of DDE don t close your browser after you have viewed a file minimise it instead A WinPack add on
158. he Unread button if a filter selection has been made using To From etc It allows you to put the text from all the bulletins in the current list selection into a file Because it can create quite a large file you will first be asked to confirm that this is what you really want to do From This buttons allows you to filter the displayed message list by sender A window will appear prompting you to input the required From You can use as a wildcard e g If you input G4 then all messages from callsigns starting with G4 will be listed A maximum of 350 messages can be displayed in the list when you use this filter If more than 350 are available then only the last 350 are shown To This button allows you to filter the message list by topic You will be prompted if you want to list all the topics If you say no you simply key in the topic of interest and all messages matching it will be listed You can use as a wildcard e g If you input DE then all messages to topics callsigns starting with DE will be listed If you say yes the whole message list is processed and a list of all the topics in it is shown WinPack User Manual version 6 80 32 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins along with the count of the messages for each topic You can then select a topic of interest from the list The prompting as to whether or not you want to list all the topics can be over ridden by editing PACKET INI If you don t want the topics list to
159. he right mouse button Pressing the button when the Edit Window is already open hides the window To remind you that the edit is still effectively active the image on the edit button is shown with a red box drawn round it f Capture Button a Pressing this button allows you to open a capture file All received text will be stored in the file until you close it by pressing the button again Capture files will normally be kept in the CAPTURE subdirectory This button has the same effect to selecting Capture from the Files submenu When capture is on the button will have no longer have a cross or X on it FEF Send LA Pressing this button allows you to select a file and send it to the TNC It works like selecting the Send option on the Files menu Please note that this option should only be used for text files not binary files Print Pressing this button allows you to print the contents of one of the WinPack text windows For more information see printing from WinPack WinPack User Manual version 6 80 173 6 13 2002 Appendix B Button Bar BBS Session 6 Pressing this button initiates an automated BBS session Read Mail Pressing this button brings up the Select a Message to Read window ch Write Message Brings up the Write a Message window Bulletin 9 Brings up the Bulletin List See reading bulletins Signature Re This button allows you to add your signature from the default signature file to a messa
160. hey only need to match criteria from one of the lists Or The default is Or Within each list a match on any of the criteria is sufficient Confused Some examples might make it clearer 1 An example of an Or theme You might create a theme called WinPack with Or checked and the following selections TO TITLE TEXT FROM WINPAC WINPACK G4IDE WINPAK WINP7 If a bulletin header matched any one of those criteria then it would be selected 2 An example of an And theme You might create a theme called G4IDE WINPAC with And checked and the following selections TO FROM WINPAC G4IDE WINPAK G8MZX WinPack User Manual version 6 80 110 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs Only bulletins from G4IDE and G8MZX to the WINPAC and WINPAK topics would be selected Bulletins from G4IDE and G8MZX but not to the WINPAC or WINPAK topics would not be selected nor would bulletins from anyone other than G4IDE or G8MZX to the WINPAC or WINPAK You can use themes to list the bulletins associated with a particular subject and then decide which you want to download This is particular useful if a subject tends to attract 7plus files you may not want to indiscriminately automatically download many large 7plus files For example say you are interested in SSTV but notice that many SSTV postings are 7plus files If you use the Selection List Editor you could set it to download all SSTV bulletins but then you would either have to pick a
161. i user Option USER WinPack User Manual version 6 80 68 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features USER is to help people who have more than one amateur in the family or who use a club station and want to be able to use the same WinPack system with different callsigns The idea is to set up one Windows icon for each user with a different USER on each command line My wife is also an amateur G4GZL so could have two icons one that had USER G4IDE on the command line and one that had USER G4GZL WinPack would then maintain separate copies of PERSONAL TXT called G4IDE TXT and G4GZL TXT PERSONAL TXT contains all the information on the Personal BBS Info screen It would also create separate mail send and receive subdirectories for G4IDE and G4GZL Because the user name is used as the file name it must be 8 or less characters and only contain valid DOS file name characters Your callsign is the obvious thing to use lf STARTUP TXT is used to set MYCALL in the TNC using the MYCALL token SEND MYCALL MYCALL this system can work fairly well have tested it by running G4IDE and G8MZX the other callsign that hold from one system If you use the unproto beacons WinPack scans the beacons for personal mail for all users and maintains a separate list for each user of any mail waiting on the BBS Please take note of the following in you plan to use multiple users e Clear up any incoming or outgoing personal mail on your system b
162. idth If you want to set a margin then you can edit PACKET INI and alter the LEFT_MARGIN_MM and RIGHT_MARGIN_MM settings in the PRINTER section You can use Print to save a message to a file If you check the Print to file box in the Print Dialogue then you will be prompted for a file name and the text will be saved in that file WinPack User Manual version 6 80 47 6 13 2002 8 File Transfers WinPack support both YAPP and 7plus file transfers YAPP File Transfers YAPP is the most popular protocol for sending binary files programs graphics application files such as formatted documents etc via packet It was originally devised by WA7MBL There have been a few extensions made to the original system WinPack supports the most popular of these which is FBB style crash resume This allows you to resume transferring a file after a previous attempt failed part way through The following items are covered in this section of the manual transfer status window Using YAPP to Send A File Using YAPP to Receive a File Resuming a YAPP File Transfer YAPP Auto Receive YAPP Options The Transfer Status Window This window appears during both YAPP File Transfers and FBB compressed mail transfers File Name or Message Title For a YAPP transfer this shows you the name of the file currently being transferred For FBB compressed mail transfer it shows the message title File Size This shows the size in bytes of the file currently bei
163. il However you can still get any such messages by clicking them in the bulls list so they aren t lost WinPack User Manual version 6 80 40 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins Writing Messages Menu bar Mail gt Write a Message To write messages both personal mail and bulletins you use the Write a Message option on the Mail menu There are also options for editing and deleting any messages that you have previously written This will bring up the Write a Message window Write a Message Press F1 For Help Type P To eae Name At GB7IDE 22 GBR EU Title Example Message Address Book G6OPC Hike GB7OPC 22 GBR EU 4 G4FJO Geoff GB7IDE 22 GBR EU G4IDE Roger GB7IDE 22 GBR EU The buttons and field on this window do the following Type This is the type of the BBS message It can be P for personal or B for a bulletin To Field not the To Button For a personal message P this field is the callsign of the recipient You can either e type in the callsign of the recipient e use the Address book to insert a callsign and name see To Button below e or send the same message to several different recipients using a mailing list See Creating And Using Mailing Lists below For a bulletin B type message this field would be a BULLETIN TOPIC you can either e key ina topic of your own choice e select from a list of topics WinPack User Manual version 6 80 41 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins If possible it
164. il and who sent it This option is only available if either the Auto 7plus Decode or Scan Capture Files option above is checked otherwise it is gray ed out and inaccessible 7plus Part Size This option allows you to set the maximum part size used for 7plus messages sent by WinPack The default is 4000 bytes Personally think that is quite adequate and nothing is to be gained by using a larger part size but have had so many requests to make the size a user option that I ve finally given in Don t forget that many BBSs in the UK quite correctly forward smallest first so if you use a very large part size you will probably delay your own mail WinPack User Manual version 6 80 163 6 13 2002 Appendix A Menu Layouts Use Speech Announce Connects This option gives access to a submenu that allows you to Announce DX Spots select when WinPack will use your sound card to Announce New Mail announce various events It can announce connections Announce Talk Request and disconnections the arrival of new mail the callsign Lapp File Transfers and frequency of spots when you are connected to a DX Last Announcement Ctrl L cluster lit will tell you when someone is calling you with the talk remote command and it can make a sound when YAPP File Transfers terminate There is also an option on the submenu to replay the last announcement Control L is a hot key to this option For more information see Speech Password This opti
165. ile Also note that the script uses the RECONNECT script key word to automatically reconnect if the link drops out If a script runs using the RECONNECT key word as soon as a disconnect occurs the script will be automatically re run If that happens then the Stop Reconnect button will appears in case you don t want the script to automatically re run Once the button has been pressed the reconnect feature of the script is disabled and the button disappears See also about scripts WinPack User Manual version 6 80 71 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features WinPack will run when minimized so you can connect to the Cluster and then minimize the program and carry on using your PC for other tasks When minimized the program uses hardly any of your PC s processor time If the Options gt Enable Beep menu option is enabled the Cluster spot bells will still sound when the program is minimized Also enabling the Options gt Restore on Beep menu option will cause the program to pop up from being minimized every time a bell occurs When minimized WinPack looks at every line of text received to see if it is a Cluster spot If it is then the caption of the WinPack icon in the Windows task bar bottom of the screen changes to show the callsign of the station spotted and its frequency If you select the Options gt Icon on Top menu option then the program icon will always float on top of other programs so you will always be able to see the spots
166. ing vvv vv v vv YV YV Ww Logging Colours Viewers Split Window Ctrl S v Word Wrap Ctrl W Character Mode Enable Beep Restore on Beep v Icon on Top v Enable Remote v Show Button Hints Flash Scroll Lock Signature Setup Personal BBS Info Calls up the Personal BBS and Log Information screen to set important operating parameters See Personal BBS Info Comms Setup Calls up the Comms Setup screen to set important operating parameters See Quick Start and Comms Setup See also Signature Options Auto Signature If Auto Signature is enabled every mail message you write will have the default signature file appended to it This means you don t have to press the signature button or use the Signature menu option to sign it BUT it also means that if you have this option enabled and you also add a signature manually you will sign the message twice In other words if you have Auto Sig enabled don t use the signature button or the Signature menu option when you are writing messages Default Signature This option allows you to choose which signature file you want to use as your default signature This signature is used by the Auto Sig option and also when you press the signature button You will be given a list of available signatures with the current default signature checked 7plus Setup See also 7plus Auto 7plus Decode WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 162 6 13 2002 Appen
167. ing argv 0 in C Do not make any assumption in your program about what directory it will be started from it may not even be the main WINPACK directory WinPack User Manual version 6 80 101 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs The Alarm Add on Menu bar File gt Start Alarms The Alarms program gives an audible warning when selected items of text are monitored by WinPack Once you start it there is help available with the F1 key Alarm is a program separate from WinPack as are all Add Ons It works via a DDE link to WinPack It is passed all the text that WinPack receives Whenever Alarm sees one of your user selected text strings in the text it receives from WinPack a user selectable warning sound is activated and the line containing that text is displayed in the Window Alarm normally uses the PC speaker however in some newer systems the sound card may be used instead of the speaker and the number of working alarm sounds may be limited to one Start WinPack then start Alarm by clicking on the Start Alarms option on the File menu in WinPack Alarm will normally run minimised Look for it as a separate program button in the Task bar at the bottom of your screen To set it up click on the task bar button to maximize it Then enter your alarm alarm string the text you want it to watch for by using the program s Options gt Text menu option Enter the text in the lower window and press the Add button to make it part of the
168. ing the text message in WinPack This is a special format of the AX25MAIL protocol and the previous formats are still supported Please Note 1 The AX25MAIL protocol only works with Netscape when used as a viewer for messages read in WinPack It doesn t work with pages downloaded using WinpScape in Telnet mode 2 The text submitted from a form is in raw format It is not encoded and is perfectly readable but hardly user friendly There is little point sending out a form unless you are able to process the replies The use of forms should definitely be regarded as experimental 3 Netscape does not like characters in a form Action field You will see that in the above example have used a WinPack will translate this The alternative would be to omit the full hierarchical address and simply put g8mzx gb7 skg WinPack User Manual version 6 80 91 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Text_Links Editor This editor allows you to insert links into messages you write in WinPack see Text Links above for more information about how they are used The editor helps you to get the format of the link correct You must remember when creating a link that the link will be used by another WinPack user who is reading your message to automatically send a message from his system It is therefore important that you set up links correctly TO Put the callsign of the person or system to whom the message will be sent AT In this b
169. ing to a particular message number so WinPack repeatedly syncs on a number and the BBS insists on sending the headers starting from the next number Or FBB will not respond correctly to an LR nnnnn command E g WinPack sends LR 12345 which means list all bulletins from 12345 onwards and the BBS will respond There are no messages even though there are lots of bulletins with numbers higher than 12345 This menu option allows you to adjust LASTNUM and so work round these problems The most you should ever need to adjust it is upwards by one Don t use this option unless you are absolutely sure about what you are doing Test Servers This option allows you to see what effects any SEND servers you are using will have on the messages they send It is mainly for use with servers that add HTML content to messages It was introduced in WinPack V6 41 because there was an obvious problem that users were sending HTML blind and often had no idea what their messages looked like when viewed by the recipient A message that is waiting in the mail out box can be selected and you can specify which servers you want to test A copy of the message is then processed by the selected servers and put in WinPack s TEMP directory with the name TESTMESS TXT so you can look at it and see what changes the servers have made You are told how big the message is If the message contains HTML you are offered the option of viewing it with your HTML view
170. inpScape the file get command for the BBSs and other stations from which you are going to download html files For example the command for an FBB BBS is GET the command for a WinPack PMS is GET see remote access You put these commands in the GET_COMMANDS section of WINPSCAP INI For example GET_COMMANDS DEFAULT GET G4IDE GET GB7SKG GET The default is used for any station for which there is no specific entry WinPack User Manual version 6 80 114 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs Creating Some Pages The success of WinpScape will depend on people making web pages available on packet So why not make some yourself that other WinPack users can read Included with WinpScape is a ZIP file called SOMEHTML ZIP in the main WinPack directory It contains three very simple pages INDEX HTM LINK1 HTM and LINK2 HTM It also contains a YAPP test file YAPPTEST EXE The pages were created using Netscape Gold and give an example of how to make WinpScape compatible pages If you can persuade your BBS sysop to put these files somewhere in his download area or persuade a friend to make them available on his PMS then you will be able to test WinpScape There are two important rules for WinpScape compatible pages 1 If you include graphics in your pages make the size suits your local network conditions in the UK that normally means make them small Also the graphics files must be in the same directory as the page if the image
171. ins list will be pruned down to approximately the number of lines set in the Bulletin List Prune Size under the Options gt Bulletin Deleting menu If text in the list is marked then all the message list lines from the top of the list to the end of the marked block will be pruned except lines marked Y N or If you want the act of pruning to delete list entries for bulletins marked Y and delete the downloaded messages corresponding to those entries then first check Block Delete Bulletins on the Options gt Bulletin Deleting menu NB if your bulletins list command in Personal BBS Info is set to LR NUM or anything else using NUM avoid marking pruning the last line of the list Done Select when you have finished reading bulletins What Are Themes When you are reading bulletins lists in WinPack you have single criteria filter buttons UNREAD TO FROM AT TITLE etc which allow you to select all the bulletins TO one particular topic or FROM one particular sender etc But to filter bulletins by multiple selection criteria you need to use a special feature call Themes For example because of the way that people address messages you often find that two or more different topic addresses will be used for the same subject e g WINPAK and WINPAC If you want to see just the bulletin headers for both those topics you would need to use a theme You could even add a FROM criteria to the two TO parameters to limit the W
