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Manual PTC-IIIusb

1. Newer Kenwood transceiver since TS 570 have a 9 pole sub D connector and operate with V24 levels for transceiver control It s indended for direct connection to a COM port of a PC Also these transceivers can easily be controlled by the PTC IIusb Just solder a 9 pole connector to the attached cable as shown in the following table below Signal PTC Color KENWOOD GND PIN 5 This cable is available completely assembled Refer to chapter 16 on page 193 Table 3 13 KENWOOD V24 3 6 2 Connection to ICOM transceivers Nearly all ICOM equipment has a 3 5 mm jack socket for remote control Bi directional communication is carried out over a single wire in order that data can be both sent and received Various equipment carries different addresses so it is possible for more than one piece of equipment to be connected to the remote control cable Further information can be found in the appropriate literature from ICOM GND GND This cable is available completely assembled Refer to chapter 16 on page 193 ICOM Signal Figure 3 5 ICOM plug Table 3 14 ICOM 22 3 Installation 3 6 3 Connection to YAESU transceivers Many new YAESU radios like the FT890 or FT990 contain a 6 PIN Mini DIN socket for remote control Please read the equipment handbook or consult your dealer PIN 3 RxD PINI violet__ PIN 2 GND_ PIN 13 orange PIN 1 Table 3 15 YAESU FT 890 990 The FT980 is equipped with a normal 6
2. 17 Transceiver remote control cccccseeceecceeseeeeeeeeeeees 21 97 E Sent wer se II oT te oe meee 22 ET COMICO ia seeds icici A A dda dads 24 The FISD AA 25 E EE 38 Raised Cosine Pulse Sampling points marked X 187 PACTOR 2 spectrum and 300 Bd FSK 200 Hz Shift 187 Xl List of Tables List of Tables Table 1 1 TE Oe i ai cath ege 3 TA T A ER 4 Table 3 1 Cable Colors 8 pole DIN cable ccceeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeees 16 Table 3 2 ICOM 8 OT CONN CGO ona 17 Table 3 3 ICOM 13 pin connection acccccccimicic nenocianaasicanecacinc narices 17 Table 3 43 ICOM 13 pin CONNSCIAN EE 17 Table 3 5 Kenwood 13 pin connection saiinssicscsincscscsdncssncsincsesssindscscsisesevess 18 Table 3 6 Kenwood TS 50 connection E 18 Table 3 7 KENWOOD 6 pin Mini DIN co coconin noci cinacinic nacona sisacina coca c niada 18 Table 3 57 Yaesu CONN IO rs 18 Table 3 9 YAESU 6 pin Mini DIN gedtzgebengtieedegtgebengtgebetegeiegteiesdtedere 19 Table 3 10 YAESU G pin MID rra 19 Table 3 11 Cable Colors 13 pole DIN cable AEN 21 Table 3 12 RENO Tania dida 22 Table 3 19 KENWOOD V24 EE 22 Table 3 14 ICOM WEE 22 Table 3 15 YAESU FT 890 990 E 23 Table 3 46 YAESU PET EE 23 Table S 17 YAESU AA A 23 Table 3 18 YAESU newer generaton AEN 23 Table 5 1 Command prompts E 28 Table Si ag Remie commana EE 31 Table 5 3 PACTOR mailbox COMMAndS EE 32 Table 5 4 Packet Radio mailbox commande unn 34 Table 5 5 NAVTEX messag
3. Log Callsupthelogbook ________ Of course it is possible to enter mailbox commands on the console With the DIR and LIst command you can check the mailbox contents Write saves the mail with Read you can read the mail and with DELete you can delete the mail 5 7 1 Multiple file operations All commands that contain a file number in the argument e g DELete or Read allow batch access File numbering is indicated in the format start end DEL test 1 entire directory named test is erased R 2 4 read file numbers 2 to 4 of the present directory Dir 4 lists the files in the present directory from no 4 till the last file 5 7 2 Special features when reading files When a remote station is reading out a file in PACTOR the PTC checks if the file has been written in AMTOR Next of all it is checked if it only contains capital letters If yes then the PTC converts the file contents into lowercase letters which can lead to almost doubling of the transmission speed in PACTOR due to more effective Huffman coding 32 5 PTC Firmware 5 7 3 The PTC mailbox for Packet Radio Up to four PR Packet Radio users may be simultaneously connected in PR to the PTC mailbox There they may read files write files and delete files In addition the PTC Tlusb allows a further user simultaneous access to the internal mailbox via PACTOR or AMTOR Virtually unlimited access is thus allowed to the same data pool via PACTOR AMTOR and PR This result i
4. Without a parameter the B command shows the modem type and the baud rate as set If a valid baud rate is given as parameter it is set in the Packet modem Valid baud rates are R300 R600 300 1200 9600 19200 With 300 baud the tuning display is activated refer to 9 4on page 119 For 9600 and 19200 baud operation a suitable transceiver is necessary 10 4 28 C This is identical to the CLR command in the main menu of the terminal mode It works only on the PACTOR channel 10 4 29 E Default setting 6 Parameter X 1 7 brightness value Identical to the BRightn command of the main menu in the terminal mode This serves to set the brightness of the LED display between 6 and 100 The parameter 1 is equivalent to 6 of the maximum brightness Parameter 7 represents 100 10 4 30 Gel Initiates a BREAKIN Works only in the receiving condition IRS SEND bit in the status byte 0 10 4 31 L Default setting 1 Parameter 0 PACTOR listen mode switched off 1 PACTOR listen mode switched on Turns PACTOR listen mode on 1 or off 0 10 4 32 M Default setting 0 Parameter 0 hostmode expansion switched off 1 hostmode expansion switched on 144 10 Hostmode The parameter of the 3M command activates the respective hostmode terminal expansion At a hostmode start it is always set to 0 The hostmode program must choose the respective amount of expansion it needs for itself after the start This greatly ease
5. DIR Read the main directory Chapter636 30 5 PTC Firmware Short description POSition Requests GPS position Chapter 6 71 Starts QRT Chapter 6 76 Send Sends a particular file Chapter 6 106 SHow Jas up QSO statistical data and PTC settings Chapter 6 87 Time Jas up the PTC clock time ___ Chapter 93 TRX ___ Transceiver control Chapter 6 97 Chapter 6 102 Calls up the PTC software version Chapter 6 105 Writes a file into the PTC Mailbox Chapter 6 106 Table 5 2 Remote commands In addition all remote control commands are identified with the word remote in the table of contents and command description in this manual refer also to chapter 6 80 page 79 5 7 PTC Mailbox The PTC contains its own built in mailbox The mailbox files are stored in static RAM and erases its content when the power supply is turned off So if you want to use the mailbox excessively then take care not to switch of the PTC IIIusb The maximum allowable file length and the number of files in the mailbox is only limited by the amount of free memory The memory can be expanded up to 2 MByte Filenames may be a maximum of 10 characters long and should contain no special characters The PTC truncates all over long filenames after 10 characters no difference being made between upper and lower case letters Entering the Help command via PACTOR the mailbox of the PTC IITusb displays a list of available commands At Re
6. and n are coded with only two or three bits Rare characters such as Y can conversely be up to 15 bits long On an average one obtains a symbol length of around 4 7 bits which is a considerable compression factor compared to 7 bit ASCII of constant length The Markov coding to put it very sloppily is like a doubled Huffman compression Here it is not just the simple frequency distribution of characters which plays a role Instead the interest is in the frequency distribution of the leading or initial letter of any two byte sequence Let us take our example of an e It is very probable that an n an r or a t may follow On the other hand it is extremely unlikely that an X would be the next character The resultant frequency distribution is more accurate than the simple frequency distribution of the characters in a text and therefore allows a better compression Every leading character should allow in principle its own Huffman code for the following character to be built up Every leading character therefore lays down its own Huffman table for the following characters Unfortunately although very convincing in theory this system has two very obvious weak points Firstly the coding table would be impracticably large as there would have to be a Huffman table for every character Secondly the least common characters in 190 15 Basics particular show a very unstable context dependent resultant
7. 415 331 2063 fax pactor farallon us http www farallon us Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 2 1 3 1 3 2 3 3 3 3 1 3 4 3 4 1 3 4 2 3 4 3 3 5 3 5 1 3 5 2 3 5 3 3 5 4 3 6 3 6 1 3 6 2 3 6 3 3 7 5 1 5 2 INTMORUCA nto an EOP 1 orl laa the e d Du EE 1 A A 1 About THIS manual ii a 1 TIA EE 2 el Su A A ernst 2 The SCS GOROM EE 2 H e 2 Version DUMAS 4 SE A Professional solutions oocccooncccnnccinnnccinonaninonacanonaninos 4 PACTOR S EE 4 PACTO E 5 EE Te Io ap aaean teretente teenie i ncrenmr Sper enn tare ne eter enn Pare 6 e hea EES 6 EE 6 Customer SUD DOM icriccinirric ii ii 9 WEE 9 IO TE AAA 11 Ree ENEE net 17 E A 11 A A A A 12 Bluetooth Installation rra 14 Rear side configuration switch oooonnnicccccccnnnncccnnnnnn 14 A WEE 14 BIO A 14 A N 15 Connections to beiransceiver 15 Connection to ICOM transceivers cccccooonnccncccnnnnnnoncnnn 17 Connection to Kenwood transceivers cccccccoonncnnccnoo 18 Connection to Yaesu transcCeiVerS ooonnccnccconnnnnccnono 18 Amplitude AUUSIMONM sisiraan 19 Transceiver Remote Control 21 Connection to KENWOOD transcelvers oooocccc 22 Connection to ICOM transceivers sessies 22 Connection to YAESU transceiverg 23 A EE 24 LED VE 25 le te aa 27 Ee BEE 27 Command siruchurge 28 2 0 0 5 9 1 Table of Contents A MS 28 Simultaneous STBY MOG scpincsirinicntici iniciar 29 Specialties of the PTC Il
8. If you have the Bluetooth option installed inside the PTC IIusb you can certainly also use this to establish a connection to your computer For more information about Bluetooth refer to chapter 3 3 on page 12 The PTC IIIusb is physically connected to the PC via an USB connection but from the viewpoint of the software it behaves similar to a normal serial equipment For that in the command description you will often find relations to the serial connection interface of the PTC IIIusb In this case not a physical serial link is meant but the virtual COM port created by the USB driver on your PC If signals of the serial connection is referred to then the virtual signals are meant which are created by the driver and provided to the programs in use Certainly this signals are not available as wires pins any more like it would be the case with a normal serial connection 1 3 About this manual This manual contains information on the installation and operation of the SCS PACTOR Controller The short form for PACTOR Controller is PTC and is used in this manual alternatively The manual may be used as a reference manual for the PTC commands and as a hardware reference The section 3 shows how to quick start the PTC IIIusb Section 15 gives basic introduction about PACTOR and PACTOR II Section 5 shows the command structure and operation of the PTC You should additionally read sections 6 42 and 6 72 Here it is explained how the audio
9. Order No 8090 ICOM 9 pin cable ICOM audio cable PTC 8 pin DIN to ICOM 9 pin SUB D e g for M801 IC 710 GMDSS version Order No 8190 ICOM 13 pin cable ICOM audio cable PTC 8 pin DIN to ICOM 13 pin DIN e g for M706 IC 718 Order No 8110 YAESU Audio cable PTC 5 pin DIN to YAESU FT 817 6 pin Mini DIN e g for FT 100 FT 817 FT 897 Also usable for 1k2 Packet Radio Order No 8120 KENWOOD Audio cable PTC 8 pin DIN to KENWOOD ACC2 13 pin DIN Order No 8160 2m Audio extention cable 8 pin DIN socket to 8 pin DIN connector Order No 8140 3 m Audio extention cable 8 pin DIN socket to 8 pin DIN connector Order No 8150 TRX Control V24 cable TRX control 13 pin DIN to 9 pin SUB D connector and 3 5 mm speaker connector e g for YAESU FT 1000 and KENWOOD TS 570 TS 870 TS 2000 and more Order No 8080 TRX Control V24 cable YAESU TRX control 13 pin DIN to 9 pin SUB D connector and 3 5 mm speaker connector e g for YAESU FT 847 Order No 8085 193 16 Accessories TRX Control cable YAESU TRX control 13 pin DIN to YAESU FT 817 8 pin Mini DIN e g for YAESU FT 817 FT 100 FT 897 Order No 8130 TRX Control cable ICOM CIV TRX control 13 pin DIN to ICOM CIV port 3 5 mm pin connector and 3 5 mm speaker connector Order No 8170 USB Cable Cable to connect the PTC IIIusb to the PC Order No 8030 Bluetooth USB Stick For computers which do not have Bluetooth on boa
10. 100 Parameter X 0 1500 delay in ms Defines the delay time between the Audio IN socket X5 PIN 4 and Audio OUT socket X5 PIN 1 signal 7 6 Help Lists all commands used in the aud menu 7 7 Invert Default setting 3000 Parameter X 3000 4500 inversion frequency in Hz Activates the Audio inverter to change LSB to USB and USB to LSB The inversion frequency is normally set to 3000 Hz An optional argument allows adjustment of the inversion frequency between 3000 and 4500 Hz Audio inverter with an inversion frequency of 3600 Hz aud Invert 3600 lt Return gt 7 8 Notch Activates the automatic N times notch filter All systematic signals are heavily attenuated The algorithm used leads to considerably less signal distortion of speech signals compared to simpler DSP notch filters 7 9 Peak Activates the automatic N times peak filter This may be considered as a phase linear Auto Correction filter of a very high order and large dynamic range This filter enables slow CW signals within the SSB bandwidth to be found that lie below the level discernible by the human ear The filter algorithm puts a very narrow band filter on all systematic signal components Uncorrelated noise is heavily attenuated 7 10 Quit Terminates the aud menu 98 7 Audio 7 11 Through Loops through the Audio signal direct i e without filtering from the input ADC to the output DAC 7 12 TOne Default setting 1000 Para
11. 31 PTT delay in X e 5 msec Sets the TX keying delay x times 5 ms The TX keying delay TXDelay is the time between activating the PTT and the sending of the first data 6 99 UMlauts Default setting 1 Parameter 0 No umlaut in Huffman 1 German umlauts in Huffman With UMlauts the umlaut convention for German umlauts for Huffman coding is activated or de activated The coding table is described in the MOde command Usually the activated umlaut convention is used as this considerably increases the transmission speed of German plain language texts The very often occurring umlaut is then being transmitted within a Huffman packet 90 6 Commands Unfortunately within the ranks of PTC clones there is equipment that cannot convert the umlaut multimode controllers from the USA In order to remain compatible with these systems the PTC allows the umlaut coding table to be turned off 6 100 Unproto Default setting 1 2 Parameter 1 10 Transmission mode for Unproto operation 30 41 1 5 Number of packet repetitions This command allows the transmission of broadcasts CQ calls etc in PACTOR without acknowledgment from the receiving station s An optional parameter sets the baud rate and the number of repetitions of packets in the transmission This parameter can be set according to prevailing conditions Set the number of packet repetitions to 3 cmd U 3 lt Return gt Now with the following command a 20
12. 7095 14095 18102 5 21095 and 28095 kHz Mark The following message types have been defined to date DX News Bulletin General News Bulletin Keplerian Data Bulletin Propagation News Bulletin Space Bulletin Special Bulletin Table 5 6 AMTEX message types eee a nt Ge Generally A is used as the area code Station ident Exceptionally S has been used 5 9 GPS The Global Positioning System GPS has very quickly become a standard for all areas that require exact positional information e g shipping in car navigation systems etc Today GPS receivers are cheaply available and widely used The PTC Iusb offers the possibility to link the GPS technology with PACTOR and also to PR It now becomes possible for example to call up the present position of small ships or deep sea yachts via shortwave without requiring a PC to be running on the mobile station and without a ships radio operator 5 9 1 Connecting the GPS receiver The PTC IlTusb uses a 3 pole screw terminator to connect to a GPS reciever This input is compatible with 5V TTL and RS232 V24 signal levels This pins are assignes as follows Shield GPS GND Figure 5 1 GPS connector The PTC Illusb expects GPS data with 4800 baud and in NMEA format Some GPS receivers offer various protocolls for control via the serial port The PTC Tllusb expects a NMEA compatible GPS receiver The GPS equipment must therefore be set to NMEA compatible 38 5 PTC Fi
13. DJOOW PACTOR The Canadian Amateur Radio Magazine 1992 JASTX PACTOR CQ ham radio 10 1992 JAIGGA PACTOR PTC CQ ham radio 2 1993 J MEHAFFEY K4IHP PACTOR Phone Home QST 9 1993 STEVE FORD WBSIMY SCS PTC Illusb Multimode Controller with PACTOR IT QST 1 1997 STAN HORZEPA WA LOU Do You Need PACTOR II Too QST 12 1996 VARIOUS A Comparison Of HF Digital Protocols QST 7 1996 CHRIS LOREK G4HCL PTC 2 Communications Controller HAM RADIO TODAY 9 1995 DENIS BONOMO F6GKQ SCS PTC IlTusb controleur PACTOR multimodes MEGAHERTZ magazine 4 1997 BUCK ROGERS K4ABT PACTOR la nueva frontera Radio Amateur 12 1993 Index Index APOWET tee E 46 de APR Saa e estes aetna es 39 121 ei Comments irere Re nE E aa 121 EE 122 Eege 144 SE Se ee EE geg decke Wd E E vaio d e Ee e ON 144 Ster siet woh hail eanduvenehss 123 eebe 144 PUM EE 123 OL sienna EH 144 AO ees Een 47 A E 144 ARESOLUE oocccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccecceceee 112 Hee 145 ARN O a A AITANA 48 50 DOO A E 145 PUIG REENEN 97 161 AQ essssssserssnsanesesensessenensosessnsessansnessee 145 ECH A8 T ies 145 Audio functions a AOD oer EAR 43 O tido Saha 145 Audio output level ad Be 62 76 EE 146 AUDPOIM 0 o ccccccccccccccccccccccecccccccccceee 161 Auto status in bhostmode 148 Avoid incompatibility 0 0 0 eee 42 B E 141 A AS 142 B DK emer 120 143 EEN EE 48 ONE E 143 Bandwidth an 97 T2 TE dee as 143 Basic princip
14. G3PLX offers the RTTY enthusiast a modern variation to this by now somewhat old fashioned operating system It has markedly reduced bandwidth requirements and a better resistance to interference The operating technique is very similar to the normal operation of Baudot RTTY although a more sensitive fine tuning is required compared to the older system as a PSK31 signal requires a tuning accuracy of a few Hertz Technically the system is a differentially phase modulated single carrier with a Baud rate of 31 25 steps per second In practice DBPSK and DQPSK are employed but with a heavy leaning towards DBPSK DQPSK despite the use of convolutional Coding k 5 has shown itself to be more prone to errors at very low SNR s compared to uncoded DBPSK The waveform pulse of PSK31 is the Raised Cosine in time so that the DBPSK signal switches between two tone when only phase changes are taking place and a plain single tone carrier The bandwidth between the first null points of the spectrum is 62 5 Hz A specialty of PSK31 is that it allows the entire ASCII character set even the back space character is included 11 2 Activation and use of the PSK31 terminal The command to activate the PSK31 mode is PSKTerm in the cmd menu Command parameters are not required and will be ignored if given After turning on the PSK31 terminal the PTC Illusb is in the receive condition Various PSK31 relevant settings are at their default or previously se
15. ICOM Pin 7 Not connected Pin 8 RxD V24 l l Pin9 TxD TTL Figure 3 4 Transceiver remote control Pin 10 RTS TTL Pin 11 Not used Pin 12 Not used Pin 13 GND TxD TTL Transmit data from the PTC to the transceiver TTL level RxD TTL Receive data from the transceiver to the PTC TTL level CTS TTL Handshake signal from the transceiver to the PTC TTL level RTS TTL Handshake signal from the PTC to the transceiver TTL level TxD V24 Transmit data from the PTC to the transceiver V24 level RxD V24 Receive data from the transceiver to the PTC V24 level CTS V24 Handshake signal from the transceiver to the PTC V24 level RTS V24 Handshake signal from the PTC to the transceiver V24 level ICOM Special bi directional data signal for controlling ICOM equipment GND Ground To connect the PTC IIusb to your transceiver use the attached 13 pole DIN cable 10 0 00 970 0 0 HWH black white Table 3 11 Cable Colors 13 pole DIN cable 21 3 Installation All unused wires of the TRX control cable must not be twisted or soldered together All unused wires have to be insulated seperately avoiding to touch each others 3 6 1 Connection to KENWOOD transceivers Many KENWOOD radios use a 6 pin DIN socket for remote control With some equipment types however the serial interface has to be modified Please read the equipment handbook or consult your dealer Color KENWOOD orange Table 3 12 KENWOOD TTL
16. KISS MAXframe MCon MFIlter Monitor MStamp MText MYAlias MYcall MYMail PACLen PErsist PRBox Quit RESptime RETry Setchn SLottime TRACE TXdelay TXLevel Unproto USers All other normal commands are not available in the pac menu Quit or DD exit the pac menu The PACket command can be followed by a valid pac command as an argument As with the other sub functions of the PTC IIIusb it is also possible to pass through direct commands Switch off the Packet Radio listen without using the pac menu cmd PAC M 0 lt Return gt 9 1 DAMA The PTC IlTusb in Packet Radio is full compatible with the FS DAMA Demand Assigned Multiple Access standard You easily recognize a DAMA Digi with a look to your monitor The expression DAMA is added to the header of the monitored packets if the packet is received by a DAMA Digi The DAMA mode needs not be activated by the user The PTC IIusb automatically notices if you are working with a DAMA Digi or not and behaves respectively 9 2 Modern Times We hope you have already recognized the following warning The PTC IlTusb expects all time parameters in milliseconds The settings of the time parameters are very important for proper Packet radio operation How long to wait for the confirmation FRack How long is the time until it is checked if the other station is still available CHeck etc The function and most of all the reliability of a Packet Radio connection depends o
17. P3 PACTOR 3 Rx call AT AMTOR X Packet AX 25 AMTOR links are only entered in the Logbook after a successful LOGIn After the call the used scan channel 1 16 is displayed in a new column CH in the PTC Log If the scanner was not activated a 0 is displayed as scan channel The extended log is only displayed if at least one of the shown connections was started out of a scan process of the PTC Packet Radio entries begin with X from AX 25 followed by the number of the port where the connect took place The logbook entries are made only after a disconnect so that by multiple simultaneous logged in users the logbook entries might not appear in strictly chronological order 6 52 LOGI remote In order to allow access to the PTC mailbox in AMTOR a user station must first Login using the LOGIn command e g LOGI DLIZAM The user s callsign is thus made available to the PTC mailbox Only after a correct LOGIn can the AMTOR user station send read or delete files from the mailbox A successful LOGIn also writes the user s callsign into the Log book page LOGIn can also be used by the sysop This allows the callsign of the other station to be entered into the PTC to enable full mailbox access without the station having to go through the full LOGIn procedure In PACTOR this would be needed only in exceptional circumstances as an automatic LOGIn is performed The call of the other station is essential for the correct operation of the PACT
18. Small corrections to the positioning of the picture edges can be made here by shifting the entire picture right or left Normally no changes in the HSynch default setting is required 8 89 JSynch Default setting 1 Parameter 0 LSB SSTV Sync disabled 1 LSB SSTV Sync enabled Activates 1 or de activates 0 the LSB SSTV synchronization mode for SSTV In this mode the PTC IIIusb processes the SSTV synch pulses separately and re introduces them according to the JVFAX convention into the two lowest bits of each of the data bytes given out on the serial interface If there is no synch pulse present then the two lowest bits 0 and 1 are set to 1 The PTC IIIusb erases the two lower bits for the period of a synch pulse 8 8 10 SMode Default setting 1 Parameter X 0 15 SSTV sub mode Sets the SSTV sub mode required The SMode parameter is only used for the SSTV line synch processing as it is only here that specific information about the various SSTV sub modes is required If one wishes to work with any sort of SSTV signal that is not in the following list then the SMode parameter must be set to 0 This has the effect that multiple line checking of the synch processing is turned off The PTC IIlusb works perfectly satisfactory in this mode but weak signals naturally lead sometimes to a loss of synch with the normal synch pulse processing with it s resultant picture distortion The multiple synch check SMode paramet
19. The FSK test may be ended with lt Q gt 12 5 Help Gives a short list of the SyS menu commands The Help command can contain a command word from the SyS menu as argument whereby a description of that command is given Help to the Audio command SyS Help Audio lt Return gt 12 6 Kill The sub directory killer Enables the stepping through of the PTC mailbox directories in alphabetical order using the lt gt and lt gt and removing same with the lt gt 12 7 Led LED test The PTC IIIusb shows off its lighting console 12 8 PLI Tests the DSP PLL With correct operation of the PLL the PTC Illusb gives OK In case of error NOT OK is given 12 9 Ptt Activates the PTT test routine The PTT switching transistor is toggled on or off by means of lt Return gt The PTT test routine can be ended with lt Q gt 12 10 Quit Exits the SyS menu The command prompt returns to its normal form cmd Identical to the DD command of the SyS menu 162 12 SYStest 12 11 Ram Displays the measured RAM available in the PTC IMusb 12 12 SERNum SERNum displays the serial number of the PTC IIusb This number alwas has 16 digits SERNum answers as follows Serial number 01000005A6E69C22 12 13 Trxtest Tests the transceiver control port This command is only working properly when using a special test adapter on the TRX control connector 163 13 TRX Chapter 13 13 TRX The TRX command without argument activates
20. and may just once be configured correctly in the setup of the program 9 8 17 MAXframe Default setting 7 Parameter X 1 7 number of unacknowledged packets Maximum number of unacknowledged info packets I Frames in a link i e MAXframe defines the number of packets the PTC IIlusb transmits continuously The value should be reduced in case of bad links 9 8 18 MCon Default setting 0 Parameter X 0 6 frame type MCon sets whether the monitor should remain switched on in terminal mode even during a connect Values greater than 0 switch on the monitor Values greater than 1 set the type of frames that are displayed 0 Monitor switched off 1 Only UI Frames 2 Additionally I Frames 127 9 Packet Radio 3 Additionally SABM and DISC Frames 4 Additionally UA or DM Frames 5 Additionally RNR RJ and FRMR 6 Additionally Poll Final Bit PID and serial numbers 9 8 19 MHFliter Default setting 10 Parameter X 1 128 max 4 ASCII characters This command removes the given characters from the data stream maximum 4 arguments The arguments must be given in decimal or hexadecimal prefixed with a character ASCII values Only works in PR terminal mode and can only be accessed in that mode Does not operate in hostmode Filters received and transmit characters The default value is 10 i e Linefeed This has the effect that lt CR gt lt LF gt in PR Terminal mode no longer causes incom
21. the PTC accepts this character only in the converse mode and not after the cmd prompt The CHANGEOVER character is not part of the transmitted data and will not be transmitted A CHANGEOVER initiated by the TX operator is not executed until all text in the transmit buffer is transmitted In AMTOR the CHANGEOVER character has a further function In an AMTOR QSO AMTOR ARQ Mode A the CHANGEOVER character can be used instead of the sequence Whilst in AMTOR standby the CHANGEOVER character can be used to initiate an FEC Mode B transmission Whilst in AMTOR monitor mode Mode L it causes a new synchronization In RTTY command BAUdot the CHANGEOVER character switches to transmit The CHANGEOVER character can be changed at any time using the CHOchr command 52 6 Commands Using lt Ctrl Z gt entering lt Ctrl gt lt Z gt as a CHANGEOVER characters is defined with the command CHO 26 Illegal values are 13 CR 32 Space 30 IDLE 17 XON 19 XOFF and other previously defined special characters 6 20 CLr Remote Deletes the transmit buffer Everything that is contained in the transmit buffer which has not yet been transmitted is deleted 6 21 CMsg Default setting 1 Parameter 0 Connect text off 1 Connect text on This command turns the connect text on or off There is only one common connect text for AMTOR and PACTOR Therefore CMsg 1 enables the connect text in PACTOR as well as in AMTOR 6 22 Conne
22. 10 Hz synthesizers are used Valid Frequency inputs 14079 14079 0 14079 010 3 582 500 1000 123 The frequency input 0 kHz serves to erase the channel from the frequency list Deletes the channel 1 from the frequency list trx Ch 1 0 lt Return gt The comment field has several purposes one is certainly is to act as a reminder But the same time the comment field can be used to specify additional channel properties so called attributes A detailed description can be found in section 13 23 on page 176 The maximum length of the comment field is 52 characters 13 2 DD Serves to leave the trx menu The command prompt changes back to its normal form cmd 166 13 TRX 13 3 DUmp Default setting 0 Parameter 0 Dump mode disabled 1 Dump mode enabled With the command Dump 1 lt Return gt the PTC IIIusb is switched to transceiver dump mode this mode providing a very simple Host mode for direct communication between the terminal program and the transceiver The PTC IIIusb only serves as a level converter or baudrate converter and delivers as required the necessary signal preamble for SGC transceivers but the actual control sequences must be delivered by the host computer or terminal program In dump mode the information given out by the transceiver is transferred direct to the host computer and must be processed there TRX dump sequences from the host computer terminal to the PTC IIIusb have the same format as th
23. 13 TRX 13 11 Ptime Default setting 50 Parameter X 1 1 000 pulse time in milliseconds Sets the time in Milliseconds for the Up and Down keying pulse that can be initiated from the Up and Down commands trx menu A Ptime value of 50 means that the respective switch in the PTC IIIusb per impulse is closed for 50 ms and open for 50 ms 13 12 Quit Serves to leave the trx menu The command prompt returns to its normal form Identical to the DD command in the trx menu 13 13 RType Default setting 0 Parameter 0 R amp S XK 2000 1 R amp S XK 852 As default setting the PTC IIlusb supports the R amp S model XK 2000 If RType is set to 1 than the PTC IIIusb does support the R amp S transceiver model XK 852 for remote control The VFO information readout is currently not possible in this configuration This command is only active if R amp S as transceiver is selected with the TYpe command 13 14 Scan Default setting 0 Parameter 0 Stop scanner 1 Start scanner C 1 32 toggle channel scan status The Scan command has two different functions If as argument a or 0 follows then that means the scanner is switched on or off respectively This can be said to be the main switch for the scanner If as argument the word Channel Minimum abbreviation C follows then the PTC requires a further argument the Channel number from the frequency list refer to the Channel command chapter 13 1 page 165 Such a command swi
24. 15 3 Basics of the PACTOR 2 protocol 15 3 1 General The PACTOR 2 protocol PT 2 is essentially based on the Level I standard consisting of a synchronous half duplex ARQ protocol New however is the ability to choose four different speed steps so that a greatly improved adaptability is obtained The modulation system used for PT 2 is based on DPSK differential phase shift keying see below which leads to a very narrow spectrum practically independent of the data rate The robustness of the DPSK modulation qualifies itself noticeably higher at lower information speeds in comparison to FSK In order to effect a further step towards robustness PT 2 uses high performance convolutional coding that is evaluated with a real Viterbi decoder in the data receiver see below The high correction capability of the decoder allows not only links with extremely weak or noisy signals but also with more normal signals enables short error bursts or fadeouts to be entirely ignored and a repetition of that packet is not required This is especially important with PT 2 as the new protocol allows switching to a triple cycle length if there is enough data in the transmit buffer The relatively long resultant data packet would be very prone to impulse errors from clicks or atmospherics QRN if not for the highly effective error correction designed 185 15 Basics 15 3 2 The modulation system As with the previous FSK standard PACTOR 2 also uses tw
25. 2 4 kHz Here only trial and error will tell if the received picture resolution is improved with a wider receiver IF bandwidth The majority of FM FAX transmissions are carried out with a speed of 120 lines per minute however 90 and 60 lines are also used by various agencies for special purposes The speed may be guessed with a bit of practice from the sound of the signal from the station loudspeaker If one is not sure then it can be found by counting for example for half a minute the typical rhythmical beat of the FAX transmission The start and end of an FM FAX transmission is usually signaled by a long several seconds tone sequence This method is called APT which means nothing more than Automatic Picture Transmission FAX Programs can evaluate these APT tones automatically FM FAX signals may be found all over the shortwave bands and are easily recognized by their typical rhythmical and somewhat rough tone The receiver should be set to USB for FM FAX reception so that the correct relationship between brightness and frequency 102 8 FAX information is maintained If the wrong sideband is chosen then the pictures are inverted i e black lines are drawn white and vice versa 8 2 3 SSTV With use of a computer creeping into virtually every shack the SSTV mode has changed from a technical challenge for a few specialists to a relatively wide spread and amusing amateur radio pastime Above all it is also interesting for epicu
26. 39 on page 61 BREAKIN character in chapter 6 12 on page 50 and the QRT character in chapter 6 77 on page 78 5 1 General The operation of the PACTOR Controller PTC takes place using commands which are sent over the USB interface The PTC then acknowledges with cmd and waits for a command All commands and command strings are closed with lt CR gt ASCII 13 lt LF gt ASCII 10 is ignored during the command input Working on the computer means you have to enter lt Return gt Corrections can be carried out with Backspace ASCII 8 above the lt Return gt key When in Standby the cmd prompt is available immediately after the last command The PTC is in the command mode The command mode is displayed with the system prompt cmd or pac During link set up and while connected the PTC is in the converse mode Switching to RTTY or turning on the CW terminal also activates the converse mode Whereas in the so called converse mode characters from the USB interface are placed in the transmit buffer and are sent over the HF channel at the next opportunity In Converse mode commands to the PTC must be preceded with an ESCAPE character initially set to lt ESC gt ASCII 27 After each ESC character only ONE command is accepted After an invalid entry however the PTC immediately allows a new input The ESCAPE character as well as the following command characters DO NOT of course go into the transmit buffer During an Unproto transmissi
27. Ctrl N Switches the NET operation off or on again This is a PSK31 specific function which has been developed due to the very small bandwidth and the therefore essential automatic adjustment of frequency required NET operation means that both the receive and transmit frequencies are automatically adjusted to that of the incoming signal Even after a long transmitting period there is generally no frequency jump between the QSO partners in question Manual intervention is thus kept to an absolute minimum during the entire QSO If both or more QSO partners have NET activated then it is possible that the entire QSO slowly drifts over the band from over to over always in the same direction If such an effect occurs then only ONE QSO partner should have NET turned on With NET non active the PTC IIIusb adjusts only the receive frequency 158 11 PSK31 In practice it has been found that an activated NET operation gives little or no problems A note concerning this can be found in the original G3PLX documentation available on the internet The PTC Illusb acknowledges the command with NET ON or NET OFF The default setting is NET active Ctrl F Sets the receive and transmit carrier frequency to the default value MARK SPACE 2 This function is only allowed or possible in the receive condition The PTC IIlusb acknowledges the command with RX TX Frequency reset to 1300 Hz Ctrl B Cycles between the
28. Directly after activating RTTY with BAU the PTC is in Converse mode i e all entered characters are send to the transmission buffer This has the advantage that text can be typed ahead During the other station s transmission it is possible to type in the station description or other message for example a welcome After switching to the transmit mode the text will be sent immediately To enter a command to the PTC an ESC character defined with the ESCchr refer to chapter 6 39 page 61 must be given first In RTTY mode the AMTOR prompt is in the form of R DFCJ gt After approximately 4 minutes of idle transmissions an automatic QRT is carried out 6 10 BC Default setting 1 49 6 Commands Parameter 0 FEC reception disabled 1 FEC reception enabled AMTOR FEC and NAVTEX reception is disabled or enabled If BC 1 the PTC will receive AMTOR FEC transmissions in the STBY mode With the ARX command the reception of AMTOR FEC and NAVTEX can be disabled independent from the setting of BC refer to Table 6 1 on page 48 6 11 BEI remote Default setting 1 Parameter 0 SYSOP calling disabled 1 SYSOP calling enabled This command has no function within the PTC IIusb and is just implemented to achieve extensive compatibility with existing PC software 6 12 BKchr Default setting 25 Ctrl Y Parameter X 1 127 ASCII code of the character decimal Defines the BREAKIN character used for PACTOR and AMT
29. IIlusb a special form of the ROM is used the so called FLASH memory RS232 Standard for the transmission of serial data Defines the pin out of the connectors and the voltage levels RS232 level The voltage level of a serial interface in accordance with RS232 standard is defined as follows 3 to 15 V for a logical 1 and 3 to 15 V for a logical 0 The range between 3 V and 3 V is not defined RTTY Radio Tele TYpe Rx Receive Short name for receive RxD 202 Glossary Receive data Short name for receiving data SNR Signal Noise Ratio TAPR Short name for the Tucson Amateur Packet Radio Corporation located in Tucson Arizona USA The TAPR group was most responsible for the outline for the AX 25 protocol for Packet Radio and developed the first TNC about 1983 and the following standards like TNC2 about 1985 Further information about TAPR are available via Internet http www tapr org Terminal Simple input output device of the early beginning of the computer area A terminal offers a serial interface a screen and a keyboard All signals received by the serial interface are displayed on the screen All inputs made at the keyboard are transmitted via the serial interface TTL Transceiver Transistor Logic Integrated circuits completely built up using transistors TTL level Logic level used in TTL circuits Usually ON for a logical 0 low and 5 V for a logical 1 high are used Tx Short name for tr
30. NMEA format The NMEA compatible string usually looks like SGPRMC 212234 A 5005 432 N 00845 974 E 000 0 360 0 190201 000 1 E 7B 10 4 15 PT Switches the PTC Illusb to PACTOR mode and loads the DSP respectively This command is necessary that the PTC Ilex can accept PACTOR connects attempts from a distant station after e g having just finished a Packet Radio connect and the PTC Ilex still is in Packet mode Also refer to chapter 5 5 on page 29 10 4 16 T Default setting 100 Parameter X 0 30 000 TxDelay in milliseconds Sets the time between keying the PTT and the initial transmission of data T 1 50 sets the TxDelay on port 1 to 50 ms 10 4 17 U Default setting 0 Parameter 0 Switch connect text off 1 Switch connect text on 2 Switch connect text on and analysis of special functions Enable or disable the connect text U defines the connect text U 1 Here is the PTC IIIusb The PTC II usb switches on the connect text and the text will be Here is the PTC Illusb U 1 asks for the connect text U 0 switches off the connect text 140 10 Hostmode If U is set to 2 the sequences B lt CR gt and Q lt CR gt are accepted additionally The two sequences are recognized if they occur at the beginning of a line and are closed directly with lt CR gt or lt Return gt B initiates the sysop bell duration about 14 seconds After receiving Q the PTC initiates a disconnect The sysop bell i