172. ion Viewing means to look at the contents of a file Normally if you receive a plus file which contains say a zipped JPG image to look at the image you must first unzip the file then you must run another program to actually look at the image If you have configured a viewer for JPG files in WinPack then when you read the SYSTEM message telling you that the file has been received you will be offered the opportunity of viewing it You won t need to unzip it and the viewer application will be started by WinPack Viewers can be configured for any file type for which you have a suitable program available not just for image files For example you can set up viewers for WAV files MIDI files or HTML files Viewers work in two ways 1 They allow an incoming non 7plus SB or SP to be viewed by an external application 2 They allow the contents of decoded 7plus files to be viewed by an external application Viewing non 7plus SBs and SPs This requires the sender of the message to include information about its contents in the title therefore it requires something which currently does not happen Hopefully it will once this feature of WinPack is in general use Because SBs and SPs are plain text there isn t much you can put in them that benefits from being viewed with an external program except for HTML which is plain text Here s an example of how it works send an SB to WINPAC at GBR entitled Something from Roger htm Som
173. ions of this manual Hyperlinks are typically blue and underlined links you have already used may be purple and underlined 1 Welcome to WinPack 252 pacers estat ress teen tosadatatecahetatinnadetetonatotatonatenatocstonateoatenetoon sented 1 My Philosophy on Amateur Radio sseseeeeeeeeeeneeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeseneseeeeeeeeeeess 2 2 Downloading and Installing WinPack sssssssssesseesssesssssssesssesssesserserereenerrrereerrereereeeeerne 3 3 License and REGISWALOM sycscccncentcentmicnie nce eee ee 4 Licensing Conditions For WinPack V6 7 seseeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneeeees 4 HOW t Register sarees sashes ess a odd ed ee 5 Registration FONM sis ee a 7 4 Getting Started ein cei eis peat ee ee ete 8 Getting Sa NN ec tee ce cae ents 8 The Main Screen Getting Around in WinPack cc eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeea 9 Quick Start Get WinPack working in 5 minutes or leS8S sssssssnssrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrernn nee 13 5 Completing the WinPack Se MG sss cassttssaereonsivsciantdawpeti ah axel enidan eta edaa denied 15 TNG SGM Ds sirrin aA AA ae a AE pai 15 Complete the Comms Setup settings cccccceseseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeseeeaeseeeeeeees 16 Configure the Personal BBS Info S ttingS 2 20 0cc0csccnsenseeneneeeeeneeeeeneneneeneenenneeee 18 6 Mallee BUNEtUNS serves cccec ecco cece sacececeeces cecreace ec roue oe Oa eea Oa Ee OE aea
174. ions which have listed below will help people to get over these common problems I ll add to the questions whenever find myself answering something and thinking Geesh I ve said this a lot of times before Click on a question to see the answer 1 Why won t my Selections List Editor selections work 2 Why does the BBS TXT script misbehave at WAITPROMPT 3 Why do have problems now my BBS has started using FBB V7 4 Why does WinPack think my AEA TNC is connected all the time 5 What s all this about a speech viewer in WinPack V6 3 6 Why do have problems with WinPack and my Kantronics TNC 7 Why do sometimes get gaps between message numbers 8 Why do have problems now the BBS has moved frequency 9 How do use WinPack with my Baycom modem 10 How do register WinPack and how do pay from overseas 11 Why can t use all my Windows fonts in WinPack 12 Why won t WinPack Run kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk 1 Problem have used the WinPack Selection List Editor and put WINPAC in the TO section but bulletins to the WINPAC topic are NOT automatically downloaded Substitute other topics and FROM AT TITLE TEXT etc according to taste This question is only relevant if you DON T use the FBB unproto beacons Answer For WinPack to be able to automatically download the selections you make in the Selections List Editor it has to kn
175. irectory telephone numbers or addresses withheld from the callbook SECTION 3 Action in Cases of Abuse a Any cases of abuse noted should be referred in the first instance to the DCC Chairman care of RSGB HQ b It is worth noting that any transmissions which are considered grossly offensive indecent or obscene or contain threatening language may contravene the Wireless Telegraphy Content of Transmission Regulations 1988 and should be dealt with by the police This action should also be co ordinated by the RSGB DCC initially c Mailbox Sysops have been reminded by the Radiocommunications Agency that they should review messages and that they should not hesitate to delete those that they believe to contravene the terms of the license or these guidelines It is worth remembering that their licence is also at risk as well as your own WinPack User Manual version 6 80 199 6 13 2002 Appendix Guidelines For The Use Of The Packet Radio Network SECTION 4 Unattended Operation a As of July 1994 unattended operation of Digital Communications cannot be carried out without giving 7 days notice in writing of operation to the Manager of the Local Radio Investigation Service RIS BR68 Para 2 5 The manager may before the commencement of operation prohibit the Unattended Operation or allow the operation on compliance with the conditions which he may specify The RSGB Data Communications Committee recommend supplying the following in
176. is better to use a selection from the list By using a topic that is in common use you are more likely to get replies to your message For an explanation of each topic in the list go to the Bulletin Topics List To drop the Topics list down into the Write a Message window enter a B in the Type field and then click on the small down arrow that appears in the TO Field or press Alt and cursor down NB you can edit the TOPICS TXT file in WinPack s BULLS directory to add and delete topics of your own choice or if you think the program s Topic List is a bad idea simply delete TOPICS TXT and you will then not get the list Name This is the name of the recipient It is only useful as a mnemonic for storing in the address book At For a personal message this is the home BBS of the recipient For a bulletin it is the circulation area GBR EU WW etc Title This is the title or subject of the message up to 30 characters long OK Button Pressing this button means that you accept the header information and WinPack will open an Edit Window where you can input the message text Cancel Button Pressing this button cancels the message 7plus Button If you press this button you will be able to select a file to send using 7plus For more information see 7plus Address Book Below these buttons is the Address Book window This is the list of callsigns and addresses in the address book The list will scroll To use an entry to fil
177. is option allows you to resume receiving a file using YAPP protocol when the link has failed part way through a previous attempt For more information see YAPP File Transfers Auto Receive This option allows you to automate reception of files using YAPP protocol For more information see YAPP File Transfers WinPack User Manual version 6 80 170 6 13 2002 Appendix A Menu Layouts Help Menu Help Help Contents Help Contents This option opens the Main Help file View README TXT View CHANGES TXT View README TXT View LICENCE TXT This option allows you to view the WinPack README TXT file Geode el This file contains some useful general information about the Registration Details program also included in this manual Register WinPack About View CHANGES TXT This option allows you to view the CHANGES TXT file which describes the changes made between the last base version of the program and recent updates View LICENCE TXT This option allows you to view the LICENCE TXT file which outlines the conditions you accept by installing and using WinPack also in this manual see licencing View TELNET TXT This option allows you to view the TELNET TXT file which describes how to run WinPack via an internet connection instead via radio also in this manual see Telnet Registration Details Selecting this option will display the registration information for this copy of the program not registered registered if registered re
178. itle description and saved in the WINPACK BULLS THEMES directory but with arbitrary unique file names The WinPack User Manual version 6 80 109 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs Themes Editor never refers to the actual file name just the Title You can add a selection a word that must be matched in any of the four criteria lists in one of two ways 1 by typing the selection word into the one line text boxes at the bottom of a list and then pressing lt Enter gt 2 by copying a selection word from the bottom Selection List Editor words either double click on the word in the bottom list or highlight it and then press the Select button Note you cannot edit the Selections List Editor words from the Themes Editor To edit the Selection List Editor words use the Themes Editor s SELEDIT menu option to the start the Selection List Editor program When you subsequently close the Selections List Editor the Selection Lists in the Themes Editor will be automatically updated with any changed criteria You can delete a selection word by highlighting it and then pressing the lt Delete gt key In creating a theme you can link several selection criteria together Then when you select that theme when reading bulletins in WinPack only messages meeting all the selection criteria for the theme are displayed The And and Or option buttons allow you to say whether selected bulletins must match the criteria in all the lists And or whether t
179. itor F i WinpScape This section of the manual provides information about Exit Creating an XTR file to associate the Add on to WinPack And 5 add on programs Start Alarms alerts you to the arrival of selected packets SelectionList Editor prescribes messages to be downloaded in an Auto BBS session Themes Editor creates multi criteria filters for reading bulletins listings Viewers Editor associates downloaded file types with a viewing program WinpScape monitors all text received by WinPack looking for HTML documents web pages which automatically display using your web browser Many authors have created other useful Add ons for WinPack Some of Mike s GOOPC add ons can be found at the WinPack site http www ui view com winpack gO0opc g0opc htm Another interesting site is Ken s GW3TMH http Awww qb7abc freeserve co uk Virgilio s HP2VX site is one of the most extensive http www gsl net hp2vx page2 html Doing a web search on WinPack and Add or Server or similar keywords should produce still more WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 99 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs Creating an XTR file for an Add on Each Add on has a small file that is read each time WinPack is started These files have an extension of XTR they must be in the main WINPACK directory The format of a XTR file is as follows The file can contain from two to five lines As the lines are read th
180. ke the CTEXT a friendly greeting DCDCONN ON AEA TNCs On the PK232 PK 96 and probably some other AEA TNCs you must set DOCDCONN to ON ECHO OFF ECHO OFF is recommended If you have ECHO ON then everything you key in will appear on the screen twice WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 177 6 13 2002 Appendix C Suggested TNC Settings HEADERLN ON If you want to use the FBB Unproto List to collect your message list you must have HEADERLN ON MCON OFF MCON must be OFF NEWMODE ON NEWMODE ON is recommended If you want to know what it means read your TNC manual you should then be even more confused NOMODE OFF NOMODE OFF is recommended Same comment as above STREAMDB OFF STREAMDB OFF is recommended because TNCs running TNC 2 firmware or derivatives of it double the streamswitch character even when the TNC is in transparent mode the only exception being if STREAMSW is set to 00 To me this seems to be incorrect behaviour STREAMSW 00 The stream switch character is the one thing that will definitely foul up 7plus transfers if the normal default setting of pipe character is used You will find it impossible to send 7plus files unless this is changed to a non printing character STREAMSW 00 is recommended and should be used unless you have a really good reason to use something else UNPROTO lt bbs gt If you want to use the FBB Unproto List to collect your message list you must set UNPROTO either
181. kkkkkkkk 8 Problem Like most BBSs in the UK my local BBS has recently moved frequency Ever since it moved have had extreme difficulty connecting to it It s as if WinPack doesn t want to work on the new frequency Answer The recent move of the packet BBS frequencies in the UK also coincided with a move to 12 5 kHz channel spacing WinPack User Manual version 6 80 151 6 13 2002 13 Trouble Shooting and FAQs Many BBSs and users have effectively ignored this and are still using exactly the same filters and deviation settings in their rigs on the new 12 5 kHz channels as they previously used on the 25 kHz channels However some BBSs when they moved fitted 12 5 kHz receive filters Your BBS sysop can tell you what filter his BBS is using If the BBS is using a 12 5 kHz filter and you are still transmitting with your deviation set to around 5 kHz then you will have great difficulty connecting The solution is to reduce your deviation to around 2 5 kHz Or just turn it down until you can connect reliably kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk 9 Question want to use WinPack with my Baycom modem How do I do it Answer WinPack does not have its own Baycom driver but WinPack can be used with a Baycom modem via the BPQ node software or via Flexnet or AGWPE Baycom BPQ WinPack would be the last person to suggest that this is easy to set up However a lot of people hav
182. l in the header you can highlight it and press the To Button or press lt Enter gt when an entry is highlighted or double click on an entry It is updated using the Add and Delete buttons The buttons below the Address Book window are To Button Use this button to fill in the message the header with the currently highlighted entry in the address book Click first on the entry you want Add Button Pressing this button causes the information currently in the header to be added to the address book To create address book entries without sending a message you can keep filling in the header and pressing Add then press Cancel when you have finished Delete Button Pressing this button deletes the currently highlighted address book entry WinPack User Manual version 6 80 42 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins Sending Messages You can send your message in one of three ways 1 Automatically If you use the Write Message feature of WinPack after your message is written and closed it will be uploaded automatically at the next Auto BBS session 2 Manually Line by Line from the WinPack Transmit Window a CONNECT to the BBS b send the S or SP or SB send mail command c atthe title prompt enter the message s title d at the message text prompt enter the message text line by line You don t need to use the lt Enter gt to send each line WinPack will do that when the line is full Press lt Enter gt twice only to st
183. l log all connections and disconnections in a file called TEXT AUTOLOG TXT WinPack User Manual version 6 70 19 6 13 2002 5 Completing the WinPack Setup Frequency Input the frequency for example 144 650 MHz Power Input the power for example 10dBW Mode Input the mode for example F2D BBS Information This information is needed only for Auto BBS sessions BBS Callsign Input the callsign of your local BBS Please Note If you enter a BBS Callsign WinPack will automatically activate scheduled BBS sessions and bulletins message downloads according to the AUTOTIME TXT times and the SELECT TXT word matches An explanation of these features and files can be found in the Selection List Editor section If you do not want WinPack initiating Auto BBS sessions on its own either do not enter a BBS Callsign or edit the AUTOTIME TXT file to remove the time schedule with the the Selection List Editor BBS Prompt Input some text as much as possible from the prompt that the BBS sends For example a BBS might send 2 G4IDE de GB7OPC 04 Jul 20 00z gt sol set the prompt to G4IDE de GB7OPC obviously can t include the stream prompt 2 and the time and date because they change Also do not include the gt in the prompt field because WinPack checks for gt at the end of the line automatically As far as know all BBSs end the prompt with gt Funny feeling that someone will tell me I m wrong NOTE Incorrectly setting this p
184. ld be that the message numbers exactly match those on the BBS Restrictions RENUMBER has only ever been tested against the G3WCS FBB renumber program Other BBS renumbering utilities may not use the fixed offset method in which case the WinPack numbers will not match those on the BBS If you have a lot more messages in your WinPack message list than the BBS has in its list it could happen that the offset used by the BBS would result in some of your messages numbers going negative E g The BBS numbers are from 40 000 to 50 000 and it renumbers with an offset of 35 000 so it s new range is 5 000 to 15 000 Your WinPack numbers are from 30 000 to 50 000 so an offset of 35 000 results in your lowest number being 5 000 To avoid this all you need to do is to check if the offset used will give a problem if it will you simply Prune your message list in WinPack to get rid of some of the low numbers If you don t use the FBB beacons check your bulletin columns after renumbering If the numbers were above 100 000 before renumbering and are now below 100 000 the columns will have moved one position to the left The current version of RENUMBER will not renumber your personal messages in WinPack This only matters if you use the FBB headers and have personal messages waiting on the BBS for you to collect at the time the renumber is carried out If that happens WinPack will try to download the personal messages using the old numbers which will fa
185. ll or none of the bulletins that had 7plus in their title Using a Theme you can be more selective You would download the bulletin listing and then use a theme to display bulletins TO SSTV that have a TITLE that includes 7plus You could then mark just those of interest for download at the next Auto BBS session WinPack User Manual version 6 80 111 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs Viewers Editor Menu bar File gt Viewers Editor For this section to make sense you should read Viewers in the Advanced Features section If you haven t read that topic you won t have any idea what this editor is for The list of your WinPack viewers currently configured in PACKET INI is shown in the top Window Each entry in the list consists of a file type and an associated viewing program As you move up and down the list the highlighted viewer is also shown in the bottom Edit Window The file type is defined by the file extension for which the viewers will be used hence the heading Ext typical extensions for which viewers might be configured are JPG GIF BMP WAV MID HTM etc If you press the Edit button you can change the viewer associated with that particular file type If you press the New button you can create a completely new entry Once you are editing an entry pressing Yes will save it back into the list pressing No will abandon the edit If you press Browse whilst you are editing a file section dialogue window opens and you c
186. lletins Keep Message The message will be marked as having been read Y but will not be deleted and you will be returned to the message list Delete Message The message will be deleted and you will be returned to the message list Archive To File You will be offered an option of a archiving the message or b saving it to file a Archiving puts a copy the message in the ARCHIVE subdirectory of WinPack and then deletes the original in the personal mail list or in the bulletin list If you are reading a personal message then it will be archived in a subdirectory of ARCHIVE RECEIVE named according to the callsign of the sender The archived file will be named according to the date that it was originally received For example a message from G4IDE originally received on 25th December 1999 will be archived in the ARCHIVE RECEIVE G4IDE directory and will be called 99122501 TXT A second message from G4IDE received on that day would be archived as 99122502 TXT If you are reading a bulletin then it will be archived in a subdirectory of ARCHIVE BULLS named according to the topic of the bulletin and the file name will be derived from the message number on the bulletins list b Saving to file allows you to save a copy of the message into a text file of your own choice The message is not deleted You can choose to put the message in a file on its own or append the message to an existing file which is useful for keeping related messag
187. m There are two CTEXTs one used by WinPack and one used by the BPQ Terminal The one used by WinPack can include WinPack tokens see the tokens list the one used by the Terminal cannot The CTEXT used by WinPack can be made multiline if you require it To make it multiline you must edit PACKET INI when BPQ isn t running look for the CTEXT entry in the BPQ section and use M two characters to split the lines E g Welcome to WinPack MSend h for help MSend m to leave a message Multi line CTEXT is limited to a total of 250 characters Display Display the current settings for all the parameters MAsk The list of ports on the node that will be monitored The format of the command is for example MASK 1 2 3 4 if you want to monitor ports 1 2 3 and 4 If you are using the FBB beacons always have the port on which you hear the beacons included in the mask You can exclude all the ports by using the command MASK 0 NB Because of the way that BPQ works the MASK command affects all Windows tasks using the node Also it is impossible to read from the node the current MASK setting the value reported by WinPack is the last value it used for setting the MASK it may not be the value currently in use If you alter the MASK setting for a Terminal session you also alter it for WinPack That is only a problem if you are using the FBB unproto beacons and you don t include the beacon port in the MASK because WinPack won t then
188. mmands These are the commands prefixed with that are available to users of your system See also Remote Access Commands Show Button Hints This option allows you to enable disable the hints that appear when you pause the mouse over the buttons on the tool bar You may find the hints useful or totally irritating Flash Scroll Lock If this option is enabled then the keyboard Scroll Lock key LED will flash if you have unread mail in your mail box Please note that direct manipulation of the keyboard state in this way by a Windows application is not really good programming practice If you find that the flashing Scroll Lock gives you problems with other applications that you run at the same time as WinPack then the only solution is to disable this option WinPack User Manual version 6 80 169 6 13 2002 Appendix A Menu Layouts Scripts Menu Play a Script Ctrl P Play a Script Edit a Script This option allows you to play a script For more information select about scripts Ctrl S is a short cut to this menu option Edit a Script This option allows you to edit a script file YAPP Menu Send a File Send a File Receive a File This option allows you to send a file using YAPP protocol For more Receive Resume information see YAPP File Transfers See also Using Drag and v Auto Receive Drop Receive a File This option allows you to receive a file using YAPP protocol For more information see YAPP File Transfers Receive Resume Th
189. n BBS Prompt in WinPack G8MZX de GB7IDE Here s another prompt 3 GB7IDE H for Help A B C D etc most of the alphabet gt Here is what you might put in BBS Prompt in WinPack GB7IDE H for Help What you re trying to do is to put some text which occurs in the prompt but is unlikely to occur anywhere else WinPack always assumes that the prompt from the BBS ends with a gt so you don t need to put that gt in Note that the text you specify must be in the correct case A common error is to put something like 3 GB7SKG The leading 3 is a stream number and will vary from connect to connect so sometimes it will work and sometimes it won t WinPack User Manual version 6 80 147 6 13 2002 13 Trouble Shooting and FAQs Another common error is with a prompt like the example above with the time in it to put G8MZX de GB7IDE gt Remember WinPack automatically assumes that the BBS prompt will end with a gt so you shouldn t put it in the BBS prompt field By putting the gt on the end of your prompt you are specifying something which does not actually occur in the prompt an extra gt One other thing which can very rarely give a problem is if you have an absolutely superb path to the BBS and the BBS has very little welcome text so the prompt arrives in the first frame almost the instant you connect In that case remove the WAITCON from BBS TXT The following was added to the FAQ on 2000 Jan 06 as a
190. n answer yes to these questions Have you got TFEMU loaded Have you tested Flexnet from a DOS Window Start WinPack Use Options gt Comms Setup gt and set Host mode to TFEMU Note that when you are using PC Flexnet the COM port settings in the COMMS Setup WinPack User Manual version 6 80 140 6 13 2002 TFEMU window will not be used if fact those fields are gray ed out and inaccessible since your TNC is controlled by Flexnet and not by WinPack Now click OK There will be a delay of several seconds whilst WinPack initialises the host mode and sets some TF parameters If WinPack can t find TFEMU it will give you an error message If so close down WinPack make sure PC Flexnet and TFEMU are correctly loaded and restart WinPack Assuming that WinPack managed to load pressing lt Enter gt will give you a cmd prompt from the WinPack virtual TNC If you input you will get a list of the available virtual TNC commands Help on any particular command is available by inputing a question mark followed by the command name e g 7MON Please note that several of the commands are not available when using TFEMU and will not be accepted if you try to use them TFEMU commands not supported by the virtual TNC can be input using the RAW command Note that WinPack has on line help for quick access the same as in this manual The host mode help also covers using WinPack with a TNC with TF or WA8DED firmware in it so ignore all refe
191. nPack to Use 7plus 7plus operations can be configured using the Options gt 7plus Setup submenu including setting the 7plus part size These are discussed in the Menu Layout Appendix Using Seven Plus To Send Files When you use Mail gt Write A Message there is a button available labelled 7plus If you press this button you will be able to select a file to send using 7plus Zipping the File Once you have selected the file you are given the option of zipping it to make it smaller You need either PKZIP or WinZip on your PC for this to work e For PKZIP WinPack uses a PIF file PKZIP PIF in the WINPACK directory to run PKZIP The PIF file assumes that PKZIP EXE is in a directory in your DOS PATH If it isn t then you must either put it in a directory that is included in your PATH or edit the PATH environment to include the directory where PKZIP EXE lives WinPack User Manual version 6 80 53 6 13 2002 8 File Transfers e For WinZip you need to edit the TERMINAL section of the PACKET INI file and add a line with a ZIP command ZIP C winzip winzip exe min a but of course with the correct path for your copy of WINZIP Also if you are using Win95 you will probably would be using a file named WINZIP32 EXE Note be sure to include the min a parameters Also if your directory path include a name longer than 8 characters you ll need to use the Windows abbreviation for 8 character For example my WINZIP directory
192. nce If you get disconnected from the BBS during the forwarding session you will find that the unsent individual messages will be in your WinPack outbox not the original message but these can be forwarded on the next connect WinPack User Manual version 6 80 44 6 13 2002 7 Text Editor The Edit Window Menu bar File gt Edit Window WinPack s Edit Window is a simple text editor similar to the Windows Notepad a You can also access it from the button by pressing the Edit Window button The Edit Window will appear over the Transmit Window and part of the Receive Window 10 gt or click the right mouse button for the Menu Signature This is the edit Window It has Q a submenu available which pops Quote up when you press the right Save mouse button It has similar L zd edit facilities to Windows note Loa pad The window appears in the Paste From bottom half of the screen Click cl on the menu options to find out lear what they do Hide Abandon Zoom Buffer 0 cts osrj bcol Insert Link When using the Edit Window for writing mail for best results only put a lt Enter gt at the end of paragraphs Let the window flow the text for you When the text is transmitted WinPack will make sure that text lines are no longer than the line length setup in Options gt Comms Setup The end result is more pleasing to the eye if you have not put a lt Enter gt at the end of every line The window can be zoome
193. ng and decoding WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 3 6 13 2002 3 License and Registration Licensing Conditions For WinPack V6 7 If you install WinPack you accept these licensing conditions so please read them carefully WinPack V6 7 is copyright Peak Systems August 2001 WinPack is for use only by radio amateurs as part of their hobby of amateur radio Commercial use of WinPack is not permitted Any amateur may pass a copy of WinPack to another amateur provided that they pass on the distribution file s in their entirety You are not allowed to alter the distribution file s in any way The WinPack distribution file s must NOT be sent by 7plus or in any other format on the packet network if the distribution address you send them to would result in them appearing on the UK network Effectively that means you can t send them GBR EU or WW This restriction also applies to any files that issue as part of an update If you have a registered copy of WinPack you must not pass on your registration information to any other user Roger Barker G4IDE roger peaksys co uk WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 4 6 13 2002 3 License and Registration How to Register Please note that from version 6 onwards WinPack can be registered An unregistered version is fully functional it isn t shareware because you can use it for as long as you want It will however occasionally display a message box reminding you that it isn
194. ng transferred It is not shown if the transfer is FBB compressed mail Status This shows the current status of the transfer Waiting for Initialisation Receiving data etc Transfer cps This shows the approximate data rate for the current file transfer To be precise it shows the total number of characters transferred for this file divided by the number of seconds that have elapsed since the transfer started It does not include the time taken in preliminary protocols only the time whilst the actual data is being transferred For outgoing transfers WinPack can only count the data as it goes to the TNC it has no way of knowing if it has yet been transmitted Therefore for small uploads or even for WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 48 6 13 2002 8 File Transfers large uploads if your TNC has a large buffer it will initially be very misleading because all the data rushes into the TNC buffer However if will then gradually adjust itself to a more meaningful value The true cps achieved is the lowest value it falls back to whilst waiting for the FF from the BBS The default maximum value for the bargraph is 80 cps but you can change it by right clicking on it Transfer The bargraph shows the percentage of the file that has been transferred and the caption shows an estimate of how many minutes the transfer will take to complete based on the current cps rate The estimated time may be severely distorted by d
195. nications It would be impossible to list the optimum settings to use with WinPack for every different type of TNC available However in the WinPack TNCPARAM directory are files for most popular TNCs with settings that are known to work with WinPack These can be used as a good starting point Some of these TNC PARAM files have comments at the top which give advice specific to that particular TNC based on the experience of others using it with WinPack It is always worthwhile to have a look at the file relevant to your TNC even if you are confident that you know how to set it up WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 15 6 13 2002 5 Completing the WinPack Setup Please makes sure that you adjust settings such as FRACK MAXFRAME and PACLEN to suit local conditions Consult your TNC manual for other advice on timing parameters Please also see the Suggested TNC Settings Appendix of this document Hint Saving Your TNC Settings There is always a risk with a TNC that you will inadvertently reset it and so lose all your settings The following describes an easy way of saving all your settings so you can put them back into the TNC if it gets reset 1 Turn Capture on and set the file named something like SETTINGS TXT 2 Send to your TNC whatever command will tell it to list all its settings e g DISP 3 When all the settings have been listed close the capture file 4 Open the Edit Window and Load SETTINGS TXT Do any necessary tidying up
196. nly box checked in the Mail Options window will be Ask Mail only this session Use Split Sessions The BBS addresses unprotos gt F BB Using TH D7 or similar TPK compatibility mode Human mode Ask Mail only this session For BBSs running F6FBB or G1NNA software compression can often be used for both forwarding mail to the BBS and for downloading messages Please read enhanced mail facilities for more information See also YAPP Transfer Status Window In its default mode WinPack downloads the local BBS message list in an Auto BBS session by sending L or LR It downloads messages by using r lt msg_no gt and it forwards messages in a plain text format MBL RLI protocol This works fine but there are usually more efficient ways of carrying out these tasks If you check Use Split Sessions and your local BBS is FBB WinPack will not attempt to use both compressed download and compressed forward on the same connect session This option is needed because FBB V7 will not allow you to use both in the same session FBB V5 15c does If you don t select both compressed download and compressed forward or your local BBS is G1NNA this option is ignored If your local BBS is running F6FBB software it may be possible to accumulate the message list from the FBB unproto beacons Please read enhanced mail facilities for more information If you want to use the FBB unproto beacons select Use FBB u
197. nproto lists in the Mail Options window If you do WinPack will fill in The BBS addresses unprotos field with a default unproto address of gt FBB You can change this if needed You must also change your TNC s HEADERLN parameter to ON The Using TH D7 or similar option is only available if you have checked Use FBB unproto lists and Host mode is set to NONE on the Comms Setup window Options gt Comms Setup menu It should be left unchecked except in the WinPack User Manual version 6 80 37 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins following special circumstances The Kenwood TH D7 and possibly some other devices don t have a HEADERLN parameter They always operate as if HEADERLN is OFF If you are using such a device then you must check this option otherwise it will fail to collect the FBB unproto beacons If you do check it then you must make sure that your TNC does not put any semicolons in monitored frame headers If you check the TPK compatibility mode box then the compressed forwarding compressed downloading and FBB unproto list options will all be enabled The Human mode option is a special case Some BBSs are configured so that they won t allow a user to do anything that looks like BBS forwarding This is most likely to occur with some USA types of BBS software and with WinFBB if the sysop has configured it in a particular way If you check Human mode WinPack will not send its SID banner something like WinPack 6 3 to the
198. nter gt so it is pointless always having to specify it But if you don t want a lt Enter gt sent then put a character tilde on the end of the text e g SEND will send an asterisk without a lt Enter gt after it which is very handy for auto bauding AEA TNCs WinPack User Manual version 6 80 63 6 13 2002 9 Scripts If you want to include control characters in SEND commands you can do it by putting a followed by the character E g to send a Ctrl G you would put G Usually any WAITFOR text will also end with a lt Enter gt because you will normally be waiting for a prompt of some sort from the other end However there may be times when the text you are waiting for doesn t end with a lt Enter gt Therefore you have to put in the lt Enter gt if it is part of WAITFOR text You do this by putting in M The is a shifted 6 on a UK keyboard Have a look at the sample scripts and it will be obvious what to do The script interpreter understands a limited number of tokens which are described in the tokens list WinPack User Manual version 6 80 64 6 13 2002 9 Scripts The Tokens List The purpose of tokens is to enable commonly used information to be put into script files or into the signature file by the program All the tokens start with the dollar character If the program finds any of these tokens in a script or in the signature file it substitutes them with some other text Some tokens are used for per
199. nto the one line box under the list and then press lt Enter gt To delete an item in a list click the mouse on it to highlight it and then press the lt Delete gt key The four lists at the top allow you to specify what you want to select for automatic tagging for download Their meaning should be obvious Examples If you want to download bulletins to WINPAC you would put WINPAC in the TO list If you want to download bulletins with LOTTERY NUMBERS in the title you would put LOTTERY NUMBERS in the TITLE TEXT list The AT list isn t much use in the UK because is used to define the forwarding area so it is almost always GBR EU or WW Please don t put any of these in the selection list your sysop won t be very happy at the number of bulls you will be downloading The one exception is AMSAT which is used as an field The four lists at the bottom are for specifying things you don t want to download they act as filters on your selections They are checked first so if a bulletin would have been tagged because it matches one of your top selections but it also matches something in one of your bottom NOT sections it won t be tagged Examples If you don t want to download any bulletins from G4IDE even if they would have been tagged by one of your selections you would put G4IDE in the NOT FROM list If you don t want to automatically download 7plus files then putting 7plus and lt AUTO7P in N
200. nversations or connections on virtual channels See Multi Channel Terminal below for more information 2 The Host Mode Virtual TNC supports TNC 2 style commands and provides some of the basic functions of a real TNC For example if you are running AGWPE in sound card mode there is no TNC available so there normally would be nothing to provide the cmd prompt and handle such commands as CONNECT and DISCONNECT That s what WinPack s Virtual TNC does To reemphasize in host mode any TNC like prompts and commands are coming from WinPack s Virtual TNC not from AGWPE BPQ etc The available commands in the Virtual TNC will vary significantly according to which host mode is being used Note that the Virtual TNC has on line help available for all the available commands See Host Mode Virtual TNC for more information WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 118 6 13 2002 Telnet Telnet mode uses the internet to make a telnet connection to a BBS It does not use a radio connection or a TNC If you want to use WinPack with a Telnet connection please read this section carefully Many users have reported problems trying to use telnet connections but virtually all of those problms could be solved by carefully reading the section of the manual The information that follows is also available in the TELNET TXT file in the WinPack DOCS directory You can easily access this file directly from the WinPack Help menu The telnet capable version