31. PTC changes the PACTOR CHANGEOVER character automatically into the sequence A break in is made using the normal BREAK IN character Bkchr 6 4 APower Default setting 0 Parameter X 0 200 minimal PSK amplitude This command allows the automatic transmitter power adjustment of the PTC IIIusb to be switched on and off If the channel conditions fluctuate rapidly it is recommended to switch off the Auto Power Option APower operates only during a PACTOR 2 and PACTOR 3 link l If APower is set 0 no automatic power reduction happens The audio output amplitude is always equal to the value being set with the command PSKAmpl If the argument is greater than zero the auto power will be activated but the lowest automatically established value will never be below the value defined by the argument of the APower command The AP value is equivalent to the minimal PSK amplitude But it is furthermore valid that the PTC IIIusb reduces the power only to 1 64 of the maximum amplitude given by PSKAmp1 although the AP value would allow further reducing 46 6 Commands If AP is set to 200 the PTC UIusb will never set the PSK output level below 200 mV That means that with a PSKA value of 140 setting of the maximum PSK amplitude value refer to the PSKAmp1 command chapter 6 72 page 76 and an AP of 200 the power never will be reduced If the PSKA value is 140 and the AP is 70 e g the amplitude of the PSKA output signal of the PT
32. Shannon s theorems According to Shannon good codes should be as long as possible and as unsystematic as possible At the beginning of the sixties the convolutional codes began to slowly gain importance In this form of coding a message or a data packet is coded as a complete entity The actual encoder consists of a tapped shift register and carries out an algorithm which strongly resembles the mathematical convolution integral hence the name The length of the shift register is called the constraint length and sets a limit to the correction capacity that can be achieved To decode convolutional codes a number of different methods can be employed The optimum decoder that really can achieve the maximum possible gain from the code is called a Viterbi decoder Unfortunately there is an exponential relation ship between constraint length and the computing time required by a Viterbi decoder This is why the use of the Viterbi decoder for real time tasks has been limited to a maxi mum constraint length of six for many years The present day generation of DSP s in the meantime allow use to constraint length nine or in special cases even more As opposed to block codes convolutional codes with a Viterbi decoder easily allow the fine analogue resolution of the received signal to be included in the decoding process and hence even more gain to be obtained This method is called soft decision and depending on the form of interference presen
33. The S command does not require a parameter The audio sampling rate is 9600 samples per second and cannot be changed As soon as the modem recognizes a S command it starts acquiring 1024 16 bit samples on the HF port The samples are directly no filtering no AGC written to a data buffer and can be retrieved from there on hostmode channel 251 Thus the modem generates 8 hostmode data packets with data field length 256 per S command Every 16 Bit sample is split into 2 bytes the less significant byte lower half of the 16 bits appears first The S command can be used for displaying the frequency spectrum of the input signal on the HF port The extended hostmode logic channel 255 includes channel 251 10 4 25 T2 Default setting 500 Parameter X 1 30 000 response time delay Sets the value for the AX 25 timer 2 T2 in milliseconds After receiving a packet the PTC IIIusb waits the time T2 to check if another packets follow If so all packets can be confirmed with only one control packet 10 4 26 T3 Default setting 300 000 Parameter X 0 3 000 000 time in milliseconds 143 10 Hostmode The T3 command sets the T3 or link activity timer If nothing is received from the distant station for the time T3 then the link status is polled 10 4 27 B Default setting 1200 or 9600 Parameter Rx Rx baud rate for the radio link Tx Tx baud rate for the radio link Setting checking the radio link baud rate
34. The system uses the lower two bits of every byte to indicate the synch pulse Bits 0 and 1 are set to 1 in the resting state As soon as the PTC IIlusb recognizes a correct synch pulse on the 1200 Hz frequency it sets the bits 0 and 1 to 0 for the time the synch pulse occurs Note the VIS code is at present not processed by the PTC IIIusb and therefore bit 2 is actually redundant for the signaling condition The small decrease in color resolution caused by only having 6 bits to signal brilliance information can in practice be ignored The JVFAX sync method used by the PTC may be turned off using the JSynch parameter command In theory the PTC IIlusb may be used with the JVFAX in the operational condition LSB SSTV SYNCH NO Then the system uses the full 8 bit data width for picture information The practical results however speak against using this method With the JSynch parameter turned on default setting the recognized synchronization pulse is signaled to the user with the CON LED flashing green A small time offset of the line synch pulse may be set by use of the HSynch parameter This allows the whole picture to be shifted slightly left or right For transmission use when in SSTV MODEM operation refer to chapter 8 7 1 page 110 8 6 4 Jvfax Starts the JVFAX mode This mode does not contain its own Modem as such Instead it offers a sort of springboard to FM FAX AM FAX and SSTV by using special control sequences that are recogni
35. With the use of DSP techniques the system delivers excellent linearity both in the receive and transmission paths This means very good color rendering and reproducibility A possibility for manually setting the filter bandwidth and maximum picture definition allow the user to adjust for actual signal conditions Transmit operation is also supported for FM FAX FSK AM FAX and SSTV The FM FSK modulator is phase continuous and highly linear producing an extremely clean transmitted signal The FM FSK demodulated signal is available as a 1 bit square wave at PIN 6 of the RS 232 interface in addition to the usual 8 bit serial transfer This allows full compatibility with the widely used radio teleprinter programs such as Zorns Lemma The PTC IIusb operates in all special MODEM functions as a FULL DUPLEX modem This means the appropriate demodulator generates the correct data even during the transmit phase This is in most cases however only of interest for testing purposes 8 2 Basic info concerning FAX and SSTV 8 2 1 AM FAX This FAX variant is found mainly in the typical VHF UHF SHF FM frequencies despite the fact that one tends to think of AM as a shortwave mode In practice AM FAX is an FM transmission but is concerned with the transmission of an amplitude modulated low frequency carrier The frequency of the carrier tone is normally 2400 Hz The instantaneous amplitude relates to the brightness information When the tone is at its maximu
36. a GPS receiver is connected to the PTC IIIusb its possible to readout the actual position using the POSition command The position information normally has the following format 75 6 Commands GPS POSITION REPORT Latitude 50 05 430 North Longitude 008 45 980 East Velocity 0 0 Knots Course 360 Recorded at 13 12 00 19 25 48 UTC GMT The POSition command allows the argument NMEA cmd POS NMEA lt Return gt The PTC IIIusb in this case gives out the original NMEA compatible position string sentence exactly as it was received from the GPS receiver NMEA compatible strings are understood by various navigational programs and can thus be almost universally used The NMEA compatible position string usually has the following format SGPRMC 212234 A 5005 432 N 00845 974 E 000 0 360 0 190201 000 1 E 7B 6 72 PSKAmpl Default setting 140 Parameter X 20 2000 AF output voltage peak to peak in millivolts This command serves to set the AF output voltage transmitted signal of the PTC HIusb for the DPSK modes PACTOR 2 ARQ and PACTOR 2 Unproto The DPSK signal of PACTOR 2 has a variable envelope the average power of which is approximately half the peak power It is therefore necessary to be able to adjust the PSK signal amplitude separately from the FSK amplitude refer also FSKAmp1 command chapter 6 42 page 62 in order that both forms of modulation should have the correct average power level A
37. a e e 60 Disconnect 60 61 77 78 126 137 AA se dae 167 Duplex in PACTOR eects 41 DW ell cohen ES 169 E A A e n 61 Error control coding oooonoccnococincconcs 188 BSG CIE nana 61 Extended Hostmode 147 F Pe 138 EE 62 101 142 FAX and SSTV bascs 101 Fax menu commande 105 206 Index Be Al eebe ee 180 FEA ii 62 EE 50 Firmware of the PTC IIIusb 27 Firmware update 92 tee EE 107 ERR 102 e te et et ts ee 138 LE 126 FICQUCICY ee 169 AA snoa 112 a O ete ek Seen 180 ee Oe te sree Meare 109 162 ESA at e 62 PSK E DE 113 G General Information 0 c008 101 General posi 191 Clos iii 200 GPSr eet 38 75 140 POSition commande 39 H A a a 63 Help 63 98 126 162 169 180 181 Eeer 89 Hostmode cccncnnnnnnnncnccn nnn 43 127 135 kee 114 I EEN 138 ICOM connecton 22 Ml AAA A 116 Installation aaa 11 A ced eats eect 98 99 J JHOST EE 127 138 IS Maida 114 JIVCOM Iren ti 109 IVCOMM tit 104 Un E 108 109 K EE 138 KENWOOD TTL connection 22 A A aa 162 eeler EE 119 127 AA ee noe es tee mt ae TROT 169 L Eet 139 EE 162 A eege 63 TIN WE 64 BCEE 170 Elo 64 Listen mode 65 128 A EE idee eet 65 A ee 66 LOGI iced a ees 66 Longpath connect 53 LOWAONES uaar a na 89 M Mia a 139 MAT a one 67 Mail announcement 67 Mailbox iii 31 51 command properties cccesceeseesteeseeteeees 34 COMMANAS see 32 file Opera ofgeseetene 32 Packet R
38. all CW QSO s will be correctly decoded The CW terminal can be closed with the D command or DD may also be used 58 6 Commands 6 31 CWWeight Default setting 50 Parameter X 5 95 weight of CW characters in This command sets the weighting of the CW character that is dot dash relationship together with dot space ratio between character elements Standard CW shows a ratio between dots and spaces of 1 The dot dash relationship is 3 to 1 With lighter CW characters the ratio between dot and dash length is larger than 3 and the space to dot relationship greater than 1 With a CWWeight value of 50 the PTC operates with normal ratios With values greater than 50 the weight of the characters increase and with smaller values they decrease percentage wise A weight of 25 means that the dot length would be only half that of the normal setting the space length being respectively longer this leading to a space to dot ratio of 3 to 1 The speed naturally stays the same as the complete character length is not influenced by CWWeight The value of CWWeight influences the CW identification as well as the CW terminal 6 32 CY cle Default setting 2 Parameter 0 Always switching to short cycles 1 Always switching to long cycles 2 Adapt cycle length adaptive CYcle defines the cycle length used for a PACTOR 2 connect Usually it is just used for test purposes speed comparison etc and is described here for the sake of comp
39. applicable for software authors If you do not want to write your own hostmode program you can skip the following chapters 10 5 Extended hostmode The PTC IIIusb supports the so called extended hostmode The extended WA8DED hostmode has established itself as a de facto standard for communication between TNC PTC and PC control programs The extended hostmode makes the polling of the channels much easier and thus reduces the polling overhead In the extended hostmode channel number 255 is dealed in a special way A G command to channel 255 leads to the output of 255 x y z 0 from the TNC x y x etc are the numbers binary and increased by one of the channels that contain new information which can be requested with the G command The string given by the TNC on a poll of channel 255 always ends with 0 If for example only the monitor channel contains new information the answer string of the TNC to a G poll of channel 255 is 255 01 01 0 If there is no new information to be received the output is 255 01 0 255 0 is also possible If there is new information in channel 2 and 3 the string is 255 01 03 04 0 The channel numbers are usually given in increasing order at least the PTC IIIusb follows this recommendation With the extended hostmode a continuous cyclic polling of every single channel with the G command has thus become obsolete just channel 255 needs to be polled regularly If the result indicates that there is inf
40. are lost Besides that the FAX buffer is always cleared automatically when hostmode FAX reception is activated 142 10 Hostmode When hostmode FAX reception is active all PACTOR relevant functions tasks are blocked i e PACTOR calls can neither be initiated nor be accepted Not all corresponding commands are blocked The user itself must be aware of this if a PC application program does not already limit the command set available during hostmode FAX operation All other processes which do not access the HF port UHF VHF Packet Radio particularly the TRX control are still availble during hostmode FAX reception The extended hostmode logic channel 255 includes channel 252 10 4 23 K The KISS Mode is activated with the commands KISS or alternatively K out of the normal command mode This usually happens automatically by the KISS PC software or a KISS capable controller e g TNC3 The KISS mode is terminated by a system reset power off on cycle but can also be terminated by software with sending the decimal byte sequence 192 255 192 The termination by sending the byte sequence is usually done automatically by the software as well and may just once be configured correctly in the setup of the program 10 4 24 S If hostmode FAX reception refer to 10 4 22 Page 142 is activated the additional hostmode command S is available It allows access to the 16 bit wide audio samples from the A D converter on the HF port
41. at which point they become available as usual for NAVTEX reception When the AMTEX configuration is active the AMTEX message types and area codes can be changed as usual e g NAV XYZ or NAV AREA XYZ In AMTEX mode the valid message types are from A to Z NAVTEX allows only A L The AMTEX NAVTEX processor uses the directory AMTEX instead of NAVTEX when in AMTEX configuration The following default values are valid for AMTEX Selected AMTEX station identifier s AS Selected AMTEX MESSAGE TYPES E DX News Bulletin G General News Bulletin 73 6 Commands Keplerian Data Bulletin Propagation News Bulletin Space Bulletin Special Bulletin z DO AN AMTEX configuration 1 6 66 NULI Default setting 1 Parameter 0 Case switching disabled 1 Case switching enabled This command only refers to the AMTOR side of the PTC The SCS PTC supports the PLX APLINK convention for case switching This means that AMTOR files from the PTC with upper and lower case letters may be distributed throughout the worldwide APLINK network Users with compatible systems can read these files in AMTOR with upper and lower case letters The upper lower case convention is activated with the command NUL 1 This method is fully compatible to the AMTOR system without case switching but slightly reduces the already somewhat slow transmission speed Switching is disabled with the command NUL 0 6 67 PACket The PACket command or PAC
42. be used together with the corresponding program on the PC 14 3 6 Version Displays the version number of the Bootloader 14 4 Bootloader SYStest commands 14 4 1 CHKFlash Check Flash ROM for valid PACTOR firmware 14 4 2 CHKRam Calculate RAM checksum and display in hexadecimal form 14 43 Help Displays all useable commands It is also possible to obtain further help on a command whilst in Bootloader mode with Help lt CMD gt More details to the RUN command SyS Help RUN lt Return gt 14 4 4 Led Checks the LED s The PTC IlTusb tests the whole lighting console 14 4 5 Quit End the SYStest 144 6 RUN Start the PACTOR firmware 181 15 Basics Chapter 15 15 Basics 15 1 Why PACTOR PACTOR Latin the mediator is a modern radio teletype mode developed in Germany by DF4KV and DL6MAA to improve on inefficient modes such as AMTOR and PACKET RADIO in weak short wave conditions The AX 25 PACKET protocol certainly has its advantages on VHF UHF FM channels but gives a lot of problems on short wave e The data rate of 300 baud combined with a large packet length used by many radio amateurs is very susceptible on fading or multipath conditions and QRM e The large protocol overhead dramatically reduces the amount of information contained in a packet AMTOR had been developed specially for transferring text on an HF channel Even weak signals under distorted conditions where a PACKET connect would never be poss
43. can be eliminated Advantage The data stream signal of a USB interface is located in the middle of the shortwave bands Therefore the USB data signal cannot be separated from the shortwave signal being transmitted or received by simply filtering Mutual interference is possible especially where the antenna is located close to the modem PC setup ship borne installations Mutual interference in this case means that the transmitted HF signal can disturb the USB data stream between PC and modem as well the USB data stream can disturb the radio reception of short waves Bluetooth can help solve this problem as Bluetooth and shortwave radio signals don t interfere with one another Additionally eliminating the USB cable connection the danger of ground loops and parasitic currents distorting the radios signal modulation are removed which will lead to a better transmission quality Installation at the PC side Many modern laptop computers are already equipped with Bluetooth In this case there is no further installation required All the others need to purchase a Bluetooth stick which is plugged into a free USB connector Bluetooth Sticks of various brands are available from computer stores The installation should be done in accordance with the instructions of the Bluetooth Stick vendor driver and software etc SCS does not supply Bluetooth stick software on the SCS CD Please use the CD from the Bluetooth Stick manufacturer for the
44. can be used without problems Speaking about a complex modulation method e g used in PT 2 a more or less variable envelope must be considered This means in practice the following two points have to be observed In all modulation methods using a changing amplitude HF signal e g PACTOR 2 SSB speech modulation AM etc it is NEVER allowed to overdrive the transmitter because intermodulation products will be generated broaden the signal How to adjust the maximum transmitter power will be described in the PSKAmpl command refer to chapter 6 72 on page 76 It always has to be taken in consideration that with a variable amplitude modulation system the effective average power is lower than the peak power With PACTOR 2 this ratio between peak power and average power is almost exactly 2 For insiders the square root of this ratio is called the crest factor and with PT 2 has a value of around 1 45 This value is considerably lower than with other multi tone systems and has shown itself to be very well matched to the usual SSB transmitter If one sets a peak power of 100 watts then the PT 2 signal produces an average output of about 50 watts The full PEP output of an SSB power amplifier can be thus used without great fear of overload conditions being similar to those existing during normal SSB speech transmission 15 3 3 Error control coding The basic idea behind error correcting codes is that extra checking information is transmi
45. capable of SRP A complete description of the SRP protocol exceeds the limits of this update information and can be found in relevant literature or in the Internet 9 8 Commands 9 8 1 Aprs Default setting 0 Parameter 0 Off APRS beacon disabled 1 On APRS beacon transmits GPS position data if available 2 FIX APRS beacon transmits fixed position data adjustable with Aprs Position In GPS mode the beacon only sends if the position data is not older than 20 minutes If the GPS receiver fails the beacon terminates the transmission after 20 minutes The APRS beacon uses as sender call sign the MYcal1 of the virtual channel 0 As long as this call sign is not set the APRS beacon cannot be activated The MYcal1 of the virtual channel 0 is automatically set to the Pactor MYcal1 after a RESTart so that normally only a single MYcal1 entry is necessary to set all PACTOR as well as Packet Radio APRS MYcal1 to your own call sign Additional to the normal nummeric parametes the APRS command provides several sub commands COmment PAth POsition SHort SYmbol TImer Also refer to chapter 5 10 on page 39 9 8 1 1 APRS COmment Default setting none Parameter or at maximum 40 characters Sets the comment text that is added to every APRS datagram E g a short description of the system can be entered PTC IIIusb 20 W Dipole The comments maximum length is 40 characters Longer comments will be rejected with an err
46. channel on the frequency of 512 kHz has been allocated The transmission range is approximately 800 km A range limitation is an essential part of the system so that reliable time sharing of the one frequency between the various coast stations is possible It is basically possible to decode NAVTEX using any AMTOR modem however it has proved in practice that just reading the transmissions has a number of disadvantages and is therefore not of great value 1 In the flood of messages sent without pre selection and a form of buffer memory it is very likely that the interesting messages will be lost 2 The messages are sent more than once the newer ones at least every 4 hours the older ones at longer intervals As SITOR B is very prone to errors when signals are weak the receiver should ensure that only the best copy of the message to date is stored and available for the Radio Officer or Navigator This is totally impossible by just reading the mail 3 As NAVTEX works on long waves the reception is generally better at night than during the day When sunny the electrical energy requirements of small ships can be met by solar panels At night this is not possible The noise of a generator is 35 5 PTC Firmware also not exactly customized to enhance the sleep of the crew The power requirements at night should thus be kept as low as possible A continuously running laptop or other computer is a relatively large load for the energy sup
47. commands are combined into different function groups so called menus The different menus are the following e Packet Radio e Audio functions e FAX STTV e Transceiver controlling e System test Last not least the main menu with the PACTOR AMTOR RTTY CW PSK31 commands The command prompt indicates the menu you have already selected The following table shows the prompts for the different modes Prompt cmd Mainmemu pac Packet Radio aud fax FAX STTV trx Transceiver controlling System test Table 5 1 Command prompts The separated function groups are for a better overview but this is not their only reason PACTOR for example has for the short wave port the command TXDelay and for the Packet Radio port also the TXDelay command The same is with the Mycal1 command for PACTOR and Packet Radio The grouping of the commands within the menus allows to choose the right commands for the selected modes or functions 28 5 PTC Firmware 5 4 Simultaneous STBY mode In the STBY condition the PTC automatically knows if it is called in AMTOR or PACTOR answering in the respective mode It is possible to use the ARX command to suppress the AMTOR reaction In ARQ as well as FEC The SCS PTC offers the possibility to receive AMTOR FEC and NAVTEX transmissions from the STBY condition For this the BC parameter must be set to 1 The reading of AMTOR FEC and NAVTEX can be inhibited with the ARX command in
48. conditions because no retries can be requested Opposed to PACTOR 2 monitoring the sideband of the transmission is not detected automatically by the PACTOR 3 monitor and thus must be chosen manually As the vast majority of PACTOR 3 connections utilize the upper sideband USB this is not a drawback in practice PACTOR 3 unproto transmissions generated by firmware versions older than 3 3 cannot be monitored without missing packets because the packet timing is too tight If PACTOR 3 unproto is utilized for broadcast transmissions received by PACTOR 3 monitoring firmware version 3 3 must also be used on the transmit side 6 50 LOCk Default setting 0 Parameter 0 Lock off 1 Lock on With this command it is possible to protect PTC parameters against accidental change LOCK 1 switches the function on LOCk 0 switches it off The following commands are not affected by LOCk 65 6 Commands CHeck CLR Connect Disconnect DD DELete DIR HElp LIst Listen LOCk LOG Ort Read RESEt Send SHow Unproto Version Write 6 5 1 LOg Remote This command reads the PTC log entries The last 16 PACTOR AMTOR contacts are displayed except Unproto contacts The Log entries can be erased with a RESTart a total reset or at power off The following extra information in the callsign field is also available Sl PACTOR 1 Sysop call S2 PACTOR 2 Sysop call S3 PACTOR 3 Sysop call P1 PACTOR 1 Rx call P2 PACTOR 2 Rx call
49. dB adapting range for the 16 Bit A D converter in order to keep the quantization effect low and to provide a large effective dynamic range The PTC HIusb therefore adjusts itself in stages automatically to the average signal level delivered from the transceiver A complete description of the AUdio commands set is given in section Audio refer to chapter 7 page 97 5 14 The Hostmode The PTC IIusb supports the WA8DED hostmode and an SCS specific extension the CRC hostmode For detailed information about the hostmode and the hostmode commands refer to chapter 5 14 page 43 Pay attention to the explanations concerning the TNC command refer to chapter 6 94 page 87 Here you find some important details for the hostmode and PACTOR cooperation To make PACTOR accessable from the hostmode one of the hostmode channels can be reserved for PACTOR operation On this reserved channel a connect or disconnect command of the hostmode program is effective on the short wave port of the PTC IIusb and establishes a PACTOR connection or terminates it If the PACTOR listen mode is activated incoming text will also be displayed in this channel and not in the monitor screen of the hostmode program With the PTChn command the hostmode channel for PACTOR can be set Default setting is channel 4 If more than one channel is enabled in the hostmode program it is usual to take the last channel If your hostmode program has 8 channels enabled the command cmd PTChn 8
50. direct transmission mode Ctrl U and Ctrl D Increases Up or decreases Down the decoder speed by 1 16 the actual value This is mainly for use when the automatic RX speed adjustment is turned off Ctrl F Switches between automatic and manual RX speed adjustment fixed speed mode On switching between the two possibilities the present speed is taken without change so that in practice one can leave the automatic adjustment running for a while to set the correct speed then press lt Ctrl F gt to keep this setting The operation with a fixed speed has definite advantages with weak signals or signals with heavy fading The decoder withstands speed errors of 40 percent without problem so that even with a fixed speed setting virtually no reading errors are found After switching on the CW Terminal it is always switched to the automatic speed adjustment mode The PTC s automatic CW decoder can operate with speeds between 30 and approximately 300 letters per minute and scans this range within 10 seconds It decodes all letters from a Z all numbers from 0 9 special characters 2 SK EB gt AR KN VE KA German Umlauts 4 6 orch All ambiguous signals are ignored Naturally an automatic decoder can only decode relatively well sent Morse code signals One hears unfortunately much badly sent Morse on the bands not only amateur signals where commonly the Mark Space ratio is incorrect One must then bear in mind that not
51. for the attribute 13 23 1 Preamp switching at R amp S XK 2000 Transceiver When frequency information is sent to the XK 2000 transceiver be it directly given with the F command or automatically by the channel list the PTC IIlusb automatically switches on the transceiver s preamplifier on frequencies above 20 MHz and off at frequencies below 20 MHz This automatism can be overridden by the channel attributes V0 and V1 in the comment field of the channel list That means when the sequence V0 appears in the comment field the preamplifier is always disabled for the respective channel With the sequence V1 it is always enabled independent on the frequency the channel specifies 13 23 2 Timer Attributes The timer attributes T and P use the timer windows defined with the TImer command If a T attribute appears in a channel comment field then this channel would only be actually chosen in a scan operation when the actual time is within the time window defined by the T attribute Is this not the case the channel is skipped E g One sets the timer 0 with the TImer command to a time span of 14 00 to 15 00 Command TI 0 14 00 15 00 lt Enter gt The attribute TO then limits the active time of a scan channel to 14 00 to 15 00 If no further TImer attributes are given for this channel then the channel is only scanned between 14 00 and 15 00 At all other times the channel is skipped Multiple even overlapping T attributes are pos
52. his transmission buffer is empty that means no data to be sent are available 2 If the PTC IMlusb is the information receiving station IRS the PTC MTusb automatically executes a BREAKIN if the transmission buffer is not empty that means that data for transmission are available and the IRS state exists for at least 12 seconds This automatism causes a variety of conclusions during practical operation that have to be mentioned especially if the PTC Illusb with activated PACTOR Duplex has to work together with a conventional PACTOR system The general usage of the PACTOR Duplex mode is not recommended at the moment because especially old PACTOR mailbox systems have problems with the unnecessarily automatically executed changeover of the PDuplex PTC The conventional operation control in the personal Chat QSO should only be switched to PACTOR Duplex mode if the QSO partner is familiar with what happens and will not be confused by the change overs ofthe PACTOR Duplex PTC appearing accidentally The following distinctiveness exists for the PTC IIIusb itself when switched to PACTOR Duplex 1 The CHANGEOVER bell is generally deactivated 2 Open files for the PTC internal mailbox will not be closed by a CHANGEOVER any more 3 Mailbox access of users with PACTOR Duplex are executed correctly the command interpretor will not be closed as usual by a CHANGEOVER but generally by a Carriage Return 5 12 1 Application for PACTOR Dupl
53. installation 12 3 Installation After installation or after the first connection with the PTC modem a virtual COM port is generated just like with USB which can be accessed by any terminal or PTC program Installation at the PTC IIIusb side You can order the PTC IIIusb with Bluetooth option already installed or you can get an existing PTC IIlusb extended for Bluetooth by an authorized dealer or by SCS For the prices for both versions please refer to the price list or ask your dealer Getting started Disconnect the USB cable from your PTC Iusb and switch it on afterwards Important If the USB cable is connected between the PTC IIIusb and the PC then Bluetooth is always disabled USB always has priority This decision is made by the PTC IIIusb at power on Do not change the configuration whilst in operation always switch off the PTC IIlusb if you want to swap between Bluetooth and USB The USB cable serves you as switch in this case Locate the PTC Illusb near your PC being equipped with Bluetooth max 5 m distance Start the Bluetooth manager software on your PC The user interface of the manager may vary with different brands so that only the basic operation can be described here Let your Bluetooth manager search for Bluetooth devices in range The PTC IITusb should be found within a short time and displayed as a symbol in the manager Now you need to pair the PTC IIlusb with the PC so that both will reco
54. is interpreted as the DIR command This ensures compatibility to usual box systems 77 6 Commands 6 77 QRTChr Default setting 4 Ctrl D Parameter X 1 127 ASCHU Code decimal Sets the QRT character which causes the system to go QRT close the link It can also be sent is the RX mode which then becomes active at the next TX phase In PSK31 RTTY FEC and UNPROTO it switches from transmit to receive It is an alternative to the Disconnect command and can also be put at the end of a text to be transmitted so that at the end of the transmitted text the link is closed down 6 78 Read Remote This command is used to read out files from the personal mailbox The remote controlled reading of files may be broken off with a CHANGEOVER If Read is used by the sysop in the connected condition then this does not cause a transmission of the chosen file refer to the Send command chapter 6 84 page 80 R Reads message no in the current directory if only 1 message exists Outputs the contents of the current directory if more than 1 message exists R3 Reads message no 3 in the current directory R 3 6 Reads messages numbers 3 to 6 in the current directory RTEST3 Reads message number 3 in the TEST directory RDL2FAK Reads message no 1 for DL2FAK if only one message exists Outputs the contents of the DL2FAK directory if more than one message exists R DL2FAK 1 3 Reads messages numbers 1 to 3 for DL2FAK R PTCPLUS 4 Read
55. lt Return gt reserves channel 8 for PACTOR As the example shows it is only possible in the terminal mode e g in PlusTerm to enter the PTChn command As mentioned in the chapters about PACTOR Duplex and the PROPACTOR gateway the hostmode programs naturally have problems with the usual special characters for the changeover in PACTOR CHANGEOVER and BREAKIN Because of this there are 43 5 PTC Firmware special hostmode command which allow the changeover for PACTOR in the hostmode 0 causes a CHANGEOVER and 1 causes a BREAKIN Another comfortable way to initiate a CHANGEOVER in the hostmode is to use the command HCr refer to chapter 6 43 page 63 If HCr is 1 the PTC IIlusb executes a CHANGEOVER for each line feed at a blank line That s convenient for direct QSOs The PACTOR listen mode can be switched on and off with the hostmode command St The JHOST command is not allowed in the initialization file of the hostmode program Only the commands mentioned for hostmode refer to chapter 10 should be used in the initialization and de initialization files 44 6 Commands Chapter 6 6 Commands 6 1 ACheck AMTOR Check Default setting 30 Parameter X 0 100 SNR for AMTOR Packets This command allows a much sharper error checking than is possible with previous AMTOR systems By using the analogue information from the A D converter it is possible to estimate the Signal Noise ratio of the AMTOR blocks or the AMTOR CS
56. mode the PTC HIusb provides the so called Trace mode for Packet Radio The TRACE command activates or deactivates a special display mode for all frames shown in the monitor channel The PTC IIIusb sends the trace mode data as Hex dump as ASCII or as shifted ASCII in three columns Finally the normal monitor packet is displayed additionally As a horizontal separation between the frames a line out of characters is given Primarily this function is used for testing In the WA8DED host mode this function is not available 9 8 35 TXdelay Default setting 100 Parameter X 0 30 000 TxDelay in milliseconds Sets the time between keying the PTT and the initial transmission of data Setting TxDelay of Port 1 to 50 ms pac TXD 1 50 lt Return gt Setting TxDelay of Port 2 to 200 ms pac TXD 2 200 lt Return gt 132 9 Packet Radio 9 8 36 TXLevel Default setting A 300 F 800 Parameter 1 A Tx level for AFSK 300 1k2 Baud F Tx level for FSK 9k6 19k2 Baud Parameter 2 X 20 2000 Tx level in millivolts peak peak The audio output level is set with the command TXLevel The output level is set for the FSK 9600 and 19200 Baud and AFSK modes 300 and 1200 Baud independently Setting TxLevel for 300 and 1200 Baud to 100 mV pac TXL A 100 lt Return gt Setting TxLevel for 9600 and 19200 Baud to 500 mV pac TXL F 100 lt Return gt Without entry of a second parameter the actual values can be read out Reading out the TxLevel for 30
57. noisy signals it is recommended that the FSKBaud parameter is set to 2 provided the received signal has a baud rate of 200 or less as the effective signal to noise ratio is thereby increased Baud rate settings 2 200 Bd 3 300 Bd 4 400 Bd 8 8 6 Deviation Default setting 400 Parameter X 100 1000 shift of the FM FAX demodulator in Hz Sets the steepness shift of the FM FAX demodulator NOTE in JVFAX mode the shift can be changed using special control bytes independently of the Deviation Parameter settings A Deviation value of 400 means that the demodulator will process a frequency range from 1500 Hz to 2300 Hz i e frequencies from 1900 400 Hz to 1900 400 Hz 8 8 7 MBaud Default setting 57600 Parameter X 1200 115200 baudrate during modem operation Sets the baud rate used by the serial interface during MODEM operation i e whilst a FAX SSTV or FSK Modem is active For the optimum display of high resolution FAX pictures it is recommended that the rate is set to at least 57600 as long as the PC program in use will support that speed Additionally if at all possible the baudrate should 113 8 FAX be a multiple of 19200 in order that the SSTV synchronization processing works correctly 8 8 8 HSynch Default setting 50 Parameter X 10 100 position of the sync pulse Sets the effective point in time where a recognized SSTV synchronization pulse as such is inserted into the received data stream
58. not this time and then click on Next 11 3 Installation e The wizard now wants to install the driver for the SCS Radio Modem Device Select the option Install the software automatically and click on Next e Next the wizard wants to install the driver for the device USB Serial Port Same as before you select the option Install the software automatically and click on Next e After successful installation you click on Finish e With this the driver for the PTC IITusb is installed The installed driver creates a virtual COM port which is used by the applications similar to a normal hardware COM port To find out which number the virtual COM port has been assigned to you have to look into the Device Manager of your computer Select Start Control Panel System Hardware Device Manager Now click on the small plus sign left besides the table entry Ports COM amp LPT to see all connections of your PC Look for the entry USB Serial Port where right besides the COM number is shown Enter this COM number into all programs you want to use with the PTC MTusb 3 3 Bluetooth The PTC Illusb is available with optional Bluetooth Bluetooth is a low power high frequency 2 4 GHz radio link which serves as a cable replacement for short distances In the interference susceptible shortwave environment of the PTC IIlusb the USB cable connection between the modem and the PC
59. of PACTOR 2 on the bands correct setting up of the transceiver is required Overdriving of the transceiver will lead to a greatly increased bandwidth The optimal adjustment from the PTC IIlusb to the radio equipment is described in chapter 3 5 4 on page 19 The complex PACTOR 2 modulation scheme is totally different and has nothing whatsoever to do with simple FSK It is therefore IMPOSSIBLE to use the FSK modulators found in some transceivers to generate the signal The PACTOR 2 signal must always go via the indirect route by using SSB to generate the HF signal This is of no disadvantage providing the transceiver is not overdriven Some hints to adjust the settings of your transmitter e If possible use a 500 Hz IF filter Never use a IF filter with a smaller bandwidth than 500 Hz IF filter SSB filter with wider bandwidths won t cause problems at all Although the filtering by the DSP of the PTC IIlusb is always optimized it is desirable to prevent noise from the input of the PTC IITusb as far as possible e Under no circumstances use audio processors The speech compressor of the transceiver will damage the PACTOR 2 signal in the same way as external DSP audio filters being so popular at the moment These external DSP audio filters create unpredictable signal propagation delays which are absolutely undesirable The PTC IIusb filters the signal optimal with the integrated DSP and needs no external help e Noise blanker and notch fi