201. ociates to register WinPack For some reason this has happened occasionally in the past 2 Microsoft Word s Spell Checker If you have Microsoft Word installed on your PC then pressing AIt F7 will allow you to check the spelling of the text in the window Please Note to use this feature you must have Windows OLE2 installed on your PC If you are using Win95 or higher then OLE2 will already be installed If you are using Win3 1 then it may not be installed If OLE2 DLL is present in the Windows SYSTEM directory then it probably is The following URL gives information about downloading and installing OLE2 for Win3 1 http support microsoft com support kb articles Q123 0 87 ASP WinPack User Manual version 6 80 89 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Text Links Text Links are an advanced and somewhat experimental feature Links can be inserted into messages by using the Text Links Editor below What are Text Links Text links are special text in a bulletin or personal message surrounded with lt gt Use of Text Links Double clicking anywhere within a link causes a responding message to be automatically put in the WinPack outgoing mail box The main idea of links is to make it easy to send REQFIL messages and messages to other types of servers For example might put in a bull If you want more information on how links work in WinPack here is the information to request a links FAQ file lt TO G8MZX GB7SKG TITLE REQFI
202. of WinPack is one once said I d never write It allows you to make a telnet connection to a BBS via the internet and so you can use packet without using amateur radio finally decided to write it so that users who aren t within radio range of a reliable mailbox can still read and send packet messages think more and more amateurs will find themselves in that situation over the next few years To use this version of WinPack you need to a Have a PC with a connection to the internet b Have access to a BBS that supports telnet connections All the following information assumes that it s a BBS running FBB software cannot help you with either of the above Configuring WinPack To Use Telnet This takes a lot longer to document than it takes to do it If you are familiar with WinPack have successfully configured it for use on RF and have a reliable internet connection you should have no problems getting a telnet connection to work An Important Point You will get in a terrible mess with your bulletin list if you try to use the same copy of WinPack with one mailbox on RF and a different one via telnet It s much better to install a second copy of WinPack in a different directory In the following when refer to connecting to the BBS am assuming that your PC is already connected to the internet With Win3 1 that is essential with Win95 and later it is recommended because WinPack is a 16 bit app and will not start DUN Windows
203. offer that file for viewing not the HTML file WinPack User Manual version 6 80 96 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Weather Beacons The following is also contained in the WINPWX TXT file in the WinPack DOCS directory This explanation assumes you have some knowledge of APRS If you don t then this file is probably of no interest Please don t ask me to give an explanation of APRS it s far too big a subject and a vast amount of information is available from other sources WinPack can send APRS style weather WX beacons provided 1 You are using WinPack in a host mode 2 You have some other software that can create a file containing the beacon information at regular intervals something like C Wxprog Wxreport Txt How WX Beacons Work Here is the format of the file your WX software needs to create Aug 17 1998 19 47 272 000g006t069P000b10150h61 The first line is the time the file was created the second line is the WX report The format of the report is up to you your software WinPack will append the report to your normal BTEXT and it will assume that your BTEXT is in the format of an APRS location report Here s an example run BPQ My BTEXT entry in the BPQ section of PACKET INI is BTEXT 5258 23N 00002 77W Boston WinPack will remove the Boston and replace it with _ plus the WX report from the file So with the above example file the beacon that would be sent is 15258 23N 00002 77W_272 000g006t069P000b015
204. oftware not by WinPack and so WinPack cannot log any communication errors that might occur If a communication error occurs WinPack will make an entry in a file called COMMERR TXT which is in the main WINPACK directory Note If you aren t getting any errors then the file won t exist If you are having problems with compressed download failing or downloaded messages having characters missing then have a look at this file If you are getting frequent errors then you have a hardware problem with your PC Errors of this type are nothing to do with WinPack Please note that by frequent errors mean errors being logged regularly all the time that WinPack is running If you do something like switching your TNC off and on again while WinPack is running you might create a whole bunch of errors but that doesn t count The most likely errors will be overrun errors They occur when Windows doesn t clear the characters from your COM port as fast as they arrive If you find you are getting them here are a few suggestions 1 Make sure you are using a port with a 16550 UART If you are still using Win31 the 16550 will not be enabled unless you use a third party comms driver such as CYBERCOM DRYV because Win31 did not support 16550s This comment does not apply to Windows for Workgroups 2 Reduce the speed between the PC and the TNC 2400 or even 1200 baud will work fine if you are using 1200 baud on air 3 With Win95 8 make sur
205. omputer to TNC communication settings serial baud rate 9600 data bits 8 parity none stop bits 1 handshaking RTS CTS You will have to read your TNC manual to find out the commands or switches for changing the settings Some may not have obvious names and some TNCs may not let you change them e Do not confuse serial port baud rate often ABAUD or TBAUD with the on air radio baud rate which is often HBAUD e Data bits are often changed with the AWLEN command Kantronics usually do not have this command and are set to 8 bits permanently If you don t set data bits to 8 and 8BITCONV ON you can t use YAPP It simply will not work so the program stops you even trying e Parity is often changed with the PAR command if available e Typically Stop bits are set to 1 automatically by the TNC e Handshaking is also called flow control Use RTS CTS hardware control unless you have a reason for selecting something else KON XOFF is software control If you change the settings change the TNC first and then RESTART the TNC Virtually all TNCs don t start using new coms settings until they are restarted You will then probably get garbled text on the WinPack screen so change the settings on the WinPack setup screen to match your new TNC settings Please see Comms Error Log for some comments about comms errors computer to TNC that can occur There are many other TNC commands that affect station to station commu
206. on Options Scripts YYapp Help Files Menu Edit Window Edit Window Capture Selecting this opens a special Edit Window in the bottom half of Send the screen It has the same effect to pressing the Edit button Delete Selecting this option when the Edit Window is already open hides Print the window The Edit Window has its own submenu which is Start Alarms accessed by pressing the right mouse button Selection List Editor Themes Editor If you hide the Edit Window whilst you are composing a message Viewers Editor the message is not abandoned You remain in composing mail WinpScape mode until you unhide the window and either Send or Abandon Exit the message To remind you that the edit is still effectively active i the image on the Edit button has a red box drawn round it Capture Selecting this option allows you to open a capture file All received text will be stored in the file until you close it by selecting the option again Capture files will normally be kept in the CAPTURE subdirectory This option has the same effect as pressing the Capture button Send This option allows you to select a file which will then be sent to the TNC Please note that this option should only be used for text files See also Using Drag and Drop Delete This option allows you to delete files from a dialogue window that will open When you have selected a file to delete you will be prompted for confirmation before it is deleted You can delete multiple
207. on allows you to specify if you want to use WinPack with a BBS that has password access for its users On this version of WinPack you can specify either NNA style or FBB sysop style passwords See also Password Support Fonts When choosing a font please bear in mind the following e Most Windows fonts are proportionately spaced also most Windows fonts are ANSI fonts and cannot display the IBM ASCII graphics characters that are frequently used in packet messages e From version 5 onwards WinPack only makes available fixed pitch fonts It also will not allow Windows to fake a font style that doesn t really exist These changes were introduced in an effort to stop complaints from users who were making their own problems by choosing crazy fonts e By default ANSI to ASCII character code conversion is applied to all keyboard input thus ANSI to ASCII will be checked on the Fonts menu This is done so that extended ASCII characters such as accented characters can be keyed in correctly If you wish to use ANSI fonts then you should make sure that ANSI to ASCII isn t checked on the Fonts menu Please Note If you use an ANSI font in WinPack then recipients of your message may not see all the correct characters unless they also use a compatible ANSI font e The default font for all the text windows is WinPack 11 point You may prefer one of the other sizes The 12 point is an exact replica of a DOS VGA font If you have problems wit
208. on obviously means that it is a binary file EXE COM ZIP etc then it will send it using YAPP protocol If the file type cannot be determined then you will be prompted as to whether it is a binary or ASCII file NB you will always be prompted about DOC files since that extension is often used for text files in DOS but is also used for Microsoft Word files Be careful using drag and drop If the file is an ASCII file then it is sent to the TNC even if you aren t connected because it could be a setup file You won t be allowed to start a YAPP send if you aren t connected to another station However remember that unless the other station is running software that supports auto detect of YAPP transfer such as WinPack you must make sure that it is ready to receive the file before you drop it If the Edit Window is open then drag and drop works differently If the file is dropped in the Edit Window then it replaces the text currently in the window If it is dropped anywhere else then it is ignored WinPack User Manual version 6 80 70 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Dynamic Data Exchange Dynamic Data Exchange DDE is a mechanism supported by the Windows operating system that enables two applications to talk to each other by automatically exchanging data From V5 2 onwards WinPack supports DDE and can act as a DDE source To use the DDE facilities available in WinPack requires other programs to be written
209. only read bulletins on one PC at a time 2 You can t read bulletins on either PC whilst the WinPack PC is running an Auto BBS session WinPack User Manual version 6 80 TT 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features 3 You can t write mail on the remote PC whilst the WinPack PC is running an Auto BBS session 4 The tracking of new personal messages and outgoing mail as shown by the icons in the top right corner of the screen is not instantaneous See below 5 You can get in a bit of a mess with viewers unless you can arrange them so that the drive letters on the two PCs match For example if you have a viewer set up as C VIEWERDIR VIEWER EXE on the WinPack PC then C VIEWERDIR VIEWER EXE must also exist on the remote PC or you will get an error message that WinPack can t find the viewer This isn t a problem if you don t use viewers Tracking Mail The remote PC will not immediately display changes to the number of new messages or the number of messages waiting in the outgoing mailbox It only updates the displayed status when it rescans the MAIL SEND and MAIL RECEIVE directories The default is that it does this every 5 minutes but you can change the frequency by changing the RECOUNT_INTERVAL value in the MAIL section of PACKET INI The WinPack PC will also not track changes that are made as a result of reading writing mail on the remote PC The status is only updated when you read mail or when an Auto BBS session is due If you want th
210. ook for a section in the file titled YAPP All the options are in that section TNC_PROMPT cmd WinPack User Manual version 6 80 51 6 13 2002 8 File Transfers This is the prompt that you get from your TNC I ve never seen one that doesn t use cmd but I m sure there must be one somewhere If yours uses a different prompt then you will have to change this setting TIMEOUT 300 This is the length of time the program will wait when downloading a file without receiving anything from the sender before it aborts the transfer It is in seconds so the default is 5 minutes BREAK_LENGTH 3 TNCs can be put into command mode by sending a break signal The official length of a break is anything longer than two characters Three characters should be fine but if you find your TNC doesn t seem to respond correctly after a YAPP transfer until you have switched it off and back on again you can try a higher value COMMAND_MODE CTRL C The TNC has to be put into command mode before a YAPP transfer can commence The default is that it is done by sending a Control C character The alternative is to use a break signal If you get an error message saying that your TNC could not be put into transparent mode then try changing this setting to use break The line must then read COMMAND_MODE BREAK CMDTIME 1000 This means 1000 milliseconds It must be the same length of time as your TNC s CMDTIME setting The default is almost al
211. or more information on themes see What Are Themes below A maximum of 350 messages can be displayed in the list when you use a theme All Bulls If you select this button then the list is restricted to showing only entries marked N or Y messages text available If more than 350 messages are available then only the last 350 are shown All List clear all filters and displays the whole list New positions the list so that the top line on the screen is one message before the first new message That is a really bad explanation so try it and it should be obvious WinPack User Manual version 6 80 33 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins Delete If you drag the mouse to mark a block and select Delete then all the message list lines in the marked block will be deleted If no text in the list is marked selecting Delete has no effect Lines preceded with a Y N or will normally not be removed If you want the act of pruning to delete list entries for downloaded bulls marked Y and their associated messages text then first check Block Delete Bulletins on the Options gt Bulletin Deleting menu NB if your bulletins list command in Personal BBS Info is set to LR NUM or anything else using NUM avoid marking deleting the last line of the list Prune The Prune button works differently according to whether or not a block of lines in the list has been marked by dragging the mouse If text in the list is not marked then the bullet
212. or the application used as the UIV viewer The default settings are correct for using Ul View or Ul View32 as the viewer but they can be changed to allow another application to be used APPLICATION The file name without path or extension of the program acting as the UIV viewer WinPack will regard any viewer with this name or with this name suffixed with 32 as being the UIV viewer The default is UIVIEW therefore either UIVIEW EXE or UIVIEW32 EXE will be regarded as the UIV viewer TOPIC The DDE topic used by the UIV viewer the default is UIVIEWDATA ITEM The DDE item used by the UIV viewer the default is LABCOMMAND To be usable as the UIV viewer an application must support the DDE definition in these three INI file entries It will receive the file names to process in the format LOGPLAY filename where filename is the full path name of the file See the Viewers section of the help for more information and also the Ul View As A WinPack Viewer section of the Ul View help WinPack User Manual version 6 80 188 6 13 2002 F BPQ Virtual TNC Commands There is a virtual TNC in WinPack which is used when WinPack is using BPQ host mode Other Host modes AGWPE TMEFU TF2 7b have a similar but different virtual TNC and different commands parameters The Virtual TNC provides some of the features that a real TNC provides For example if you are in the transmit window and press lt enter gt when not connected
213. ots of messages about MCI VBX not being loaded and MMSYSTEM DLL not being found then your PC does not have multimedia extensions probably because you are running Windows 3 0 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 88 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Spell Checker WinPack has support for two spelling checkers 1 Spell Checker for Edit Boxes written by Brian Quinion is free for private use This isn t supplied on the WinPack disk it is too big but it is available on the internet from http clever net quinion mqa spell htm The two files you need are SPEL302E ZIP and UKENG ZIP UKENG ZIP is the dictionary there are also dictionaries available for other languages Unzip these files into the WinPack directory and you will find that when you are in the Edit Window pressing Alt F9 brings up the spell checker If you want to add your own words to the dictionary you must first create a default dictionary To do this you input some text in the Edit Window which should contain at least one incorrectly spelt word then press AIt F9 The spell checker will pop up and you can use Options gt Add to create a dictionary would suggest calling it DEFAULT DIC This spelling checker can be installed into Windows so that it is a resident application and is available to check the spelling in any edit box If you want to do this please read the README 1ST file that comes with it cannot support this program Please Do Not approach Quinion Ass
214. ove page Also see FAQ 9 for other methods of using a Baycom modem with WinPack A Baycom driver for WinPack is now available to use WinPack with BPQ node software running underneath Windows The driver uses BAYDRV VXD written by G7JJF anda TSR which G4IDE have written to interface BAYDRV to BPQ The driver comes with a reasonable level of documentation but if you aren t familiar with the BPQ node you need to learn about that from the BPQ docs If it s not in the main WinPack directory you can download the driver from http Awww ui view com winpack nodbay13 zip If you downloaded V1 1 of the driver it s still worth downloading this latest version Firstly because have renamed it and would prefer this to become the default version Secondly because the comments in the docs about problems with 16550 UARTs are now MUCH more optimistic Certainly my own problems that was experiencing with some 16550s are now completely solved The new docs contain details of a suggested mod for modems built on PCBs from a well known UK supplier Badger Boards Click here if you don t want the driver but are interested in this modem mod A Plea If you download this driver and decide to put out a message on packet about it PLEASE first read the NODE2BAY TXT file Really don t think anyone should be announcing it on packet if they haven t tried it themselves What s the point You could be telling the world about something which is totally crap