60. of the block number The block number count enables external software for example to perhaps recognize any block loss that may occur during data transfer and in such an event to undertake damage limitation measures Such measures may for example replace the missing block by an empty block lt CR gt or lt LF gt can generally be completely ignored so that there should occur no problem due to incompatible terminal programs The read algorithm by the PTC RELOad synchronizes only with the help of the S start character 6 9 BAUdot Default setting 45 Parameter X 20 to 300 Baud Switches to RTTY with the given baud rate E g BAU 100 switches to RTTY with 100 baud The baud rate is continuously variable between 20 and 300 baud The baud rate can be exactly set without quantization problems because an interpolation algorithm is used The computer also automatically calculates the best low pass filter for the baseband filtering according to the baud rate This gives excellent receiving characteristics that hardly vary from the theoretical ideal value After BAU the PTC answers with gt gt gt BAUDOT RTTY RECEPTION ACTIVE SPEED 45 BD lt lt lt and is ready to receive RTTY transmissions Changing to transmit is done with the CHANGEOVER character set with the CHOchr command refer to chapter 6 19 page 52 Changing to receive again is done with the ORT character set with the QRTChr command refer to chapter 6 77 page 78
61. only messages to the own callsign MYCALL will be accepted 6 16 BRightn Default setting 6 Parameter X 1 7 brightness value This command has no function within the PTC II usb and is just implemented to achieve extensive compatibility with existing PC software 51 6 Commands 6 17 CHeck Remote from the remote side entering C is enough see also Connect chapter 6 22 page 53 Default setting 10 Parameter X 1 100 number of mails to be listed P List private mail only CHeck without argument lists the newest 10 public mails of the mailbox With a numerical argument between 1 and 100 it is possible to define the quantity of mails to be listed The output format is described in chapter 6 36 page 60 DIR CHeck followed by the argument P lists the private mails A numerical argument may follow the define the quantity of mails to be listed CHeck P 30 lists the newest 30 private mails 6 18 CHOBell Default setting 1 Parameter 0 CHANGEOVER bell off 1 CHANGEOVER bell on As a default the PTC sends for each CHANGEOVER a BEL character ASCII 7 to the terminal and let it beep CHOB 0 disables sending of the BEL character to the terminal 6 19 CHOchr Default setting 25 Ctrl Y Parameter X 1 127 decimal ASCII code of a character Defines the CHANGEOVER character CHOchr defines the CHANGEOVER character which is a special command for the change from TX to RX Because this command is used very often
62. output signal from the PTC MTusb is adjusted for FSK and PSK operation 1 Introduction All descriptions in this manual refer to the default settings of the PTC IIusb This is very important especially with respect to the freely definable control characters ESCAPE character in section 6 39 on page 61 BREAKIN character in section 6 12 on page 50 CHANGEOVER character in section 6 19 on page 52 and QRT character in section 6 77 on page 77 1 3 1 Typography To clarify various meanings contained in this manual various types of fonts have been used Hereby it is intended to use the same typography for equal or similar items Typewritten is for all outputs or messages FROM the PTC Sanserif shows Instructions or Inputs Commands TO the PTC Characters inside pointed brackets lt gt in the following text mean that the corresponding key or key combination should be pressed lt ESC gt means that the ESCAPE key should be pressed lt RETURN gt characterizes the lt RETURN gt or ENTER key and lt Ctrl D gt that the Ctrl key should be pressed together with the D key All commands are closed with lt RETURN gt Commands may be input either in upper or lower case letters or a mixture of the two 1 4 HF email If you intend to use the PTC IIusb for HF email only and not for amateur radio purposes then 95 of this manual are not necessary for you to read HF email is deeply associated with the email client PC program you use and your
63. packet length when the PTC is in Terminal mode In hostmode is the PAClen value not used as the hostmode program itself defines the packet length Packet lengths smaller than 255 are only useful if the link to the distant station has a lot of errors The PTC IIlusb sends in terminal mode a packet immediately if a lt CR gt is received which is the usual sendpack character 9 8 27 PErsist Default setting 64 Parameter X 0 255 persistence The persistence value sets the probability that a packet is transmitted after the radio channel is acknowledged as free 130 9 Packet Radio Persistence on port set to 32 pac PE 1 32 lt Return gt 9 8 28 PRBox Default setting 1 Parameter 0 PR mailbox switched off 1 PR mailbox switched on 2 PR mailbox only private messages Enables the PR mailbox to be switched on or off or the mailbox to be configured as a maildrop Maildrop means that only data addressed to the PTC MYCALL will be accepted by the mailbox This is a legal requirement in many countries as an open BBS may only be operated by especially licensed stations The function is similar to the Box command of the PACTOR level cmd prompt The Box command relates to PACTOR AMTOR only The PRBox command to Packet Radio only 9 8 29 Quit Exits the Packet mode Returns to the cmd input prompt 9 8 30 RESptime Default setting 500 Parameter X 1 30 000 response time delay Sets the value for the AX 25 tim
64. packets are built up according to this sub protocol The HOST PC is as in WA8DED mode the MASTER That means that every action is initiated by the PC The TNC PTC SLAVE may never send data with out being first requested by the PC For every action by the MASTER exactly one reaction from the SLAVE must follow The Master must wait for this reaction before it starts any other new action There is of course a timeout allowed for this waiting time see below Every WASDED data packet is expanded by a unique header consisting of 170 170 150 10 Hostmode Every WASDED data packet is completed by the addition of two CRC data bytes binary The CRC is calculated exactly according to the CCITT CRC16 and is thus identical to that used for PR and PACTOR The CRC is calculated from the first byte after the 170 170 header channel number CRC see AX 25 protocol and example in the chapter 10 9 7 page 154 Directly before the transmission thus at the lowest sub protocol level the data packet transmitter MASTER and SLAVE carries out so called Byte Stuffing This prevents the 170 170 sequence from appearing within a packet The Byte stuffing takes place directly after the 1st byte after the 170 170 header and ends after the second CRC byte It therefore ranges over the complete packet excepting the header Also even when the second CRC byte has the value 170 this changes due to the stuffing Stuffing means that afte
65. place using the PTT line as with the CWID The FSK line remains constant on the Mark frequency The AFSK signal amplitude is also keyed The frequency for AFSK is defined by the Center command in the AUdio menu refer to chapter 7 2 page 97 After activating the CW terminal characters from the keyboard that can be translated into Morse are transmitted as Morse code by the PTC If an argument is entered the decoder starts in the fix speed mode that means that automatic speed adaption is disabled This is recommended for recording commercial CW transmissions weather report etc whose speeds are known When nothing is input at the keyboard and the transmit buffer is empty then the CW terminal is in receive mode The actual receiving speed can be determined with the SHow command When a command shell be sent to the PTC e g DD then the ESC character refer to chapter 6 39 page 61 has to be sent first as the PTC operates in Converse mode when the CW terminal is active When the CW terminal is in use the AMTOR prompt is displayed though the A is replaced by a C As mode status Status Level 1 is shown RTTY as the function of the terminal in most respects resembles the RTTY module The demodulator uses the talked about technique of the Auto Correlation filter in the Audio Menu refer t chapter 7 page 97 This enables even weak signals to be reliably detected without tuning problems An ideal filter for a CW signal with a speed o
66. scan stop condition valid which means that the external scanner may change the frequency of the radio The CD signal goes inactive as soon as the scan stop condition becomes valid and the external scanner needs to hold the frequency Important After the termination of a connection or any other reason for the scan stop condition having been valid the scan stop condition remains active for an adjustable wait time Wait command in the TRX menu The scan stop condition matches with the timing of the SYNCH status of the status byte and reacts very fast already on a part of the own call sign being received at external connect attempt 13 22 Special Features 13 22 1 Direct Channel Selection for YAESU Transceivers If as a TRX type YAESU is selected the frequencies also in the channel and scanner list of the PTC IIlusb smaller than 100 Hz e g 0 099 kHz are interpreted as channel numbers In this case not a frequency string is sent to the TRX for F command or while scanning but the Recall Memory command that means a channel preset in the TRX itself is selected This has the advantage that filter settings and sideband information etc are additionally stored in the TRX and therefore under control of the PTC Iltusb 13 23 Channel attributes The desired channel attribute must be given when setting up the scan channel list in the comment field Here for example it is possible to define at which time the channel shall be active and which
67. selfresetting Width 125 x Height 43 x Depth 138 mm 450 g 10 to 50 C 195 B Connector Pin out Appendix B 18 Connector Pin out This Appendix shows the connector Pin out of the PTC The view from the backside is always displayed D 1 The power supply connector The PTC can be powered from the two pin screw terminal on the rear panel according with the printing on the panel D 2 The USB connector The PTC IIusb is connected to the computer using a type B USB connector Figure D 1 USB connector D 3 Transceiver remote control socket Pin 1 RxD TTL Pin 2 RTS V24 Pin 3 TXD V24 Pin 4 CTS V24 Pin 5 CTS TTL Pin 6 ICOM Pin 7 Not connected Pin 8 RxD V24 Figure D 2 Transceiver remote control Pin 9 TxD TTL Pin 10 RTS TTL Pin 11 Not connected Pin 12 Not connected Pin 13 GND Warning Do not interchange the TTL and V24 level connections 10 0 00 NR HWH 197 B Connector Pin out DA The 8 pole DIN socket Pin 1 Audio output from the PTC to the transmitter Pin 2 Ground Pin 3 PTT Output to transmitter PTT line Pin 4 Audio input from the receiver to the PTC loudspeaker or appropriate AUX socket Pin 5 Optional power supply input Pin 6 unused Pin 7 unused Pin 8 unused Figure D 3 Connections to the transceiver The socket outer screening is also connected to ground Shield GPS GND Figure DA GPS connector D 5
68. side be shortened to D If given without parameters DIR shows the mailbox entries divided into two groups private callsign as subdirectory and public bulletin mail and the free memory available in the mailbox If DIR contains as a parameter the name of a subdirectory then the contents of this subdirectory will be listed e g DIR test shows all files in the subdirectory test refer also to LIst in chapter 6 48 page 64 DIR without parameter appears similar to below Main Directory ALL PTCPLUS TEST DL3FCJ 242222 bytes free PATH TEST gt Various subdirectories the free memory dependent on the RAM fitted and the present subdirectory are displayed DIR DL3FCJ Identical to LIst DL3FCJ lists the contents of the subdirectory DL3FCJ That can appear like this Directory of DL3FCJ NR ST FROM DATE TIME SIZE TITLE 1 RP DL1ZAM 02 MAR 94 17 13 45 1144 New Info 2 RA DK5FH 02 MAR 94 23 30 22 1502 3 NP DL2FAK 03 MAR 94 13 25 15 1362 Mistake 4 NP DL6MAA 03 MAR 94 23 31 46 927 New Software 5 NP DL3FCI 04 MAR 94 20 05 10 501 Coffee on Sat PATH DL3FCJ gt Meaning of the different columns 60 6 Commands NR The file number ST Status R Message already read N Message not read yet A Message recorded in AMTOR P Message recorded in PACTOR X Messages recorded in Packet Radio FROM Callsign of the station that entered the message DATE TIME Date and time when the message was r
69. signals noise in this sense meaning all unwanted signals As soon as the SNR remains under pre set the PTC assesses this packet as containing This system has the advantage that the amount of undetected errors with signals that contain heavy interference or noise is drastically reduced The value range of the ACheck command extends between 0 and 100 The value 0 means the additional check is switched off The value 100 gives the maximum restricted reception The standard value 30 allows a link even with very weak signals with however markedly reduced printing errors Higher values 40 60 are recommended for APLINK where data is sent over multiple AMTOR links until the target box is reached and thus a minimum error rate is to be aimed at Higher values can however cause a problem when the resync rate climbs considerably This leads to higher values of transmitted errors as every AMTOR resync also contains a built in random component violation of the ARQ principle 6 2 ADdlf Default setting 1 Parameter 0 Auto LF inhibited 1 Auto LF in Baudot RTTY and AMTOR 2 Auto LF in Baudot RTTY AMTOR and PACTOR Inserts an automatic lt LF gt on the transmission side Some Baudot RTTY and AMTOR stations require this to prevent the receiver overwriting lines which occurs when only a lt CR gt is transmitted by the PTC In PACTOR lt CR gt normally also contains the NEWLINE function 6 3 Amtor This command activates the AMTOR co
70. simple automatic adjustment of the PSK amplitude by a factor 1 45 does not give a satisfactory result as the ALC control characteristics are different from transmitter to transmitter The input sensitivity of most transceivers is adjusted for the output level of an average dynamic microphone With 200 mV peak to peak therefore most transmitters would be fully driven with the microphone control only slightly open It is not recommended to use a very high PSKAmpl value and then turn the MIC gain control right down as the first AF stage is normally Before the gain control and rather sensitive to overdriving We recommend that the PSKAmp1 value of 140 the default setting be left alone and the PSK output to be increased with the microphone gain control if available The transceiver should be connected either to a dummy load of appropriate power handling capacity or a well matched antenna Please pay particular attention that the chosen frequency is really free PTC IIIusb links operate even when the signals are so weak as to be virtually non existent Use U 3 lt Return gt to start the Unproto mode 3 100 Bd DBPSK Now using the Mic gain control of the transceiver the power is increased until the ALC voltage has reached the desired value 76 6 Commands Do not in any circumstances overdrive the transmitter otherwise the signal will be made considerably wider due to intermodulation products When correctly adjusted th
71. sort 0 0 O Notallowed Cd 1 0 cmd 1I AMTOR 2 MONITOR 3 RTTY 4 CW 5 PSK31 JO 1 0 tr alwaysQ Jo i fi ee Laast pi o au Last 1 o 1 pac presentinputchannel 0 31 pi fi ou always S pt a it fax falwaysO S Table 6 6 Prompt coding The bits 0 4 contain additional information depending on the actual prompt After the prompt codebyte it follows as usual the text prompt information ended with a Ctrl A The pac prompt contains the channel number of the presently set input channel Setchn as plain text information before the colon Channel numbers of two digits are thus output by two ASCII number characters The prompt information of terminal mode 5 cannot be split I e no other information can be pushed through between bytes The prompt always begins with a Ctrl D and always ends with a Ctrl A 86 6 Commands 6 93 Tlme Remote Default setting none Parameter HH MM SS Desired time Arguments are ignored during remote control TIme is used to set or read the internal clock If TIme is entered without a parameter the current time is displayed When the clock is set leading zeroes must not be omitted The colons can be omitted Wrong entries cause a wrong setting Setting the clock to 9 o clock 56 ninutes and 5 seconds cmd TI 09 56 05 or cmd TI 095605 6 94 TNC Default setting 0 Parameter 0 Simple PTC terminal mode 1 TNC mode with Ctrl A echo 2 TNC mode
72. steam SSTV period the modern systems still use FM as the means for video transmission very similarly to the FM FAX standard refer to chapter 8 2 2 page 102 The center frequency is usually 1900 Hz with a shift of 400 Hz so that as in FM FAX the frequency limits are 1500 Hz and 2300 Hz representing the black and white respectively The difference between FM FAX and SSTV is that SSTV uses picture and line synchronization in the form of a special tone frequency which is blacker than black that is 1200 Hz A tone burst with a frequency of 1200 Hz and a duration of 30 ms signals the start of a picture frame At the start of every SSTV line a tone of 1200 Hz with a duration of 5 ms is inserted as a horizontal synch pulse so that the exact start of a line can be marked The exact and rapid processing of this horizontal synch pulse is the key to satisfactory SSTV reception The resolution of MARTIN 1 and SCOTTIE 1 is approximately 300 pixels per line The color palette is obtained by mixing the colors red blue and green Every line transmitted actually consists of three lines each containing the intensity components of the respective colors Effectively each line contains three sub lines When using this transmission system incorrect tuning does not lead to color errors It leads instead only to changes in color intensity 103 8 FAX SSTV signals are often found in the band segment 3730 3740 kHz as well as 14230 and 14240 kHz After a s
73. terminal mode the text output from the BBS channels are completely suppressed to prevent that the PTC IIusb receives buffer filling and maybe overflowing 5 7 5 Passing PR connects to the mailbox The USers command in the pac menu allows any incoming PR connect to be passes over to the PTC IIIusb PR mailbox To do this USers has to be set to 0 This will allow for example that on leaving the terminal program e g automatic de initialising with YO in GP the PTC IIIusb can be brought to a condition where a connect using the normal MYCALL i e without the 8 will be transferred to the mailbox This is useful as many potential users would use the normal MYCALL to connect to the PTC Iusb If the terminal is off line and the configuration is correct USers 0 or YO then all calls irrespective they are the normal MYCALL the MYALIAS or the BBS MYCALL will be transferred to the PTC mailbox 5 7 6 Properties of mailbox commands Send Text input can either finished with lt Ctrl Z gt or with end as well known from other mailbox systems The NNNN sequence has no effect in PR 34 5 PTC Firmware Files that have been input via PR are signified in the status display ST the LIst and CHeck outputs by being marked with an X AX 25 e g NX DL2FAK The mail LED starts to blink when a file is written via PR whose filename is the same as the MYCALL of the PTC IIIusb for channel 0 Read Even during a file read operatio
74. the description of the two commands FSKAmpl refer to chapter 6 42 page 62 and PSKAmp1 refer to chapter 6 72 page 76 Once that has been done then one is ready to start The transceiver can be tuned to say 3583 7 kHz or 14079 0 kHz and DL2FAK called providing the frequency is clear If there is PT traffic on the chosen frequency irrespective whether PT 1 or PT 2 the PTC IIlusb will automatically copy it providing the Listen mode is turned on refer to chapter 6 49 page 65 As with previous PTCs a connect is started with cmd c CALLSIGN lt Return gt At the very start of a link the two controllers automatically agree to use the highest common level This functions with all known PACTOR 1 equipment as these all contain a correct implementation of the Level 1 protocol for the initial link At present we know of no PT 1 implementation which does not work correctly with the automatic level setting during the initial link up The user knows virtually nothing of the auto level setting procedure and does not have to concern himself with it In the case where a Level 2 link is set up the LED display jumps from PT1 to PT2 and the appearance of the tuning indicator changes drastically in comparison to the usual FSK tuning help 15 4 2 Speed and robustness When compared to good old PACTOR 1 PACTOR 2 achieves an effective text throughput of around 3 times that of PT 1 under average to poor conditions With very weak signals or signals w
75. the h attribute in hexa decimal format All hex nibbles represented by characters 0 9 A F a f are grouped to bytes MS nibble first when the PTC processes the hex string and then transmitted to the transceiver in binary format If the number of nibbles is odd the last nibble will be ignored Each character which cannot represent a hex nibble can be used as delimiter end of string indicator e g the letters T and P Hence channel attributes T timer and P priority timer can directly be appended to the hex string without inserting an additional delimiter Ifan A attribute directly follows the hex string a delimiter must be inserted e g a space character see example trx C 1 3584 00 h0000c3540c al lt Return gt 13 23 4 Level Attribute With the Level Attribute L2 L2 a channel can be limited to PACTOR 1 2 operation only This can be used if on the dedicated channel PACTOR 3 transmissions are not wanted e g because of bandwidth issues trx C 2 14079 00 DL3FCJ L2 lt Return gt With the L2 attribute missing the channel automatically is enabled for PACTOR 3 connections The attribute L3 will be accepted but is optional 13 24 TRX Control Channel on Hostmode Virtual hostmode channel 253 serves as transparent data channel between PC and TRX port Arbitrary data can be exchanged between PC and transceiver on channel 253 This enables for example direct transceiver remote control from the PC side There is one
76. the same type of message This trick allows the possible number of active Navigational Warning messages to reach 200 5 8 3 Operating the NAVTEX Processor The NAVTEX processor has only a single new command in the cmd menu This is NAVtex This command allows the complete configuration and activation of the automatic NAVTEX processor It operates in the background as a completely seperate process within the PTC Mlusb multitasking environment When activated the NAVTEX processor lays down a directory with the name NAVTEX in the PTC IIusb mailbox and stores all incoming NAVTEX messages there The name of the message author is given as AUTO NAV The NAVTEX processor gives the complete four figure message header as well as the plain language name of the type of message E g CA03 Navigational Warning If the number of messages in the NAVTEX directory is exceeds the maximum allowed the NAVTEX processor deletes the oldest message it has previously stored before starting to store a new message Messages from other sources which may also be in the NAVTEX directory such as operating instructions are NOT deleted For details on the NAVtex command refer to chapter 6 65 on page 71 5 8 4 Notes about NAVTEX practice The PTC IIIusb normally operates with 200 Hz shift for FSK operation Although NAVTEX uses 170 Hz shift it is not necessary to change the modem tone settings for NAVTEX reception The loss due to the slightly maladjusted shift b
77. the transceiver remote control menu trx menu The command prompt takes the form trx The following commands are allowed within the trx menu Channel DD Down DUmp DWel1l Frequency Help List Offset Ptime RType Scan TImer Transfer TYpe Up Quit Wait Xscan YType All other normal commands are not available from within the trx menu The trx menu may be closed either with DD or Quit The TRX command may also contain an argument this being a suitable command from the trx menu In this case the PTC will then carry out this command without switching to the trx menu The control command may be said to be fed through Example This command for example would change the frequency of a connected transceiver directly to 14079 0 kHz without having to divert to the trx menu cmd TRX Frequency 14079 0 lt Return gt All important TRX parameter are stored in the Flash ROM directly at input and are reloaded with the RESTart command Type Transceiver type baudrate address VFO V24 parameter Parity Parity KType Kenwood type YType Yaesu type RType R amp S type The trx menu commands in detail 13 1 Channel The PTC allows up to 32 channels to be defined Every channel consists of a channel number its frequency in kHz the scan status the Gate status and an optional short info text For example CHANNEL LIST Ch Frequency kHz Scan Gate Comment 1 3583 650 YES NO dlizam channel 1 2 3585 650 Y
78. the transmitter PTT becomes active when it receives bytes with a value between 0 and 63 The transmitter stays on for exactly 166 7 ms after receiving each transmit byte If the PC program sends the transmit data appropriately fast then the transmitter stays in the transmit condition If the data does not change within the 166 7 ms for example when in FM FAX only white must be transmitted then the PC program must send data to the PTC IITusb at least every 166 7 ms so that the transmitter stays on transmit By using this system an extra PTT command is not required The maximum transmit amplitude is set using the FSKAmp1 in the main menu It is not necessary for any new setting to be undertaken and can be left at setting for PACTOR or RTTY Be aware that Internet addresses frequently change 110 8 FAX During the transmit operation the appropriate demodulator operates unchanged The PTC IIlusb always operates in the special modes as a FULL DUPLEX MODEM 8 7 1 Transmission in AM FAX Modem mode For transmit operation in AM FAX a constant carrier tone of 2400 Hz is generated The transmit data controls the amplitude of this tone The value 0 means the carrier tone disappears The value 63 causes the maximum amplitude to be generated that set by the FSKAmpl command The transmit data controls the signal processor directly and without delays The transmit signal bandwidth is also not limited through any hardware filter 8 7 2 Trans
79. to chapter 6 72 on page 76 and chapter 3 5 4 on page 19 The center frequency of the audio signal is fixed to 1500 Hz On the receive side the same side band as the transmit side must be used We generally recommend USB With Robust PR modulation selected the PTC assumes that a connection will be via a HF Channel and adjusts a few parameters automatically MAXFrame is automatically administrated the value given by the user does not matter RETries is automatically doubled TXDelay is automatically divided by 4 The default setting 100 results in the usual 25 msec for Shortwave RESptime is automatically halved Following additional Parameters of the Baud command are available Baud R300 During an X 25 connection automatic self adaptive selection between 200 bit sec and 600 bit sec Ul Packets e g APRS are transmitted in 200 bit sec Baud R600 During an X 25 connection automatic self adaptive selection between 200 bit sec and 600 bit sec UI Packets e g APRS are transmitted in 600 bit sec The arguments valid for Baud are also available in the same form for the Hostmode command B As the Robust PR demodulator automatically detects which modulation is received e g an APRS network can successively grow or be adapted to the actual requirements If only 118 9 Packet Radio a few users are present but the distances are large then the longer but more robust modulated packets can be used In the opposite case
80. when many participants are present but the average distances are smaller then the faster shorter packets can be used 9 4 300 Baud HF Packet HF Packet is activated with the command Baud pac B 300 lt RETURN gt With this command the DSP is programmed for 300 baud Packet Radio operation The QUAL and LOCK TUNE LEDs serve as tuning indicator This tuning indicator is only working when the signal to be decoded fits within an range of 200 Hz around the center frequency If the signal deviates more than 30 Hz from the correct frequency the QUAL LED is lit permanently red for frequency too low or the TUNE LED for frequency too high Carefully dialing the VFO knob into the correct direction decreases the frequency offset When the offset is below 30 Hz the LEDs swap from red to green and the TFC LED may become lit green when valid PR data is received serves as DCD indicator If the user now continues to tune into the correct direction until the tuning indicator swaps between LOCK and QUAL or vice versa the frequency deviation is close to zero In this case LOCK and QUAL will slowly alternatively be lit green dependent on the fading conditions on the channel The audio output level for transmission is the FSKA value refer to section 6 42 on page 62 from the cmd menu as usually the HF transceiver is used for 300 baud HF Packet purposes and the settings from PACTOR AMTOR are proper The 300 baud modem generally operates with 200
81. with Ctrl A echo and prompt hostmode terminal programs are developed for pure PR controllers TNC with The Firmware TF as firmware But some properties of the simple command structure suggested by the WA8DED are not suitable for a modern multimode controller Thus TF uses as prompt only an asterisk this is for a system with many submenus e g PTC Tlusb not very supportive For example the PTC IIusb displays in the main menu cmd Switching to a submenu the prompt changes so that the user has the advantage to know directly which menu is selected Some hostmode programs test exactly if a controller with TF is connected most of all to determine if the used controller is already in the hostmode or still in the terminal mode For this purpose as response to the ESC character the asterisk prompt is expected In the normal mode the PTC does not send the asterisk prompt because the ESC character is responded with its own prompt e g cmd Programs like SP or TOP will never switch to the hostmode but simply stop the initialization phase Without a workaround this programs could not be used with the PTC TlTusb This workaround is represented by the TNC command Using this command the PTC IIIusb up to the desired extend adapts its behavior to react similar to the WA8DED command interpreter The PTC IIIusb reacts similar to a normal TNC if the TNC command is activated This causes somewhat incompatibility to the own standard but the n
82. 0 and 1200 Baud pac TXL A lt Return gt Reading out the TxLevel for 9600 and 19200 Baud pac TXL F lt Return gt Without any parameter given the entry of TXLevel displays both amplitude settings 9 8 37 Unproto Default setting CQ Parameter Call Callsign for Unproto Unproto sets the target callsign for the Unproto operation To start an Unproto transmission just enter the Converse mode with K and everything that is then typed and ends with lt Return gt is transmitted by the PTC IIIusb lt Esc gt returns the pac prompt the entry of K then ending the Converse mode 9 8 38 USers Default setting 4 Parameter X 0 31 number of users Limits the number of channels available for remote users USers 5 limits the number of connects from outside to five so if the PTC is presently connected to by 5 stations and a further station attempts to connect this connect request will be refused The USers command allows any incoming PR connect to be transferred to the PTC Tllusb PR mailbox but only if USers has to be set to 0 This will allow for example that on exiting the terminal program e g automatic de initialization with YO in GP the PTC Tllusb can be brought to a condition where a connect using the normal MYCALL i e 133 9 Packet Radio without the 8 will be transferred to the mailbox This is useful as many potential users would use the normal MYCALL to connect to the PTC IItusb If the terminal is o
83. 0 baud transmission can be started cmd U 2 lt Return gt Unproto possibilities for PACTOR I Parameter Speedlevel Packet definition 1 100 Bd FSK standard method for Level I CQ calls 2 200 Bd FSK Unproto possibilities for PACTOR II Parameter Speedlevel Packet definition 3 100 Bd DPSK short cycle standard method for Level IT only calls 200 Bd DPSK short cycle 400 Bd DPSK short cycle 800 Bd DPSK short cycle 100 Bd DPSK long cycle 200 Bd DPSK long cycle 400 Bd DPSK long cycle 10 800 Bd DPSK long cycle Unproto possibilities for PACTOR 3 A a EE Parameter Speedlevel Packet definition 30 1 short cycle ea 2 short cycle 32 3 short cycle 33 4 short cycle 34 5 short cycle 35 6 short cycle 36 1 long cycle 37 2 long cycle 91 6 Commands 38 3 long cycle 39 4 long cycle 40 5 long cycle Al 6 long cycle If no argument is given then the PTC IIIusb uses the mode that was last used or the default setting The actual mode is shown on the LED status field The Unproto mode may be terminated with a QRT character a Disconnect It is always possible to abort a unproto transmission using the command DD A repetition rate of 3 does not mean that the text appears on the screen of the receiving station 3 times In this case the PTC increases the redundancy of the signal by repeating it The transmission takes longer but there is a correspondingly greater chance of receiving it correctly At th
84. 159 UR 157 Level Seng 158 207 Prompt and Status 158 Pak Aimply quis ene dd 76 LE E 11 Ee 77 A 77 Lat 171 A A 162 Q K tt 11 OR TE a 78 Cds 98 131 162 171 181 R RaM bieoiashecteee 163 LEE 78 REL dees 78 RE Mt Go tege geesde aida 79 Remote commands ccocoocccnoccninonaninonans 30 Requirements ar sesers seesseeee 1 A A 79 ee odds 131 RES TI ai in iii 79 EE 131 A E 80 Robust HE Packet 39 A ee 49 RTTY E TEEN 82 Ee 171 RUN idaraos ls 181 S KEEN 171 SCS PTC the original 00 1 Sende ace ee 80 SERN M arc darian 163 IT 131 A ee 80 GEET 81 Simultaneous STBY mode 29 Sinewave Generator 99 SL ANE protocol 152 E EE 120 Mid vita sateen 115 A I N 81 Speed and robustness 191 UU Dd e al 82 Si TEE 113 SRP 120 208 Index SS EV A AE 103 104 107 Start of the CRC hostmode 153 Si 82 83 84 Status output in hostmode 148 Stuffing COLS iio 152 SUSO taaan 84 161 181 T Jee 140 Technical Dap ege ege 195 ECTS pr A tata Ia Pelee teste coated neste 85 TP OUG EE 99 ER rae 87 Eu 67 DR br 172 Tips and WKS E 116 INES Seals ate sun EEN 87 Set 99 TA ON 88 RE 90 PRACE EE 132 Transceiver control 21 90 165 Transceiver remote control socket 197 Transfer 172 173 Transmission at Modem operation 110 Transmit in AM FAX ooooccccncocccconnnc n 111 Transmit in COMPARATOR mode 111 Transmit in FM FAX FSK SSTV 111 dk s
85. 255 Instead the output value is calculated using the formula 107 8 FAX 255 2700 2300 800 128 This folding back has been shown to give less color errors in multipath propagation conditions and with other interference conditions As the tuning indicator also displays the output values in SSTV Modem operation this folding back can perhaps be somewhat confusing during tuning operation The SSTV synchronization pulse using a frequency of 1200 Hz is filtered independently from the FM Detector and is processed with the help of a relatively complex threshold value method Basically the PTC IIIusb interprets these pulses as being a separate amplitude modulated signal independent of the picture information As a special new development the PTC IIIusb can use a processing method especially designed for the line synch pulse that virtually accumulates the information over a number of lines As this processing algorithm requires the line synch pulse timing for correct operation there exists a special command SMode with the help of which the PTC IIusb is informed of the current SSTV sub mode being used The multi line check may be turned off which deteriorates the synch recognition but however does allow unknown SSTV transmissions to be processed without problem when a good signal to noise ratio is available The PTC IIusb uses the standard given in the JVFAX documentation to pass the recognized synchronization pulses to the PC program
86. 3 Home HF Here is a selection of current symbols or their numbers 6 HF Gateway 7 Small Aircraft 13 House QTH VHF al3 House HF 15 Dot 27 Campground 28 Motorcycle 30 Car 47 Balloon 50 Recreational Vehicle 53 Bus 56 Helicopter 57 Yacht sail boat 65 Ambulance 66 Bicycle 70 Fire Truck 74 Jeep 75 Truck 83 Ship Power boat 86 Van 9 8 1 6 APRS TImer Default setting 900 Parameter X 0 1 7200 Sets the beacon interval in seconds With the default setting 900 the beacon transmits every 15 minutes if position data is available and the global MYcall is set on the virtual channel 0 123 9 Packet Radio Parameter 0 activates the speed dependant automatic mode The interval is then calculated by the formula Interval sec 1800 GPS speed knots With speeds above 180 knots the interval is limited to 10 seconds With speeds below 1 knots the interval is limited to a maximum of 1800 seconds The automatic can only work properly when the speed is contained in the GPS datastream which means that RMC data must be available from the connected GPS receiver If speed data is available the interval in automatic mode is set to 900 seconds With FIX Position Aprs 2 see 9 8 1 and automatic timer the firmware sets the interval independent of the speed data from the GPS receiver to 1800 seconds 9 8 2 Baud Default setting 1200 X Baud rate for the radio link Setting c
87. 30 PRHE A O eee Ven eet tore 131 Maa 131 RESDUNG aiina T 131 PE EE 131 EE E A A E A a at es AA A A EA E 131 E A 132 A A 132 TS atte anta alte pio alada 132 TXLOVOl cooccconnccccncccconoccconacanonacanonacono nana nonanannnanannnncnnno 133 Iria ri iii 133 A AAA 133 COSINA nus asion e alio iaa lia 135 The PTC Illusb hostMode l a 135 Modem TIMES srta ada 136 AA atada dia dada datada dido 1397 Bs EE 137 A treat eee te eee AE E eee eee ee ay re hee ore ete ee TE 137 EENEG 137 ala 138 E E E A E EE E IE AE A E RAE E ET E E S 138 A A A e 138 AM aia 138 es 138 TIA A 139 A ie eee eine erie A 139 A EOT EE IR E A A EA A A A 139 E A E A E AA A TAE EAE AA 139 eege 139 AAA A 140 A A A IA A AR NY EERIE IY ATTIRE 140 RA AA A RA 140 KEE 140 U EE 140 EEN 141 A AO 141 VARAS ES 141 NA 141 EE 142 AI EE 143 GO 143 KEEN 143 A O E O OTET 143 E EEE EES 144 Vil Vill 11 Dist Table of Contents pS ee ee ee E ee ae ae ee 144 A A IA 144 leede 144 E A TE AEE EE E E E E A 144 Ee 144 A E BE 145 E E AEAEE AAI ETT ANEA AE I E NTA ANT AT TE 145 A 145 EE 145 KE 146 Ee FE orcos aero ao ind 147 Status output in hostmode oooocooocccccccccccnnnccanaccconincnns 148 os A 148 TRX Control Channel on Hostmode AN 149 e EE 149 CRG NOSIMOQE ccocncnincieniiiniienaenn 149 Extended CC hostmode cooocccccnnnccnccncncnnnnnnnnnnnanannnnn 150 Basie PINES artistes 150 MASTER POC essa 151 LAME aa eege 152 Stuffing errors or unexpected header sequen
88. 300 400 for the period 3 00 to 4 00 The hyphen between the start and stop times is optional and can be replaced with a space Leading zeros are also optional If the TImer command is given without arguments then the PTC lists the entire timer table If only the timer number is given as argument then the PTC IIlusb shows the times defined for only this timer A single hyphen as a timer period erases the mer Es trx TI 1 lt Return gt 13 16 Transfer The command Transfer allows any character sequences to be sent via the normal command interpreter of the PTC Illusb to a connected transceiver If the transceiver type has been set to KENWOOD then ASCII characters can directly follow the Transfer command as KENWOOD transceivers work directly with ASCII sequences The Transfer sequence is closed with lt Return gt Commands the KENWOOD transceiver to switch to VFO A and to return the frequency of the VFO A trx T FA lt Return gt In the case of transceiver types SGC YAESU or ICOM the transfer sequences must be given in hexadecimal form Example Commands the SG 2000 to switch to the next operating mode step radio model command trx TFI8A8A lt Return gt With the hexadecimal input spaces are ignored and both upper and lower case letters are allowed 172 13 TRX Transfer sequences may be easily stored as Fixtext or Fixfiles for individual control of transceivers 13 17 TYpe Default setting ICOM 1200 0
89. 4 Parameter X CODAN ICOM KENWOOD NMEA ICOM R amp S SGC YAESU Baudrate 1200 115200 Bd ICOM ID VFO A B V24 TTL Enables the configuration of the PTC IMllusb TRX interface There are up to three arguments allowed The first argument indicates the transceiver the following transceiver are supported e CODAN e ICOM e KENWOOD e NMEA ICOM e R amp S Rhode amp Schwarz e SGC e YAESU The first letter is sufficient Then follows as the second argument the baudrate The PTC II Iusb supports the following values 1200 1800 2400 3600 4800 7200 9600 12000 14400 16800 19200 28800 38400 57600 76800 115200 For NMEA ICOM the given baudrate is ignored and is set to fixed 4800 baud For the third argument differs depending on the selected transceiver type ICOM and NMEA ICOM The PTC requires the ICOM equipment address number The address can be entered decimal 0 to 255 or hexadecimal 0 to FF If entered hexadecimal the has to be entered first same for FO or 6C Leading zeros are suppressed In manuals you sometimes will find the following expression e g 4Eh The small h indicates that the value is a hex number But smarty pants would have recognized this before The marking usually is not necessary because an E is never part of a decimal number The PTC IIIusb expects the input 4E i e the h is not given KENWOOD and YAESU The VFO A or B that should be addressed by the PTC With
90. 4 is added to the list again The normal G poll of channel 254 is always possible independent from new information in the status Even is the auto status is active the actual value can always be obtained by a regular poll 10 7 TRX Control Channel on Hostmode Virtual hostmode channel 253 serves as transparent data channel between PC and TRX port Arbitrary data can be exchanged between PC and transceiver on channel 253 This enables for example direct transceiver remote control from the PC side There is one length limitation If more than 1000 bytes of data sent from the transceiver are already buffered the PTC does not accept more data until the buffer is flushed data fetched by the PC application 10 8 NMEA Channel On hostmode channel 249 the PTC IIlusb provides all NMEA sentences of a connected GPS receiver Except the terminating lt CR gt ASCII13 the data is exactly matching with the one the GPS receiver sends The PTC IIIusb buffers 32 sets of NMEA data internally This NMEA channel is also included in the extended hostmode channel 255 which means that the usual poll on channel 255 is sufficient to determine if there is new NMEA data available on channel 249 10 9 CRC hostmode The expanded WA8DED hostmode extended hostmode has established itself as a de facto standard for communication between TNC PTC and PC control programs Although containing a very well thought out structure which considerably eases compatibilit
91. 52 Reserved for future extensions no functionality bytes are ignored 253 Deletes the transmission data buffer and shortens the TX tail to 0 Direct analysis not via data buffer This command can be used to terminate a picture 254 Deletes the transmission data buffer and shortens the TX tail to 0 Analysis via data buffer This byte defines the regular end of a picture It must be added to each picture to deactivate the transceiver directly after picture end 255 Ends the JVComm modem Jump to the STBY mode of the PTC Direct analysis not via data buffer 8 4 Fax menu commands When in the main menu cmd prompt the FAX command leads to the fax menu The menu announces itself only with the prompt fax the description fax is misleading because within this menu additional modes are available In the fax menu the following commands are available Amfax Fmfax Jvfax JVComm Sstv FSk Comparator PR300 AGain AResolut FResolut SResolut FSKBAud Deviation MBaud SMode TXcomp HSynch JSynch ASynch All other normal commands are not available in the fax menu Quit or DD exit the fax menu All commands in the fax menu may also be carried out from the main menu by setting the prefix FAX before the actual command cmd FAX JVFAX lt Return gt This is corresponding with the usual convention of the other sub menus e g SyS menu or trx menu The fax menu consists of two basic types of commands the MODEM comma
92. 6 pin Mini DIN 3 5 3 Connection to Yaesu transceivers Some YAESU transceivers use a 5 pin DIN plug Packet and can be connected this way Table 3 8 Yaesu connection Smaller YAESU s use a 6 pin Mini DIN connector whereby with multiband transceivers two different connection schemes must be distinguished 18 3 Installation For HF and 1k2 Packet Radio white yellow violet This cable is available completely assembled Refer to chapter 16 on page 193 Table 3 9 YAESU 6 pin Mini DIN For 9k6 Packet Radio white yellow violet This cable is available completely assembled Refer to chapter 16 on page 193 Table 3 10 YAESU 6 pin Mini DIN 3 5 4 Amplitude Adjustment The PTC IIIusb output amplitude has to be adjusted very carefully to the connected transceiver If you don t pay attention on this item a signal much too wide will be the result The output amplitude are adjusted separately depending on the modes FSK PACTOR 1 AMTOR RTTY etc and the modes PSK PACTOR 2 A common adjustment with one command was in practice not the best way The audio input sensitivity of most transceivers is adapted to the output voltage of a common dynamic microphone 100 modulation is reached at low MIC Gain settings with 200 mV Peak to peak input voltage It is not recommended to use very high PSKAmpl values and compensate this by lowering the MIC Gain setting because this may already
93. A E 79 Lo EE 79 A IA 80 SERA eet 80 Eed 80 LE O TE eee nly ete ee 80 SHow Stare 80 UPON ci tintcleiaieieiniaindciniaiaiaianninineeniata tunisia einininiahe 81 A AA E E E A E E E E AET 81 JA A 82 A A EA 84 TN EE 85 TA eet tere 87 A AA 87 ke 88 rt EEN 89 A A E OET E 90 TXDel y AS 90 AT 90 EE ican tea ten cia chee ety din dike stax A en dane ech ees 91 A A A 92 6 102 6 103 6 104 6 105 6 106 6 107 Table of Contents USer Piaiidigeicnescscscsssvscciennavacvendsasaennaeanacantvanavenncansasaasban 92 USE ERE On SAE AA 92 Eege 93 MASON a E 93 NIG EES 94 EEN 95 Aaa 97 a 97 E AA A EE 97 CNOT asi ri on GA ad 97 DD 98 SE 98 all aa aoc ete cca ase dtu teed tna een ean eae orate tied eect 98 Le ll A TEE 98 De 98 Peak 98 AA 98 li AMA 99 TODO a 99 FAX baner Erra 101 General Information E 101 Basic info concerning FAX and GESIN 101 a ae aed ee 101 A Sater RSE A 102 1 EE tassel ed in tiene ied 103 FAX and SSTV with JVCOMM32 ccccceeeeeeeeeeees 104 cs nn 104 Reference of databytes concerning the PTC 105 Fax menu GEREEST 105 The PTC Illusb as COMPARATOR MODEM 106 MODEM commands in detail 107 AMI AK A AA 107 E EEN 107 eebe 107 dE 108 el AAA AIN 109 FSK A A EE 109 A o A 110 PTC lllusb with 300 baud HF Packet 110 Transmission during MODEM operation cccccno 110 Transmission in AM FAX Modem mode 111 Transmission in FM FAX FSK SSTV
94. C IITusb will at a maximum be reduced by the factor 2 maximum power reduction by the factor 4 The setting of the minimum amplitude allows a limitation of the auto power adjustment range This is sometimes obvious and necessary Some transceiver only operate proper in a limited power range This can also increase the average throughput in rapidly fluctuating channels In most of all cases the auto power can be switched on with APower 1 6 5 AQrg Default setting 1 Parameter 0 Automatic carrier frequency compensation switched off 1 Automatic carrier frequency compensation for PTC HIusb switched on The PTC IIIusb uses two totally separate compensation methods for frequency error during DPSK operation The phase error on receive caused by frequency offset is always relatively quickly compensated switching off this function which is essential for PSK operation is not possible AQrg 1 activates the second additional compensation method The PTC IIIusb pulls the two carrier frequencies of the modems DSP slowly towards the set value This in contrast to the pure error phase compensation also influences the focusing indicator The QRG Display LED which slides slowly back to the center position To prevent completely drifting away from the chosen frequency the PTC Tllusb uses Master Slave tracking This means that the Slave station Called by the master station only adjusts its receive frequency but the Master station initiating
95. Ctrl V gt lt W gt It is recommended to put all definable control characters in the control block XON and XOFF Ctrl Q Ctrl S can not be transmitted 6 27 CWid Default setting 1 0 Parameter 1 0 CW identification disabled 1 CW identification enabled only for PACTOR ARQ 2 CW identification enabled for PACTOR ARQ and Unproto 3 CW identification enabled for PACTOR ARQ Unproto AMTOR ARQ 4 CW identification enabled only for PACTOR ARQ refer to text 5 CW identification enabled for PACTOR ARQ Unproto AMTOR ARQ 0 Normal CW identification using with keying the PTT 1 CW identification before each PACTOR or AMTOR ARQ connect 2 Audio Only CW identification refer to text 3 Combination of and 2 Parameter 2 Automatic CW identification is given after a transmission of approximately 7 minutes and after QRT The CW identification is keyed with the PTT line The FSK output remains at the Mark frequency during the CW Transmission The AFSK signal amplitude is also keyed The frequency for AFSK is defined by the Center command in the Audio menu refer to chapter 7 page 97 The speed is set with the CWSpeed command With CWid 1 3 the CW identification is only given at QRT if it is self initiated With CWid 4 and 5 it does not matter which station initiated the QRT procedure The CW identification requires a quick keying of the transmitter and usually uses the PTT line for this purpose This method produces a more or less
96. ES NO DL1ZAM channel 2 Ge 3584 000 YES YES Test QRG DL1ZAM 4 14079 000 NO YES DL2FAK CN2SM 5 14076 540 NO NO EA5FIN s summer QRG 165 13 TRX 6 14075 600 NO YES LA2MV 7 14080 000 NO YES 9K2EC special 8 3587 000 YES YES SM3HUA ORG 9 3595 400 NO YES DJ9YJ ORG 10 3588 000 NO YES DKOMAV HB9AK I1 14077 000 NO YES second ch dl2fak The Channel command without argument behaves exactly as a List command for the TRX command set All user defined channels are listed If the Channel command is followed by ONE argument consisting of a number between 1 and 32 then the PTC switches the connected TRX to the given channel frequency If the command trx Ch 3 lt Return gt is given then from the above list the TRX would be switched to 3584 000 kHz if channel 3 is set to this frequency The definition of a channel is carried out by putting two or three arguments after the Channel command trx Ch 11 14077 0 second ch d12fak lt Return gt The length of the comment must not exceed 52 characters As the comment does not contain essential information it may be omitted The frequency input is always in kHz where however the decimal point after the Megahertz position is optionally allowed e g 14 076 54 The last decimal point is processed as a kilohertz decimal point There are up to three positions allowed after this decimal point whereby a frequency accuracy of 1 Hz has been anticipated which cannot be used by some TRX s as only
97. GPS The input is compatible with TTL and V24 signals 198 B Connector Pin out D 6 Cable Color Code 8 pole DIN Table D 1 Cable Colors 8 pole DIN cable 5 pole DIN Table D 2 Cable Colors 5 pole DIN cable 13 pole DIN Table D 3 Cable Colors 13 pole DIN cable 199 Glossary Appendix C 19 Glossary ADC Analog Digital Converter AFSK Audio Frequency Shift Keying AMTOR AMateur Teletype Over Radio ARQ FAX process developed out of the SITOR process by G3PLX ANSI American National Standardization Institute A Terminal Emulation Protocol was determined by ANSI which has been established as a standard for mailbox systems The ANSI Terminal Emulation offers cursor control color support block graphic and generation of signal tones ARQ Automatic Request A procedure to transmit data without errors If the transmitted data occurs with errors at the receiver the defect information block will be called from the transceiver once again ASCII American Standard Code of Information Interchange 7 bit code for numbers characters special characters and control characters Backup Another word for safety copies which should be done regularly Very special often created with a lot of work program configurations should be saved regularly too Baudot Code 5 bit code used to transmit characters in RTTY and AMTOR BIOS Bootloader Basic Input Output System The BIOS contains initializatio
98. Hz frequency shift The center frequency is calculated automaticly from the tone pair set with the TOnes MARk and SPAce commands in the cmd menu 100 Hz are added and subtracted respectively to generate the modem tones This may sound a bit complicated bus has the advantage that all settings of the transceiver can be adopted from the PACTOR AMTOR menu But care should be taken as a 500 Hz IF filter is already too small for Packet operation with 300 baud It is only recommended to be used in the case that strong neighboring signals begin to modulate the AGC of the transceiver 9 5 KISS KISS means Keep It Simple Stupid which already implies the simplicity of this interface protocol In KISS mode the PTC is degraded to be a pure modem and its intelligence is limited to the physical protocol level modulation demodulation All higher protocol levels e g AX 25 are processed on the PC or whatever the KISS master system is Hence KISS just acts as simple transport medium between the higher protocol levels and the physical modem level The modem does not have any knowledge any more of the higher protocol levels gt KISS Phil Karn http people qualcomm com karn papers kiss html 119 9 Packet Radio Because of this KISS is not suitable for eg PACTOR The timing critical PACTOR protocol cannot easily be implemented on a PC with multitasking operating system and transported via a KISS interface to the modem Via KIS
99. Iusb for all non PSK modes Before this value is changed the PSK amplitude should have been correctly set see PSKAmp1 command chapter 6 70 page 75 After the PSK amplitude has been correctly set the transceiver MIC gain control should not be further adjusted to attain the required power output for non PSK modes For this adjustment i e FSK CW output power exclusively use the FSKAmpl command The transceiver should be connected either to a dummy load of appropriate power handling capacity or a well matched antenna please pay particular attention that the chosen frequency is really free Using U 1 lt Return gt the Unproto mode 1 is started 100 Bd FSK Now using the FSKAmp1 command use the ESCAPE character to enter 62 6 Commands the command mode before each change adjust the audio output level of the PTC HIusb until the required output power is reached e g lt ESC gt FSKA 100 lt Return gt It should be noted that the ALC level of the transceiver must not exceed the prescribed level exactly as with PSK To prevent possible damage to the average TRX caused by continuous transmission we recommend that the FSK output power should never exceed 50 of the maximum PEP power In the case of the average amateur transceiver of 100 watts this represents the 50 watt level The internal impedance of the AF output stage of the PTC usb is 330 Ohms and resistive 6 43 HCr Default setting 0 Parameter 0 Auto CHO after an em
100. L1ZAM Board Layout lt Return gt Stores a message for DL6MAA entitled This is a test cmd W DL6MAA This is a test lt Return gt The last example shows that the title could be more than one word The whole text after the filename is interpreted as the title of the message The length is limited to 32 characters and additional characters are cut off Filenames identical to a filename number 1 2 2 3 etc are not allowed and an error message will occure in this case 6 107 XUser The XUser command is used to manage the user list The PTC IIIusb firmware allows to define user specific access priorities i e that it is possible to define in a user list if for example the user DK9FAT is permitted to use the PR gt PACTOR gateway or if he is allowed to read private messages for other callsigns from the Packet side etc Up to 64 entries are possible in the user list The first entry is always assigned to the callsign ALL and defines which priorities are given to the users being not part of the list Example for a typical user list User Priorities PR BOX PT BOX PR GATE ALL 2220 DL1ZAM 9999 DL6MAA 3330 DL2FAK 3330 DK9FAT 2230 DL3FCI 2230 Each entry consists of the user callsign and a four digit character string indicating the assigned priorities At the moment only the first three characters are used the fourth one is reserved for future extensions The first three characters define the priorities for 1 mailbo
101. Lete instead of Erase There is a special small help text available for each command which the user can call up with Help followed by the appropriate command E g Help Send lt Return gt 33 5 PTC Firmware Short description Help Help Chapter 6 44 Call the Sysop Chapter 6 11 Read the main directory OF THE MAILBOX Chapter 6 36 Gives a list of files within a directory Chapter 6 48 Check Lists actual mails Chapter 0 Reads a Mail Send Sends a mail alternative the command Write Erase Erase a mail alternative the command DELete Shows the current users Calls up the log book Chapter 6 51 Leaves mailbox alternative the command BYe P Requests GPS position Calls up the version Calls up the date TIme Calls up the clock time Table 5 4 Packet Radio mailbox commands PR mailbox links occupy as is usual the lowest free channel of the PTC Iusb The terminal program also displays the usual connect message when a mailbox connect is made with however the addition BBS Connect Local text input from the terminal to channels already occupied with BBS connects are ignored It is however always possible for the Sysop to disconnect an existing BBS connection by giving a disconnect command via the local terminal Received text is displayed in hostmode terminal programs e g GP exactly as usual and can be followed by the Sysop The Sysop can hereby notice which commands are given by the users In
102. Modem mode 111 Transmission in COMPARATOR mode 111 The Parameter commands in detail 112 A EE 112 A E 112 Vi 8 8 3 8 8 4 8 8 5 8 8 6 8 8 7 8 8 8 8 8 9 8 8 10 8 8 11 Table of Contents FRESOIUt oo cece ccc ccc ceccceeessseeeeseeeeseueuseeueeeesueeeseeeeesues 112 o O A A EE 113 O EE 113 RE EEN 113 A EE 113 Eeer 114 A A AT A E ASA 114 ein EEN 114 Re AA 115 A EE 115 WES a EES sn ad 116 IF SHIPFT cccccccccccccnnnncccn nono no ncnnnonona nano nonancnnnonanacanonono 116 dl EE 117 LEES 117 Modern ee VU Robust HF Packet oocccccoccccccccccnncccnnncccnnaccnonaninonanona 118 300 Baud HF Packet iii 119 EE 119 Activating KISS mode the commands KISS and K120 stare ea aca eee 120 Ehe EE EE 120 KSE A ii inaa 121 ADI ti A A 121 EE 124 e REESEN 124 A A TIRO AARTE OE ERE 124 Ss EE 124 COWES EE 125 CONSIAMP A riiai 125 SEH 125 KEE 125 AS A 125 O A EE 126 A 126 Eege 126 EE 126 DT mn ARMAR 127 KISS eebe 127 RA NONE EE 127 lei EE 127 A EE 128 ZE EE 128 ZE 128 Rs EE 129 kent EE 129 ke ET 130 9 8 25 9 8 26 0 6 27 9 8 28 9 8 29 9 8 30 9 8 31 9 8 32 9 8 33 9 8 34 9 8 35 9 8 36 9 8 37 9 8 38 10 4 10 10 4 11 10 4 12 10 4 13 10 4 14 10 4 15 10 4 16 10 4 17 10 4 18 10 4 19 10 4 20 10 4 21 10 4 22 10 4 23 10 4 24 10 4 25 10 4 26 10 4 27 Table of Contents MYMail oo cccc cc eccceeeeseseeessueeeesueeseseeeeeeueeseeuuess 130 PACCO lied E EE EE 130 a IR AR AA 1
103. O to 3582 600 kHz and starts calling on this frequency To use this function the transceiver must be capable to be remote controlled using the TRX remote control option of the PTC IIusb utilizing the socket for remote control of the PTC IMlusb The remote control parameter have to be set correctly using the TYpe command of the trx menu This notation is very handy for simple callsign lists with the corresponding frequency information The list entries directly can be entered as Connect arguments Also the manual input of the frequencies should be convenient enough 6 23 CONT ype Default setting 3 Parameter 0 Accepts no connects Accepts only normal connects 1 2 Accepts only robust connects 3 Accepts all connects 54 6 Commands CONType defines which connect types the PTC IIIusb accepts while in standby mode and with this leads to a connection to be established 6 24 CSDelay Remote Default setting 5 Parameter X 1 31 delay in X e 5 msec Selection of time delay between the end of the RX packet and start of the first CS data bit The time equals the value X multiplied by 5 milliseconds The parameter influences the response time controls of the RX at RX start With a large value for CSDelay even transceivers that have slow transmit receive switching can be used for PACTOR The maximum distance that can be covered is reduced due to the time delay caused by the final speed of radio waves DX is only possible with fast tran
104. OR The BREAKIN character is a special command for a forced direction change from RX to TX BREAKIN Because this command is used very often the PTC accepts the BREAKIN character only directly in the converse mode that means that the command cannot be used after the cmd prompt The BREAKIN character may be changed to any other convenient character with this command at any time lt Ctrl B gt as BREAKIN character is defined with the command BK 2 The following characters are not permitted 8 Backspace 13 CR 32 Space 30 IDLE 17 XON 19 XOFF and other already specified special characters 6 13 BMsg Default setting 1 Parameter 0 RTTY PSK31 RX TX switching messages off 1 RTTY PSK31 RX TX switching messages on Switches RTTY PSK31 RX TX switching messages on or off To switch off the relatively long switching messages is helpful for RTTY and PSK31 contests to prevent a rapid scrolling away of useful text 50 6 Commands 6 14 BOOT Use BOOT to load the PACTOR firmware via the serial interface into the RAM This is mainly used for testing during software development BOOT only works in connection with a special load program and cannot be used with a normal terminal program 6 15 Box Default setting 0 Parameter 0 Mailbox control with sequence 1 Mailbox in direct mode 2 As in 0 but only personal messages 3 As in 1 but only personal messages The command Box 1 brings the PTC mailbox into the direct a
105. OR QRT protocol so that changes during a link could influence the QRT procedure In the STBY condition LOGIn displays the call of the last connected station This call will also be used for a Connect command without argument An argument call after LOGIn can be used to preset a call for the next master connect without argument With a remote access using PACTOR a LOGIn command will cause an error message 66 6 Commands 6 53 MAil Default setting 0 Parameter 0 New messages not reported 1 New messages reported on connect On connect reports if new messages for the caller are at hand Only messages that have not been already read by the caller are counted To report mail for the sysop that has not been read filename MYCALL the CON LED is used It blinks during STBY operation if a new unread mail is available 6 54 MARK Default setting 1400 Parameter X 300 2700 frequency in Hz Allows the adjustment of the mark frequency of the PTC IIIusb in 1 Hertz steps internal resolution 0 25 Hz using DDS The frequency chosen with the MARk command is only used when the TOnes parameter is set to 2 refer to TOnes command chapter 6 94 page 87 6 55 MAXDown Default setting 6 Parameter X 2 30 number of error packets before down speed Selects the down speed parameter for automatic speed adaption MAXDown determines how soon the system steps down to a lower speed but more robust mode during poor channel conditio
106. Parameter lt target call gt lt Digil gt lt Digi2 gt Connect sets up the AX 25 link The connect can take place over both ports in the PTC TlTusb the required port being given directly before the target callsign DLIZAM connect pac C DLIZAM lt Return gt DL6MAA connect via DBOKFB pac C DL6MAA DBOKFB lt Return gt 9 8 7 CONStamp Default setting OFF Parameter OFF Time stamp off ON Time stamp on Activates the display of time stamps on connect and disconnect messages 9 8 8 CONVerse Manually activates the converse mode This function is seldom needed as the PTC IITusb automatically switches to the converse mode after a successful link up Alternatively a K may be used as abbreviation for CONVerse The Converse mode can be terminated with the entry of lt ESC gt CONVerse lt Return gt or lt ESC gt K lt Return gt 9 8 9 CStatus CStatus lists the condition of the channel the link status 9 8 10 CText Default setting gt gt gt Welcome Parameter String of 249 characters maximum The Connect text is transmitted when CMsg 1 and the PTC receives a connect As the CText input uses the command interpreter a special convention for the lt CR gt character must be used A lt CR gt is represented in the CTEXT string by a 125 9 Packet Radio gt gt gt Welcome to s PTC IIIusb DSP QUICC System lt lt lt To leave a MSG please connect 8 PTC Mailbox The string abov
107. S only Packet Radio modems can be accessed PACTOR operation is not possible with KISS ATTENTION As soon as KISS mode is started a running PACTOR connection is terminated immediately With the dual port PTC s two KISS ports are available in parallel with the KISS addresses 0 and 1 With SRP the Ring addresses are assigned automatically see below A complete description of the KISS protocol exceeds the limits of this update information and can be found in relevant literature or in the Internet 9 5 1 Activating KISS mode the commands KISS and K The KISS Mode is activated with the commands KISS or alternatively K out of the normal command mode This usually happens automatically by the KISS PC software or a KISS capable controller e g TNC3 The KISS mode is terminated by a system reset power off on cycle but can also be terminated by software with sending the decimal byte sequence 192 255 192 The termination by sending the byte sequence is usually done automatically by the software as well and may just once be configured correctly in the setup of the program 9 6 SMACK SMACK means Stuttgart s Modified amateur radio CRC KISS It represents a KISS mode with added checksum for data protection SMACK is supported by many KISS capable systems To switch into the SMACK mode first the normal KISS more needs to be entered KISS master and KISS modem then automatically negotiate if CRC protection SMACK can be enab
108. SCS PTC II usb Data Transmission Technology on Shortwaves Manual for Version 4 1 Copyright 2012 SCS GmbH amp Co KG Foreword The information contained in this handbook has been carefully put together It is however still possible that errors have crept in If any errors are found we ask your forgiveness and request you send us a short note pointing them out Your SCS Team Manual rev A PACTOR is a registered trademark of SCS GmbH amp Co KG Hanau GERMANY Special Communications Systems Model PTC Iusb Federal Communications Commission FCC Statement This equipment has been tested by a FCC accredited testing facility and found to comply with the limits for Class B Digital Device persuant to Part 15 of the FCC rules These rules are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation Operation is subject to the following two conditions 1 This device may not cause harmful interference and 2 this device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operation This device is exempt from these rules in any transportation vehicle including motor vehicle and aircraft as per Part 15 103 a Any changes or modifications to this equipment may void the users authority to operate this equipment For further information please contact Farallon Electronics 2346 B Marinship Way Sausalito CA 94965 U S A 415 331 1924
109. SGC and R amp S the third parameter is obsolete The following restrictions have to be cared of for R amp S 173 13 TRX Data from the receiver is not reformatted by the PTC IIIusb but simply fed through directly to the terminal For the Frequency command without argument not the offset corrected frequency in kHz will be displayed but the original string from the transceiver The fourth argument defines if the tranceiver is controlled with TTL or V24 levels Refer to the transceivers manual to determine if it requires TTL or V24 levels If your transceiver has a 9 pole SUD D connector for remote control then it s most propable that it uses V24 levels CODAN If the first parameter is Codan the TYpe command only allows up to 2 parameters PTC II modems with V24 support always work in mode V24 if TYpe is set to Codan Codan transceivers are V24 compatible The function of the transfer command trx t for Codan transceivers is identical to the function for Kenwood transceivers i e ASCII strings are simply transferred transparently ATTENTION In order that Codan NGT transceivers accept commands at a remote port RS232 15 way or RS232 9 way the CICS command must be activated config menu only after admin login Another very important restriction must be considered Only frequencies that are predefined in a channel within the transceiver can be chosen through the remote port If an
110. TEn ca 55 CTE E 55 RE EE 55 A O 56 AA A O 57 E A 57 CW em 57 CWN EIO EE 59 a d EE 59 DAte e 59 DD A A EE 60 DELE EES 60 DIR a EE 60 DISCONNE EEN 61 E ee 61 Ee 61 cele eis brah NR i eh een ec laut eA 62 FEO 62 Por lt tege ee 62 lg SE 63 wl 63 Are acta dager eae 63 LUCEN SE cin 64 EI ER E ENEE 64 List eebe ri ar NEE NEEN idas ad 64 A ee ee ee eee ee Ree eee RT MRR E er ne eT 65 O EE 65 E e EE EE 65 LOg Fomentar 66 LOGIA O A cs te ee ete 66 ZF A EE E E EE E E E 67 A 67 MAXDOWN NA NI II A 67 MAXETTOTF rr 67 MAX E 68 Zen A 68 A A AAA 68 6 60 6 61 6 62 6 63 6 64 6 65 6 65 1 6 65 2 6 65 3 6 65 4 6 65 5 6 66 6 67 6 68 6 69 6 70 6 71 6 72 6 73 6 74 6 75 6 76 6 77 6 78 6 79 6 80 6 82 6 83 6 84 6 85 6 86 6 87 6 88 6 89 6 90 6 91 6 92 6 93 6 94 6 95 6 96 6 97 6 98 6 99 6 100 6 101 Table of Contents Ziler EE 68 le Ol A AA 69 ht EE 70 Lig EE 70 MY SOC A A 71 CARA AA AAA 71 Activating the NAVTEX Processor 71 Setting the types of messages required 72 Choice of the message area codes seeeeeeeees 72 Choosing the message latency Hme 72 AE A a a E anes 73 CJ DEE 74 A A A 74 PORMO A NA 74 SAA 75 Phase EEN 75 POSITION Remote lt scsc0erccnccensscncacssccnavensensaesanenensanaeseads 75 PSA EE 76 E EE 77 E ee 77 Ee 77 Qrt Roma 000000 REC ER CEE REC ET CCER A A AA REL A A A A tf CATT HIG TE 78 A aa a a 78 E A A 78 EII a aaa 79 PESEE A
111. TOR transmit buffer triggering and over from ISS to IRS state after all transmit data has been sent In contrast to O the Q command does not cause a breakin over from IRS to ISS state if the PTC currently is in the receiving state IRS 10 4 35 T Displays the total number of bytes that have been sent and confirmed in PACTOR so far The value is reset at the end of each connection The number can also be reset by giving an argument behind the T command The format is identical with the standard decimal ASCII output as used in the hostmode 10 4 36 V Displays a short ASCII string containing the actual version number of the actual version number of the PTC IIlusb firmware and the actual version number of the PTC IIIusb BIOS 145 10 Hostmode Format for example 4 0 2 09 Characters left of the dot are the main version number of the firmware Characters after the first dot until the first blank character are the sub firmware version number Letters may also appear here At least one blank separates the firmware version number and the BIOS version number The BIOS version string is built in the same way the convention just refers to the second dot this time 10 4 37 W For synchronizing external scanners Possible arguments 0 or 1 ASCII All responses to the W command are null terminated ASCII strings The W command enables synchronizing between the PTC and external frequency scanners Examples for exte
112. a mixture will run and the Bootloader is then the only way that the update can be repeated The Bootloader is automatically activated as soon as the PTC IIusb detects an error on loading the PACTOR firmware or the user wishes access to the Bootloader intentionally with activating rear DIP switch 2 14 1 Bootloader and Firmware What happens after switching on the PTC IItusb The following lines explain the behavior of Bootloader and firmware of the PTC IIIusb to interested users First of all the Bootloader controls the PTC Ilusb After Bootloader has been successfully started it initiates the LED s the USB interface the RAM and the other peripherals In the meantime the Bootloader performs a light show as a sign of life Next of all it is checked if the user wants to activate the Bootloader via rear DIP switch 2 In this case the command interpreter of the Bootloader is activated and the commands described in the following chapters are available At first the Bootloader copies the firmware into the 32 bit wide RAM The loading takes some time and is displayed with the every second LED being on 00000 After unpacking and loading the firmware the Bootloader has finished its job and now the firmware is responsible for controlling the PTC IITusb 179 14 The Bootloader 14 2 Activating the Bootloader The Bootloader is activated with the BIOS labeled switch on the rear side of the unit If the PTC MTusb is in Bootloader m
113. ables any timing errors to be measured and thus the PT II system to be kept in synchronization It is obvious to use two RC modulated signals with a spacing of 200 Hz Shift in parallel The complete signal then shows a spectrum 450 Hz wide at minus 50 dB PACTOR 2 utilizes exactly this modulation scheme using two tones and a modulation rate of 100 sec This is a relatively low value and is a good compromise between 186 15 Basics robustness in noise and resistance to multipath effects As the two tones work in parallel the PT 2 system reaches a total modulation rate of 200 sec The reason why differential PSK is used on HF links is that signals are much too unstable and noisy or with too large a frequency error to be used effectively by normal coherent PSK detectors Amplitude 230 20 10 o 10 20 30 Time Ems Figure 15 1 Raised Cosine Pulse Sampling points marked X 0 2000 Bd FSK l E N o U el Amplitude dB A O u o O 500 1000 1500 2000 Frequency Hz Figure 15 2 PACTOR 2 spectrum and 300 Bd FSK 200 Hz Shift For arguments sake if there are only two possible phase changes between the steps it s called differential binary phase shift keying DBPSK Every step contains exactly one bit of information If four different phase changes are allowed then the modulation is called differential quadrature phase
114. aborted when a byte value of 255 is received The baudrate is also during COMPARATOR operation set to the value given in the Mbaud command The PC program used must be configured to simple modem such as HAMCOMM or COMPARATOR 8 6 8 PTC ILusb with 300 baud HF Packet This mode still exists just to achieve compatibility with the first PTC II modem The much better and recommended way to operate 300 baud Packet is with the new 300 baud mode in the pac menue Refer to chapter 9 4 on page 119 300 Baud Packet operation is possible with the PTC IIusb when using the program TFX in addition TFX is started on the PC as a TSR program memory resident and discretely operates the packet protocol in the background The PTC IIlusb itself operates as a modulator demodulator in this case such as BayCom or PC COM The combination of PTC Illusb and TFX emulates a real hostmode TNC for 300 baud Packet that can be operated with a hostmode terminal program such as GP The command PR300 starts the TFX compatible 300 baud PR modem TFX should be used with hardware DCD turned on The MARK tone is the one also valid for PACTOR and the SPACE tone is always located exactly 200 Hz below the MARK tone The TEX program is available at nearly every Packet Radio mailbox or in the internet at http www nordlink org 8 7 Transmission during MODEM operation In every MODEM operational mode independent of if it is AM FAX FM FAX SSTV or FSK the PTC IIlusb keys
115. accu shr 1 XOR 8408 ELSE accu accu shr 1 Data Data shr 1 END crc_table index accu END Build table END Begin InitCRC Expand CRC Table crc Sffff Start value of the CRC Register Calculating the CRC follows for every input byte CALC_CRC_CCITT must be called once CALC_CRC_CCIT CALC_CRC_CCITT 04 Give input bytes in decimal here 01 CALC_CRC_CCITT 01 71 71 CALC_CRC_CCITT CALC_CRC_CCITT and so on CRC NOT CRC CRC is inverted at the end according to HDLC protocol in WORD CRC is contained the CRC value When all bytes that should be 154 10 Hostmode included in the CRC have been processed then first one hangs the low byte from WORD CRC and lastly the high byte on the Block as CRC With the 5 example bytes calculated above the LOWBYTE 213 and HIGHBYTE 153 When checking the CRC reception one also calculates both the transferred CRC bytes into the CRC value The new CRC value so obtained must equal F0B8 if the block has arrived correctly Alternatively one can calculate the CRC only using the data bytes without having to include the CRC bytes If one inverts the two bytes so calculated then the result must match up with the two received CRC bytes 155 11 PSK31 Chapter 11 11 PSK31 11 1 General The PSK31 system developed by Peter Martinez
116. ad and Send commands on the terminal side without a file number either the first file will be read or if more than one file is present the directory will be shown When no argument is given then the present directory name path will be used by the file system BREAKIN during a remote text output also while reading a file will erase the text output or ends the file read After a Disconnect RESEt or RESTart the current directory is set to the MYCALL given value With a connect from another station Slave connect the current directory is set to the call of the other station Valid Write List Read or DELete commands set the path to the given directory The directory name must naturally be explicit in the argument 31 5 PTC Firmware A list of the commands follows Short description Help Help Chapter 6 44 Call the Sysop Chapter 6 11 Read the main directory OF THE Chapter 6 36 MAILBOX Gives a list of files within a directory Lists actual mails Chapter 0 Reads a Mail Writes a mail into the PTC Mailbox Send Sendsamail Erase a mail Shows the current users Calls up the log book Leaves mailbox alternative the command Chapter 6 76 BYe Calls up the version Erase the transmit buffer DAte Calls up the date Chapter 6 33 Calls up the clock time Calls up QSO statistical data Calls up phase information Requests GPS position TRX Transceiver control Table 5 3 PACTOR mailbox commands
117. adio oooocconoccccnnnonccnnonanccncnnanoss 33 131 passing PR Oera casa 34 ET KEE 78 reading Dies 32 A a OT 78 EE 67 MASTER protocol c ooocoocnnoccincccincccnno 151 MAXDO West 67 MAT eege a 67 MAN ee 127 E E 68 MAX TIY cs ege Series denge eg dese 68 MAX E EE 68 WE EE 113 Mt a Ae 127 KE EE 28 AA O eiss eoacerac te Stas 128 MOd ees 69 Modern Times cccccccnnnnnninnnones 117 136 Modulation system oooocnncnnnninonncinns 186 e EE 128 MON EEN 69 ku EE 129 MT OX TEE 129 e ta dit 129 MAL Al 70 he o o 130 A isna 71 N N EE 139 NAVTEX E 71 NAVTEX area code 72 NAVTEX details 36 NAVTEX general naaa 35 NAVTEX in practice cooococcnccconcocnnnncns 37 NAVTEX EE 12 NMEA EE 24 38 76 140 NMEA channel e oceccccesctegussdicavactecostees 149 A EE 98 NU n res ee 74 O bereed 139 RE EEN 170 Online data compression s s0 190 P Kette eege 139 PACKET E 74 Packet Radio s c cecsivdestsacocasupsicensccote 117 300 baud via HE 110 Baudrate teclista cdi 124 Enabling the malbox 131 Hostmode incio ici 135 Listen mode cities 128 PACTOR data transparency 42 PACTOR II in practice eee 191 Parameter Commandes 112 eh 170 ID A e ARA 74 PIDUPI EX nanny ita 75 Ps 98 O A cans 75 LE WEE 162 POSition commande 75 140 Power supply connector c ocooonocicccnc 197 PSK31 Activating the emma 157 Carrier Frequencies ooococcnoconocconnonnninnonnnonos 157 CWJdenttfeaton 160 Te
118. al control of the transmission direction is useful furthermore 5 12 2 How to avoid incompatibility PACTOR Duplex allows to experiment a lot especially using PC software intended for Packet Radio Unfortunately side effects arise from using the duplex simulation together with old PACTOR systems In general the PACTOR Duplex should be switched off before using a PACTOR mailbox if it is not definitely clarified that the mailbox is able to operate with PACTOR Duplex users Also the internal mailbox of the PTC IIlusb reacts incorrect if the PTC IIlusb isn t switched to PACTOR Duplex if a CHANGEOVER is executed while entering commands e g when the user operates PACTOR Duplex but enters the command very slowly It would be desirable if all of the mailbox programs for PACTOR could be modified in the way that they could also operate with PACTOR Duplex users without problems 5 2 3 PACTOR data transparency The PACTOR Duplex mechanism and the data transparency structure of the WA8DED hostmode make it useful for other applications to fulfill the demand already mentioned from many users for data transparency for PACTOR As already mentioned the transparency in combination with PR programs allows the usage of binary transfer protocols via PACTOR Using the WA8DED hostmode the PTC IIIusb sends and receives data in PACTOR absolutely binary data transparent Data transparency is only achieved if both sides use the PTC IIlusb wi