215. ow the layout of the bulletins list The layout varies WinPack User Manual version 6 80 146 6 13 2002 13 Trouble Shooting and FAQs from BBS to BBS because the sysop can alter it To tell WinPack how the bulletins list is laid out you use the options on the Options gt Bulletin Columns sub menu kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk 2 Problem When WinPack connects to the BBS either in an Auto BBS session or when press F2 it gets to WAITPROMPT and then sits there until cancel the script even though the BBS has sent the prompt Another variation of this is that the WAITPROMPT disappears before the prompt is received from the BBS and WinPack may then abruptly disconnect Answer It is very important to input the correct setting for BBS prompt in Personal BBS Info window Options gt BBS Personal Info menu option Unless this setting is correct the BBS TXT script will stick at WAITPROMPT or terminate prematurely Remember Help is available if you press F1 when the Personal BBS Info window is open Here are some examples of BBS prompts and the correct setting for BBS prompt Here s an example of a very common BBS prompt 2 GB7IDE gt Here is what you should put in BBS Prompt in WinPack GB7IDE note the is there but there is no 2 at the beginning and no gt on the end Here s another prompt 1 G8MZX de GB7IDE BBS 12 34 gt Here is what you might put i
216. ows file dialogue give up at this point and learn how WinPack User Manual version 6 80 49 6 13 2002 8 File Transfers 5 Using the file dialogue select the file you want to send The dialogue will open in the PUB directory but you can send a file from any directory on your PC 6 When you have selected the file the rest of the process is automatic The YAPP transfer window opens and you don t have to do anything else If the transfer fails then you will get a message saying why NB When a file is being sent there can be quite a lot of data typically several thousand bytes buffered within the program and in the TNC When the screen reports Sending End Of File transmission won t immediately finish all the data that is buffered has still got to be transmitted So don t press Abort thinking the transfer has failed Using YAPP to Receive a File Menu Bar YAPP gt Receive a File The following describes what to do if you want to download the file from a BBS If you are wanting to receive it from a friend directly without a BBS then jump to step 3 I ll assume the file is called TEST EXE it must of course be a file that is on the BBS 1 Tell the BBS you want to download it With FBB you have to go into FBB DOS and then send the command YGETT TEST EXE With an NNA BBS you use the command YD TEST EXE 2 The BBS will prompt that it is ready to send the file and a couple of funny characters should appear in the WinPack r
217. ox you put the BBS of the person to whom the message will be sent TITLE In this box you put the title of the message that will be sent CONTENT Here you put any required content for the message You can include WinPack tokens seeing as the person using the link is bound to be a WinPack user because no other sofware supports Text Links Please note that for the most common use that envisage for Text Links sending REQFIL requests no content is needed EXAMPLE want to put a text link in a bulletin which will allow other WinPack users to automatically REQFIL AFILE TXT from my WinPack system Therefore in the Text Link Editor put TO G4IDE AT GB7O0AR TITLE REQFIL AFILE TXT No content is needed When click Ok the following text is inserted into the bulletin lt TO G4IDE GB70AR TITLE REQFIL AFILE TXT gt Another user of WinPack V6 4 or later when reading my bulletin can simply double click on the link and automatically send the REQFIL WinPack User Manual version 6 80 92 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Viewers The concept of viewers is something new to AX25 packet radio Please read the following carefully If you don t understand what viewers do you will find it very difficult to set them up What are Viewers Viewers allow you to view the contents of messages that contain other than plain text They allow you to do it automatically without having to manually start another applicat
218. p bit no parity XON XOFF software handshaking If your PC has a 16550 UART COM port and you are using Win95 then would advise disabling the COM port transmit FIFO in the port properties in Device Manager found that overrun problems occurred when sending data to the TNC if the FIFO was enabled A very similar problem occurs with Kantronics TNCs 2 It doesn t support transparent mode so you can t use compressed download or upload when sending reading messages and you can t use YAPP There is no problem with either sending or receiving 7plus 3 It doesn t have a HEADERLN parameter and behaves as if you have set HEADERLN OFF When used with WinPack prior to V6 5 that stopped it being able to collect the FBB unproto headers From V6 5 onwards it isn t a problem The correct setting for the WinPack Mail Options is to check Use FBB unproto lists if you want to use the unproto headers or to check nothing if you don t WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 194 6 13 2002 Appendix H Using WinPack with a Kenwood TH D7 or D 700 4 It doesn t have NEWMODE and NOMODE parameters and behaves as if you have set NEWMODE OFF and NOMODE OFF So it needs a Ctrl C to return it to the cmd prompt when you disconnect from the BBS or any other station One effect of this is that the default WinPack BBS TXT script doesn t work or it only works the first time after switching the TH D7 into TNC mode This is easily fixed by modifying BBS TXT you need
219. ple file is provided Please note that you may need to remove the row and column headings from your matrix as supplied by your BBS sysop If the matrix as supplied by your sysop is a single row of characters you can leave it like that It doesn t have to be 8 rows of 10 characters G1NNA Style Passwords 1 Select GINNA on the Options gt Password submenu 2 Use the script file SCRIPTS TXT as a guide for your BBS TXT script file 3 Put your password matrix in the file WINPACK_NNA TXT an example file is provided Please note that you may need to remove the row and column headings from your matrix as supplied by your BBS sysop WinPack User Manual version 6 80 79 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features MD2 Passwords 1 The WinPack installation disks will put MD2PASS EXE MD2PASS CFG and G4IDEMD2 DLL in WinPack s SCRIPTS PROGRAMS directory 2 Edit MD2PASS CFG and put in it your MD2 password string and some text from the prompt the BBS sends when it asks you for the password This text must be text from the line that actually contains the password challenge My example should make it obvious what to do 3 Edit the BBS TXT script file Exactly what it needs to contain depends on your connection path to the BBS but it wants to be something like this SEND C BBS WAITCON RUN MD2PASS WAITPROMPT If you usually get a very fast connect to the BBS you may not need the WAITCON 4 Give it a try by using the F2 key in WinPack You
220. port s are hidden This magic occurs because the names of your two DOS configurations menuitems in CONFIG SYS match the names of your hardware profiles in Device Manager If it doesn t work before you start tearing your hair out check that your spelling of Original is consistent throughout Open a DOS window go into your BPQ directory and run PAC4 You should be able to make reliable connections 7 NOTE How Not To Do It If in Device Manager you view the Properties of a COM port then you will see there is an option for Disable in this hardware profile DO NOT try and use that option to hide a port that BPQ is using it won t work properly In a worst situation it results in the port that BPQ is using being disabled in the BIOS and Windows then assigning the IRQ that BPQ is using to a PCI device with disastrous results If The PC Is Being Used Only For Packet If the PC is to be used only for packet then you don t need two boot options and so much of the above doesn t apply All you need to do is to Remove the COM port in Device Manager Note that 1 and 7 above still apply WinPack User Manual version 6 80 128 6 13 2002 BPQ You don t need to make the changes to CONFIG SYS and AUTOEXEC BAT to create two boot options simply put your BPQ commands in AUTOEXEC BAT How Solid IS Your Windows BPQ Configuration As said at the start the aim should be to have a system that will run reliably for days on end
221. program extra is provided to make configuring viewers easier It appears on the WinPack File menu as Viewers Editor Remember you can press F1 to read the help WinPack User Manual version 6 80 94 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features My viewers under Windows 3 1 1 VIEWERS htm c netscape netscape exe wav c windows recorder exe mid c windows mplayer exe bmp c windows pbrush exe pcx c windows pbrush exe jpg c netscape netscape exe gif c netscape netscape exe txt c windows notepad exe doc c winword winword exe My viewers under Windows 95 VIEWERS htm c progra 1 micros 2 iexplore exe ndde wav c windows sndrec32 exe mid c windows mplayer exe bmp c progra 1 access 1 mspaint exe pcx c progra 1 access 1 mspaint exe jpg c progra 1 micros 2 iexplore exe ndde gif c progra 1 micros 2 iexplore exe ndde txt c progra 1 access 1 wordpad exe doc c progra 1 access 1 wordpad exe Note the directory names have to be the short DOS compatible names The SPK Viewer If you set up a viewer for SPK files then this viewer has a special function It is intended that a SPK viewer should be intended for speaking messages A sample SPK viewer which works with the SoundBlaster Texto LE utility is supplied with WinPack Not only will the SPK viewer work with messages with SPK in the title it will also work with any WinPack User Manual version 6 80 95 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features message If you press CtrI
222. pts l e TFEMU loaded with the command TFEMU dx If for some reason you wish to use TFEMU with TFPCX style software interrupts then you must put TFPCX_INT TRUE Section MAIL T_ALLOWED if you put T ALLOWED TRUE then WinPack will allow you to send messages of type T besides P and B This is only of use in countries where NTS traffic is carried on the packet BBS network In the UK you should NOT send type T messages TITLE_LENGTH the maximum length of the title for a message The default is 30 characters The exception to this is that if you reply to a message then Re is added to the original title and the length restriction does not apply Please Note The following two entries are only relevant if you are using WinPack across a network RECOUNT_INTERVAL the number of minutes between rescans of the mail directories when WinPack is being used across a network RECOUNT_MAIL enables rescanning of mail on the PC that is running WinPack if the mail directories are also being accessed from a remote PC WinPack User Manual version 6 80 187 6 13 2002 Appendix E PACKET INI File Settings Section PRINTER LEFT_MARGIN_MM and RIGHT_MARGIN_MNM set the printer margins Section YAPP SHOW_TIME_ESTIMATE if you want to disable the display on the YAPP transfer window of the estimated time remaining put SHOW_TIME_ESTIMATE FALSE Section UIV_VIEWER This section allows you to change the DDE definition f
223. r Manual version 6 80 87 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Speech Menu bar Options gt Speech WinPack can use your sound card to announce various events It can announce connections and disconnections the arrival of new mail the callsign and frequency of spots when you are connected to a DX cluster and it will tell you when someone is calling you with the talk remote command When you connect to a station the announcement is made up from the file CONN WAV which says connected to and the WAV files for the individual characters in the callsign You can if you wish create your own WAV files for particular stations For instance if you create GB7OPC WAV and put it in the WinPack WAV directory then everytime you connect to GB7OPC this file will be used This allows you to get a more natural announcement for stations to which you frequently connect If you create your own WAV files they must be 8 bit mono 11kKHz sampling rate WinPack will also play MIDI files If there isn t a WAV file with the name for which it is searching then it will look for a MID file For Win 3 0 For these options to work you must have a sound card fitted and an MCI Sound driver installed If you have problems then check in Control Panel Drivers and see if it lists MCI Sound If it doesn t then select Add and see if an MCI Sound driver is available on your system If you try to enable these options and have a sound card fitted but get l
224. r is currently being played This command is designed to be used in the BBSBYE TXT script if PLAYTUNE or PLAYTUNE RANDOM is used in BBSBYE TX It allows you to play a MIDI tune during an Auto BBS session but stop it when the session ends SUSPENDREMOTE Most WinPack users will want to have Enable Remote on the Options menu checked so that people who connect to their system can use the Remote Access Commands This can occasionally cause a problem if another system you connect to sends what looks to WinPack like a remote command when in fact it isn t The common example is that if you connect to a JNOS converse server it has a line that starts bye as part of its help if WinPack sees that and Enable Remote is checked then it disconnects But if you use SUSPENDREMOTE in a script then it will temporarily disable the remote commands It is reset when a disconnection occurs An example script using it might be C SLCHAT WAITCON SUSPENDREMOTE Note you must WAITCON before you SUSPENDREMOTE since SUSPENDREMOTE is ignored if you aren t connected TIMEOUT By default a script will time out if it has been waiting for an event to occur for more than 5 minutes However you can change the time out period by using the TIMEOUT key word E g TIMEOUT 10 sets the time out to 10 minutes You can change the time out more than once within the same script The time out reverts to the default of 5 minutes when a new script is started TI
225. rences to the TNC your TNC is controlled by Flexnet not by WinPack Please make sure you read the on line help comment in Enabling Host Mode about setting BBS_UNPROTO to FBB in PACKET INI Have fun WinPack User Manual version 6 80 141 6 13 2002 Host Mode Virtual TNC In host modes WinPack uses a Virtual TNC What appears to the user as responses from a typical TNC 2 compatible TNC is in fact WinPack pretending to be a TNC This gives a familiar user interface to anyone who has been accustomed to using a TNC in terminal mode For example the virtual TNC will return the familiar cmd prompt when you press the lt Enter gt key Commands available for each host mode will vary For a list of the available commands for the host mode you are in enter help or simply For detailed information on a specific command enter lt command gt where lt command gt would be replaced with the actual name of the command For example DISPLAY will result in help on the DISPLAY command You can get general help with the command help or simply See the AGTNCHLP TXT file in the WinPack directory for AGVWPE commands See the TFTNCHLP TXT file in the WinPack directory for TF2 7b mode commands One special feature of the Virtual TNC is that if WinPack hears a nodes broadcast it will decode it and display it in a tabular format This is something which a real TNC does not do WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 142 6 13 2002 Multi
226. ressing the Read button Select A Message To Read Status To From At Title KC2RLH W2UH Need A File KC2RLMH KB2UQW WinPack Advice Needed KC2RLM KC2RLH REQCFG KC2RLMH SYSTEM REQCFG report The message Status indicator preceding each entry can have the following values The message has been read The message has been downloaded but not read The message has been read and a reply has been sent The message is 7plus and has been processed The message has been processed by a server This is a message which is not in the normal WinPack format X status messages may be created by other programs WinPack uses an X status message called YAPPLOG TXT to report YAPP File Transfers XxNOADZ lt You can use the Delete button to delete any message except those that you haven t read N To delete N messages hold down the lt Ctrl gt key and click the Delete button The Archive button works exactly like the Delete button except that before deleting the message it makes a copy of it in WinPack s ARCHIVE CALLSIGN subdirectory where CALLSIGN is replaced with the callsign of the sender The archived file is named according to the date and order that it was originally received in the format YYMMDD For example a message from G4IDE originally received on 25th December 1999 will be archived in the ARCHIVE G4IDE directory and will be called WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 26 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins 99122501
227. result of someone sending a bulletin to WINPAC GBR saying that all you needed in BBS prompt was gt Don t be tempted to take the easy option of putting simply gt It may appear to work but it will probably cause problems at some stage It will certainly cause problems if the sysop configures the BBS so you see something like this when you connect lt Welcome to GB7XXxX gt lt A great BBS for testing your WinPack prompt setting gt 1 GB7XXX BBS gt Note all the gt characters If you put gt in BBS prompt in WinPack then the chances are that you ll never get as far as the real BBS prompt It will also give you a problem if you don t use the FBB unproto beacons and so WinPack has to collect the message list by connecting to the BBS and listing it Packet users will quite often surround the message title with lt and gt When WinPack lists the messages it will stop at any line ending with gt kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk 3 Problem My local BBS has now changed over to FBB V7 and WinPack is giving problems The problems may be that compressed download and forwarding cannot be used or that the BBS disconnects you when you try to upload mail after you have downloaded some messages or that WinPack sticks at WAITPROMPT or that automatic bulletin selection no longer works Answer There are some significant differences in the way that FBB V7 behaves
228. rked orN The default value for Bulletin List Prune Size is 5 000 Logging Auto Log If this option is checked then WinPack will log all connections and disconnections in a file called TEXT TEXT TXT I m not sure if this log is sufficent to replace a proper log Any comments on this will be appreciated Auto Dump This option allows you to enable or disable the auto dump facility When auto dump is enabled then whilst you are connected to another station all transmitted and received text is saved in the file TEXT TEXT TXT If you have auto dump enabled then be warned that if you are very active on packet AUTODUMP TXT can get very large very quickly Every time you enable this option WinPack checks to see if AUTODUMP TXT already exists if it does then you are given the option of overwriting the existing file or appending to it So if you want to clear the file and start again simply disable and then re enable the option Log Frequency Power This option allows you to select a different frequency and power to be used in the auto log When WinPack starts up the default is always to use the frequency and power as specified in your personal information and those values are automatically added as the first item on the Log Frequency Power sub menu WinPack User Manual version 6 80 166 6 13 2002 Appendix A Menu Layouts If you want other frequency power options to be available you must create a file in the WINPACK directory
229. rloading the network e Do not send anything which could be interpreted as being for the purpose of business or propaganda This includes messages of or on behalf of any social political religious or commercial organisation However our licence specifically allows news of activities of non profit making organisations formed for the furtherance of amateur radio f Do not send messages that are deliberately designed to provoke an adverse response Debate is healthy but can sometimes lead to personal attacks and animosity which have no place on the Packet Network g Unfortunately the very success of the network has resulted in messages appearing which are of doubtful legality under the terms of the UK Licence The use of 7plus and other like programs to pass text and binary based material in compressed form via the Network has become common practice Users must always be aware of the licence conditions in BR68 also copyright and illegal use of software or software which when decoded and used may contravene the License when entering such messages into the Network via their local BBS If in doubt consult your local Sysop or your local RSGB Data Comms Committee representative SECTION 2 Legal Consequences a Do not send any message which is libellous defamatory racist or abusive b Do not infringe any copyright or contravene the Data Protection Act c Do not publish any information which infringes personal or corporate privacy e g ex d
230. rompt is the source of many Auto BBS session problems Please see the FAQs page for more information To label Read a message on the BBS at the top it will have a few lines that say To From Title etc or similar words Put here the word that starts the To line think in English speaking countries it will always be To From label Read a message on the BBS at the top it will have a few lines that say To From Title etc or similar words Put here the word that starts the From line think in English speaking countries it will always be From Date Time label Read a message on the BBS at the top it will have a few lines that say To From Title etc or similar words Put here the word that starts the Date Time line If there isn t one then put Date time Message label Read a message on the BBS at the top it will have a few lines that say To From Title etc or similar words Put here the word that starts the Message or Msg line If there isn t one then put Message WinPack User Manual version 6 70 20 6 13 2002 5 Completing the WinPack Setup Title label Read a message on the BBS at the top it will have a few lines that say To From Title etc or similar words Put here the word that starts the title line It may well be Subject rather than Title Message End Indentifier The following is irrelevan
231. s 1 Make sure WinPack is not running 2 Edit PACKET INI in the WinPack directory using Windows Notepad or similar text editor 3 Look for a section titled TERMINAL In that section there is a line that says PAUSE_SECONDS 0 4 Change the 0 to give an automatic delay of how ever many seconds you require 5 Save the file If at any time you want to disable the feature then change the setting back to 0 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 81 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Phone Modem Support If you add the option MODEM to the WinPack command line when you start WinPack then WinPack will run in a mode designed for use with a telephone modem on the land line port of an FBB BBS If you want to sometimes use WinPack with a TNC and sometimes with a telephone modem then would suggest creating two icons for the the program one with the MODEM option command line and one without it In modem mode the caption bar will include the text Modem and several things internal to the program will work differently Do not try to use either compressed forward or compressed download in modem mode and of course you can t use the FBB beacons From V6 4 the Comms Setup you use in modem mode is saved independently of the Comms Setup you use with a TNC so you don t have to keep changing it if you sometimes use a modem and sometimes use a TNC To the best of my knowledge an FBB BBS when used via the modem port normally requires a pass
232. s 6m news 70cm news 9600 baud operation help info Aerial topics Amiga computer AMSAT satellite etc Amstrad computer Info about AMTOR Apple PC see MAC for Mac s Archimedes Astronomical news ATARI Computer Amat Radio Television BARTG news amp information Baycom H W amp S W BBC computer BBS transmitter news Propagation Beacons information Motorbike topics Info about G8BPQ nodes Clover Commodore Computer C128 C64 Contest news amp information Looking for packet contacts DCC information Debate general topics Disabled Disk operating software topics DX general information DXCC information Specific DX news bulletins Fax information WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 179 6 13 2002 FBB FOOD FOOTY GIF GP GPS HELP HUMOUR IBMPC ICOM INET INFO JNOS JVFAX KENWOO KEPLER KPC LANDY LINUX LOTTER MAC MFJ MODEM MODS MORSE MOTOR MSDOS MUSIC NASA NEWS NNA NOS NOVICE OS2 PACCOM PACKET PACTOR PAKET PENPAL PMR PROP QRP RAE RAFARS RAIBC RALLY RAYNET WinPack User Manual Appendix D Bulletin Topics Lists Info about F6FBB software Recipies etc Football for GBR only GIF files Graphic Packet help info Global Positioning System General requests for info help Jokes amusing stories etc IBM amp compatible information ICOM gear Internet information General information JNOS tcp ip system JVFAX information Kenwood Trio gear Satellite
233. s See reading bulletins Auto BBS Session See running an Auto BBS session Mail Options This option displays a form which allows you to specify whether you want to use compressed forwarding and also whether you want to use the FBB unproto message list beacons if they are available from your local BBS For a full discussion of this topic see mail options Repair Bull List This option allows you to repair the bulletins list should it ever become corrupted for any reason It makes sure that there are no corrupted lines in the list and that no bulls are marked with Y or N if the downloaded bull no longer exists Corruption is unlikely to occur but one sure sign of it is when you click a bull marked Y or N to read it and nothing happens WinPack User Manual version 6 80 157 6 13 2002 Appendix A Menu Layouts Change LASTNUM This is an advanced option It is unlikely that most people will ever need to use it It is only in WinPack to compensate for a problem which occurs very occasionally with FBB WinPack has an internal variable called LASTNUM If you use the FBB unproto headers LASTNUM is used in deciding the sync request number If you don t use the unproto headers but your List Bulletins field in Personal BBS Info is set to something like LR NUM then the value of LASTNUM is substituted for NUM when the command is sent to the BBS On very rare occasions FBB BBSs seem to misbehave and will refuse to send the beacon correspond
234. s and other stations from which you are going to download files For example the command for an FBB BBS is YGET The command for a WinPack PMS is YGET see remote access You put these commands in the YAPP_COMMANDS section of WINPSCAP INI For example YAPP_COMMANDS DEFAULT YGET G4IDE YGET GB7SKG YGET The default is used for any station for which there is no specific entry Finally there are two WinpScape options you can set from its Options menu e lf you enable Fetch Graphics WinpScape will try and fetch any graphics in pages from the remote system See Creating Some pages below e lf you enable Use Speech WinpScape will tell you when it is fetching the graphics Technical Notes WinpScape works by establishing a DDE link to WinPack which is used to receive all the text that WinPack receives All text is monitored for the HTML start and end markers lt HTML gt and lt HTML gt If a pair of markers has been received and WinPack is connected to a station at the time the end marker is received then the document is displayed by calling the configured web browser An attempt is made to call the browser using the Netscape WWW_ShowFile DDE command If that fails then the browser application is shelled with the captured html file name as a command line argument Internet Explorer V3 but not earlier versions also supports this DDE command WinpScape attempts to register four special protocol types ax25 yapp
235. s follows Callsign Name Address Please write clearly Callsign name and at least two lines of address are required WinPack User Manual version 6 70 7 6 13 2002 4 Getting Started WinPack as its name implies is a Windows program It uses many standard Windows controls menus file dialogues etc One thing you must appreciate is that if you aren t comfortable with Windows you might at first find the program difficult If so stick with it for once you get used to Windows you ll never go back to DOS And using WinPack without a mouse completely spoils the program So even if you hate it try and get used to clicking Don t try to immediately use all the features of the program Once you have used the setup menu option to configure WinPack to match your TNC start off using WinPack as a simple terminal and completely ignore most of the features Try out the more advanced features when you are comfortable with the basics Getting Assistance There are several different sources for help about WinPack 1 WinPack has an integrated context sensitive Help which you can access from the Menu bar Help gt Help Contents or by pressing the F1 key on any screen 2 Look for informational TXT help files that will have been installed in the WinPack directory or subdirectories 3 Look over the WinPack website for links to still more special information files http Awww ui view com winpack index shtml 4 This User Manual
236. s seem to want to do this It would not work well in a multi user situation because of file locking preventing more than one user accessing some of the files at the same time Please note that the network support is fairly experimental and haven t yet used it very much myself Setting It Up This assumes that you have got two PCs both running Win31 or later WinPack is installed on the WinPack PC the other one is the remote PC 1 The drive with WinPack on it must be shared on the network with full access rights available to the remote PC 2 Map this drive as a network drive on the remote PC 3 Check to see if the following files are in the Windows SYSTEM directory on the remote PC If they aren t copy them from the Windows SYSTEM directory on the WinPack PC VBRUN300 DLL CTL3DV2 DLL THREED VBX CMDIALOG VBX MSCOMM VBX MCI VBX 4 Set up a shortcut or a program group icon on the remote PC to the file PACKET EXE in the WINPACK directory on the WinPack PC To the end of the command line add remote For example if the drive on the WinPack PC is mapped as drive E on the remote PC then the command line would be E winpack packet exe remote 5 Run WinPack from the remote PC It should say Remote Network System on the title bar and some of the menu options particularly on the Action menu should be disabled You should now be able to read and write mail and read bulletins Restrictions when Using a Network 1 You can
237. s versions you first got the default Win95 menu for text boxes If you want to keep the old behaviour change RIGHT_CLICK_WIN95 from FALSE to TRUE TIME_ZONE allows you to specify the name of the time zone to be displayed on the Title bar and the offset of your PC s clock from that time zone The format is TIME_ZONE AAA nn where AAA is a time zone name and nn is an optional correction to apply to your PC s local time The default is TIME_ZONE UTC that will put UTC on the Title bar and assumes that your PC clock is set to UTC since no offset is specified If your PC s clock is set to BST one hour ahead of UTC but you WinPack User Manual version 6 80 183 6 13 2002 Appendix E PACKET INI File Settings want WinPack to use UTC then you would put TIME_ZONE UTC1 From V6 41 onwards the time zone name does not need to be three characters long although that will normally be the case WinPack regards the name as ending with the first character which is not a letter WARN_BULL have seen many bulletins from WINPAC users that looked like the sender intended them to be an SP They have always been replies to bulls In fact have seen so many that have checked the code several times to see if the program could send a bull even if the user has clicked Reply To Sender My conclusion is that it is user error From V5 56 if you click Reply To Topic WinPack asks you to verify that you really want to send a bulletin You can disabl
238. sages that you have written Obviously the message list is not downloaded if you are using the FBB unproto beacons it has been downloaded automatically via the beacons If you have mail to forward to the BBS and you are using compress forwarding WinPack will not collect the message list on that session because of the way that FBB handles disconnects The only exception to this is if you are using a list bulletins WinPack User Manual version 6 80 24 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins command on the Personal BBS Info window of LR num num is a WinPack token Auto BSS Sessions and BBS Paging For the Auto BBS download feature to work correctly you must have the paging option turned off in your setup on your local BBS On FBB and many other BBSs this is the OP command It works as a toggle alternately enabling and disabling the feature make sure it reports OFF Also on FBB LC is a good idea The following applies mainly to FBB BBSs and people who have been using TPK or others who may not have requested a LIST in some time If you have been using a packet program that never actually uses the L or LR command then the first time that WinPack connects and sends LR the list could be huge Here in the backwoods of Lincolnshire that isn t a problem but in some areas listing a thousand or so messages might not make you too popular To avoid this you can do the following 1 Manually connect to the BBS 2 Send
239. say is that have an SB16 Plug and Play card With that received a CD labeled Sound Blaster CD and one of the utilities on that CD was Texto LE kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk 6 Problem am using WinPack with a Kantronics TNC am also using Windows 95 and the COM port on my PC is fitted with a 16550 buffered UART use compressed forwarding can upload small messages to the BBS ok but when try to upload a longer message such as a plus part get an error message and WinPack disconnects from the BBS Answer When Kantronics TNCs are used with Win 95 and 16550s there seems to be a problem in that when the input buffer of the TNC gets full overrun occurs and one or two characters are lost My guess is that when the TNC buffer fills and it signals busy it then does not have enough room left in the buffer to accept the few characters that may be queued in the UART have personally observed this problem with a KPC 3 and a KAM and have reports of it happening with other types of Kantronics TNCs have never seen it happen with any other make of TNC The problem occurs between the Win 95 comms drivers and the TNC it is not a problem in WinPack One solution is to run the link between the PC and the TNC at no faster than 2400 baud This is the technique used when had a KAM However Ken GW3TMH reports that he has successfully tried a different solution
240. sessions 148 log 145 PK 232 operation 149 program won t run 154 script hangs 147 exit program automatically 68 external programs 1 58 76 83 172 182 extras See Add on programs FBB 21 22 24 25 30 37 38 39 40 48 49 50 51 59 61 63 68 69 73 74 75 79 82 119 121 122 123 146 148 149 151 157 158 160 164 178 179 185 186 190 191 194 file transfers 48 Flexnet 138 and Baycom modem 152 fonts 153 164 Frequently Asked Questions 146 guidelines packet use 198 host modes 118 installing WinPack 3 Internet Explorer 94 6 13 2002 Kenwood TH D7 38 194 Kenwood TM D700 197 keywords script 59 license to use 4 199 logging auto 166 mail 23 mailing list 44 reading 26 27 Mail Options 24 37 38 75 121 149 157 194 main screen components 9 Menu Bar 9 Menu Layouts 155 messages sending 43 writing 41 MH List Program 132 modem support 68 82 multi channel terminal 143 multiple users 69 Netscape 94 112 network using WinPack on 77 NNA BBS 21 22 39 49 50 51 56 79 164 180 Opening screen suppress 68 PACKET INI 11 29 33 47 49 51 61 65 78 81 84 86 94 97 98 112 114 121 123 129 134 141 149 172 182 189 190 paging option BBS 25 password 61 63 79 82 119 120 164 pause window scrolling 81 PC Flexnet 138 philosophy 2 PKZIP 57 94 184 print 6 11 47 155 173 prune bulletin
241. sonal information which is read from PERSONAL TXT These tokens are MYCALL 1STNAME 2NDNAME QTH QRA WAB EMAIL_ADDRESS BBS BBS_PROMPT To change them use the Options gt Personal BBS Info menu option this automatically edits PERSONAL TXT file VERSION makes the program version available It is used in the WINPACK SIG file WINP_PATH makes the WinPack path available It is used in SELEDIT XTR and ALARM XTR CONNECTED_CALLSIGN the callsign of the station currently connected to your WinPack system CONNECTED_NAME the name of the person currently connected to your WinPack system This is derived by looking up the connected callsign in the WinPack address book If a callsign is not found in the address book then the default for CONNECTED_NAME is blank however this can be altered via the NO_CONNECTED_NAME entry in the TERMINAL section of PACKET INI CONNECTED_CALLSIGN and CONNECTED_NAME are designed to be used in shortcuts in BYE TXT and in TALK TXT WinPack User Manual version 6 80 65 6 13 2002 9 Scripts All the other tokens are associated with the date and time which the program reads from your PC clock These tokens are Token Substituted Example YYYY the year 1995 YY the year 95 MMM the month Dec MM the month 12 DD the date 31 HH the hour 17 NN the minute 52 SS the second 45 TZ the time zone UTC The examples are as if the program was processing the tokens at 17 52 45 on 3
242. ssdersannsdscaaenddeasiedideadeansdeasdeadeanmsseasiensdeds 82 Remote ACCEeSS nnuenennnnnerninnrrrrrrrrrirrrrrrrnrrrrrrnrrrrrrnntrrnnnrrrrnnrrrnnnnnrrnnnn rrenen reene 83 SOT ds thee Ennn Re nee te we te ven See SE rely eno CET ee or 84 Short Cut Keys aoa eee en eee eee eee 86 Signat re OPtIONS ene ae a ae a ee eee 87 SPECI reana a a A Masdedsennadods 88 Spell CNECKE M orere ire rpet ierre eer re eer art riet reet faar iet Fip oa faaee rt rear pet fiet aet fear iet Eeee iaa 89 TEXULMKS coarae a ee ie koe et ee ee Me Sere en Sete eee ee ree eee ne mene 90 BMWS o ren ariaa aa cass aa a a AE Ar a er Aera E aE a a r EAEE iE 93 Weather tO eroro ee e a e E E 97 TAdd On Programs eee re ee er ee EAE AERES 99 What Are Add SOS 2 s 2s 2ces3secsscisctecalsssiactbesedaciacebesancaeboceucsed neces eebeieiasetaaiessetleeeetes 99 Creating an ATR file for an Add OM cccccccccscctcteccccnetecboctetensncnetenbnctetensoceetenboceoienbedesens 100 The Alarm 2 8 0 0 iesi a mnt sek tent eke anerT nt ume Or e te 102 Selection LIST ECIIGN resserrer ereenn Enere rea EES SE Ee SE EEan SEPETE EEES 104 Themes Editor arose O EU aO SR ETEO laneielgsemdaseds 109 Viewers 112 e eee eee Rene Dene oe pee ee nee raaa a a aaa iaia 112 WV SC ADE snasasecsacaverasesssecasacuereatecssenueasavecaesiusenasesstenaec epeeasounsavazasacspascesecaeannseeseces 113 I Meh YS Fe IN seas es ees ee cs 118 Telet era a canteen anabesssanaases santos saciacs cocina e OE E EEO 119
243. stified If it s not in the main WinPack directory you can download the BPQPATCH ZIP at http ui view com winpack bpqpatch zip Please read BPQPATCH TXT in the ZIP before you use any of the files WinPack User Manual version 6 80 130 6 13 2002 AGWPE Since V6 4 WinPack has supported the SV2AGW Packet Engine PE or AGWPE AGWPE supports many different types of TNCs in KISS mode Baycom modems DRSI cards USCC cards etc It supports up to 100 TNCs and up to 100 applications at the same time More recently AGWPE has included a sound card modem enabling you to run WinPack without a TNC You can find out more about this aspect of AGWPE by going to the Sound Card Packet web site at http Awww qsl net soundcardpacket When WinPack is used with the AGWPE you get true split screen operation and up to ten simultaneous connects one from the main WinPack screen and up to nine others from the Multi channel Terminal screen Please note the AGWPE provides neither a node nor a digi facility although there are compatible programs that can provide those functions see the AGWPE web site Also AGWPE is a Win95 program It cannot be used with Win3 1 The great advantage of the AGWPE compared to BPQ or Flexnet is that as a Win95 application you don t have the problems of having to load it underneath Windows Also you only need to run it when you want to use packet It isn t stuck there all the time using up processor performance wh