119. ansmit TxD Short name for transmit data Version number Each device has its on version number The BIOS the Firmware PlusTerm PTCFAX the manual and the other system utilities Perhaps you will ask why because you are confused about the many version numbers But it is easy to understand Without this numbers how would it be possible to differentiate between old and new versions of the single parts 203 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 H1 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 204 Applicable Literature Applicable Literature DON MOE KE6MN DJOHC PACTOR QEX 10 1991 CQ DL Artikel 1 und 2 in Englisch DR TOM RINK DL2FAK PTCplus RTTY Digital Journal 2 1994 DR TOM RINK DL2FAK PACTOR Digital Journal 6 1994 DR TOM RINK DL2FAK and HANS PETER HELFERT DL6MAA PACTOR 2 Part I Digital Journal 1 1995 DR TOM RINK DL2FAK and HANS PETER HELFERT DL6MAA PACTOR 2 Part IT Digital Journal 2 1995 DR TOM RINK DL2FAK and HANS PETER HELFERT DL6MAA PACTOR 2 Part III Digital Journal 3 1995 DR TOM RINK DL2FAK and HANS PETER HELFERT DL6MAA PACTOR 2 Part IV Digital Journal 4 1995 A WALLACE ZLIAMW A new digital mode PACTOR Break In January February 1992 ROY PHILPOT DJOOW PACTOR Here and Now Amateur Radio 12 1992 C RICHARDS 9M2CR PACTOR The Magic Successor to RTTY and AMTOR Amateur Radio 3 1993 ROY PHILPOT
120. antenna shall be chosen for the channel The way one goes about defining a channel command in the trx menu is explained in the Channel command description refer to section 13 1 on page 165 Here is a short example of how one could define channel 1 trx C 1 3584 00 COMMENT lt Return gt In order that the channel attribute becomes operative the scanner Scan command must be turned on and the appropriate channel must have its scan status set to ON XS command The characters hash and colon without a space are used in order to separate the scan attribute from the normal comment in the channel comment field There can be multiple channel attributes after such a character string Multiple characters in a comment field are also allowed This is required for example with Rhode and Schwarz specific VO l channel attributes which must always follow directly after its own string The number of channel attributes is only limited by the length of the comment field 52 characters A space indicates the end of a channel attribute chain 176 13 TRX What attributes are possible follows in the next sections For example however here are some possible comment fields with channel attribute chains trx C 1 3584 00 a0t3t4 V0 lt Return gt trx C 2 14079 00 DL6MAA A2T3P6 lt Return gt trx C 3 3584 24 P3P2T6A1 DL3FCJ lt Return gt trx C 4 3584 00 t1 lt Return gt Either capitals or small letters may be used
121. approx 100 msec etc Possibly with timeout and error message displays Timing of the TRX dump sequences Dump sequences to the transceiver are sent a few milliseconds after the closing lt CR gt as a continuous string without pauses idles Sequences from the transceiver are transferred via the PTC IIIusb to the terminal as dump sequences when 1 With KENWOOD or ICOM Transceivers the appropriate end character delimiter is recognized 2 The string length reaches 40 characters That means that the maximum info length of the TRX dump from the PTC IIlusb to the terminal is 40 bytes although with Y AESU transceivers the maximum string length is restricted to 19 bytes 3 If no further information is received from the transceiver for longer than 40 byte lengths and information from the TRX is available For SGC transceivers this idle timeout has been reduced to 20 byte lengths There is only a few milliseconds delay between the recognition of the end condition and the beginning of the dump sequence Important Note Ctrl E should no longer be used as Hot key e g as changeover or QRT key when the dump mode is activated If however the Ctrl E should be defined as a control character then the PTC IIusb will not give an error message the processing of the Ctrl E as Hot key being delayed when the dump mode is active for a minimum of one character and the respective following characters are checked to see if they are val
122. arefully adjusted the MIC Gain setting at the transceiver should not be touched any more otherwise it could be difficult to achieve the desired output level for non PSK modes To adjust the output level for non PSK modes FSK CW PACTOR 1 AMTOR RTTY only the FSKAmp1 command should be used now Entering U 1 lt RETURN gt starts the Unproto mode 1 100Bd FSK Now you have the chance to adjust the output value using the FSKAmpl command e g lt ESC gt FSKA 100 lt RETURN gt Same as before during this procedure take care for not to exceed the ALC limit To prevent damage from the transceiver at continuous operation we recommend to limit the FSK output level to half of the maximum possible that means 50 W if the transceiver is made for 100 W at max 3 5 4 1 PACTOR 3 For optimum PACTOR 3 data throughput the transmit signal must be clean and undistorted Make sure that ground loops and RF feedback effects are avoided in your installation A 1 4 voltage divider placed directly at the transmit audio input of the transmitter may help to improve the effective transmit SNR Then you have to set FSKA and PSKA to appropriate higher signal levels PSKA levels lower than 80 are generally not recommended If possible minimize the wiring between the PTC and other devices If the transceiver provides a power supply output e g 13 8 V do not use an extra power supply for the PTC but connect the PTC to the DC output of the transceiver Use additio
123. arrow spectrum so that the adjacent PSK31 channels are not disturbed during the CWID The PTC IIIusb sends an additional CWID after a PSK31 transmission if the CWID Parameter refer to CWid chapter 6 27 page 56 is higher than 0 If the parameter is higher than 1 also before each PSK31 transmission a CW identification is sent 160 12 SYStest Chapter 12 12 SYStest The system test is not normally required by the PTC user but has been included here for the sake of completeness SYStest is purely a tool to diagnose and rectify faults in defective PTC s In normal operation this function is not needed The command SYStest without argument activates the system test menu SyS menu The command prompt takes the form sys Within the SyS menu the following system test commands are allowed Audio AUDPerm DD Down Fsk Help Kill Led MONitor Ptt PL1 Quit Ram SERNum Trxtest Up All other normal commands are not available The SyS menu may be ended with Quit or DD The SYStest command may also be followed by an argument which should be a command from the SyS menu In this case the PTC carries out only that given system test command without switching to the SyS menu The command may be said to have been fed through This command for example would show the PTC IIIusb RAM expansion cmd SYS Ram lt Return gt The SyS menu commands in detail 12 1 Audio Serves to carry out a so called Audio loop test or che
124. as almost zero power holding up a connection when no data passing brings a real advantage that outweighs the lower data throughput What are the reasons then that up until now HF PR works so poorly and apart from forwarding is hardly ever used There is a simple answer The current modulation type for HF PR namely uncoded 300 baud FSK is really unsuitable for normal HF channels The symbols are much too small even with moderate multi path effect delay spread to work Additionally because no sort of error correction code is used even short troughs or statics will destroy a many seconds long packet Just one missing bit leads to a repeat of the whole transmission To overcome this problem SCS has developed a new class of robust modulation types especially for Packet Radio As a special feature for all the variants of this Robust PR a completely new synchronization algorithm with tracking properties that were not possible before has been realized Frequency deviations of 250 Hz are immediately recognized and compensated without any loss of sensitivity and this also with signals that are buried deep in the noise Because of this it is possible to remove a tuning display One can say with good conscience this is Plug and Play for shortwave The 3 6 firmware makes available a small band 500 Hz version of the Robust PR A wide band variant 2 kHz with similar characteristics and 4 times the speed is in gen
125. asons Any argument is ignored This command facilitates polling of all operational states of the PTC via the serial interface This is useful for mailbox systems or more luxurious terminal programs The status byte is called by the RS character ASCII decimal 30 This definition of the status request byte does not impose any restrictions on data transparency PACTOR uses ASCII 30 decimal as the idle byte which can only be transmitted via a supervisor sequence 82 6 Commands The PTC s status reply always begins with an echo of the RS character ASCII decimal 30 to facilitate unique identification of the status information following The actual status byte follows this header This modular status level concept facilitates an expansion of the status information in the future i e in a higher status level even several bytes containing status information can be implemented The status bytes incl header are sent in direct sequence During the transmission of status information new status requests are ignored In status mode 2 the PTC Illusb has an automatic status output This means that the status no longer needs to be regularly polled by the terminal program Instead every status change causes the status information automatically to be given The status output is in the usual format 30 S S status byte In status mode 2 the status byte can still be polled via the terminal as before for instance directly after the start of th
126. ate saa a te Se ce Nal 90 165 TX cM Pes e it 115 TADA urn a 90 TAPA ais 173 174 A 2 U een 140 TUITE ES sos on totes A 90 tt A seve eetaeets Aioeeeees 91 133 UPDATE a a a 92 181 ELE GE 197 UR E 92 A en 133 USOs Unshift On Space 92 V A 93 VETO EE 93 181 Version numbermng ceeeeeseeereeeees 4 Index W Wi Aiea ie erea 141 KEEN 175 Why PACTOR Llora ais 183 Why PACTOR I occ cececceeseeseees 184 We ees 94 X E adi 175 DR BEE 95 Y KE 141 YAESU 757 connecpon 23 YAESU connection cece ee eees 23 YAESU Transceiver control 176 NPY Pasi e Deet 176 209
127. ateurs and now a requirement as with the development of the PACTOR 1 protocol about 8 years ago for a radio teletype system which takes maximum advantage of the possibilities offered by modern hardware and which can be classed as state of the art The main question was what could be improved in PACTOR 1 A bit of head scratching provided the answer First of all a significant improvement has to be done to the working range which requires greater adaptability In practice this means that even extremely weak or disturbed signals should still allow a connection even if they are so bad that PACTOR 1 can no longer transfer data On the other hand observations have shown that PACTOR 1 links often work at 200 baud virtually without repetitions on the higher bands In any case the effective information speed when required i e when data is really available should be increased so that data is transferred as fast as propagation will allow For a new protocol the following conditions of compatibility should be observed 4 All advantages of the old protocol should be obtained e Step synchronous ARQ protocol e Simple half duplex operation with short packets during a direct QSO high spontaneity e Full data transparency binary ASCII Huffman Markow etc e Full support of analogue memory ARQ e Should be able to connect under poor S N ratio conditions and with a short phasing time no requirement for a valid CRC to connect ther
128. aud menu with the Quit or DD command For a detailed description of the audio commands refer to chapter 7 page 97 6 8 BAKup This command is to be used to back up the entire PTC mailbox After entering the BAK command the PTC requests a disk file to be opened and waits for the input of a lt CR gt which starts the actual back up procedure After the back up is finished the PTC gives a BELL character to signify that the disk file may be closed For Specialists The Back up file format lt CR gt carriage return 1F1BABC85D56DABC8912D lt CR gt Occupied sector 8 lines with 64 nibbles follow After every line a lt CR gt lt CR gt lt BN gt number of 32k RAM blocks PTCBAK lt BN gt lt CR gt blocks decimal lt SN gt lt CR gt number of BBS blocks gt 0000 lt CR gt incrementing block number lt S gt lt CR gt S starts every 256 Byte sector 0000 lt CR gt 1f the first word 0 this sector is empty gt 0001 lt CR gt block number S lt CR gt S starts every 256 Byte sector 0000 lt CR gt empty sector gt 0002 lt CR gt block number S lt CR gt S starts every 256 Byte sector gt XXXX lt CR gt incrementing block number S lt CR gt 48 6 Commands FFFF lt CR gt Last sector starts with FFFF and is empty AB3C lt CR gt 16 bit checksum on all nibbles Before each block the relevant block number is given Incrementing starting with 0 The sign gt is placed at the beginning
129. ccess mode Remote commands can be given without using the sequence and the remote command is ended with a lt Return gt The PTC indicates that it is in the direct mode by giving out next as a prompt to the remote station showing it is ready for the next command The next command prompt is changed to an identification output at every fourth occurrence The identification prompt looks like hiscall de mycall gt and is to comply with the regulations of virtually all amateur licenses concerning identification of stations This increases the Overhead of the box only very slightly as the callsigns are given in small letters and thus lend themselves to efficient Huffman coding If the remote user wants enter a command with using the the two slashes are ignored and the command will be executed Direct box access has priority compared with the REMote parameter of the PTC The direct access is always possible even when REMote 0 Indirect mailbox access means that commands can only be given using the sequence e g help and ending with a CHANGEOVER The indirect box access can be disabled with the REMote command Direct box access is automatically disabled when the PTC works as master if the PTC has initiated QSO If however the Box command is used to change the box access parameters during the connect this new setting will be valid immediately independent of whether the PTC is the Master or Slave At Box 2 and Box 3 settings
130. ceived text and the delayed echo text The PTC sends Ctrl A as a changeover character to the TX information window and Ctrl B as a changeover character for RX delayed echo window The windows should be scrollable independently Terminal mode 3 arranges the delayed echo to be signaled by a Ctrl C not a Ctrl B as it is in terminal mode 2 The normal RX text is still signaled by a Ctrl B This convention makes it possible to divide the screen into three parts The first window Ctrl A for system information and TX text the second window Ctrl B for RX text and the third window Ctrl C for delayed echo text Terminal mode 4 differs from TERM 3 in that the PTC sends a Ctrl D before every command prompt TERM 4 considerably eases the terminal programming in that the continuous search for prompts cmd A etc is no longer required Also the PTC always sends a pseudo prompt when the command interpreter is closed again on Connect on switching to the CW or RTTY modes etc This contains only a lt Ctrl D gt followed by a lt CR gt thus complete control over the command input window is maintained and there is no ambiguity concerning the lt CR gt sent from the PTC It is recommended that the lt CR gt from the keyboard signaling the end of a command is not shown as local echo in the input window but just ignored This minimizes unnecessary empty lines in the input window In terminal mode 5 PR data link status messages monit
131. ces 152 Start of the GRG TOSIMBdE socios 153 Example source code for CCITT CRC16 HDLC 154 A 157 Seal ias 157 Activation and use of the PSK31 terminal 157 Carrier Frequencies as scacnansiracanercnr ona racnracatec sias 157 Lavel Seun A 158 Prompt Il aaa 158 O AAA 158 Receiver TUI irc ii Ai Bre 159 CWi ldentification nnnnnnnnnnnennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nnna 160 EEN 161 ee 161 A A 161 A AA 162 eerste 162 al EE 162 A E E E E E E 162 A A A 162 E ENN 162 A eegene 162 CT EEEE id 162 AI 163 A EE EE 163 ic oh a ee te ee tee Rete ee ee Mer ee ete hn ele ir ie te 163 13 13 1 13 2 13 3 13 4 13 5 13 6 13 7 13 8 13 9 13 10 13 11 13 12 13 13 13 14 13 15 13 16 13 17 13 18 13 19 13 20 13 21 13 22 13 22 1 13 23 13 23 1 13 23 2 13 23 3 13 23 4 13 24 14 14 1 14 3 14 3 1 14 3 2 14 3 3 14 3 4 14 3 5 14 3 6 14 4 1 14 4 2 14 4 3 14 4 4 14 4 5 Table of Contents TA dis 165 lun EE 165 DD 166 L I titi 167 A 169 A A aaCea sre Hire ns ONT Deane RAD Tener ey 169 baten 169 Iran iia 169 List remotable as command TRX List 170 ONSE EE 170 Pl a ies 170 PU aaa 171 E aa baths eas bests T EE EE E 171 E AAA E E E E E IA 171 e A 171 uk ru EEN 172 E EEN 172 A A E E T 173 Wat 174 ir EE EE ENEE 175 h 175 External Scan Stop e cicapiina tir 176 Special Features susciininicn icon coin ged 176 Direct Channel Selection fo
132. ck of the analogue I O stages as well as the DSP This function requires a wire connecting PIN 1 Audio Out and PIN 4 Audio In of the 8 PIN shortwave radio socket X5 If the analogue stages are working correctly the PTC IHusb gives out OK In cases where an error occurs then NOT OK is displayed 12 2 AUDPerm Default setting 0 Parameter 0 Audio output only active in the TX operation or the aud menu 1 Audio output permanently activated This AUDPerm command allows the audio input received signal to be permanently passed through to the audio output pin as long as the PTC is in the receive condition This has the great advantage if one has the PTC IIIusb in use as an AF filter denoiser NOTE With some older or simpler radios it is possible for feedback to occur when the received signal also appears at the transmitter microphone input In these unusual cases the PTC Mllusb must be used with AUDPerm set to 0 Alternatively the transmit AF 161 12 SYStest connection from the PTC to the MIC input may be disconnected There is only one D A converter for both the transmitted audio and the filtered audio of the denoiser function 12 3 DD Serves to end the SyS menu The command prompt returns to its normal form cmd Identical to the Quit command in the SyS menu 12 4 Fsk Activates the FSK test routine lt Return gt toggles between Mark and Space tones The PTT transistor switch is turned on during the FSK test routine
133. ct Default setting previous address Parameter ADDR Callsign of the station to be connected with ADDR Starts a long path call ADDR Starts a call using the robust connect feature Used to build up a connection The Connect command may be followed by the argument being the callsign of a distant station The callsign length can vary between 2 and 8 characters Too short arguments are ignored If the callsign is too long it will be truncated at the end If no argument is given the old or the default callsign will be called Connect can be repeated with different call signs until a connection is established In the connected condition the Connect command can be used to display the callsign of the distant station If no response is received after the number of retries set by the MAXErr command the PTC terminates the connect attempt automatically with displaying an error message A call can be stopped manually using the Disconnect command 6 22 1 Longpath Connect With an exclamation mark or a semicolon is set directly before the callsign example C DLOWAA it is possible to call using sync packets with long path options The cycle time increases to 1 4 seconds and the control delay becomes long enough for ARQ contacts to over 40 000 km TRX Delay 25 ms PTC1 systems Z80 PTC with a firmware version number lt 1 3 are not able to detect sync packets with long path options and don t react on long path calls During connections u
134. ction and most of all the reliability of a Packet Radio connection depends on the time parameters Because of this check the initialization files of programs you use in advance and very carefully Often the added examples are designed for a TNC 2 But the TNC 2 expects the time inputs in 10 ms steps e g for a TxDelay of 100 ms the value 10 has to be given for a TNC 2 But the PTC IIlusb needs the value in milliseconds that means 100 If you use the initialization files without checking it could happen that the very important timing data becomes 10 times too low The most frequently done mistakes according to wrong times are e At connect establishment all attempts of the PTC IIusb are transmitted in very short distances e Ona DAMA Digi it could happen that suddenly the connection hangs Digi and PTC Iusb exchange RR frames only Please search for the following commands F T W T2 and T3 in the initialization file of your program and check the settings In any case you have to adjust the TX delay command T due to your needs It is possible to remove all other commands within the initialization file or take the default settings 136 10 Hostmode 10 3 DAMA The PTC IlTusb in Packet Radio is full compatible with the DAMA Demand Assigned Multiple Access standard You easily recognize a DAMA Digi with a look to your monitor The expression DAMA is added to the header of the monitored packets if the packet is receiv
135. d is given Special information to the Channel command trx Help Channel lt Return gt 13 7 KType Default setting 0 Parameter 0 Normal Kenwood protocol 1 Modified Kenwood protocol for newer Yaesu transceivers Modern Yaesu transceivers e g FT 450 FT 950 FT 2000 FT 9000 utilize a new communications protocol on the remote control port CAT which is quite similar to the protocol used by Kenwood transceivers Therefore a slight adaption of the Kenwood protocol is sufficient to achive compatibility with the transceivers mentioned above This transceivers are controllable with the setting trx KType 1 lt Return gt followed by trx Type K 4800 A V24 lt Return gt 169 13 TRX with the PTC IIlusb 13 8 List remotable as command TRX List Lists the entire defined PTC frequency list Refer also to the Channel command chapter 13 1 13 9 Offset Default setting 0 Parameter X 5 000 5 000 offset in kHz Frequency format as for the Channel command The Offset value is applied to every frequency Channel list Frequency command etc before it is output to the transceiver This allows even whilst in SSB mode the transceiver to be set to the Mark frequency of the PTC of the other station If for instance Low tones are being used 1200 1400 Hz TOnes Parameter 0 and USB then the TRX is set on 14077 60 kHz in order to transmit the Mark frequency of 14079 00 kHz As the transceiver displays the frequency of the
136. d off by cutting the external power supply 3 4 2 BIOS This switch enables the bootloader of the PTC IIIusb The bootloader allows some of the basic functions PTC IIIusb of the system to be used and works totally independently from the presently loaded firmware The Bootloader has a very basic and essential task and is thus is placed in a specially protected area of the FLASH memory Normally the user does not need to worry about the existence of the bootloader However due to various unlucky or exceptional circumstances it is possible that the PTC Mlusb will no longer load the PACTOR firmware Under these conditions it could only possible to access the PTC IIIusb via the bootloader If for example there is a power failure during a normal firmware update one part of the FLASH is programmed with the new version while the other still contains a part of the old firmware It is very unlikely that such a mixture will run and the Bootloader is then the only way the system can be recovered 14 3 Installation The bootloader is automatically activated as soon as the PTC IIIusb detects an error on loading the PACTOR firmware or the user wishes access to the bootloader by setting the DIP switch to ON 3 4 3 SPARE Currently no function reserved for later extensions 3 5 Connections to the transceiver PACTOR 2 uses Differential Phase Shift Keying DPSK which leads to a very narrow bandwidth signal In order to maintain this advantage
137. data services e More robust protocol for the PACTOR link establishment Robust Connect e CCIR 491 Number SelCalls 4 and 5 characters as well as WRU identifier and Answerback for comfortable access to SITOR coast stations 1 6 1 PACTOR 3 P3 PACTOR 3 is a third generation HF protocol building on latest developments in 2 dimensional orthogonal pulse shaping advanced error control coding and efficient source coding Due to the advanced signal processing methods applied PACTOR 3 provides 1 Introduction outstanding performance under poor and moderate signal conditions As PACTOR 3 also achieves very high throughput rates under good signal conditions it is well suited to HF channels with good SNR and low signal distortion as well During the development of PACTOR 3 high importance was given to compatibility with ordinary SSB transceivers using standard 2 4 kHz wide IF filters Therefore PACTOR 3 can achieve its maximum speed with using unmodified common SSB transceivers The occupied bandwidth is around 2200 Hz Thus PACTOR 3 is the ideal means of fast and reliable data communication over the sometimes difficult medium HF radio The new protocol is fully backwards compatible to existing PACTOR 1 2 networks The properties of the PACTOR 3 protocol summarized e Under virtually all signal conditions PACTOR 3 is faster than PACTOR II Under average signal conditions a speed gain by a factor 3x to 4x is achieved unde
138. demodulator principle 8 9 LED functions The QUAL as well as the TUNE LOCK LEDs flicker green in the rhythm of the received signal An accurate tuning should be achieved by the software being used e g GETFax which is a component of Airmail 115 8 FAX 8 10 Tips and Tricks 8 10 1 IF SHIFT With the normal SSB speech reception the speech frequencies stretch from 300 to 2700 Hz Steep sided SSB filters usually have a 6 dB bandwidth of around 2 4 kHz The FM FAX standard sets a center frequency of 1900 Hz With standard resolution FAX and SSTV pictures the signal requires a bandwidth of approximately 2 5 kHz The audio limit frequencies that should be transmitted are 1900 1250 Hz and 1900 1250 Hz or 750 Hz and 3150 Hz The frequency band for FAX SSTV appears to be shifted about 400 to 500 Hz higher in frequency With normal SSB reception the higher FAX SSTV tones suffer great attenuation and thereby cause asymmetrical reception In order to help this situation it is recommended that the IF SHIFT control be used With the TS 450 for example it has been found that the best setting is around 3 o clock 116 9 Packet Radio Chapter 9 9 Packet Radio The Packet Radio menu pac menu is activated with the command PACket The command prompt takes the form pac The following commands are available in the pac menu Aprs Baud CBell CHeck CMsg Connect CONStamp CONVerse CStatus CText DIGIpeat Disconnect FRack Help JHOSTI
139. dependently from BC 5 5 Specialties of the PTC IlIusb The PTC IIIusb is physically connected to the PC via an USB connection but from the viewpoint of the software it behaves similar to a normal serial equipment For that in the command description you will often find relations to the serial connection interface of the PTC IIIusb In this case not a physical serial link is meant but the virtual COM port created by the USB driver on your PC If signals of the serial connection is referred to then the virtual signals are meant which are created by the driver and provided to the programs in use Certainly this signals are not available as wires pins any more like it would be the case with a normal serial connection As the PTC IIIusb is a single port unit some items have to be cared of when choosing Packet Radio operation or the HF modes especially that simultaneous operation of Packet and the HF modes in not possible In terminal mode the command prompt cmd pac aud indicates if the PTC IIusb is available for the HF modes or if the DSP is actually programmed for Packet Radio operation there is only one exception described below If the pac menu is chosen out of the STBY condition cmd then the DSP is always reprogrammed for Packet Radio operation and the prompt takes the form pac However it is always possible from the cmd menu to pass a command the Packet Radio side without getting the DSP reprogrammed by preced
140. e TRX dump sequences from the PTC IIlusb to the host computer these consisting of 1 TRX dump header for unambiguous recognition of the TRX dump sequences 2 The actual data field in hexadecimal form identical to the data field when using the Transfer command for SGC ICOM and YAESU 3 The end character CR ASCII 13 Dump sequences always begin with the TRX dump header this header consisting of the following lt Ctrl E gt lt gt lt T gt lt X gt lt gt where lt gt denotes in each case one byte ASCII corresponding to 05H 23H 54H 58H 3AH The header is only then valid when it appears complete If for example the third header byte is defective then the PTC IIlusb behaves as if the Ctrl E start character is an accidental Ctrl E or an actual Ctrl E that has not been input as a TRX control character the PTC IIusb then sending the buffered characters of the intended dump header into the normal command interpreter or transmit buffer If one types for example Ctrl E TXXX during an actual PACTOR link then these characters would be transmitted over the HF link and would not be transferred to the transceiver A restrictive processing of the header allows through transfer of transceiver sequences WITHOUT in practice limiting the data transparency the danger of a piece of text being swallowed due to an accidental Ctrl E is virtually 0 The host computer or terminal program should naturally also thoroughly ch
141. e peak power should be approximately the same as the PEP rated power output of the TRX The effective average power is then approximately half the maximum power so that continuous operation should pose no thermal problems Note that many modern transmitters only show the peak power and this must then be taken into consideration If the Mic gain control must be turned up over half way then it is recommended the PSKAmp1 value be increased By for example lt Esc gt PSKA 200 lt Return gt If there is no Mic gain adjustment available then naturally the PSK amplitude must be adjusted with the PSKAmp1 command alone The internal resistance of the AF output level of the PTC IIIusb is 330 ohm and real 6 73 PSKTerm Starts the PSK31 operation of the PTC Iltusb For further information refer to chapter 11 page 157 6 74 PT Returns to PACTOR from the AMTOR RTTY PSK31 or CW modes Activates the PACTOR input prompt cmd 6 75 PTChn Default setting 4 Parameter X 1 31 hostmode channel for PACTOR Defines the hostmode channel for PACTOR which can then only be used by a hostmode program on the channel defined here 6 76 Qrt Remote From the terminal side identical to the Disconnect command For a remote station the Qrt command causes a CHANGEOVER and the message hiscall de mycall gt lt qrt gt and then initiates a disconnect Note The Disconnect command is not available from the remote side because entering D
142. e receiving station once a packet is correctly received it will not be received again A data packet may be repeated 3 times but will only appear once at the receiving station s It is recommended that the repetition rate should be adjusted according to propagation conditions A greater repetition rate and lower baud rate for poor conditions and conversely a lower repetition rate and higher baud rate for better conditions After approximately 4 minutes of idle transmissions an automatic QRT is carried out 6 101 UPDATE The UPDATE command renews the PACTOR firmware in the Flash ROM of the PTC Iusb It should only be used together with the corresponding program on the PC which automaticly performs the update procedure with all necessary handshake and control mechanisms 6 102 Uer Remote The User command enables an overview of all presently operating PTC IIIusb links Here the PTC Illusb gives out the callsign of the opposite station as well as the digipeater list etc In contrast to the CStatus command in the pac menu the User command also lists an operating PACTOR link under channel number 0 This channel is free as the PR channel 0 only serves as a monitor channel and thus no link is possible 6 103 USOs Unshift On Space Default setting 0 Parameter 0 Unshift on space disabled 1 Unshift on space enabled Has effect only on RTTY reception With USOs switched on every received space character sets the Lette
143. e remote sequence must be placed at the beginning of a new line to be valid The REMote command should be set to 0 for 7plus transmission Also directly after a connect or CHANGEOVER to receive the PTC lITusb is internally at the beginning of a new line and thus processes the directly following sequence as a remote control sequence this limitation of only being accepted at the beginning of a new line increases the data transparency quite considerably Multiple remote control commands are allowed Each command must end with a lt CR gt A single command does not need the lt CR gt to end it if a CHO character immediately follows the command System messages of the remote controlled PTC are transmitted in lower case as this gives better Huffman compression and a clearer display REMote 2 additionally enables the full transceiver control command set All TRX commands as TRX lt TRX command gt at BOX 1 or TRX lt TRX command gt at BOX 0 is available The user has the chance to receive the frequency list of the PTC IITusb including the capability of changing the transmit frequency or modifying the channel list e g TRX S 0 or TRX S 0 stops the scan function with the command TRX L or TRX C The Remote control access may be blocked with REMote 0 6 81 RESEt Remote Soft reset of the System This command may be used at any time and causes an uncontrolled disconnect while connected The parameters entered and
144. e set by using the command NAV AREA This can often be a useful choice as a skipper in the Mediteranean Sea will have presumably no interest in navigational messages concerning the North Sea or Baltic The area codes allocated to the individual coast stations can be easily found out by inspecting the message contents If one wishes to receive messages from coast stations M N and Z then the PTC is informed of this with the command NAV AREA lt Enter gt cmd NAV AREA MNZ lt Return gt The order of the letters is unimportant Again however there should be no spaces between the letters The special argument ALL is also allowed here The command cmd NAV AREA ALL lt Return gt allows the reception of messages from all areas The command cmd NAV AREA lt Return gt without an argument displays the present area codes chosen 6 65 4 Choosing the message latency time A somewhat advanced setting possibility allows the PTC IIlusb to decide after what time period the message is no longer valid This command is the argument DAYS which may follow the NAVtex command It can contain a number between 0 and 365 This sets the 72 6 Commands time the message will be counted as valid If a message is received containing the same four figure message identifier as a previously stored message then the message is classed as a repetition when it is received within the latency period If received outside the latency period then the NAVTEX proc
145. e terminal program Hints for programmers Through the PACTOR software the status reply may be delayed by 150 ms After a system boot power on RESTart or RESEt the status polling is ready after the first cmd prompt Construction of the status byte status level 1 Bit 7 elsja 3 2 1 0 Meaning 1 MODE D STATUS Bit 7 always 1 to avoid control codes XON XOFF etc Bit 3 DIRECTION bit reflects the state of the CON LED This bit is 1 when the PTC is the packet sender The fields mode and status have the following meaning STATUS Bits ERROR IL REQUEST JI REQUEST TRAFFIC and IDLE are ignored na first 4 decoded PACTOR address bytes Table 6 3 PTC status information Bit 0 2 AA STANDBY AAA AMTOR ARQ PACTOR ARQ op 0 DIER o i HN KR lol 5 4 0 0 0 1 1 0 83 6 Commands sequence in the received SYNC packet or for a MASTER start no later than the begin of the data packet AMTOR or PACTOR 1 1 1 Channel Busy RF channel busy Table 6 4 PTC status information Bit 4 6 In STBY condition the PTC Mlusb analyzes the HF channel and differs between busy and free A busy channel is defined as all signals that are audibly distinctly different from noise but however having a speed lt 250 Baud Packet Radio 300 Baud is virtually ignored Furthermore strong carriers on the channel are not evaluated as channel busy Even the very hard to de
146. e types ENEE 37 Table 5 6 AMTEX E A 38 Table 6 1 AMTOR and NAVTEX reception ee 48 Table 6 2 Conversion of German special characherg eeessseeeneeeee 69 Table 6 3 PTC status information BIOL ovaciones 83 Table 6 4 PTC status information DIA 84 Table 6 5 Code pyte eso PON cor 86 Table 6 6 Prompt coding acct oh ceucetadennsaleusnecocbndmnsaknsnsacebndweceszasunaasentes 86 Table 8 17JVFAX CONVO Byles E 109 E EW 115 Table 10 1 Commands Terminal mode bostmmode AAA 137 Table 15 1 Total Bit A Maem ein tiene Pine tee Reese rere Ae Pree etre pee reer err hore 188 Table 15 2 The four speed settings and codmg 190 XII 1 Introduction Chapter 1 1 Introduction 1 1 SCS PTC the Original Thank you for having decided to purchase the SCS PTC IIlusb The SCS PTC IMTusb is the original developed by those people that created all PACTOR modes Only from SCS you receive the best possible support The concentrated knowledge of the PACTOR engineers is available to you The SCS PTC Illusb is the optimized device for modern digital short wave communication as additional to PACTOR all the other HF modes like AMTOR RTTY CW and a lot of others are supported 1 2 Requirements To operate PACTOR a transceiver capable of switching between transmit and receive within 20 ms is required Therefore any transceiver capable of AMTOR can also be used for PACTOR To operate the SCS PTC IIusb you need a computer with USB connector
147. e unit or via the connector for the short wave transceiver Audio pin 5 Both connections are decoupled with diodes and protected against reverse polarity An input voltage between 10 20 VDC is allowed The current consumption is usually around 200 mA at 13 8 V The power supply inputs on the PTC are especially filtered so that harmonics of the switch mode regulator cannot pass to the outside of the unit The inputs are also protected by a self resetting fuse 3 2 USB The PTC IIusb is a USB 1 1 device and can be operated in an USB 2 0 environment as well The connection to the computer is done with the attached USB cable For USB operation an appropriate driver needs to be installed on your computer This driver is on the SCS CD that comes with the modem Below you find a short description on how to install the driver on Windows XP service pack 2 With earlier Windows versions the installation runs in a similar way e Insert the SCS CD in the CD ROM drive of your computer e If Autostart has started your web browser then close it again e Connect the PTC IIIusb to the power supply while it is still switched off e Nowconnect the PTC IIIusb with to the USB connector of your computer e Switch on the PTC IITusb e The PC finds the new hardware SCS PTC HIusb and opens the Found New Hardware wizard e To the first question if Windows shall connect to Windows Update to search for new software you answer with No
148. e would be given as pac CT gt gt gt Welcome to s PTC usb DSP QUICC System lt lt lt To leave a MSG please connect 8 PTC Mailbox lt Return gt The character serves here as a dummy for the appropriate MYCALL of the connected channel The SSID of the MYCALL is ignored For example if DLIZAM is the MYCALL then the PTC IIIusb will give the following message to the connected PR station gt gt gt Welcome to DL1ZAM s PTC IIIusb DSP QUICC System lt lt lt To leave a MSG please connect DL1ZAM 8 PTC Mailbox The Command interpreter buffer is 256 characters long Commands plus CTEXT argument should not contain more characters otherwise the CTEXT will be truncated 9 8 11 DIGIpeat Default setting OFF Parameter OFF Digipeating disabled ON Digipeating enabled Enable or disable digipeating using the own station 9 8 12 Disconnect Ends an AX 25 link If there is still data to be sent to the partner station then this data is transmitted first before the disconnect is carried out If the Disconnect command is given twice one after the other then the link is broken immediately corresponding to DD in PACTOR 9 8 13 FRack Default setting 5000 Parameter X 1 15 000 time in milliseconds FRack sets the time in which a packet must be acknowledged If the PTC IIIusb sends a packet and no acknowledgment is forthcoming within the Frack time then the PTC Iusb queries if t
149. ecessary adaptations are tolerable Description of the parameters 4 normal PTC terminal mode PTC IIusb prompt as usual 87 6 Commands 5 As long as the PTC is not in the hostmode the character Ctrl A is always echoed As it is unlikely in the terminal mode that a Ctrl A is sent to the PTC this is not really a restriction or incompatibility Binary data has to be transferred using hostmode But the echo of the Ctrl A character is necessary when using WinGT Unfortunately without these echo WinGT will idle a minute after startup But with TNC set to 1 there won t be a waiting period and the program starts immediately If TOP or SP are not used the PTC IIlusb can always be operated with the TNC set to 1 6 The PTC IIlusb shows the same behavior as in the TNC 1 mode but additionally the prompt will be altered to asterisk i e the PTC answers to a ESC character not with the cmd prompt but with the asterisk This setting has to be used to operate the PTC Iusb with TOP or SP as the terminal Unfortunately sometimes the Asterisk collides with other terminal programs expecting the Cmd prompt With PlusTerm or programs similar to this the TNC parameter should be set smaller than 2 To work in a very comfortable way with all these programs without having to execute the TNC command it is recommended to add the command TNC 0 within the PTC initialization file of non hostmode programs Using this option the PTC will work as a n
150. eck the transferred TRX dump sequence and a defective header should be fed back into the normal process e g output as text in the receive window The dump header can be followed by up to 256 bytes or 512 places of actual transfer information in hexadecimal form spaces in this data field being ignored and if an uneven number of hexadecimal places nibbles are given then the PTC IIlusb ignores the last nibble 167 13 TRX A TRX dump sequence is always closed with an ASCII 13 carriage return although this last character is not transferred to the transceiver by the PTC IIIusb and the TRX dump sequences from the PTC IIIusb to the host computer are also closed with ASCII 13 Example The control sequence FA should be sent directly to a KENWOOD transceiver via TRX dump The ASCII character string for this is lt Ctrl E gt TX 46413B lt CR gt Here the lt gt symbolizes an ASCII special character CR carriage return and the transceiver answers this command in its turn with a longer sequence which the PTC TITusb passes directly as a TRX dump to the terminal IMPORTANT Some Transceivers e g KENWOOD TS 450 ONLY accept remote control commands in the receive condition The terminal must take this into consideration in that for example during the linked state each of the following acknowledgments are checked to see if the command has been accepted by the transceiver If not then the command must be repeated after
151. ecorded SIZE Size of message in byte TITLE Title of the message if available 6 37 Disconnect An existing link including Unproto is closed down correctly If any text is still in the transmit buffer this is first transmitted then the PTC starts the QRT sequence 6 38 EQualize Default setting 0 Parameter 0 No transmit equalizing 1 Slight enhancement of the edge tones 2 Moderate enhancement of the edge tones EQualize allows slight to moderate adjustment of the frequency response of the PACTOR 3 transmit signal Some IF filters used in standard SSB transceivers already attenuate the edges of only 2 kHz wide signals due to a poor frequency response As a countermeasure EQ allows to compensate for this effect Please do only use the EQ command if you really know the actual transmit frequency response of your transceiver 6 39 ESCchr Default setting 27 ESCAPE Parameter X 1 127 decimal ASCII code of a character Defines the ESCAPE character When the PTC is in the converse mode ARQ FEC CW terminal or RTTY an ESCAPE character is required in order to get a command prompt and input a command Note To ensure proper operation of the PTC IIusb s automatic baudrate detection only odd values for the ESCAPE character should be used We recommend not to experiment needlessly with this character since it is criticial to the control of the PTC 61 6 Commands 6 40 FAX In the main menu cmd FA Allows sligh
152. ectrum on that channel Even very weak and noisy RTTY signals should correctly open the squelch when it is set to the standard value of 45 Coastal radio stations or other professional RTTY stations normally send the character string ZCZC in advance to a new message The end of a message is followed by the character string NNNN This can be used to make a Start Stop squelch available If ZCZC NNNN is activated the PTC IIusb receive in the Baudot RTTY mode only if the pattern ZCZC is found in the data stream As commercial radio stations only send for a short time at a day using this special digital squelch can reduce the accidental received QRM drastically The ZCZC NNNN autostart can be activated setting the squelch parameter to a value between 100 and 200 If the squelch value is set to 140 the PTC HIusb operates with the ZCZC NNNN autostart and additionally with the normal analog squelch of 40 value minus 100 This means that also during open autostart squelch the reception is interrupted if the signal falls below a certain level 6 90 STatus Default setting 1 Parameter 0 Status checking on see text 1 Status checking on Status checking on automatic status output The status word polling in the PTC IlTusb is permanently turned on The parameter 0 has only been retained for compatibility reasons The status word polling in the PTC IIIusb is permanently turned on The status command has only been retained for compatibility re
153. ed by a DAMA Digi The DAMA mode needs not be activated by the user The PTC Mlusb automatically notices if you are working with a DAMA Digi or not and behaves respectively 10 4 Commands The commands available in the hostmode are totally different to the commands in the terminal mode Table 10 1 compares the commands between the terminal mode and the hostmode Bawa Lu Les Jm G echk Ip Momitor m Comet c mYeali r _constamp x Persis e Ceret RESptime er2 Disconnect D retry JX S sch r Stott ime w ees Im gt rxdelay r maxerame o users Table 10 1 Commands Terminal mode hostmode 10 41 C Default setting none Parameter lt target call gt lt Digi1 gt lt Digi2 gt Connect establishes a AX 25 link to the target callsign C DL1ZAM connects with DLIZAM If the link takes place via one or more digipeaters then the list of digipeaters should be given directly after the target callsign C DL6MAA DBOFKB connects to DL6MAA via DBOKFB A Connect command on channel 0 sets the path for the Unproto transmission 10 42 D Disconnects an AX 25 link If there is still data to be sent to the partner station this data is transmitted first then the disconnect is carried out 137 10 Hostmode If the Disconnect command is given twice one after the other then the link is broken immediately corresponding to DD in PACTOR 10 43 F Default settin
154. efore short pause times for scanning BBS e Independence from sideband selection no mark space convention or similar limitations e Free choice for the center frequency of the audio signal in a range between 400 Hz and 2600 Hz 184 15 Basics e Longpath option ARQ links over the long path possible e Reliable QRT acknowledgment from both sides not just a simple time out e Fast and reliable change of data direction e High performance read function without additional software Capable of running as a stand alone controller 1 e independence from IBM compa tible PC s 5 Full compatibility with the older protocol e Automatic switching between Level I and Level II at contact initialization The user should be able to use the usual command syntax C CALLSIGN to start a PACTOR contact without having to worry about the other station s system level 6 A bandwidth of less than 500 Hz at 50 dB so that operation within 500 Hz channels is possible 7 Constant bandwidth irrespective of the actual effective transmission speed 8 The acknowledgment signal CS should be equally as robust or even more so than the actual data signal All the above points are fulfilled with PACTOR II and not only those PACTOR 2 uses an extended and better on line data compression system known as Markow coding A reliable and automatic frequency correction adaptive cycle length and many other useful features are also incorporated
155. eing in the area of tenths of a dB and can be ignored for practical purposes When using the usual modem tones of 1400 Hz and 1200 Hz Low tones TOnes parameter 0 the receiver should be set to USB and a frequency of 516 700 kHz to receive NAVTEX on a center frequency of 518 kHz For LSB the frequency should be set to 519 300 kHz Here the TR parameter should be set to 1 or 3 refer to chapter 6 96 on page 89 Basically the same conditions for NAVTEX reception are required as for AMTOR FEC The parameters BC and ARX must both be set to 1 these are the default values Refer to section 6 10 on page 49 and section 6 6 on page 47 37 5 PTC Firmware 5 8 5 AMTEX The American Radio Relay League ARRL has used one system among others for its radio bulletins via HF radio for a number of years which closely resembles the maritime NAVTEX system and follows the same protocol rules It is called AMTEX This amateur radio NAVTEX differs only in its special definition of possible message types which have been adjusted for amateur radio usage The existing NAVTEX processor in the PTC IIusb is thus very suitable for fully automatic reception of AMTEX transmissions provided suitable adjustments are made The messages are transmitted as with NAVTEX in AMTOR FEC mode B normally from 1800 and 2100 American local time i e 2300 and 0200 UTC or one hour earlier during summer time The AMTEX transmissions take place on the frequencies of 3625
156. el A The connection fails The W command fully resolves this problem with the aid of a special mechanism regardless of the amount of latency introduced Usage of the W command Prior to every scheduled frequency change the external scanner must send a W 0 command to the PTC Parameter 0 is optional but should be given in order to make sure upward compatibility o W 0 Possible response of the PTC 0 or 1 146 10 Hostmode 0 Scan Stop Currently the frequency MUST NOT be changed After that if the modem does not indicate a connection to a user within a few seconds the W0 command should be resent to the modem and so on 1 Currently the frequency can be changed scanning need not to be suspended because no link establishment is in progress Response 1 also indicates that the modem has entered the so called WAIT state If the modem is in WAIT state it does not accept user calls on the HF port it cannot be connected by a user any more Now the external scanner can perform a frequency change After that it must release the modem from WAIT state by sending W1 to it After receiving the WI1 command the modem again accepts user calls on its HF PACTOR port WI Possible response of the PTC none Release from WAIT state The modem enters the normal standby state again and waits for incoming user calls Note WAIT state always automatically times out after 10 seconds The following chapters are only
157. ent on the connect attempt entered by the user If one tries to establish simultaneous connects on HF and Packet Radio an error message is displayed As a special feature the PTC Iusb also accepts the commands PR and PT in hostmode to provide the possibility to change the mode without connect attempt This is for example necessary to receive connects in the desired mode It is useful to implement one of the commands into the startup file of the hostmode program to ensure the preferred PTC Tlusb condition at program start The same can be done for de initialization at program shutdown e The PR command will be ignored with an existing PACTOR connect e The PT command is ignored with an existing Packet Radio connect 5 6 Remote commands Some PTC commands are also available for the distant station via the HF link There are two control possibilities e First Setting REMOTE 1 and BOX 0 With this setting all remote control commands via the radio link must begin with a sequence and end with a CHANGEOVER e g Date lt Ctrl gt lt Y gt or Dir lt Ctrl gt lt Y gt e Second Setting BOX 1 the BOX mode With this setting all remote control commands may be directly entered via the radio link and terminated with a lt Return gt e g LOG lt Return gt or Show lt Return gt The commands for the PTC mailbox and for the gateway mode also belong to the remote commands Here is a list of all remote control commands CLr
158. er 2 T2 in milliseconds After receiving a packet the PTC IIIusb waits the time T2 to check if another packets follow If so all packets can be confirmed with only one control packet 9 8 31 REtry Default setting 10 Parameter X _ 0 255 number of repeats REtry sets the maximum number of repeats and if this value is exceeded then the PTC IIIusb gives out the message LINK FAILURE with lt call gt 9 8 32 Setchn Default setting 1 Parameter X 0 31 channel Switches between the various channels 131 9 Packet Radio The PTC IIusb provides 32 logical channels to the user numbered from 0 to 31 The Setchn command defines the channel to be written on A special status has the channel 0 Channel 0 is the channel to transmit not protocolled messages as CQ calls or beacon Connect attempts can be started from each channel between 1 to 31 as long the channel is not occupied Received connects will always be assigned to the first free channel provided that the number of maximal permitted simultaneous connects USers command is not exceeded 9 8 33 SLottime Default setting 100 Parameter X 1 30 000 slot time in milliseconds Sets the slot time for the transmitter control The PTC IIusb can transmit at particular times only SLottime defines the period between these times 9 8 34 TRACE Default setting OFF Parameter OFF Trace mode switched off ON Trace mode switched on In the terminal
159. er not equal to 0 will only work without problem when the Modem baud rate set via the MBaud parameter a multiple of 19200 i e 19200 38400 57600 76800 or 115200 Baud 114 8 FAX The following SSTV modes are supported by the PTC IITusb ALLMODE SCOTTIE 2 7 32 sec 240 line WRAASE 120 256 WRAASE 180 256 ROBOT 72 256 Table 8 2 STTV sub modes 8 E WRAASE 96 256 8 8 11 TXcomp Default setting 0 Parameter 0 COMPARATOR Tx disabled 1 COMPARATOR Tx enabled This PARAMETER command activates 1 or de activates 0 the TXD modulator in the COMPARATOR mode With TXcomp switched on it is possible for many programs that support the HAMCOMM modem to send FAX and SSTV direct from the PTC IITusb The PTC IIusb looks at the voltage appearing on the CTS line of the serial interface When CTS is active the PTT line for the shortwave port is activated The PTT line is de activated turned off with inactive CTS When in the send condition the PTC IIusb measures the incoming data as square wave modulation data on the RxD PIN The zero crossing point is measured very exactly and then modulates the VCO in the DSP The PTC IIIusb has a very good transmit resolution even in the Simple Modem mode providing the PC program works as precisely The translation of the transmit data into a clean analogue signal is not just through an RC low pass filter as is usual Instead the system calculates exactly the reverse of the simple
160. erally possible The current Robust PR modulations schemes have the following characteristics Bandwidth 500 Hz 30dB Modulation Pulse Shaped OFDM BPSK QPSK similar to PACTOR 3 Average throughput 200 or 600 Bits s Increase to 1200 Bit s possible Crestfactor 3 0 or 4 2 dB Delay Spread to 8 msec can be coped with Coding High performance error correction code full frame interleaved rate 2 or rate 3 4 5 12 PACTOR Duplex and PACTOR data transparency To simplify the PACTOR operation mode that means to ensure compatibility to many mailbox and terminal programs made for Packet Radio PR while using PACTOR the possibility of working without the usage of special control key sequences e g lt Ctrl gt lt Y gt had to be created Programs written for PR do not know the commands for changeover used in the half duplex mode on shortwave because PR reacts in the half duplex mode on the user interface more or less like full duplex a changeover does not exit for PR To avoid changeover commands using PACTOR the PTC IIusb offers a CHANGEOVER automatism the so called PACTOR Duplex 40 5 PTC Firmware The PACTOR duplex is activated with the new command PDuplex refer to chapter 6 69 page 75 The automatism works with the following relatively simple algorithm 1 If the PTC IItusb is the information sending station ISS that means controls the keys the PTC Illusb automatically executes a CHANGEOVER if
161. ese characters according to the following table Umlaut ASCII Transmitted Character Table 6 2 Conversion of German special characters The Huffman data compression which can improve speed up to 80 effective character length 4 5 to 5 bit allows to reduce the middle character length The data compression of lowercase letters is better as for uppercase letters The ASCII mode will be useful only if the text contains non ASCII characters or many uppercase letters The PTC firmware scans through each packet determining whether HUFFMAN or ASCII coding will be more efficient for transmission and selects the better one Manually selecting the ASCII mode MOde 0 makes the controller transmit ASCII anyway Doing this should only be necessary in very special cases Automatic mode also works on characters exceeding 127 decimal Therefore 7PLUS files may be transferred without any user intervention The parameter 2 is effective only with a PACTOR Level II link With Level I contacts the system behaves as if the parameter 1 had been chosen The automatic compression used in PACTOR 2 has proved to be very advantageous and reliable Therefore the MOde parameter should only need to be changed in exceptional circumstances e g measuring the text throughput without compression to a value lt 2 There are no problems caused by leaving the Level II compression turned on even when transmitting 7Plus binary files or graphics No manual interventio
162. essage identifier is constructed as follows 36 The first character is a letter with a range of A to Z This letter sets the area code and is allocated to one transmitter in the reception area Which letter is allocated to which transmitting station can be seen relatively fast as the transmitting station is usually also mentioned in the message itself The second letter describes the type of message The following types are presently defined Navigational Warning Meteorological Warning Ice Report Search and Rescue Info Pilot Message DECCA Message LORAN C Message OMEGA Message SATNAV Message hn Om Ow p gt 5 PTC Firmware K Other NAV aid system Msg L Navigational Warning 2 Table 5 5 NAVTEX message types e The next two places in the message identifier contain the message number This number belongs to a message of a particular type and remains unchanged when a message is transmitted more than once The numbers are consecutive The number has a decimal format and comprises 00 to 99 If an overflow occurs i e started again at 00 then usually the old 00 message is no longer active and permission to erase has been granted or has already automatically been erased by the NAVTEX processor This is naturally valid for all numbers in consecutive operation An exception can occur in the very numerous Navigational Warning messages That is why there are two different message type letters A and L which actually describe
163. essor interprets the new message as a different one and stores it without checking for errors as an independent message The setting cmd NAV DAYS 0 lt Return gt turns off the NAVTEX processors automatic update all messages are written consecutively in the NAVTEX directory even when message identifier duplication is present The default setting cmd NAV DAYS 3 lt Return gt is a practical value for continuous operation and needs not normally be changed The command cmd NAV DAYS lt Return gt without argument displays the present NAV DAYS parameter 6 65 5 AMTEX The use and configuration of the AMTEX processor takes place using the NAVtex command There now exists an additional parameter AMTEx By using this parameter one can switch between normal NAVTEX operation AMTEx 0 and AMTEX configuration AMTEx 1 The default AMTEx parameter is 0 The PTC IIlusb is thus preconfigured for normal NAVTEX operation One switches to the AMTEX configuration with the command cmd NAVtex AMTEx 0 lt Return gt As usual it is only necessary to type the letters given in capitals as well as the argument When the AMTEX configuration is switched on the PTC IIIusb uses an entirely separate set of area codes and message types to those used by NAVTEX The appropriate NAVTEX parameters are NOT changed in any way by activating the AMTEX configuration and are stored separately They remain untouched until the AMTEX mode is turned off
164. evels This pins are assignes as follows Shield GPS GND Figure 3 6 GPS connector The PTC Illusb expects GPS data with 4800 baud and in NMEA format 24 4 LED s Chapter 4 4 LED s CS PTC IIlusb Y e e e e e e AN e lt gt TE P3 QUAL tOCK CON ON ERR P1 P2 TUNE NSS STBY Figure 4 1 The PTC IITusb front The SCS PTC IIIusb is equipped with 7 dual color LED s to display the most essential status information and a blue single color LED to show Bluetooth activity USB LED It indicates traffic on the USB port by flashing red for data the PTC IIlusb sends to the PC and green for date the PTC IIusb receives from the PC Bluetooth LED It indicates traffic via the Bluetooth connection by flashing blue TFC ERR The TFC LED Traffic indicates with bright green that data is being sent or received Dim green indicates that actually transferred data contains IDLEs which means that the data package is not completely filled with user data In PACTOR STBY condition but not in Listen mode it serves as channel busy indicator and is lit when the PTC IIIusb detects the channel as being occupied In Packet Radio it serves as Carrier Detect CD indication When it is lit red or orange Error or Request condition a data or control packet contains corrupted or repeated data These data packages will not be sent to the terminal P3 P2 P1 This LED shows the current PACTOR mode when connected or in LISTEN m
165. ex 1 PDuplex can be used excellently to make mailbox programs for PR working with the WASDED hostmode DPBox DieBox GP WinGT etc also usable for PACTOR The terminal and mailbox program does not notice on the WA8DED hostmode side any difference between a PACTOR or PR link if PDuplex is activated No transmission control character has to be send by the PC The great advantage of these technique The PR program used by a mailbox is compatible to all PACTOR users independently if they use PACTOR Duplex or not It also doesn t matter if a user accesses to the mailbox with PACTOR 1 or PACTOR II 2 In combination with binary data transparency binary files can now be transmitted directly e g in the Autobin mode via PACTOR without the detour using 7PLUS or other coding mechanisms If a file shall be transmitted to a friend using the PTC IIusb too both PTC IIIusb are switched to PACTOR Duplex Using a WA8DED 41 5 PTC Firmware hostmode program all features available for PR can be used on the PACTOR channel usually channel 4 as well certainly also the AUTOBIN transfer 3 Very convenient operation with partners using PACTOR Duplex too In this case the QSO can be made in the same way as in PR regardless of the actual transmission state of the connected PTCs CHANGEOVER or BREAKIN aren t necessary anymore We want to point out that the selection of the QSO style is a matter of taste The usual operation with manu
166. exact match cannot be found the channel with the next higher frequency is selected Commands for different transceivers trx TY C 38400 lt Return gt trx TY 11200 4 lt Return gt trx TY I 1200 1C lt Return gt trx TY K 4800 A lt Return gt trx TY K 4800 A V lt Return gt trx TY N 4800 2 lt Return gt trx TY Y 9600 B lt Return gt trx TY S 9600 lt Return gt If less that four arguments are given the PTC IIusb only changes the explicitly given parameters The command TY I 9600 lt Return gt for example sets only the type to ICOM and the baudrate to 9600 Bd The equipment address remains unchanged For the moment with the TRX type NMEA ICOM only setting the frequency is supported and also scanning Frequency readback as well as Transfer is not possible 13 18 Wait Default setting 10 Parameter X 1 240 time in seconds 174 13 TRX Defines the time in seconds that the scanner waits after the end of a link before it switches to the next channel The waiting time for the re synchronization of AMTOR is not influenced as the phasing condition in AMTOR ARQ is interpreted internally within the PTC as a continuous connect and the scanner therefore remains switched off 13 19 XScan Default setting none Parameter X Channel number 1 32 S Switch 0 or 1 The XScan command allows the Scan parameter to be set for a channel defined within the TRX list As an alternative to the previous scan enabling
167. f 60 57 6 Commands BPM exhibits a 0 0 bandwidth of only 20Hz which with conventional methods requires extremely exact and stable tuning for good results The Auto Correlation method is also the basis of the AGC used in the CW demodulator with a dynamic range of approximately 40 dB The AGC allows a constantly good receive performance independent of audio input signal level The Audio frequency of the CW terminal is defined by the Center command of the aud menu independently of the actual Mark frequency refer to chapter 7 2 page 97 The CW terminal offers the use of a number of so called hot keys BREAKIN Character Ctrl Y When pressed twice the BREAKIN character leads to switching between direct transmission of the keyboard input Immediate transmission mode and a delayed switch over Delayed transmission mode This delayed switching allows text to be typed ahead whilst reading the other QSO partners transmission The text in the buffer can then be transmitted by pressing the BREAKIN character lt Ctrl Y gt once The transmission is then only blocked again when no characters are transmitted for 6 seconds This has the advantage that user may continue writing after the buffered text is sent without having to press any other key The renewed blocking of the transmitted is shown by the PTC IIlusb with the message gt gt gt written to the Delayed Echo window After switching to the CW Terminal one is always in the
168. f the pac menu 129 9 Packet Radio 9 8 24 MYcall Default setting SCSPTC Parameter CALL Callsign of the PTC Callsign for the Packet mode For each channel an own callsign can be defined temporarily After a disconnect the callsign will always be taken from channel 0 again After switching on the PTC IIIusb the firmware checks if a valid callsign is written in the PACTOR MYCALL In this case i e no SCSPTC defined as PACTOR MYCALL the PTC IIusb copies the PACTOR MYCALL to all PR channels which are still having SCSPTC as MYCALL and overwrite the SCSPTC with the valid mycall If the MYcal1 command is executed on the PACTOR side with a valid callsign as an argument the PTC IIIusb also checks all PR channels for SCSPTC and if necessary the new defined PACTOR MYCALL is taken over to the PR channels replacing the SCSPTC setting 9 8 25 MYMail Default setting MYCALL 8 Parameter CALL Callsign of the PR mailbox Identical to the MYca11 command in the pac menu however sets the Mycall of the PTC IIusb PR mailbox BBS MYCALL The BBS call is set automatically to MYCALL 8 either at the first start when the Flash Call in the BIOS has been defined or when ones own PACTOR MYCALL has been set If for example DLIZAM is given as the first PACTOR MYCALL then the PR mailbox can be connected with the call DLIZAM 8 9 8 26 PACLen Default setting 255 Parameter X 1 255 transmit packet length Sets the maximum PR transmit
169. fault setting N Parameter N Monitor switched off I Info frames U Unproto transmissions S Control packets C Monitor also while connected M sets which frame types will be displayed in the monitor 10 4 10 N Default setting 10 Parameter X 0 255 number of repeats Sets the maximum number of repeats and if this value is exceeded then the PTC IIusb gives out the message LINK FAILURE with lt call gt 10 4 11 O Default setting 7 Parameter 1 1 7 Number of unacknowledged packets Maximum number of unacknowledged info packets I frames in a link Maxframe also sets how many packets the PTC IIIusb transmits together The value should be reduced for bad links 10 4 12 P Default setting 64 Parameter X 0 255 persistance The persistence value sets the probability that a packet is transmitted after the radio channel is acknowledged as free 139 10 Hostmode 10 4 13 PR Switched the PTC IIusb into Packet Radio mode and loads the program code into the DSP respectively This command is necessary that the PTC IIlusb can accept Packet Radio connects attempts from a distant station after e g having just finished a PACTOR connect and the PTC IITusb still is in PACTOR mode Also refer to chapter 5 5 on page 29 10 4 14 PS When a GPS receiver is connected to the PTC IIlusb then with the PS command the position data can be read out In opposite to the POSition command in the cmd menu the output always has
170. ff line and the configuration is correct USers 0 or Y0 then all calls irrespective of if they are the normal MYCALL the MYALIAS or the BBS MYCALL will be transferred to the PTC mailbox The USers command has no effect on self initiated connects the number of channels is not limited for the user It is thus possible with Users 0 to initiate up to 31 PR connects in parallel 134 10 Hostmode Chapter 10 10 Hostmode The hostmode was developed from WA8DED in 1986 in as an alternative firmware for TARP TNC s to enhance the communication between computer the host and the connected TNC In the terminal mode the TNC is allowed to transfer data at any time to the computer but in the hostmode the TNC is only allowed to send data if being polled by the computer This has the advantage that the computer definitely knows when the TNC sends data i e the computer controls the data transfer between computer and TNC This ensures that the data of each channel will be displayed in the correct window of the hostmode program Because of this complete control of data exchange between computer and TNC and because of the hostmode structure a transfer of binary files is possible without problems and this on several channels at the same time Special encoders like UUENCODE 7PLUS YAPP are not necessary anymore As there was no source code for the WA8DED firmware available some German radio amateur from the NORD gt lt LINK decided to progra
171. for short switches on PTC IIIusb Packet radio commands the input command prompt having the form pac and the Packet radio commands are then valid refer to chapter 9 page 117 The PACket command can also have a single command from the pac menu as argument As with the other sub menus of the PTC IIIusb it is also possible to pass through direct commands this way Switch of the Packet Radio listen without entering the pac menu previously cmd PAC M 0 lt Return gt 6 68 PDTimer Default setting 12 Parameter X 2 30 PACTOR Duplex BREAKIN time in seconds Defines the PACTOR Duplex BREAKIN time This is the minimum time the PTC has to be in IRS state data receiving until a BREAKIN is sent automatically in the case that own transmission data are available and takes the keys The PDTimer value is only valid in the PACTOR Duplex mode PDuplex is set to 1 74 6 Commands 6 69 PDuplex Default setting 0 Parameter 0 PACTOR Duplex switched off 1 PACTOR Duplex switched on PACTOR Duplex offers an intelligent CHANGEOVER automatic For further information about PACTOR Duplex refer to chapter 5 12 page 40 6 70 Phase Remote Default setting 0 Parameter X 120 120 phase correction in ppm Arguments are ignored when given from remote This command allows fine adjustment of the system clock and displays the accumulated phase correction during a PACTOR contact As an argument of the Phase command may be the cor
172. g 5 000 Parameter X 1 15 000 time in milliseconds Frack Timer T1 Frack sets the time in which a packet must be acknowledged If the PTC IIIusb sends a packet and no acknowledgment is forthcoming within the Frack time the PTC IITusb then queries whether the information has arrived 10 4 4 G G Get is a special hostmode command and is used to get information about the various hostmode channels This command is only used by the hostmode program The user cannot enter this command 10 4 5 I Default setting SCSPTC Parameter CAIL Station callsign Sets the station callsign which can be individually set for each channel the callsign from channel 0 being used after a disconnect 10 4 6 JHOST Default setting 0 Parameter 0 Exit hostmode 1 Start hostmode 4 Start CRC hostmode Switches to the hostmode or exits This command is used by the hostmode software in order to switch to hostmode the command has no meaning for the normal operation in terminal mode 10 4 7 K Default setting 0 Parameter 0 Time stamp switched off 1 Time stamp for connect and disconnect messages 2 Time stamp also in monitor Switches the time stamp display on and off 138 10 Hostmode 10 4 8 L Default setting none Parameter X 0 31 channel Requests the link status a list of the channel condition being given This command is only used by the hostmode program The user cannot enter this command 10 49 M De
173. gnize each other next time Usually the manager offers you the pairing option when you double click on the symbol or when you select it and press the right mouse button After you have started the pairing you will be prompted to enter a key or password The last 8 characters of the PTC HIusb s electronic serial number represents this key You ll find the serial number on the bottom of the modem Enter the last 8 characters which can be numbers and letters and take care that you enter the letters in upper case After you have confirmed the entry the pairing should have been completed successfully Remark The pairing might have a limited lifetime and may require to be repeated when the PTC IIIusb and the PC have not been connected by Bluetooth for a few days or weeks If you use Bluetooth more frequently repetition of the pairing usually is not necessary After the pairing the Bluetooth connection can finally be established This usually happens by a double click on the modem s symbol in your manager At connection a virtual COM port is created and the number of the COM port is usually displayed Enter this COM number into the terminal programs you intend to use From now on as long as your Bluetooth manager is operating starting and terminating the terminal program will also start or terminate the Bluetooth connection between the modem and the PC From now on you re wireless 13 3 Installation Many current Bluetooth sticks come w
174. guration of terminal programs and therefore is mainly important just for software developers The output format looks as follows Every parameter given out by the PTC begins with followed by a unique parameter number ASCII decimal as well as a colon The parameter itself follows the colon terminated by the following or lt CR gt as terminator for the whole string As property parameters are defined Numbers always in ASCII decimal 0 Modem Typ A PTC II B PTC IIpro C PTC Ile D PTC lMlex E PTC ITusb F PTC IInet H DR 7800 L PTC IITusb T PTC IItrx X undefined modem typ 1 Firmware version number 4 01 example 93 6 Commands 2 BIOS version number 2 90 example 3 firmware attribut N normal firmware T tiny firmware small firmware up to now only for the PTC II without Robust PR 4 PR modem equipment 5A0A example 1 digit Modem type on port 1 0 no modem 1 external foreign modem e g DF9IC modem 2 RMNC KISS interface not supported any more 3 SCS AFSK modem 1200 2400 Bd 4 SCS FSK modem direct FSK 5 SCS DSP modem multimode 2 digit Modem attribut for modem on port 1 A standard modem e g SCS DSP Modem I D SCS DSP Modem II 3 and 4 digit as 1 and 2 digit but for port 2 Also with single port devices all 4 digits are always displayed 5 PACTOR 3 License N no permanent license installed V permanent
175. h is limited to 6 characters by the protocol Callsigns extensions e g F DL6MAA M are inadmissible and not useful because of incompatibility with the PR protocol The PTC IITusb cuts all characters appearing after a special character in the callsign automatically From the entry DL6MAA 10 is automatically DL6MAA generated The entry of a SSID in the callsign list is not possible With the help of the wildcard groups of callsigns can be defined e g XU DO 0000 Priorities without the wildcard in the callsign dominate e g XU DOIXXX 333 has priority despite the DO entry in the user list Wildcards can be used for example to suppress illegal access to the PR A Pactor gateway XUser CALLSIGN Deletes the callsign CALLSIGN from the user list The PTC IIIusb confirm that with OK The entry ALL cannot not be deleted XUser CALLSIGN xxxx Sets the priority for the callsign CALLSIGN to the value xxxx The numbers 0 9 are allowed for each character within xxxx e g 1330 No spaces between the numbers are allowed If less than 4 digits are defined the PTC IIusb automatically adds a O at the missing positions The PTC IIusb confirms with OK The user list has no limiting effect for entries from the console 96 7 Audio Chapter 7 7 Audio The Audio denoiser menu aud menu is activated with the command AUdio The command prompt takes the form aud The following commands are available in the aud menu Bandwith Center CWfilte
176. hat the audio passband i e the occupied audio spectrum of the PACTOR 3 signal always is fixed at 400 2600 Hz and INDEPENDENT of the TOnes setting Regarding PACTOR 3 TOnes does ONLY define the connect tones used during link establishment it does NOT define the relative location of the audio passband If you want to adjust the audio passband you can only do that by using the passband tuning IF shift or similar at the radio Both systems participating in a PACTOR 3 connection MUST definitely use the same TOnes parameter otherwise a link will not work properly A description of the parameter follows O Low tones 1400 Hz Mark frequency 1200 Hz Space frequency If TR 0 default in RTTY and AMTOR the TRX must be set to USB operation 1 High tones 2100 Hz Mark frequency 2300 Hz Space frequency If TR 0 default in RTTY and AMTOR the TRX must be set to LSB or FSK 2 The freely definable MArk and SPAce tones are used We recommend TR to be set to 0 and to operate using USB whereby the Mark frequency should always be higher than the Space frequency Using this convention allows the higher AF as well as the higher HF frequency to represent the Mark condition and Logic 1 in RTTY and AMTOR With PACTOR the shift direction plays no part in the decoding as the correct relationship is always obtained at the start of the link 3 PACTOR 3 1200 1400 Hz Call dial tones for PACTOR 3 link setup 4 PACTOR 3 recom
177. he PTC e Links to related sites On our homepage you can also subscribe to our mailing list to receive actual information about PACTOR and the PTC automatically by email 2 1 Repairs If a problem occurs and it s necessary to send your SCS product to maintenance please take care of the following e Always contact SCS by email before sending a modem You will be supplied with return instructions which are important for receiving modems from outside the EU e Package the device with care Use suitable and enough packaging material e Attach a cover note to the shipment Do this always also if you have emailed or talked to us previously Printouts of exchanged emails are helpful e Describe the problem as good as you can e Write clearly e Give us your phone number and or email address so that we can contact you if necessary e Don t forget your return address and if available your MASTER or VISA card information for billing 3 Installation Chapter 3 3 Installation The installation of the PTC IIlusb is simple as all settings are done via software You need only correctly configure the cable between the PTC IIIusb and transceiver if this is not already available C T TRX Contri GPS TRX Audio DC in USB Figure 3 1 The PTC HIusb rear panel 3 1 Power Supply The PTC IIIusb has two inputs for its power connections which can be used alternatively Either connect via the DC in supply socket at the rear of th
178. he information has arrived The here given value of FRack is just the start value The used value is dynamicly recalculated during a connection using the formula Frack 2 SRTT X Hereby X RETRY if RETRY is gt 2 otherwise X 1 SRTT is the Smoothed Round Trip Time X is generally 1 under link establishment condition 9 8 14 Help Lists all the Packet Radio commands 126 9 Packet Radio 9 8 15 JHOST Default setting 0 Parameter 0 Exits the hostmode 1 Starts the hostmode 4 Starts the CRC hostmode 5 Extended CRC hostmode Switching to the hostmode The command is used by the hostmode software to switch to the hostmode During normal operation within the terminal mode this command has no function For furthermore information about the PTC IIIusb hostmode refer to chapter 10 page 135 It is strictly forbidden to enter the JHOST command in the initialization file of the hostmode programs hostmode programs switch to the hostmode independently 9 8 16 KISS The KISS Mode is activated with the commands KISS or alternatively K out of the normal command mode This usually happens automatically by the KISS PC software or a KISS capable controller e g TNC3 The KISS mode is terminated by a system reset power off on cycle but can also be terminated by software with sending the decimal byte sequence 192 255 192 The termination by sending the byte sequence is usually done automatically by the software as well