244. t http www ui view com winpack winpakgo txt WinPack User Manual version 6 80 193 6 13 2002 H Using WinPack with a Kenwood TH D7 or D 700 Both of these radios contain an integral TNC Although designed for APRS packet specifically they can of course can be used with packet programs like WinPack TH D7 The Kenwood TH D7 is a dual band 2m 440 hand held radio These notes are based very much on a packet bulletin sent to TH D7 GBR in June 1999 in reply to someone saying that they were having problems using a TH D7 with WinPack The only change have made is to update it for the fact that WinPack from V6 5 onwards can collect the FBB unproto headers with HEADERLN OFF a change that was made specifically for TH D7 users It is rumoured that a firmware update G will be available for the TH D7 early in 2000 which obviously may affect the validity of some of my remarks The following comments apply to using the TH D7 with any packet software that supports a TNC in terminal mode Hopefully this information will prevent a bit of hair tearing by people trying to get their TH D7 to behave itself The specific examples relate to WinPack but I m sure the general principle can be extended to other programs For DOS lovers from what can remember of Paket 6 would think all the information below can be modified for use with that program A few points about the TH D7 s TNC 1 It s comms parameters are 9600 bps 8 databits 1 sto
245. t String 1200 2400 4800 CONNECTED to 9600 19200 38400 Disconnect String Data Bits StopBits _ Parity gt Com Port gt Editor Line Length None Comi characters C Odd Com2 C Com3 Handshaking EGE O Com4 ris DCD shows con Even Le i Cancel Host mode NONE bd You want to change the parameters on this screen to match your TNC settings Unless you already know the TNC s current settings you may have to experiment with the WinPack settings to learn the TNC s settings The key settings to match at first are Com Port and Baud Rate To test your settings press OK to accept them then cycle your TNC on and off to see if WinPack displays the TNC s sign on message in the WinPack Receive window If you rceive nothing then you most probably have the COM port setting incorrect If you see garbled text then the COM port setting is correct but the Baud Rate setting may be wrong WinPack User Manual version 6 70 13 6 13 2002 4 Getting Started If you can t ungarble the TNC sign on message by changing the baud rate then the TNC may be in HOST mode To work with WinPack the TNC must be in TERMINAL mode If some other software that you have been using has left the TNC in HOST mode then you will never get WinPack to work until you get the TNC out of HOST mode How to get the TNC out of HOST mode is beyond the scope of
246. t if you are using FBB compressed download At the end of each message the BBS will send some text that says END OF MESSAGE or something similar Put as much of that text as possible in this field My BBS sends something like End of message 12345 from G4IDE to So input End of message A local NNA BBS sends lt End of message 38869 gt well not always 38869 so you would input only lt End of message List Bulletins The following is not relevant if you are using the FBB unproto beacons Different BBSs use different commands for the L ist function suggest you ask you BBS for HELP about that For example L may list all bulletins in newest first order since you last list command LR may do the same in oldest first order If you regularly check bulletins then it may be OK to use a List command that lists everything since your last listing If it has been awhile you may want to do a manual listing using a command that limits how many how far back you go or re set your personal options on the BBS to a more recent last listed message number WinPack does not at the moment sort the BBS message list it simply adds the new lines to the end of the old list What you use for the list command depends on whether your local BBS is FBB or NNA FBB FBB set the list command to LR This results in the oldest message being listed first The FBB L command lists the newest first If your
247. t scripts Script Cancel Button This button allows you to cancel a script that is playing Script Keywords The following is a list of all the keywords are understood by the WinPack script interpreter OPENCAPTURE lt filename gt opens a capture file as if you had used the File Capture menu option CLOSECAPTURE closes the capture file CLOSE causes WinPack to close down Any commands in the script after CLOSE are ignored DIS_IF_CANCEL Sets a flag to force a disconnect if the script is cancelled for any reason EXIT_IF_CON exit from the script if there is a connection EXIT_IF_DIS exit from the script if there is no connection Designed to be used in the BBSBYE script when using that script to drop you off a TheNet node after disconnecting from the BBS give up if we re already disconnected EXIT_IF_DIS wait for the node message WAITLINE Reconnected to BOST72 disconnect from the node SEND b FBBSYNC sends a sync request to the local BBS if you are using the unproto list See enhanced mail facilities HOTKEY lt key gt this assigns a hot key to a script Valid values for lt key gt are F2 to F9 for normal function keys or F2S to F9S for shifted function keys F5S is not allowed because Shift F5 sends the FBB sync requests The script can then be played by simply pressing the specified key WinPack User Manual version 6 80 59 6 13 2002 9 Scripts IF_EXIST lt filename gt the script is
248. tasks such as processing the message list e Servers thart are run at the end of Auto BBS sessions They are placed in the SERVERS POSTAUTO directory These servers take no command line arguments and the idea is that they can do tasks that need to be closely tied to Auto BBS sessions WinPack User Manual version 6 80 85 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Short Cut Keys WinPack lets you set up frequently used strings of text so that you can key them in to the transmit window or the Edit Window with a single key stroke The keys that can be used to hold the text are CtrI F1 to Ctri F9 Note that Scripts run from the F1 thru F9 keys ie without the Ctrl key To setup the text you must edit PACKET INI and create entries in a section entitled SHORTCUTS You will need to create the section by default it doesn t exist The maximum length for a shortcut is 500 characters You can use tokens in shortcuts see the tokens list for information on what tokens are available Some example entries F1 This is some text M F2 c gb7ide MIl 10 Mb M An example using tokens F4 De MYCALL HH NN gt gt 4M The M in the above examples is replaced with a lt Enter gt To send the text you must make sure the cursor is in the transmit window or the Edit Window then press Ctrl and the appropriate function key WinPack User Manual version 6 80 86 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Signature Options Menu bar Options gt Signature Set
249. tes Here as a taster is a WinPack start up script to initialise the TNC and an exit script to close the TNC It shouldn t be difficult to translate them for use with other programs You can do much more than this setting the data band and setting the frequency are obvious enhancements A sample STARTUP TXT WinPack User Manual version 6 80 195 6 13 2002 Appendix H Using WinPack with a Kenwood TH D7 or D 700 Completely close the TNC SEND TC 1 WAITLINE TS 1 Lock the radio so you don t accidentally change the settings while you re using packet SEND LK 1 WAITLINE LK 1 Open the TNC in packet mode SEND TC 0 WAITLINE PORTOUT Turn ECHO off SEND ECHO OFF WAITFOR cmd Set your callsign SEND MYCALL MYCALL WAITFOR cmd A sample EXIT TXT Get the TH D7 into command mode SEND C WAITFOR cmd Close the TNC SEND TC 1 WAITLINE TS 1 Unlock the radio SEND LK 0 WAITLINE LK 0 Have fun Roger G4IDE 1999 Dec 16 WinPack User Manual version 6 80 196 6 13 2002 Appendix H Using WinPack with a Kenwood TH D7 or D 700 TM D700 The Kenwood TM D700 is a dual band 2m 440 mobile radio with a built in TNC similar to the TH D7 Designed for APRS work it can also be used for regular packet but it has some limitations The TD 700 limitations reported include e lack of preemphasis when sending 1200 baud data the high tone space is similar in deviation to the low tone mark e does not hav
250. the message content but not read it Y means downloaded and read K means downloaded read and marked for killing deletion no character present means you have not downloaded the message and it is not marked for a future download WinPack User Manual version 6 80 31 6 13 2002 6 Mail and Bulletins To read a message that is marked N or Y simply double click that message to open the Message Window and view the message contents If you want to get the full text of a list entry without an N Y or K double click anywhere on the line or move the text cursor anywhere on the required line and press lt Enter gt This will place an at the beginning of the line and during the next Auto BBS session the message text will be downloaded A second double click or lt Enter gt will clear the indicator If you double click on a message line an action occurs according to the status Status Action blank The status becomes The status becomes blank YorN The message is displayed for reading If you hold down the Ctrl key while you click different actions occur Status Action YorN The message is killed the status becomes K K The status becomes blank Bulletin List Buttons The buttons at the bottom of the screen have the following functions Unread display the next unread message If you have made a list selection based on the To From etc buttons then this button changes to a Dump button Dump this button replaces t
251. then the quotes will be omitted WinPack User Manual version 6 80 184 6 13 2002 Appendix E PACKET INI File Settings Section FBB AUTO_KILL the default is that WinPack will kill personal mail after it has been downloaded using FBB compressed mode If you don t want your mail killed as soon as you have downloaded it put AUTO_KILL FALSE NB This only applies to compressed download if you are not using compressed download then the mail will always be killed AUTO_RETRY by default if a message is unavailable on the BBS WinPack will remove the selector indicator from it in your list and send you a message saying that is is unavailable If you want it to leave the message marked so WinPack will try to download it again on subsequent connects put AUTO_RETRY TRUE CHECK_LINK_STATE if you are using the FBB unproto beacons WinPack does an awful lot of checking to make sure that it doesn t send a sync request when it shouldn t e g when it is connected ot another station If you are convinced that sync requests are sneaking out when they shouldn t then putting an entry of CHECK_LINK_STATE TRUE will cause WinPack to do even more checking before it sends a sync request will be surprised if this is ever necessary DOWNLOAD_RESUME if FBB compressed download is used then WinPack supports download resume This means that if you are downloading a message and you get disconnected WinPack will tell the BBS to start downloading again
252. then the single large receive window will be restored For more information select receive windows Word Wrap The receive windows may receive a text line that is too long for the screen It this happens horizontal lt gt scroll bars will appear which allow you to bring into view any text that is off the screen Alternatively you can enable word wrap when text reaches the right hand edge of the window it wraps onto the next line rather than disappearing off the screen Character Mode Normally text keyed into the transmit window isn t sent to the TNC until lt Enter gt is pressed at the end of the line This is usually the best way to operate However there are some circumstances when it is necessary to send the characters to the TNC immediately when a key is pressed For example if you run the CAL command on a Tiny 2 you need to be able to send the single letters K D etc On such occasions it is best to switch the program into character mode In character mode the transmit window is not used so you lose the split screen operation and the 8 transmit scroll back buffers The program normally operates with the TNC s ECHO OFF and does its own local echo of the characters This does not work very well in character mode and so when you switch to character mode it sends ECHO ON to the TNC If the program is already in character mode selecting this option will switch it back to normal mode ECHO OFF will be sent to the TNC
253. ther types of servers e Servers that process all the incoming personal messages These are placed in the SERVERS RECEIVE directory One server of this type is supplied with WinPack User Manual version 6 80 84 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features WinPack it is ACK It scans every personal message for lines starting with QSL and optionally ACK If it finds one then it sends an acknowledgement message to the sender of the incoming message It is configurable see the file SERVERS RECEIVE ACK INI e Servers that process all outgoing mail These are placed in the SERVERS SEND directory One server of this type is supplied with WinPack it is BACKUP It makes a backup copy of all your outgoing mail in the ARCHIVE subdirectory So if you don t want a backup of all your outgoing mail you must delete the file SERVERS SEND BACKUP EXE e Servers that process all the incoming bulls They are placed in the SERVERS BULLS directory No servers of this type are supplied with WinPack but a server for checking PGP signatures in incoming bulls has been written and is available on request However it is useless unless you have the PGP program which cannot supply You also need to understand the general principles of how PGP works e Servers that are run immediately before bulletins are downloaded during Auto BBS sessions They are placed in the SERVERS PREBULL directory These servers take no command line arguments and the idea is that they can do
254. ths are mm or mmm minutes are nn EXTERN_MINIMIZED controls whether external programs and servers are run minimized The default is FALSE EXTERN_FOCUS controls whether external programs and servers are given the focus when they are run The default is FALSE but the default for versions of WinPack before 6 3 was TRUE If you find a server or external program which worked with versions f WinPack before 6 3 gives problems with V6 3 or later because it seems to get stuck then put EXTERN_FOCUS TRUE If you want program to minimize itself after a period of inactivity change the line that says MINIMIZE_TIME 0 to for example MINIMIZE_TIME 10 That will cause the program to minimize itself after 10 minutes with no input from you MODEM_IDLE_SECS if you are using WinPack in modem mode with a telephone modem and there is no activity on the phone line for this number of seconds WinPack will disconnect you The default is 60 seconds WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 182 6 13 2002 Appendix E PACKET INI File Settings NO_CONNECTED_NAME this is the default value for the CONNECTED_NAME token if the callsign of the currently connected station cannot be found in the WinPack address book See the tokens list PAUSE_SECONDS if you want the receive window to automatically pause when you scroll it instead of having to use the Pause button change the line that says PAUSE_SECONDS 0 to for example PAUSE_SECONDS 10 This will enable
255. tically at appropriate times if they exist in the WinPack SCRIPTS subdirectory e STARTUP will be executed whenever you start the program A copy of the SETTIME script renamed to STARTUP is actually the script that use as my startup script SETTIME is installed during the WinPack installation e EXIT will be executed when you quit the program e BBSBYE if it exists is executed when WinPack disconnects at the end of an Auto BBS session It can be used to drop you off a TheNet style node after disconnection from the BBS see comment below about EXIT_IF_DIS It can also be used to run external programs that process mail after a BBS session see the PROC keyword Creating Scripts Scripts are created by using a text editor You can create them in the Edit Window and then save them in the SCRIPTS subdirectory Each line of text in a script consists of a key word and then optionally some text that is used as part of the command Lines in a script starting with a semi colon are ignored Lines that the script interpreter can t understand are also ignored See Script Keywords below Playing A Script Menu bar Scripts gt Play a Script WinPack User Manual version 6 80 0 58 6 13 2002 9 Scripts Script Current Command This window shows you the script command that is currently being processed In this case it is waiting for the end of the prompt from a BBS The M means a lt Enter gt character For more information see abou
256. to put these lines Get the TH D7 into command mode SEND 4C WAITFOR cmd Just before these lines Send the command to connect to my local BBS SEND c BBS With other programs if scripting isn t supported or the scripts can t send control characters press Ctrl C if the TH D7 doesn t seem to be responding to your commands 5 It only uses a three wire connection to the PC so there is no support for DCD Your software won t be able to use the PC s DCD status line to tell if the TNC in the TH D7 has established a connection In WinPack Comms Setup you must put DCD shows con NO If other programs have an option of using the CONNECTED to TNC message to recognise connections then you should select it 6 The TH D7 doesn t retain its TNC parameters when switched off You need to set any required parameters each time you enter TNC mode With WinPack the only ones needed are MYCALL and ECHO OFF The TH D7 will use as its default callsign the callsign set under menu option 2 1 so if you put your callsign in there setting MYCALL isn t essential Once you ve taken note of the above and of course put the TH D7 into packet mode it should work fine Beyond that point you can try something cool like making your packet software s start up script automatically open and initialise the TH D7 s TNC when you start the program The TH D7 control commands aren t documented in the manual but they can be found on several internet si
257. to use 4 Changes To CONFIG SYS The aim of the changes to CONFIG SYS and AUTOEXEC BAT is to create DOS two boot configurations with names that match the names you used for the hardware profiles you have created in Windows Edit CONFIG SYS Put at the top the following lines menu menuitem Original menuitem BPQ common REM all existing CONFIG SYS entries moved to Original below At the end of CONFIG SYS put the following lines Original REM put here any entries that you only want to be processed when REM BPQ is NOT loaded lt insert original CONFIG SYS entries here gt BPQ REM put here any entries that you only want to be processed when REM BPQ IS loaded lt insert BPQ entries here gt WinPack User Manual version 6 80 127 6 13 2002 BPQ 5 Changes to AUTOEXEC BAT Edit AUTOEXEC BAT At the end put the following lines goto config bpq REM put here your commands to load BPQ For example my BPQ is in REM F BPQ so l put f cd bpq REM load any ethernet drivers etc bpqcode C goto end original REM if you want to have some AUTOEXEC BAT commands that are only REM executed when BPQ is NOT loaded then put them here end 6 Give It A Try Reboot and you will once again get the menu with the Original and BPQ options If you now select Original then BPQ won t be loaded and the COM port s won t be hidden from Windows If you select BPQ then BPQ is loaded and the COM
258. to your TNC s PMS Personal Mail System and collect your mail from the BBS e Open the Multi Channel Terminal screen and connect to the DX cluster on channel 2 Now click monitor button 2 top right so the DX cluster traffic is in the Multi channel s top monitor window e Now click on channel button 3 and use the transmit and main windows to connect to another station whilst having the cluster traffic on channel 2 constantly visible in the monitor window You ll soon get the hang of it Terminal Window Menus There are various options for capturing colours fonts beep on connect etc on the Multi channel Terminal screen s menu bar They all correspond to similar options on the main WinPack screen The Terminal Opened Itself If your main WinPack screen is in use and someone connects to your system they will be using a stream on the terminal screen and it will automatically open If you don t want this to happen use the Virtual TNC command USERS 1 which will stop incoming connections to any stream other than the main WinPack screen but it won t affect how many outgoing connections you can make WinPack User Manual version 6 80 144 6 13 2002 13 Trouble Shooting and FAQs FAQs Frequently Asked Questions Before we get to the FAQs let s mention Comms Error Log The following comments do not apply if you are using either BPQ TFEMU or AGWPE With those systems the COM ports are controlled by the host mode s
259. tween users of FBB NNA TPK or MSYS software Or on some frequencies inter node linking traffic Or binary files being transferred The problem with binary files be they program files or compressed data files or picture files is that they contain characters that are used to define end of file end of line etc which are used in normal mailbox operation Also when sending data through the Packet Radio network errors may occur in spite of the safety mechanisms incorporated into the AX25 protocol Plain text with errors is still usually legible for humans We can correct or ignore errors as long as numbers aren t falsified and thus still understand what it meant Even at an error rate of 10 we can still get the meaning of the text On the other hand the successful sending of a binary file requires that every byte is transferred without error How can this problem be overcome The answer is to convert binary files to a format compatible with the BBSs This task is done by ASCll encoders like UUencode or more WinPack User Manual version 6 80 56 6 13 2002 8 File Transfers commonly now 7plus UUencoding often doubled the size of the binary file Instead 7plus uses checksums on each and every line of code and can recognize the exact position of errors and can process errors without having to resend entire files over and over again UUencoded files can usually be sent in a network that only uses 7 bit codes The encoding scheme 7PLUS uses co
260. uivalent to selecting Mail gt Edit a Message WinPack User Manual version 6 80 176 6 13 2002 C Suggested TNC Settings While TNCs often have similar commands the command or parameter names may be different Listed below are suggested TNC settings for WinPack but you may have to translate the command and parameter for your TNC 8BITCONV ON You must set 8BITCONV ON If you don t then you will never have any success with Seven Plus BREAK ON don t think all TNCs have this parameter but Tiny 2 s certainly do It is either ON or OFF The default is ON don t change it CMDTIME 1 This is the guard time for sending three COMMAND characters to get the TNC out of transparent mode Set CMDTIME 1 or whatever value equates to 1 second with your particular brand of TNC CMSG ON It doesn t need to be ON but if you put in some CTEXT and then wonder why it doesn t get sent when someone connects it is almost certainly because CMSG is OFF COMMAND 03 This is the character that puts the TNC back into command mode when you are connected The default is 03 control C If you change it you will probably struggle to get YAPP to work CTEXT Welcome to WinPack Send h for HELP Some packet programs require you to put an SID banner in the CTEXT e g something like PROG 1 0 You don t need to do this with WinPack and it isn t recommended because it might trigger another system into starting to try to send you mail So simply ma
261. uld well be called a 7 three quarter bit encoding because on the smallest scale 31 bits of the original data are encoded into 32 bits 4 characters of the 7PLUS code That is one of the reasons why 7PLUS is called 7PLUS This causes an overhead of 1 32 3 125 Because of the required line delimiters checksums head and foot lines the overhead increases to about 13 to 15 The characters used by the 7PLUS algorithm in HEX notation are 21 29 2B 7E 80 90 92 94 FC Characters not used 00 to 20 Control codes and the space character also 2A 7F 91 and 93 To process 7plus files either encode or decode you require the 7plus program there are versions for IBM compatible machines Atari Amiga and Archimedes Though obviously a program for one machine will not work on one of the others When preparing files for transmission they should be compressed the norm on PCs is to use PKZIP if at all possible to minimise the air time they will take Then using 7PLUS the files should be split into sections of perhaps 5k long maximum You should not send too many files sections during a day other people want to use the channels after all When you compressed files you can combine program and documentation in to one file Note There is a recommendation of a maximum of 10 parts of 5k long being transferred on packet editor note WinPack s default is 4k Items which are sent should not be copyright unless it is your copyright or
262. ulletins 2 If your local BBS is FBB but it doesn t send the beacons or it sends the beacons but you turn your packet system off for long periods select only compressed forward and compressed download 3 If your local BBS is NNA running V3 or later of the software select compressed forward and compressed download Please note that when using compressed forwarding to an NNA BBS FBB style compression is used which is supported by the BBS 4 If your local BBS is NNA running a version older than version 3 select compressed forward 5 If your local BBS is neither FBB nor NNA select neither compressed forward nor compressed download 6 Finally if you find you still have trouble select Human mode Some Advice Don t Keep Swapping Options It should be obvious from the above that there is an optimum way to use WinPack according to your specific situation You can swap between compressed and non compressed downloading and forwarding as much as you want You can also swap between using and not using the unproto beacons as much as you want but the setup changes that this causes mean the whole of your current message list will be deleted every time you change your usage of the unproto beacons Also you must make sure that there is no personal mail waiting to be downloaded or waiting to be sent to the BBS before you change your usage of the unproto beacons If you don t you may lose some messages or find your system trying to download
263. unning on dummy loads or with the TNCs connected back to back many frames cannot be decoded Listening to the frames can hear a difference between the ones that are decoded and the ones that aren t but it s difficult to say what it is If the DED firmware is replaced with TF2 7b or with Tiny 2 V3 1 or with TNC2 firmware the TNC works perfectly WinPack User Manual version 6 80 136 6 13 2002 TF2 7b My conclusion is that there is something about the BSX2 hardware that makes it unsuited to WA8DED firmware but have no idea what So if you have a BSX2 and you want to try host mode with WinPack recommend using TF2 7b rather than WA8DED WinPack User Manual version 6 80 137 6 13 2002 TFEMU TFEMU which is short for TF EMUlator is a WinPack host mode that uses the PC Flexnet software package and its associated TFEMU module WinPack and PC Flexnet Adapted from the WINPFLEX TXT in the WinPack directory written in September 1997 Introduction First a disclaimer my current knowledge of PC Flexnet is very slight If anyone who has a good knowledge of Flexnet gets WinPack working with it feel free to update this document and send me a copy implemented support for Flexnet in WinPack because had seen a lot of comments about it and wanted to see what it did must say that am very impressed with it and hope that the support for it in WinPack encourages more people in the UK to give it a try cannot
264. until you restart WinPack Clicking the Cancel button terminates the program and doesn t save any changes you might have made Here is the contents of AUTOTIME TXT that comes with the WinPack installation disks WinPack User Manual version 6 80 107 6 13 2002 11 Add On Programs Blank lines and lines starting with a is ignored Put in the times at which you want WinPack to connect to your local BBS The times don t have to be in chronological order WinPack will sort them for you At each specified time it will 1 Connect to the BBS 2 Download any waiting mail 3 List the messages on the BBS so as to update your copy of the message list 4 Download any marked messages including any that have been automatically marked as a result of listing the messages 5 Upload any mail that is waiting to go How often you do this is up to you think a little often is the best way to work and so would suggest every two or three hours However you may be influenced in your decision by the attitude of your local sysop and other local users If an entry is followed by the word MAIL then at that time any mail waiting to go will be uploaded to the BBS any waiting personal mail will be downloaded but marked bulls will not be read and the message list will not be updated The following example connects every three hours at 25 minutes past the hour The sessions at 1825 and
265. up WinPack allows you to add signatures to messages that you write It supports multiple signature files These files have an extension of SIG and live in the main WINPACK directory One signature file is supplied with the program which is called WINPACK SIG but you can easily create others yourself The signature files can contain tokens from the tokens list you can look at WINPACK SIG for an example of how the tokens can be used WinPack always regards one signature file as its default signature If you have Auto Signature enabled this default signature is automatically added to any mail messages that you write You can change which signature file is regarded as the default by using Options gt Signature Setup gt Default Signature If you don t enable Auto Signature you can add a signature to a message by using either the signature button or by using the Signature menu option This menu option is available both on the top level Options menu and on the Edit Window pop up menu If you use the signature button the default signature is automatically used If you use the Signature menu option you can choose from a list of available signatures Right clicking with the mouse on the signature button gives a short cut to the Signature menu Please note that if you create new signature files you must restart WinPack for these to become available on the signature list This is because the list is loaded when the program starts WinPack Use
266. ver send a sync request if less than 20 seconds have elapsed since the last one was sent WinPack User Manual version 6 80 160 6 13 2002 Appendix A Menu Layouts Stay Connected If you select this option during an Auto BBS session when the session ends WinPack won t disconnect you from the BBS However please note that if the session uses compressed forwarding this option will not be available Stop Tune If WinPack is playing a WAV or MIDI file selecting this option will stop it Alt Backspace provides a shortcut to this option Terminal If you are using BPQ this option starts the BPQ Terminal If you are running another host mode then it will start the Multi channel Terminal Otherwise this option is not available and gray ed out Host Initialise If host mode communications with the TNC is lost for any reason this option allows you to try to reinitialise it This option is only available if you are using a special host mode Otherwise this option is not available and gray ed out Host Reset This option carries out a complete reset of the host mode firmware and then reinitialises it It is only available with some special host modes Otherwise this option is not available and gray ed out WinPack User Manual version 6 80 161 6 13 2002 Options Menu Options Personal BBS Info Comms Setup Signature Setup 7plus Setup Use Speech Password Fonts Bulletin Columns Bulletin Delet
267. w separate directories used for extracted 7plus parts and for decoded 7plus files Also a record can be kept in a log file of all 7plus decode attempts If the Auto 7plus Decode option on the Options gt 7plus Setup submenu is checked then all personal mail and bulletins received during Auto BBS sessions are scanned to see if they contain 7plus data If they do the data is extracted and put in WinPack s 7EXTRACT directory When all the parts of a 7plus set have been received WinPack will attempt to decode the file and will send you a system message as to whether the decode was successful or not WinPack User Manual version 6 80 54 6 13 2002 8 File Transfers If Log 7plus Decode on the Options gt 7plus Setup menu is checked then every time that WinPack attempts to decode a 7plus file an entry will be made in the log file 7PLUSLOG TXT By looking at the log you can see when a file was decoded if the decode was successful whether it was received as a bulletin or as personal mail and who sent it You can view the log file with Notepad or you can load it into the WinPack Edit Window If the decode is successful then the parts are either deleted or moved to the 7PLUSOLD directory depending on the setting of the Keep 7plus Parts option on the Options gt 7plus Setup menu Normally the decoded file will be moved to the 7DECODE directory However if a file by the same name already exists in the 7DECODE directory the decoded file will be
268. ways 1 second and it is very unlikely that you will ever need to change this setting Please note that the setting used for the TNC may be in units of a second not a millisecond WinPack User Manual version 6 80 52 6 13 2002 8 File Transfers 7plus File Transfers For direct transfers of binary files you can use YAPP But for a mailbox to transfer binary files to remote users it needs them to be formatted as messages of a suitable size 7plus is a system that allows users to transfer binary files through the normal BBS system without causing complete mayhem This section tells you how to configure WinPack for using 7plus send files using 7plus automatically decode 7plus files received in an Auto BBS sessions automatically decode 7plus if you are manually connected to the BBS and reading messages If you don t know what 7plus is or why it is used see What Is 7plus below Note The use of Seven Plus to send binary files is one of the most controversial subjects on the UK packet network It is controversial because Seven Plus is so often used incorrectly by people sending very large files or sending parts that are far too large Before you use Seven Plus you should familiarise yourself with the DCC document Guidelines For The Use Of The Packet Radio Network which is in the Appendix A copy is also included with WinPack and can be viewed by clicking the Guidelines icon in the WinPack Program Group of Windows Configuring Wi
269. wn on a UK bank 2 can accept cash payment in the following currencies US dollars Australian dollars and all major EU currencies Please calculate the amount at the current exchange rate 15 to allow for the cost of me changing the money 3 A personal cheque check Again please add on 15 to allow for the cost of me negotiating the cheque Here are some ways you can pay in my order of preference kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk 11 Problem have a lot of fonts on my PC but when select any of the font options in WinPack it only offers a few fonts Answer The only fonts which are really suitable for packet use are fixed pitch fonts which support the ASCII character set Most Windows fonts are proportionally spaced and support the ANSI character set so they are not suitable WinPack User Manual version 6 80 153 6 13 2002 13 Trouble Shooting and FAQs If you use proportionally spaced fonts in WinPack then the bulletin list and any messages which are set out in a tabular format will look a complete mess Fancy signatures will also look a mess If you use fonts which support the ANSI character set then some characters will be displayed incorrectly In particular the line drawing characters often used in signatures will be incorrect Whenever you start WinPack it causes Windows to temporarily install the special WINPACK font Unless you have a really goo
270. word Here is a sample BBS TXT file for modem use the phone number is fictitious so don t try to use it HOTKEY F2 TITLE Connect to the local BBS Send some modem initialisation stuff if needed Probably best to at least send an ATZ so you get the OK back and you then know the modem is responding send AT amp F amp D3 amp R0S7 40 waitline OK Dial the number send ATDT01205654321 Wait for the login prompt waitfor Callsign send G8MZX waitfor Password send QKVRTX Wait for the BBS prompt found that it was better to put in the actual text than to use the WinPack WAITPROMPT option I m not sure why and after many phone calls trying to find out why gave up on it waitfor GB7OAR Next Roger WinPack User Manual version 6 80 82 6 13 2002 10 Advanced Features Remote Access If someone connects to your system then there are a few remote options available To let others know about them put something in your TNC s CTEXT message that contains something like HELP to get help The remote options are all case insensitive All commands can be abbreviated to a minimum of and one letter e g help hel he and h are all valid IBYE disconnect When someone disconnects from your system WinPack sends them the message in BYE TXT in your WinPack directory if it exists This file can contain WinPack tokens see the tokens list Also you can have more than one option for this file You must have BYE
271. you don t use the unproto headers you may need to work through the various options on the WinPack Options gt Bulletin Columns sub menu 5 This point is really only of interest to sysops There is a feature in FBB V7 that can result in the BBS behaving as if a user s F flag isn t set even though it is If Forward only with known BBS is set to No and the user ports have guest status then the BBS will not accept a SID banner from a user That means the users are unable to use compressed download and compressed forward The solution is to set Forward only with known BBS to Yes which is also a slightly more secure setting 6 If you have problems with FBB V7 after the sysop has changed over to it from FBB 5 15 then tell him He may also find a copy of this FAQ useful kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk 4 Problem When use WinPack with my PK 232 WinPack thinks that the TNC is connected all the time More or less any other AEA Timewave TNC can be substituted for PK 232 Answer With most AEA Timewave TNCs it is most important that you use the TNC command DCDCONN ON this makes the DCD output from the TNC reflect the connected state The default is that the DCD output is permanently on which makes WinPack and many other programs think that the TNC is connected If the TNC is a PK 88 then the setting of JP3 inside the TNC is used to control the behaviour of the DCD
272. your TNC doesn t use DCD to show the connected state any self respecting TNC should be capable of using DCD then WinPack tries to monitor for disconnections by looking for the TNC sending this string This Method Can Never Be Reliable To enable it you must also set DCD shows con state to No See DCD Behaviour below Editor Line Length Editor Line Length nput the line length to be used in the editor If any line is longer characters than this then a lt Enter gt will be inserted Tip if you use no more than about 74 characters it will allow your messages to be quoted without them becoming a complete mess In the interests of those who have to read your messages have limited the line length to 78 characters maximum DCD Behaviour YES DCD shows con YES M MERSE If your TNC uses the DCD line to show the connected state then select Yes If it doesn t then select No You will soon find out whether it does or not by watching the DCD indicator on the status bar It should be green when you aren t connected to another station and red when you are All self respecting TNCs should support DCD However some TNCs seem to use the DCD the wrong way round so an extra DCD mode has been added which is INVERSE If this is selected then when the DCD indicator is GREEN WinPack will regard the TNC as being connected and when it is RED it will regard the TNC as being disconnected This was added to help a local station who had a PK

WinPack User Manual - Clay County Amateur Radio Emergency

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