179. he modem will install it automatically You can watch the progress of this procedure on the modems LEDs doing some lightshow When finished the modem restarts and you can use it again 1 6 5 1 New SCSupdate 2 0 By offering the free update tool SCSupdate 2 0 SCS offers their customers the possibility of firmware updates for all SCS modems in a very easy manner SCSupdate 2 0 can automatically download and install the newest firmware for the appropriate modem from the SCS Update server If available beta firmware versions will also be offered in addition Of course it is still possible for locally saved firmware data to be installed on your SCS modem using SCSupdate 2 0 as before The program is based on dialog fields and guides you step by step through the update procedure for you SCS modem SCSupdate 2 0 is available from the download section of the SCS website and comes with a detailed manual 2 Customer Support Chapter 2 2 Customer Support If you have questions problems proposals or comments relating to the PTC or PACTOR please contact the following address SCS Special Communications Systems GmbH amp Co KG Roentgenstrasse 36 63454 Hanau Germany Phone 49 6181 85 00 00 Fax 49 6181 99 02 38 E Mail info scs ptc com Homepage Visit our Internet sites http www scs ptc com Here you will find e Information to PACTOR and the PTC s e The actual firmware versions e Links to interesting software for t
180. hecking the radio link baud rate Without a parameter the Baud command shows the currently set baudrate If a valid baudrate is given as a parameter the DSP is programmed respectively Valid values are R300 R600 300 1200 9600 and 19200 baud For 9600 and 19200 baud operation a suitable transceiver is necessary With a value of 300 additionally the tuning display is activated refer to chapter 9 4 on page 119 9 8 3 CBell Default setting ON Parameter OFF Connect bell off ON Connect bell on Turns the connect bell on or off If the connect bell is turned on then every connect is signaled with the PTC IIIusb sending a bell character lt BEL gt ASCII 7 to the terminal 9 8 4 CHeck Default setting 300 000 Parameter X 0 3 000 000 time in milliseconds The CHeck command sets the T3 or link activity timer If nothing is heard from the partner station during the time T3 then the link status is queried 9 8 5 CMsg Default setting 1 Parameter 0 Switch connect text off 1 Switch connect text on 2 Switch connect text on and evaluation of special functions Enable or disable the connect text 124 9 Packet Radio If CMsg is set to 2 the following sequence Q lt CR gt is accepted additionally The sequence is noticed if it occurs at the beginning of a line and is closed directly with lt CR gt or lt Return gt After receiving Q the PTC initiates a disconnect 9 8 6 Connect Default setting none
181. hort period of getting used to things the sound of SSTV as in all other forms of picture transmission is rapidly recognized by its distinctive sound from the station loudspeaker 8 3 FAX and SSTV with JVComm32 As with WIN95 the real time processing is not reliable enough JVComm32 also had problems using the PTC SSTV FAX transmission routine at slower PCs For transmission the PTC needs a continuous data stream with a high baud rate usually 57600 baud from the PC s serial interface No interrupt should occur as gaps and shifts within the transmitted picture would be tht result But a continuous data stream using WIN95 is only possible with very fast PCs and also this is no guarantee it depends on the computing capacity occupied by other applications The second problem of the older implementation The transmission timing must be provided by the PC But PCs only use inaccurate and unadjusted oscillators so a relatively complicated procedure for skew correction on the transmission side was necessary Both problems are solved with the new modem command JVComm within the fax menu activating a new transmission routine On the receiving side the JVComm modem of the PTC HIusb has the same behavior as the previous FMfax modem also activated within the fax menu The only difference is that the PTC provides no receiving data while the JVComm modem of the PTC HIusb is in transmission state That means that no full duplex with loop back is
182. ible could be copied But AMTOR also has its disadvantages e Using 5 bit code makes it impossible to transfer the whole ASCII character set or binary data e Detecting and correcting errors is insufficient for error free transmission of binary data e The effective data rate is only 35 baud PACTOR offers a much better error correction system and a considerably higher data transfer rate than AMTOR The synchronous transmission format and the short packet lengths of AMTOR have been retained These result in a protocol much more resistant to interference than Packet Radio under poor propagation conditions The PACTOR protocol together with the SCS PACTOR Controller allows a much higher throughput than AMTOR with the efficient error correction and data transparency of Packet Radio One should not however be under the impression that PACTOR is just a combination of Packet and AMTOR Although essential parts of both systems have been included such as data integrity by using a CRC from Packet and the synchronous transmission format and short block lengths compared to Packet of AMTOR a fully new concept has also been included from the very beginning For the first time in amateur radio online data compression is used to markedly increase the effective transmission speed Also the use of memory ARQ in PACTOR is a milestone although it has been known for a long time in the commercial sector Previously it has been very difficult o
183. id for the TRX dump header in other words a buffering taking place The Frequency command in the trx menu without argument requests the output of the TRX frequency but with an active dump mode these transceiver outputs caused by the F command are also shown as dump sequences and no longer as a decimal ASCII string The F command in this case then also gives a TRX dump sequence This is however not the case in remote control access when the dump mode is ignored 168 13 TRX 13 4 DWell Default setting 30 Parameter X 5 1 000 dwell time in 100 ms Dell sets the dwell time of the PTC scanner on each channel in 100 ms steps A DWell time of 30 means for example that the scanner will pause on each channel for exactly 3 seconds 13 5 Frequency Default setting NONE Parameter X Frequency data Allows the direct setting of the TRX frequency without having to define a scan channel The format is however that as described in the Channel command Without a parameter the Frequency command returns the current operating frequency from the transceiver If a beep is heard during frequency input or scanning that s not the PTC IIusb that s the transceiver Refer to the transceiver manual to switch off the confirmation beep 13 6 Help Gives a short list of the commands used in the trx menu The Help command may also contain a command word from the trx menu as argument whereby a description of that comman
184. ies the transmission data This method provides a very clear transmission signal but has to be supported by a corresponding PC program If TXcomp is switched off the PTT control via the CTS line is ignored The transmission is completely handled by the PC program As modulation signal the audio signal of the PC speaker is used However this method is usually not recommended and hardly needs to be used 111 8 FAX 8 8 The Parameter commands in detail 8 8 1 AGain Default setting 50 Parameter X 1 200 amplification factor for AM FAX Sets the internal amplification factor for AM FAX reception The brilliance of the received picture can thus be set without having to change the receiver volume Some receivers offer an AF output with a virtually constant amplitude In this case AGain offers almost the only possibility to adjust the brilliance of the received picture With the AGain default value of 50 an input signal of 500 mV causes the maximum output value of 255 at the RS 232 interface The AGain Parameter operates as a linear amplification factor 8 8 2 AResolut Default setting 2 Parameter 0 1680 Pixel sec 1 2500 Pixel sec 2 3400 Pixel sec Gives the maximum possible time resolution of the received signal in AM FAX Also the AResolut parameter adjusts the bandwidth of the input bandpass filter appropriately With noisy signals it is recommended that the AResolut parameter is set to 0 as the effective signal to noi
185. ike pac MT gt gt gt Welcome to s PTC IIlusb Mailbox lt lt lt Please type H for help lt Return gt The same as in CText the character serves here as a dummy for the appropriate MYCALL independent if it is a BBS callsign or the normal MYCALL The SSID of the MYCALL is ignored For example if DLIZAM 8 is the BBS MYCALL then the PTC IIIusb will give the following message gt gt gt Welcome to DL1ZAM s PTC IIIusb Mailbox lt lt lt Please type H for help The MText always follows the message from the automatic mail notifier i e NO new MSG for you or 2 new MSGs for you or similar The MText cannot be turned off 9 8 23 MYAlias Default setting SCSPTC Parameter CALL Alternative station callsign MYAlias is handled as MYcal1 for incoming connects and can also be used as an alternative station callsign If the PTC MTusb is called by the MYAlias callsign as a digipeater he works as a cross port digipeater i e packets received at port 1 are send out at port 2 and vice versa The kind of modem at the relevant port is not important because of this cross digipeating from 1200 baud to 9600 baud and vice versa is possible The default of the MYAlias callsign is the PACTOR MYCALL entered first of all but gets the SSID 15 If for example the global MYCALL on the PACTOR is set to DL6MAA the PTC IIusb sets the MY Alias to DL6MAA 15 This default setting can be changed at any time using the MYAlias command o
186. imaginary carrier then in USB the frequency of the audio Mark tone 1400 Hz must be added to the carrier frequency for the actual Mark frequency to be calculated If on the other hand the Mark frequency is taken from a BBS list the Mark tone frequency must be subtracted in order to find the correct frequency to tune the SSB transceiver to If the Offset value is defined as 1 4 kHz the PTC IIIusb does the required frequency correction for the Mark frequency automatically It is thus only necessary to give the wanted Mark frequency and the correct offset is automatically applied For example one can give the command Frequency 14079 0 lt Return gt The PTC IIIusb then sets the transceiver to 14077 6 kHz which automatically with Low tones and USB gives the correct transmit and receive frequency of 14079 0 kHz Similarly with LSB only here the positive Space tone frequency would be chosen as Offset and with different tone pair frequencies 13 10 Parity Default setting 0 Parameter 0 No parity bit default Parameter 1 Odd parity Parameter 2 Even parity Some transceiver types require a data format with parity bit for communication on their remote control port The Parity command provides the possiblity of inserting a parity bit at the end of every transferred byte on the trx control port The Parity parameter only affects the Kenwood data format i e Type must be set to Kenwood see TYpe command in trx menu 170
187. ing the command with pac cmd PAC C DBOGV lt RETURN gt This command out of the cmd menu leads to a connect attempt to DBOGV on Packet Radio This command is only accepted if there is no PACTOR or AMTOR connect already running on HF otherwise an error message is displayed When the command is accepted automatically the DSP is switched to Packet Radio operation and the pac menu is activated In fact the PTC IIlusb automatically loads the required DSP code dependent on the requirement of the recent command At entry of the Connect command the user needs not to care in which condition the DSP modem currently is But when the user tries to establish a Packet Radio connect while a PACTOR connect is in progress the PTC IIIusb gives an error message Same in the opposite case when a Packet Radio connect exists and the user tries to leave the pac menu with quit this will also cause an error message 29 5 PTC Firmware However it is possible to enter the pac menu when a PACTOR connect is running but in this case the DSP is not reprogrammed and the Packet LED will not light That means with a running connect on the HF side it is possible to change parameters being valid for Packet Radio Only a Connect will be rejected in this case Although the PTC IIusb is limited for being a single port unit it is very flexible also when operating in Hostmode Same as in the terminal mode it automatically selects the appropriate modem DSP code depend
188. ists message no 5 in the current directory L List all messages in the current directory 64 6 Commands 6 49 Listen Default setting 1 0 Listen mode disabled 1 Listen mode enabled 2 4 reserved 5 Listen PACTOR 1 only Parameter The Listen mode is turned on with Listen 1 so that it is possible to Listen in to what is being sent in PACTOR QSO and to read Unproto transmissions Listen is only possible in the STBY condition If the Listen mode is active connect packets are also monitored and displayed CONNECT FRAME CALL e g CONNECT FRAME DL6MAA means that a station is trying to connect to DL6MAA With poor signals it is possible that the CALL is displayed only partially because it couldn t be decoded correctly Parameter 5 will be accepted by the Listen command PACTOR monitor operation If the listen parameter is set to 5 only PACTOR 1 transmissions are monitored PACTOR TIM transmissions are ignored This has the advantage with SailMail WinLink that the identifier is monitored at the end of a connection but not the text of the whole PSK data transfer itself No Channel busy status is given in Listen mode 6 49 1 PACTOR 3 For achieving good monitoring results on PACTOR 3 the frequency offset should kept lower than 20 Hz Of course an SNR appropriate for the actual speed level is necessary for error free reception Nevertheless monitoring results are naturally inferior to ARQ connections under same
189. ited for the user It is thus possible with Y 0 to initiate up to 31 PR connects in parallel 10 4 21 B Shows the free buffer available This command is virtually only used from the hostmode program to find out how much memory is still free in the PTC IITusb 141 10 Hostmode This command is only used by the hostmode program The user cannot enter this command 10 4 22 OF The hostmode command F allows to setup FAX reception under hostmode control Receveiving FAX images through the hostmode interface means that the data transfer between modem and PC is highly buffered and error corrected CRC hostmode Thus Skew or jumps within FAX images caused by data loss on the interface side high PC operating system latency etc can be completely avoided Besides that the ot command eases incorporating FAX reception to application software that mainly builds on the hostmode Default setting none Parameter F no parameter Clears the FAX data buffer see below F0 Disables hostmode FAX reception and switches back to normal PACTOR Standby operation F1 Activates hostmode FAX reception in FM FAX sampling rate baudrate 32 F17 Activates hostmode FAX reception in FM FAX sampling rate baudrate 16 F2 Activates hostmode FAX reception in AM FAX sampling rate baudrate 32 F18 Activates hostmode FAX reception in AM FAX sampling rate baudrate 16 If hostmode fax reception is activated 8 bit per sam
190. ith heavy interference PT 2 still works when PACTOR 1 will not allow any more data to be passed Naturally however the speed of transfer even with PT 2 drops accordingly One must get used to the fact that with practically inaudible signals one must wait 20 or 30 seconds for a new line to appear on the computer screen 191 15 Basics It has NOT proved to be a disadvantage to continue working with longer packets when signals are weak or under heavy interference The transmit buffer naturally rapidly fills up under these conditions causing the PTC II usb to switch automatically to longer packets Only the waiting time until a new line of text appears on the screen increases with the longer packet length under extremely unfavorable conditions The effective throughput however remains considerably higher than when using shorter DBPSK packets If the link threatens to break then the MAXError parameter time out can be increased to 255 and the Memory ARQ parameter MAXSum may be increased to 60 during the contact NEVER tune the VFO by hand with very weak or inaudible signals With very weak or noisy signals the PTC IIusb adjusts its tuning very slowly to minimize tuning error With good to very good propagation conditions PT 2 has shown itself to be 4 to 6 times faster than PACTOR 1 A maximum speed of 140 characters per second can be achieved This is approximately 30 times the effective AMTOR speed Switching between speeds occurs auto
191. ith the Bluetooth manager software BlueSoleil A step by step introduction for this manager with screenshots can be downloaded from our homepage Limitation Because of the fact that Bluetooth does not provide the signals CD and DTR at the virtual COM port applications that use the PTC IIlusb in Hayes mode PACTOR IP Bridge may not work properly with Bluetooth In this case please use USB For WeatherFax the most recent version of GetFAX needs to be used 3 3 1 Bluetooth Installation The Bluetooth transceiver is soldered on the bottom side of the main board on the left front side approximately underneath the Bluetooth and USB LEDs When installed it is automatically recognized by the modems operating system and can be used There is nothing more to do than soldering it in 3 4 Rear side configuration switch This switch has 4 positions with different meanings All of these can be switched on or off ON means that the switch is set to the lower position OFF is the higher position When set to ON the labeled condition is enabled 3 4 1 ON In many cases a modem is supplied by the radio connected to it mostly ICOM radios and it is desirable that the modem immediately starts when the radio is powered on To archive this the rear dip switch 1 labeled with ON must be set In this condition the PTC IITusb is always on when it has supply power It cannot be switched off any more with the sensor The modem can only be switche
192. led A complete description of the SMACK protocol exceeds the limits of this update information and can be found in relevant literature or in the Internet 9 7 SRP SRP means Serial Ring Protocol and has been developed by Jimy Scherer DL1GJI for XNET respectively the TNC3 It is an extended SMACK with the possibility to operate several modems together with one SRP master in a Token Ring This provides the possibility of establishing a complex system of digipeaters With this e g two PTC IIpro can be operated on one TNC3 as master in a ring network The addresses ring adresses of the single ports are assigned automatically A dual ported modem e g PTC IIpro receives 2 ring addresses e g 0 and 1 one address per port The SRP master can access both ports independently With a ring of one TNC3 without internal modems and two PTC IIpro as modems four modem ports are available physically provided by the PTC IIpro s for this digipeater Two ports can e g be used for Robust Packet Radio 4 SMACK http www nordlink org firmware smack txt 3 SRP http www swiss artg ch xnet pdf tnc pdf 120 9 Packet Radio on shortwave one port can be configured as 1200 baud access point and the fourth one as 9600 baud access point To switch into the SRP mode first the KISS mode has to be enabled KISS master and KISS modems automatically negotiate if SRP can be enabled All modems in a SRP ring must be
193. length limitation If more than 1000 bytes of data sent from the transceiver are already buffered the PTC does not accept more data until the buffer is flushed data fetched by the PC application 178 14 The Bootloader Chapter 14 14 The Bootloader Hier The internal operating software of the PTC IIIusb is divided into two major parts Firmware Operating software available to the user which supports for example PACTOR AMTOR RTTY etc including the command interpreter and multitasking and for which an update is occasionally available to provide additional and improve current features These updates can be loaded into the PTC IIusb using SCSupdate The Bootloader allows some of the basic functions of the PTC system to be used and works totally independently from the presently loaded firmware The Bootloader has a very basic and essential task and is thus is placed in a specially protected area of the FLASH memory Normally the user does not need to worry about the existence of the Bootloader However due to various unlucky or exceptional circumstances it is possible that the PTC IIusb will no longer load the PACTOR firmware Under these conditions it is only possible to access the PTC IIIusb via the Bootloader If for example there is a power failure during a normal firmware update one part of the FLASH is programmed with the new version while the other still contains a part of the old firmware It is very unlikely that such
194. les ENEE EE 1 50 T3 EE 144 Basics of the PACTOR II protocol 185 Balde sore neurea eni s a a E AET 124 1 BEE 49 13 pol Nils 199 E da aida 50 BO E EEN 179 5 BIOS and Firmware ccococoncnnncnnncnnnnnns 179 BRC iia 50 SCH GE E EE 50 8 BOO Toi ees 51 enee A 51 8 pole DIN socket cscs 198 EE ee a 58 eel DIN EH 199 C A A 130 About this manual l CBE ll EEN 124 ACCESSOTICS 0sssrsessersreseesesnsonneesenees 193 CIEE odes ce dee 97 ACheck AMTOR Check 45 Channel A NN 165 AD a 45 CHECK oocccocccccccccccccccccccocccccccccceces 52 124 AM 112 CHK Flash cccccccccccceccccecccccccccceccees 181 AMAS a a e es 129 CR telas 181 AMA de 107 EIER 52 AM FAX o EE Ee ege 101 LS LR 52 Amplitude Settings ssssssssereeree eee 19 EA N CET 53 181 AMTIEN een 38 73 CBB ee 53 124 ATOR EEN 45 Command Structure nn 28 AMTOR ess 54 ee AN 137 AMTOR Jeton 69 COMPILA 110 205 COMPARATOR MODEM 106 Connect geseid 125 137 Connect Message eut 125 Connections to the transceiver 15 Comme ct text na ianea 125 EE 125 CONVersE anciana 125 CQ Calls and broadcasts 192 CRC hostmode in detail 149 CS Delay ic 55 E EE 125 E KEE 125 EN GE 55 Eeer 56 ENT niaaa 97 IT EE 56 A 57 COW Teri at 57 A AA lees senco eases 59 CV E 59 D NEE 137 TAM EE 117 137 Data transparency E 40 Ett ee a ee 59 1 E E 60 98 162 167 Dl a e 98 DELE ciao 60 Deviation a 113 DIGI Peat ninia 126 A a
195. leteness 6 33 DAte Remote Default setting none Parameter DD MM YY Desired date Arguments are ignored during remote control DAte is used to set or read the PTC calendar If DAte is entered without a parameter the PTC IIusb displays the current date All positions have to be entered Leading zeros must not be omitted The periods for separation are not necessary Faulty inputs cause incorrect settings From 01 01 1990 up to 31 12 2089 the day of the week is automatically calculated from the date Thus your PTC IIIusb is well equipped for the future Required date Sunday 24th March 2005 cmd DA 24 03 05 lt Return gt Or in shortform cmd DA 240305 lt Return gt 59 6 Commands 6 34 DD This command causes an immediate breaking off of the transmission Dirty Disconnect An existing link is not correctly terminated Any text that remains in the transmit buffer is discarded DD leads in all cases back to the respective STBY level 6 35 DELete Remote Deletes files in the PTC mailbox Remotely it is only possible to delete self written files or files written to you DEL DL2FAK 1 Erases all messages addressed to DL2FAK DEL DL2FAK 4 Erases message no 4 addressed to DL2FAK DEL DL2FAK 4 Erases all messages from no 4 onwards for DL2FAK DEL DL2FAK 3 5 Erases messages no 3 to 5 addressed to DL2FAK DEL ALL 4 5 Erases own messages no 4 to 5 in directory ALL 6 36 DIR remote Note DIR can from the remote
196. license installed default for the PTC IITusb 6 106 Write Remote Default setting none Parameter Filename File or directory name Title Optional title of the message From remote the same function is also available as Send command Enables files to be sent to the PTC mailbox The end of the file is indicated in the case of direct input from the terminal by an ESCAPE Character refer to ESCchr chapter 6 39 page 61 In the case of a remote station sending a file via PACTOR to the mailbox the end is indicated either by a CHANGEOVER lt Ctrl Z gt or NNNN In AMTOR the end of the file is indicated by the CHANGEOVER or NNNN An ESCAPE character 94 6 Commands from the sysop breaks off the remote controlled file input The remote control sequence may be contained within files as during the file input the sequence has no meaning The Write command may also contain two parameters Write filename title The filename is essential for mailbox operation The filename is the name of the subdirectory in which the message will be stored If this is missing then the PTC reacts with a message missing filename The message can additionally be given a title The title is not necessary and can be left out Contrary to most Packet Radio mailboxes the title is not automatically requested Stores a message for DL3FCJ without a title cmd W DL3FCJ lt Return gt Stores a message for DLIZAM entitled Board Layout cmd WD
197. llers lt CR gt lt CR gt lt LF gt no longer causes an unwanted empty line A number of commercial RTTY services e g Meteo services also still use the historical double CR at the end of every line These services can be better copied when LF 2 6 46 LICENSE Default setting none The License command does not accept any argument as PACTOR 3 is always enabled by default with the PTC IIusb If License is sent to the unit it always responds with a dummy string just like LICENSE 010000141714CB53 ABCDEFGHIJKL With this the PTC Mlusb always appears as PACTOR 3 licensed to any accessing application software on the PC 6 47 LIN Default setting 128 Parameter X 20 128 Number of characters before an auto linefeed Auto linefeed after X transmitted characters word wrap The auto linefeed is turned off with the value 128 6 48 List remote Lists the contents of a directory in the PTC mailbox The short form L for the LIst command is also accepted by the remote station as in this case no possible confusion with Listen can occur The output format is valid also for the DIR command refer to chapter 6 36 page 60 Examples L DKSFH Lists all messages for DK5FH L DK5FH 4 Lists the message no 4 for DK5FH L DK5FH 4 Lists from message no 4 onwards for DK5FH L DK5FH 3 5 Lists messages 3 to 5 for DK5FH LALL Lists all messages in the directory ALL L ALL 4 5 Lists the messages 4 to 5 in the directory ALL L5 L
198. lter should be switched off The PTC is connected to the transceiver via an 8 PIN DIN socket PIN 1 Audio output from the PTC to the transmitter The PTC IIIusb supplies a pure audio signal to the microphone input of the transceiver The output amplitude can be adjusted with the FSKA and PSKA commands from 30 to 3000 mV peak to peak open circuit The output impedance of the PTC IIIusb is 1 Ki PIN 2 Ground GND Collective grounding point for all signals PIN 3 PTT output While transmission this output from the PTC HIusb is grounded so that virtually all modern transceivers are suitable A VMOS field effect transistor is used as the switch which gives optimum results The switched current should not exceed 1 A PIN 4 Audio from the receiver to the PTC MMusb The PTC IIusb gets its information directly from the loudspeaker output of the receiver The volume should not be turned up too far A fairly low volume is quite sufficient It is better to take the AF signal from a low level output which is independent of the volume control These 15 3 Installation outputs are often labeled AUX or ACC The input impedance of the PTC is 47 kOhm The PTC IIusb operates with an input signal down to approx 5 mVrms and should not exceed 1 Vrms PIN 5 Optional power supply input The PTC can be supplied with power via this input This is especially useful if the transceiver gives a power supply output via the AUX socket The PTC HIusb requires app
199. lusb ooommoooooommoomo o 29 Remote COMAS a E 30 PTMI E 31 Multiple file Operations ovocitos 32 Special features when reading files 32 The PTC mailbox for Packet Radio 33 Practical operation using the PR mailbox 33 Passing PR connects to the mailbox 34 Properties of malbos Commande ooooccccnnnninininininnnnn 34 The NAVTEX PrOCesSOF coocccocooccocococonononnonononnnnnonononnos 35 NAVTEX Genra eege EE 35 The NAVTEX System in Detail ee 36 Operating the NAVTEX Processor 37 Notes about NAVTEX practice af A e EEE 38 GP A 38 Connecting the GPS receiver ENEE 38 GFS positon ET EE 39 GE 39 Robust MIPS OCR A 39 PACTOR Duplex and PACTOR data transparency 40 Application for PACTOR Duplex 41 How to avoid mcompatbiltv eenen 42 PAGTOR data WANSDAENIOY EN 42 Ardo FUNCIONS aros ar iria 43 The Hostmode oisececanseendecndeenceenceuascsnsosnsnenarsnvensyensenases 43 IR aja 45 ACheck AMTOR CNE EE 45 e A S 45 o O IIA 45 o A O 46 O A A A A A 47 ARI Aaa ET 47 BEE 48 EA Uoan cram necitelininleniintinscatey 48 EE A A 49 A 49 Bal Cait caine esas 50 Ir EE 50 A 50 SS A meses 51 EEN 51 A An 51 TT E eE 52 Table of Contents CHOBell MA 52 E EE EE EE 52 CLr Romos a tee NEEN NEEN NEE NENNEN ENEE dE idad aaa Se e TT A 53 Ri EE 53 Fis A AR 53 Robust Connect rta 54 PITA EES 54 Direct frequency entry a cirets eta itnercrecens 54 EE 54 A
200. m amplitude then the receive program must paint a white pixel When the tone is very soft then a black pixel must be displayed NOTE with FM the loudness of the transmitted signal has no relation to the strength of the received HF signal The most interesting signal sources of AM FAX are mainly the weather satellites NOAA Satellites on 137 MHz or the geostationary Meteosat 5 or GOES USA on approx 1 7 GHz To receive these satellites it is recommended that a special receiver is used with an IF bandwidth of approx 30 50 kHz For the 1 7 GHz band a small dish or Yagi antenna with a low noise LNA or LNC will also be required 101 8 FAX Meteosat 5 for example transmits almost continuous IR and VIS pictures with a resolution of 2 5 to 5 km in a format of 800 x 800 pixels Many programs are able to automatically sense the beginning of each picture by using additional digital information and to make very impressive weather films These films are interesting not only for amateur meteorologists but also for sailors mountain climbers etc The pixel rate from Meteosat 5 is 3360 pixels per second 4 lines are transmitted per second The resulting bandwidth relating to the appropriate Nyquist filtering is 1680 Hz or a total of 3360 Hz The PTC IIlusb allows the maximum possible resolution of the Meteosat signal to be displayed 8 2 2 FM FAX Frequency modulated FAX is the established standard for weather maps and press photographs
201. m an own firmware The ideal was the WA8DED firmware inclusive hostmode for best compatibility to existing programs So the NORD gt lt LINK TheFimware was created short form TF Already from the beginning the source code of TheFirmware was available for anyone so that radio amateurs could modify and improve it Especially for new ideas like extended hostmode and AX 25 protocol expansions like as DAMA TheFirmware was and is the basis for development Because of these advantages the wide distribution of TF and the always more perfected hostmode programs the hostmode became the standard for TNC controlling But the disadvantages of the hostmode shall be mentioned too The hostmode progam has to poll the TNC continuously if data is available or not That means the program has to poll in a turn each channel after the other for data This causes a delay until the data becomes displayed on the monitor But the polling is reduced using the extended hostmode refer to chapter 10 5 page 147 Another disadvantage is the high load at the serial interface caused by multiple transfers of data 1 e if the monitor is switched on the receive data are transmitted once on the monitor channel and once on the receiving channel to the computer This disadvantage is visible especially when using high speed packet 9k6 or higher 10 1 The PTC IITusb hostmode The hostmode implemented in the PTC IIlusb is largely compatible to the WA8DED hostmode as found in vir
202. matically The operator can influence this a little by using the MAXUp and MAXDown parameter as with Level 1 PACTOR The PTC Iusb not only uses the packet statistics as a switching criterion but also measures the average phase offset from the correct value for every packet and thereby obtains a very reliable measure of the optimum speed required Important The PTC IIIusb only switches to a higher speed if there is more data available to be transmitted than the actual speed could transmit 15 4 3 CQ calls and broadcasts As with PACTOR 1 a CQ call or broadcast is normally carried out with 100 Bd FSK UNPROTO mode see the Unproto command refer to chapter 6 100 page 91 Such transmissions can be read by all PACTOR users If however only those users with Level 2 systems should be addressed then a DPSK Unproto transmission can be chosen We recommend the Unproto 3 mode for a DPSK CQ call This is DBPSK with short packets and has proved to be the most robust broadcast mode under normal conditions 192 16 Accessories Chapter 16 16 Accessories For the PTC lITusb the following accessories are available For the SCS PTC series the following accessories are available Packet Radio 9k6 cable Direct connection from VHF UHF transceivers with DATA connector 6 pin Mini DIN to the PTC 5 pin DIN Order No 8050 ICOM 8 pin cable ICOM audio cable PTC 8 pin DIN to ICOM 8 pin DIN e g for M710 IC 735 1C765 IC M802 and more
203. mended setting 1400 1600 Hz Call dial tones for PACTOR 3 link setup 5 PACTOR 3 1600 1800 Hz Call dial tones for PACTOR 3 link setup 6 96 TR Default setting 0 Parameter 0 TX and RX shift normal 1 Only RX shift reverse 2 Only TX shift reverse 3 TX and RX shift reverse 89 6 Commands Only valid for RTTY and AMTOR Inverts the TX and RX audio shift mark and space tones 6 97 TRX Remote The TRX command without argument activates the transceiver remote control menu trx menu The command prompt takes the form trx The following transceiver control commands are allowed within the trx menu Channel DD Down DUmp DWell Frequency Help List Offset Ptime RType Scan TImer Transfer TYpe Up Quit Wait XScan YType All other normal commands are not available from within the trx menu The trx menu may be closed either with DD or Quit The TRX command may also contain an argument this being a suitable command from the trx menu In this case the PTC will then carry out this command without switching to the trx menu The control command may be said to be fed through This command for example would change the frequency of a connected transceiver directly to 14079 0 kHz without having to divert to the trx menu cmd TRX Frequency 14079 0 lt Return gt For a detailed description of the TRX commands refer to chapter 13 page 165 6 98 TXDelay Default setting 4 Parameter X 1
204. meter X 1 4000 frequency in Hz Y 1 4000 frequency in Hz Starts the sine wave generator The frequency required is given as an argument for the command The range covers 1 Hz to 4000 Hz with a resolution of 1 Hz The command without an argument delivers a tone of 1000 Hz The command can also be used to setup a dual tone generator For this the second frequency is entered after the first one separated by a space Both tones are generated simultaneously which is well suited for measurements of intermodulation distances of transmitters and power amplifiers Example aud TO 1000 2000 lt Return gt generates a two tone signal of 1000 and 2000 Hz the same time The amplitude may be set using the FSKAmp1 command from the main menu refer to chapter 6 42 page 62 99 8 FAX Chapter 8 8 FAX 8 1 General Information In addition to the normal teletype modes the PTC IIlusb supports the following modes FM FAX Shortwave AM FAX Satellites SSTV All present standards and NFSK Demodulation for decoding various shortwave teleprinting methods The algorithms used here profit from the relatively high computing power of the PTC Tllusb and allow the system to easily reach the theoretical limits regarding definition filter performance and resistance to interference in all picture operating modes Additionally particular for STTV a new concept for recognizing and filtering the synchronization impulses has been incorporated
205. mission in FM FAX FSK SSTV Modem mode For transmit operation in all FM variants a constant amplitude signal is generated that set by the FSKAmpl command the frequency of which relates to the transmit data amplitude The transmitted data controls the instantaneous frequency of the output signal For the value 0 the PTC IIusb generates a frequency of 1500 Hz The value 63 produces a frequency of 2300 Hz Values between these limits produce the appropriate frequencies between 1500 and 2300 Hz The frequency modulator in the DSP operates phase continuous and therefore produces a very clean and spectrally narrow signal An output bandpass filter has thus been omitted The steepness of the frequency modulator is independent of the Deviation parameter or other settings The maximum possible shift of the transmitted FSK signal however is thus limited to 800 Hz In order to generate the synchronization signal below 1500 Hz the PTC IIIusb must understand as stated in the JVFAX standard three further bytes outside the 0 63 as transmit data 125 dec generates the frequency 1100 Hz 126 dec generates the frequency 1200 Hz 127 dec generates the frequency 1300 Hz 8 7 3 Transmission in COMPARATOR mode The transmission using the COMPARATOR MODEM is controlled with the TXcomp parameter please refer chapter 8 8 11 page 115 If TXcomp is switched on the handshake line CTS is used to control the PTT line and the RxD PIN of the port suppl
206. mmand prompt Some commands are auto matically adjusted for the new mode For example Connect starts an AMTOR ARQ call The AMTOR SELCALL can be adjusted with the MYca11 command The TR command becomes valid etc 45 6 Commands To differentiate easier the following system message is given AMTOR PTC II V 4 1 C SCS GmbH 94 01 A DFCJ gt The system gives the following command prompt MODE SELCALL gt MODE is the actual operational mode A for AMTOR M for AMTOR monitor mode R for RTTY C for the CW terminal and P for PSK31 SELCALL is the present SELCALL of the PTC e g M DMAA gt It is naturally still possible to receive PACTOR connects to read PACTOR QSO s AMTOR FEC and NAVTEX transmissions With the SCS PTC IIIusb it is possible to use upper and lower case letters in AMTOR The PTC uses the PLX APLINK convention to transfer data It is thus completely APLINK compatible and can read messages from and send messages to the APLINK system using both capitals and lower case During the reception of AMTOR transmissions FEC or ARQ it is possible that a figure shift or letter shift character is lost due to QRM etc In these cases using lt Ctrl gt lt B gt lt Ctrl B gt switches to letters and normally resolves the otherwise unreadable text In an AMTOR QSO instead of using the usual change over sequence it is possible to use the normal PACTOR CHANGEOVER character The
207. n it is possible to give further commands to the PTC mailbox These commands are stored in a buffer and only acted upon when the relevant file read operation is complete An empty input only lt Return gt interrupts the file read operation User Lists the presently active links similar to the CStatus command in the pac menu A presently active PACTOR link is displayed in channel 0 of the list and in addition marked with the comment PACTOR Every active link with the PTC mailbox is displayed with the callsign of the connected station together with the appropriate digipeater list PR links that are not connected to the PR Box are displayed as a so called NON BBS CONNECT without however the callsign of the opposite station 5 8 The NAVTEX Processor 5 8 1 NAVTEX General The NAVTEX service introduced a number of years ago as part of the GMDSS Global Marine and Distress Safety System is a maritime news service broadcasting weather navigational and safety information to shipping This gives the impression that the system uses the most modern technology In fact underneath the impressive sounding name is nothing other than a network of marine coast stations that broadcast plain language messages using the SITOR B system at specific times This system is known to amateurs as AMTOR mode B or FEC It uses the usual 170 Hz FSK modulation system which is also an old and wide spread system in HF digital radio For NAVTEX only one MF
208. n STBY condition it blinks in 1 second tick when an unread mail for the own address MY call is contained in the PTC mailbox It flashes fast if the modem waits for a Bluetooth connection when the USB cable is not connected and Bluetooth option is installed ISS is lit red in connected condition when the unit is the Information Sending Station has the keys ON STBY ON is lit green when the unit is switched on and operating It is lit red STBY when the unit is in stand by mode which means switched off but with external power applied to it In STBY condition the unit can be switched on by touching the front panel sensor switch Doing this the LED will swap from red to green Loading At power on the firmware must be loaded from the Flash ROM into the 32 bit SRAM This is indicated with the 5 status LED s in the middle with every second one being lit 00000 Update When the firmware or the BIOS are updated then the 5 status LED s in the middle show an illuminated dot running from left to right 26 5 PTC Firmware Chapter 5 5 PTC Firmware With the PTC IlTusb it is nearly possible to configure everything In the manual always the default settings are assumed If you have changed these settings you must keep this in mind while reading the manual This is very important in case of the control characters which can be freely defined CHANGEOVER character in chapter 6 19 on page 52 ESCAPE character in chapter 6
209. n an increased data transparency at the HF VHF interface allowing an easier direct transfer of data between HF and VHF users This property of the PTC IIusb allows it s use as a powerful and flexible personal private maildrop It is also possible to use it in smaller general mailbox systems as a stand alone solution The PR mailbox in the PTC IIlusb can be viewed as a self contained TNC in the PTC This virtual mailbox TNC contains its own callsign the BBS MYCALL The user can reach the PR mailbox in the PTC IIIusb by connecting to the BBS MYCALL of the PTC TIlusb The BBS callsign is set automatically to MYCALL 8 either at the first start when the Flash Call in the BIOS has been defined or when one s own PACTOR MYCALL has been set If for example DL1ZAM is given as the first PACTOR MYCALL then the PR mailbox can be connected to under the callsign DLIZAM 8 The BBS MYCALL callsign of the PTC can be changed or checked thereafter at any time with the MYMail command in the pac menu To change the setting of the PR box characteristics there are three commands in the pac menu PRBox MYMail and MText 5 7 4 Practical operation using the PR mailbox On a Help command the PR mailbox of the PTC IIlusb displays a list of available commands They behave with few exceptions exactly as those for PACTOR A few commands also allow an alternative input and so the command interpreter understands Write instead of Send Bye instead of Quit and DE
210. n and test programs for the system start as far for the driver relatively simple for the peripherals Boot The whole system start from switching on the system to the moment the system is ready to be used by the operator is called Boot BREAKIN Interrupt The current receiver is able to interrupt the tansceiver and because of this forces a key transmission CHANGEOVER Key transmission from the transceiver to the receiver 200 Glossary CPU Central Processing Unit CSMA Carrier Sense Multiple Access to the transmission channel A channel access process used for Packet Radio each station by their own has the possibility to decide if the transmission channel is free by carrier recognition DAC Digital Analog Converter DAMA Demand Assigned Multiple Access A channel access process for Packet Radio where each station using the digipeater the DAMA master will be prompted definitely to transmit DSP Digital Signal Processor or Digital Signal Processing FEC Forward Error Correction Test pattern are added to the real information or the information is transmitted multiple Because of this the receiver has the possibility to notice and correct transmission errors without transmitting the information again FIR Finite impulse response Digital filter with finite impulse response Firmware Firmware offering necessary functions to the user e g PACTOR AMTOR RTTY etc including command interpreter and mul
211. n by the operator is required as the PTC HIusb will switch automatically to uncompressed ASCII transmission for individual packets if necessary 6 61 MONitor This command switches to AMTOR listen mode Mode L In AMTOR listen mode an existing AMTOR ARQ link between two stations can be read on screen As the AMTOR listen mode requires a lot of computer time it is not possible to receive any FEC transmissions or answer PACTOR or AMTOR connect requests in this mode The PTC doesn t react on PACTOR or AMTOR ARQ connect requests 69 6 Commands By using the CHANGEOVER character refer to chapter 6 19 page 52 it is possible to re synchronize at any time If the PTC does not switch back to letters due to poor reception conditions using lt Ctrl gt lt B gt Ctrl B gt will force a letter shift 6 62 MYcall Default setting ROM Callsign Parameter CALL Station s callsign 2 to 8 characters Defines the own Callsign Whenever the callsign is received during STBY the PTC performs slave synchronization and responds with a control signal attempting to establish the requested connect With an active AMTOR prompt MYca11 sets one s own Selcall Although there is a convention how to create a Selcall out of a callsign this procedure isn t always reasonable Basically an AMTOR selcall consits of 4 letters From a normal call usually the first and the last 3 letters are used to assemble the selcall e g DKSFH gt DKFH DL3FCJ g
212. n the time parameters Because of this check the initialization files of programs you use in advance and very carefully Often the added examples are designed for a TNC 2 But the TNC 2 expects the time inputs in 10 ms steps e g for a TxDelay of 100 ms the value 10 has to be given for a TNC 2 But the PTC IIlusb needs the value in milliseconds that means 100 If you use the initialization files without checking it could happen that the very important timing data becomes 10 times too low 117 9 Packet Radio The most frequently done mistakes according to wrong times are e At connect establishment all attempts of the PTC IIIusb are transmitted in very short distances e Ona DAMA Digi it could happen that suddenly the connection hangs Digi and PTC Iusb exchange RR frames only Please search for the following commands CHeck FRack RESptime SLottime and TXdelay in the initialization file of your program and check the settings In any case you have to adjust the TX delay TXdelay due to your needs It is possible to delete all other commands within the initialization file or take the default settings 9 3 Robust HF Packet For the selection and configuration of the robust modulation for HF PR no special commands are necessary The selection of the modulations type follows the usual way with the Baud command in the pac menu or B command in hostmode The transmit level is taken from the PSKAmp1 PACTOR PSK amplitude refer
213. nal RF chokes wherever applicable Do not overdrive the transmitter under no circumstances The ALC level must not exceed the proper range Some noise blankers as well as other noise reduction tools tend to distort the PACTOR 3 receive signal In case of receiving problems try out if switching off the noise blanker etc improves the throughput Make sure that the PACTOR 3 receive signal is centered properly within the IF filter passband Adjusting the passband tuning IF shift improves the throughput in some cases 20 3 Installation 3 6 Transceiver Remote Control The SCS PTC IITusb is equipped with a connector for controlling all the usual modern amateur radio transceivers Virtually all newer transceivers from KENWOOD ICOM YAESU SGC and R amp S allow remote controlling of various functions via a serial interface Depending on type and manufacturer almost all the transceiver parameters can be called up and changed For example frequency filter operating mode and much more can be controlled With radio equipment that is digitally controlled the list of functions is almost unlimited The PTC IIIusb uses this features mainly to set and readout the frequency of the transceiver You find more about that in chapter 13 on page 165 The remote control socket is connected as follows seen from the back of the unit Pin 1 RxD TTL Pin 2 RTS V24 Pin 3 TXD V24 Pin 4 CTS V24 Pin 5 CTS TTL Pin 6
214. nd including the direction Any other format will be rejected with an error message Example pac A PO 4810 30N 01030 25W lt Return gt 9 8 1 4 APRS SHort Default setting 1 O Compression off Parameter 1 Compression on Activates 1 or deactivates 0 the compression of the position data in the APRS datagram The compressed format has only advantages Shorter datagrams very accurate speed and direction can be included in the transfer However because some APRS programs cannot correctly interpret the compressed format the SCS firmware allows the compression to be switched off Also the uncompressed position data can be directly monitored as the usual Latitude Longitude format is sent in plain text 122 9 Packet Radio 9 8 1 5 APRS SYmbol Default setting 15 Dot Parameter 1 94 al a94 Sets the graphic APRS symbol that an APRS receiving station should display e g a symbolic car in mobile service Symbol 30 The symbol numbers follow exactly the table in the APRS protocol version 1 0 The complete protocol information is available on the Internet Symbols from the alternative table alternate table can be selected by prefixing an a before the symbol number e g A SY al3 for Home HF If no symbol number is given as an argument the A SY command normal way displays the actual parameter settings however with a current symbol additionally with a short description in square brackets E g a1
215. nd the PTC a further decisive advantage arises Because of the very short timeouts PPP used to be nearly impossible over slow communication channels with relatively large delays Timeout problems are now solved by the PACTOR IP Bridge Summarizing the qualities of the PIB TCP IP transparent and relatively fast Internet access via HF radio Internet services accessible via PACTOR e g E Mail SMTP POP3 FTP HTTP Up to 4 Internet channels sockets over one physical PACTOR link Extreme compression of the TCP IP and PPP overhead 1 Introduction e Full PPP compatibility Use of common client server software like Netscape Outlook Eudora and others is possible e Easy embedding and configuration under all common operating systems e No timeout problems on PPP and TCP IP As host system for the PACTOR IP Bridge SCS has developed the PTC IInet A detailed manual for the Professional Firmware can be found on our homepage http www scs ptc com 1 6 3 EasyTransfer EasyTransfer is a program developed for binary transparent file transfers between two computers connected via PACTOR The graphical user interface is similar to some well known FTP clients which are used for file transfers via the Internet When viewing the software user interface the left side shows the contents of the local hard disk on the right are the contents of the enabled REMOTE directory of the PACTOR connected server Files can easily be moved bet
216. nd your standard email account also for email over an HF PACTOR or Packet Radio connection SCSmail makes it possible For accessing your email through SCSmail you do not need a special email address nor a special account from an HF email provider 1 6 5 SCSupdate Although some third party software is capable to perform a firmware update of the modem SCSupdate is the recommended one which comes from SCS directly You 1 Introduction can check for new firmware in the download section of the SCS website If you find a newer version there than actually installed in your modem you can download the firmware file from there Usually it will be a compressed file zip which you need to unzip before you use it Unzip and store the file in a certain folder for the PTC IIIusb the firmware file will have the ending p3u Start SCSupdate and follow the instructions top down First you select the COM port where the PTC IIIusb is connected to SCSupdate will automatically detect the modem there and enables the Browse button Use this to point SCSupdate to the folder where you have stored the firmware file SCSupdate will show all files compatible with the modem connected Select the file you want to use most probably the one you just have downloaded and unzipped Afterwards press the press the Send Update button which is enabled now You can see the progress bar on the screen of SCSupdate After the firmware is transferred completely t
217. ndition A request condition is thus impossible here e Request condition If a packet is correctly received and the request flag is identical to the last correctly received packet Bit 6 of the CMD INF byte must be erased Refer to the text above Reaction of the SLAVE to various conditions e Reaction of the SLAVE to the NACK condition Transmission of the special request packet 170 170 170 85 direct request for a repetition of the defective packet without waiting for the MASTER timeout NACK condition e Reaction of the SLAVE to the ACK condition Transmission of the present new response packet e g data packet if a G POLL NOTE This packet must be buffered in case of a later repetition e Reaction of the SLAVE to the request condition Repetition of the last buffered packet Information of the present received packet is not used it is thrown away erased 10 9 5 Stuffing errors or unexpected header sequences e The sequence 170 0 during a header search is interpreted as an ERROR and the header search carried on e Sequences between 170 1 169 and 170 171 255 during the header search AND during the packet read in are interpreted as an ERROR and cause a newstart i e the header search is started afresh 152 10 Hostmode e 170 170 ALWAYS leads to a start of packet condition under all situations The next byte is then appropriately interpreted as the channel number However after a start of packet is recogni
218. nds and the PARAMETER commands 105 8 FAX The carrying out of a Modem command sets the PTC IIlusb into the actual FAX SSTV AUX modem function It loads the appropriate new routines into the signal processor adjusts the tuning indicator to the new function and at once starts passing the demodulated signal to the RS 232 interface which may have had its baud rate changed during the Modem command refer to the MBaud Parameter command The MODEM operation of the PTC IIlusb can be ended at any time by inputting a byte with the value 255 dec via the RS 232 port It is essential to use the correct baud rate see MBaud command After the ending of Modem operation the PTC HIusb announces itself with the normal Cmd prompt and is at once in the main menu The baud rate is automatically returned to the value it was before the Modem command was called The PARAMETER commands are used for setting the various values needed for the particular Modem mode chosen e g the actual baud rate during Modem operation MBaud the deviation for FM FAX Deviation or the internal amplification for AM FAX AGain parameter The Parameters must be set before the start of the chosen Modem function During MODEM operation the Parameter commands are not available only the change of particular operating parameters in the operating mode JVFAX is possible using special control codes refer to the JVFAX modem command Note concerning the data rate during MODEM
219. ng 15 3 4 Online data compression As with the Level I protocol PACTOR 2 uses Huffman coding for text compression on a packet by packet basis As an alternative PACTOR 2 can also use pseudo Markov coding PMC as a compression method PMC has been developed by SCS and increases the throughput of plain text by a factor of 1 3 compared to Huffman coding The PTC Iusb examines each packet individually to see if it would be faster to send it using Huffman PMC or normal ASCII transmission There are thus no disadvantages incurred by using PMC As a further selection criterion the PT II protocol supports separate German and English coding tables for PMC as well as a capitals mode for Huffman coding and PMC There is a total of 6 different compression variations available for use The PTC Mlusb checks each packet automatically and then very reliably chooses the best compression method for transmitting the data Additionally PT II uses run length coding so that sequences of repeated characters e g underlining or columns in graphics may be transmitted very efficiently With run length coding the system does not transmit each character individually instead an sample character is sent followed by the required number of same A few words on how PMC functions would not be out of place here Normal Huffman compression makes use of the statistical frequency distribution of characters in plain language text The characters most used e g e
220. noisy clicking of the transmitters relays especially the older ones A bad experience could be that the CW character could be multilated to illegibility if relatively high RX TX switching times are in use In this case the second parameter could be switched to Audio Only CW identification That means that the PTT will be active during the whole CW identification process and only the audio signal is switched on off in the rhythm of the CW signal The CW identifications uses the Mark tone Switch CW identification to Audio Only cmd CW 1 2 lt Return gt For CW identification one s own callsign MYCALL is always used The CWID amplitude is generally 3 dB lower than the FSKA level 56 6 Commands 6 28 CWMoni Default setting 1 Parameter 0 CW monitor tone disabled 1 CW monitor tone enabled TX 2 CW monitor tone enabled RX TX This command has no function within the PTC IIusb and is just implemented to achieve extensive compatibility with existing PC software 6 29 CWSpeed Default setting 160 Parameter X 40 1200 CW speed in LpM The CWSpeed command enables the CW speed to be set continuously between 40 and 1200 LpM Letters per minute The CW speed applies to the CW ID as well as to the CW terminal 6 30 CWTerm Default setting no Parameter X 40 400 Start receiving speed in LpM The CWTerm command activates the CW terminal of the PTC HIusb The actual speed depends on the CWSpeed parameter The keying takes
221. ns 2 fast 30 slow Example MAXDown 7 i e the PTC switches down after receiving 7 error packets in a row 6 56 MAXError Default setting 70 Parameter X 30 255 maximum number of retries or errors MAXErr defines the timeout value When initially calling a station this value sets the maximum number of sync packets that the PTC sends without a response from the other station refer to Connect command chapter 6 22 page 53 When connected MAXErr determines how many consecutive faulty blocks or controls are permitted before the connection is aborted TIMEOUT DISCONNECTED Request blocks or request controls are not interpreted as errors and reset the error counter to zero 67 6 Commands In AMTOR the timeout is automatically doubled so that with the default setting 70 a total of 140 packets 63 seconds will be transmitted until the system times out and completely breaks the link The re phase timeout for AMTOR is fixed to 32 packets The value 255 disables the timeout and causes endless traffic Never use this setting for unmanned operation 6 57 MAXSum Default setting 30 Parameter X 5 60 maximum count for memory ARQ MAXSum is the timeout value for the memory ARQ counter It determines the maximum number sum of faulty packets that are summed up If MAXSum is exceeded the sums are deleted since it can be assumed that crude errors have entered the sum and that further summation of the packet will no
222. o tones or carriers These are however not just sent alternately to transmit the data they are both sent together as continuous tones The data is contained in the phase of each tone or to be more exact in the phase difference between two consecutive information states or steps The keyword step should be more exactly explained so that an essential part of the PT 2 modulation system the pulse shaping can be understood The FSK system uses rectangular keying or steps throughout With 100 Baud operation for example a high mark tone of exactly 10 ms is transmitted if a logical 1 is sent or a 10 ms low space tone if logic 0 Every step at 100 baud takes exactly 10 ms and starts and stops very abruptly i e a square wave This abrupt keying produces a relatively wide frequency spectrum That the two tone FSK keying bandwidth remains tolerable is only due to the fact that no phase shift takes place during the tone keying providing a correctly adjusted modulator may achieve this Phase modulation on the other hand has by its very nature a phase jump between each step A square wave modulated PSK signal has therefore a very wide frequency spectrum and should never be used on the in any case much too narrow HF amateur bands The number of steps or changes per second is called the symbol rate or a little less correctly baud rate Harry Nyquist one of the most well known of the earlier communications experimenters developed as earl
223. ode PACTOR is abbreviated with the letter P here When lighting green the unit is operating in P3 mode PACTOR 3 In P1 mode it is red and in P2 mode it is orange QUAL In Unconnected STBY state e g while receiving RTTY PACTOR Unproto etc See below Lock Tune 25 4 LED s In Connected State PACTOR This LED shows the on the air connection quality by changing colors and brightness Dim red indicates the poorest condition bright green indicates the best possible link condition The transition from poor to best has the following steps dim red red bright red orange dim green green bright green Lock Tune In Unconnecte state e g receiving RTTY PACTOR Unproto etc Forms a 2 LED tuning indicator together with the QUAL LED Bright green indicates a well tuned RX signal Dim red or off indicates poor tuned RX signal If the QUAL LED indicates better tuning than Lock Tune the frequency of the RX signal is tuned too low and vice versa With some practice the 2 LED tuning indicator allows a tuning accuracy of at least 10 Hz In Connected State PACTOR Tune flashes red while the PTC IIIusb is in progress with automatic frequency and phase correction Lock is lit green when the tune process is successfully terminated the frequency deviation is compensated and the phase is stable CON ISS CONnected is lit green permanently in AMTOR PACTOR Packet Radio connected condition I
224. ode then only the CON LED lits 14 3 Bootloader commands 14 3 1 FCall Default setting none Parameter CALL Flash call max 8 characters Checking and setting of the flash call By using the FCall command it is possible to store your own callsign permanently in FLASH ROM Stores the flash call DL3FCJ cmd FC DL3FCJ lt Return gt Checking the flash call cmd FC lt Return gt The flash call is used as default callsign by the PACTOR firmware after a RESTart 14 3 2 FSelcall Default setting none Parameter SELCALL Flash Selcall max 4 characters Checking and setting of the flash selcall By using the FSelcall command it is possible to store your own selcall permanently in FLASH ROM Stores the flash selcall DFCJ cmd FS DFCJ lt Return gt Checking the flash selcall cmd FS lt Return gt The flash selcall is used as default selcall by the PACTOR firmware after a RESTart 14 3 3 Help Displays all useable commands It is also possible to obtain further help on a command whilst in Bootloader mode with Help lt CMD gt More details to the SERbaud command cmd Help SERBaud lt Return gt or shortened to cmd H SERB lt Return gt 180 14 The Bootloader 14 3 4 SYStest Switches to the SYStest commands The command prompt changes from cmd to sys 14 3 5 UPDATE Identical to the UPDATE command in the PACTOR firmware This command renews the PACTOR firmware in the Flash ROM of the PTC IIIusb It should only
225. on shortwave and longwave This very old WEFAX Standard is however rapidly losing importance in the commercial sector One reason is that the quality of the FAX image is strongly influenced by the effective signal to noise ratio and the propagation conditions e g multipath propagation In amateur use however FM FAX is a useful mode as it allows high definition in comparison to SSTV for transmission of highly detailed pictures on good to very good HF paths The center frequency for FM FAX has established itself as 1900 Hz On longwave a frequency shift of 150 Hz is usual On shortwave it has standardized at 400 Hz This means that in a normal FAX signal on shortwave the brightness information white is transmitted by a tone of 1900 400 Hz i e 2300 Hz and black is represented by 1900 400 Hz or 1500 Hz A gray scale is given by the appropriate frequencies between the limits represented by 1500 and 2300 Hz The Nyquist bandwidth associated with FM FAX is approximated by the formula pixel rate 2 shift With a pixel rate of 1600 sec one calculates a Nyquist bandwidth of 800 400 400 800 2400 Hz The PTC IIlusb allows a resolution of up to 2600 pixels sec The bandwidth of such a signal is approximately 3400 Hz so that a steep sided 2 4 kHz SSB filter would be too narrow to allow the full resolution to be used It is only useful to increase the receiver bandwidth above 2 4 kHz when it is known that the transmitted bandwidth is not limited to
226. on the output amplitude shall be modified Start Unproto transmission cmd U 1 lt Return gt The PTC IIusb starts the Unproto transmission and switches in the converse mode Clicking on lt Esc gt enables the command prompt cmd Now you can enter the command to change the output amplitude cmd FSKA 100 lt Return gt Only this command is executed The PTC switches immediately back to the converse mode Now you can stop the Unproto transmission entering the QRT character lt Ctrl gt lt D gt The PTC Iltusb ends the Unproto transmission and changes to the command mode 27 5 PTC Firmware 5 2 Command structure The PTC commands are similar to the commands of a TNC with TAPR software this makes it easy to learn and handle There are commands with and without arguments If an argument is possible the argument has to be separated from the command by at least one space A command s current argument setting is displayed if the command is entered without an argument Nearly all commands can be used in abbreviated form to save keystrokes The shortest keyword of a command consists of the fewest number of characters that uniquely identify it e g you may type C instead of Connect All command inputs are internally converted to upper case so both character shifts may be used All commands are listed below significant mnemonics are printed in capital letters The short form of the SERBaud command is SERB 5 3 Menus The PTC IIIusb
227. operating modes DBPSK DQPSK and inverted DQPSK If a DQPSK variant is chosen the PTC I usb signals this with the DQPSK LED Inverted DQPSK is needed when lower sideband is used on an SSB transceiver as here the signal phasors revolve anti clockwise and thus build up a false delta phase association for the values 90 and 270 degrees If DQPSK is used in LSB then the inverted DQPSK must be chosen For USB the normal DQPSK setting must be used for compatibility with the other PSK31 users The PTC acknowledges the command with PSK31 Mode DBPSK or PSK31 Mode DQPSK or PSK31 Mode inverted DQPSK CHOChr Generally lt Ctrl Y gt refer to CHOChr command chapter 6 19 page 52 Serves to switch between receive and transmit QRTChr Generally lt Ctrl D refer to QRTChr command chapter 6 77 page 78 Can also be used instead of CHOChr as the final character of a PSK31 transmission A PSK31 transmission can be broken off at any time with the DD command DD sets the system back into the normal STBY mode The PSK31 receive condition can be left by using the Disconnect or Quit command In the PSK31 transmit condition both these commands act as a normal closedown identical to the QRTChr of a transmission The Hot keys have priority in the PSK31 terminal mode This means that no codes should be chosen for the CHOChr ESCchr and QRTChr being similar to the hot keys otherwise the CHOChr ESCchr and QRTChr will no
228. operation The received data is sent with the maximum possible speed to the serial interface in all MODEM operating modes There are no pauses between the individual characters not even through excessive use of the Packet Radio function of the PTC IIlusb multi tasking With an MBaud rate for example of 57600 bits sec there is a new value available for the connected PC approximately every 170 usec 10 steps of 1 57600 sec per step A guarantee of modem data synchronization over a long period cannot however be given Connects in Packet Radio from outside are also possible during active MODEM functions without restrictions Receiving data will be buffered as far as buffer is available 8 5 The PTC IIusb as COMPARATOR MODEM The PTC IIIusb is capable to be used as a simple COMPARATOR Modem This allows compatibility to all at present available RTTY FAX SSTV programs that allow use of a simple modem e g HAMCOMM modem The operation as a COMPARATOR is completely different to that of the other MODEM variants of the PTC IIlusb In the normal MODEM operation Amfax Fmfax SSTV commands the DSP undertakes the demodulation of the signal itself and uses relative complex algorithms In the COMPARATOR mode it is only used as an adjustable pre filter bandpass filter Fresol command The pre filtered signal is then only hard limited and passed on as virtual DCD signal in the USB data stream The actual demodulation must be undertaken by the PC
229. operational mode FSK as a demodulator for widely differing transmission methods Packet Radio with 300 Baud and multi FSK systems such as PICCOLO etc may be received when the appropriate PC program is available The NFSK demodulator gives the measured frequency value to the RS 232 interface at a baud rate set by the MBaud command The center frequency is here also 1900 Hz This frequency causes an output value of 128 A frequency range of 500 Hz gives an output value of between 0 and 255 For frequencies outside this measurement range the PTC TlTusb gives values of 0 or 255 whilst in FSK MODEM operation Additionally as in all FM modes the data from the demodulator is available as virtual DSR signal in the USB data stream It has passed a trigger stage which results in a 1 bit digitized signal as output If the PTC IIIusb measures an input frequency of greater than 1900 Hz the virtual DSR goes active For frequencies lower than 1900 Hz the PTC TlTusb sets the virtual DSR to inactive For transmission using the NFSK MODEM refer to chapter 8 7 1 page 110 109 8 FAX 8 6 7 Comparator This MODEM command switches the PTC IIlusb into the COMPARATOR mode The prefiltered receive signal filter bandwidth may be set with the FResolut parameter command is limited and is available as virtual DSR signal in the USB data stream The interface is as in all other MODEM operations still able to receive data The COMPARATOR operation will be
230. or information etc is always proceeded with a Ctrl F Only direct answer messages for a command input do not fall under this convention This allows the comfortable administration of PR multi connects etc using a non hostmode terminal All PR received data is sent at once to the terminal program without bothering about the Setch command refer to chapter 9 8 32 page 131 Setch only has influence on the 85 6 Commands present transmit channel in terminal mode This means that one must set Setch to 2 if one wishes to transmit data via channel 2 If for instance an external link from the PTC Tllusb has been automatically given channel 2 and one wanted to write a text to that other station Terminal programs that fully support Term 5 must therefore also automatically administrate the Setch command After Ctrl F follows the channel number binary increased by 48 and then the codebyte as is defined in WA8DED hostmode 0 Success no text follows Not used in Term 5 1 Success text follows Not used in Term5 2 Error text follows Not used in Term 5 3 Link status info follows CONNECTED to etc 6 Data fromthe monitor follows Table 6 5 Code byte description The terminal mode 5 also extends the command prompt Every command prompt as in terminal mode 4 is proceeded with a Ctrl D after every Ctrl D however follows a byte with prompt information Bits 5 7 contain coded information about the prompt
231. or message A minus character as first Comment character sets the Comment to NONE and with this deletes the comment 121 9 Packet Radio APRS comment should be as short as possible as the APRS datagram will be longer sometimes much longer which can lead to a unnecessary high channel occupation 9 8 1 2 APRS PAth Default setting APRS via RELAY WIDE Parameter APRS target call and at max 8 digipeater calls Defines the AX 25 transmit path including target callsign and maximal 8 digitpeater callsigns also with their respective SSID s if available Examples pac A PA CQ ia RELAY lt Return gt pac A PA APRS RELAY WIDE GATE lt Return gt Between the target callsign and optionally the digitpeater list a v or via can be inserted to increase readability A description of the operation of current APRS digipeater callsigns exceeds the boundaries of this user manual Appropriate information can be found in relevant literature e g Internet In case no exact information of available digipeaters to hand it is recommended to select the first digitpeater RELAY 9 8 1 3 APRS POsition Default setting NONE Parameter XXXX XXS N YYYYY YYW E Allows the entry of the position for the FIX operation Aprs 2 see 9 8 1 The position must be entered exactly in the correct format for Latitude Longitude which means degrees including leading zeroes directly followed by minutes with 2 decimal places a
232. ormal PTC independent from how it was used before and will provide the prompt that the non hostmode terminal programs expect Similar to what is described above one can add the command TNC 2 into the de initialization file of the non hostmode program so every hostmode program can be started without problems afterwards 6 95 TOnes Default setting 0 Parameter 0 Low tones 1200 1400 Hz 1 High tones 2300 2100 Hz 2 Freely adjustable tones definable with Mark Space commands 3 PACTOR 3 tones 1200 1400 Hz 4 Standard PACTOR 3 tones 1400 1600 Hz 5 PACTOR 3 tones 1600 1800 Hz The TOnes command allows the PTC IIlusb to be switched between two preset Low tone or High tone standards or to freely adjustable tone frequencies The two tones are used for FSK as well as PSK operation With PSK operation care must be taken that the difference between the two tones is exactly 200 Hz to remain compatible with the PT II standard There is nothing however against experimenting with a chosen partner station with different shifts It should be noted however that shifts greater than 200 Hz cannot be used with a narrow IF filter A PACTOR connection will only switch to PACTOR 3 during link establishment if the TOnes parameter is greater than 2 We generally recommend to use TOnes 4 also for 88 6 Commands PACTOR I II connections Furthermore we recommend to work PACTOR 3 only on the upper sideband USB Please also note t
233. ormation in any other channel only the respective channel has to be polled using the G command to get the data 147 10 Hostmode 10 6 Status output in hostmode The usual status byte can be called in the hostmode by polling channel no 254 A G poll of this channel always outputs a string containing the actual status information of the PTC IIusb The format is 254 07 0 S S binary status byte It is hence a byte count format channel number code length minus one information byte s The code of the status information is 07 According to the WA8DED standard this would also relate to information from a connection which however is usually used as a byte count format on channel 254 In future releases the status information is planned to be expanded to several bytes Using the length information from the WA8DED standard a longer status information will not lead to any problems of compatibility The terminal program can utilize exactly that number of bytes that are interpretable by the respective software Newer expansions can easily be ignored that way The G poll command on virtual hostmode channel 254 status channel can be extended by a single parameter in ASCII format valid range 0 3 e g G1 The parmeter determines how many status bytes are sent back to the PTC as a response to the G poll The number of bytes calculates as paramater value plus 1 Thus the command G0 is compatible with the usual G poll without argumen
234. overdrive the first amplifier stages which are very sensitive and located in the signal path before the MIC Gain controlling device We recommend for the first approach to use the default PSKA value of 140 and then regulate the output power for PSK with the mic gain setting if available To do this connect the TRX to a dummy load resistor capable to dissipate the power or to an antenna with good SWR Take care that the frequency being used is not already occupied Entering U 3 lt Return gt starts the Unproto mode 3 100 Bd DBPSK Now you can use the MIC Gain knob to increase the transmitting power until the ALC voltage reaches the allowed limit Don t overdrive the TRX because in this case the signal will be spreaded by intermodulation 19 3 Installation With proper settings the peak envelope power will nearly be equal to the maximum output power of the TRX In this case the average power will approximately be the half of the maximum power so also continuous operation will not cause problems at all Don t be confused as many modern TRX only display the peak envelope power If it is necessary to set the MIC Gain value to more than half of its maximum it is recommended to increase the PSKAmp1 value This for example can be done entering lt ESC gt FSKA 200 lt RETURN gt If no MIC Gain potentiometer is available the proper PSK amplitude setting has to be evaluated with only using the PSKAmp1 command After the PSK amplitude is c
235. patibility with DieBox mailbox systems If the character is set to ASCII 128 then a special filter is activated which filters out all CONTROL characters range 0 31 except lt CR gt lt LF gt and lt TAB gt Set filter for lt LF gt and lt BELL gt pac MF 10 lt Return gt 9 8 20 Monitor Default setting 0 Parameter X 0 6 frame type Switch monitor on and off Values greater than 0 switch the monitor on and values greater than 1 set which frame types will be monitored 0 Monitor switched off 1 Only UI Frames 2 Additionally I Frames 3 Additionally SABM and DISC Frames 4 Additionally UA or DM Frames 5 Additionally RNR RJ and FRMR 6 Additionally Poll Final Bit PID and serial numbers 9 8 21 MStamp Default setting OFF Parameter OFF Time stamp off ON Time stamp on 128 9 Packet Radio MStamp activates the time stamp for packets that are displayed via the monitor 9 8 22 MText Default setting gt gt gt Welcome Parameter String of 249 characters maximum Identical to the CText command in the pac menu however sets the connect text for the PR mailbox The default text is as follows gt gt gt Welcome to s PTC IIIusb Mailbox lt lt lt Please type H for help The MText input is done via the normal command interpreter so a convention for the lt CR gt character has to be used The lt CR gt is represented within the MText string by This would be input l
236. ple grey scale FAX data is available on hostmode channel 252 The data field length of the hostmode packets on channel 252 is always 256 The sampling rate number of 8 bit samples i e pixels per second is calculated as baudrate on the serial user interface COM port divided by 32 or 16 The baudrate on the serial user interface of the modem should be chosen as high as possible higher than 57600 Bd to achieve a good FAX resolution For example 115200 Bd on the serial port yield a FAX sampling rate of 3600 or 7200 pixel sec respectively If the baudrate is equal or less than 2400 the sampling rate is set to a constant value of 75 samples sec however FAX reception at baudrates below 19200 Bd generally does not make much sense because the image signal then suffers from heavy undersampling The hostmode FAX demodulators AM FM have the same properties as the corresponding FAX demodulators in terminal mode fax menu All parameters accessible through the fax menu which have an effect on the FAX demodulator remain also valid for hostmode FAX reception Any change of the FAX parameters from the default settings should be performed unter terminal mode control fax menu prior to starting the hostmode All FAX receive data is buffered through the 4096 samples long FAX data buffer see F command without argument If a buffer overrun occurs frequency of data polls by the PC program too low the buffer is automatically cleared again 4096 samples
237. ply of a small ship A NAVTEX controller should therefore be able to operate without any additional computer and use little electrical energy itself The NAVTEX processor of the PTC IIIusb solves many of the disadvantages mentioned above It enables 5 8 2 Automatic selective reading of NAVTEX transmissions Either the code for the type of message or the regional code can be selected Automatic processing of transmissions received more than once Only the best copy is held Old data is automatically deleted A fast check on the type of received messages A memory buffer is available without using an external computer as the NAVTEX processor uses the PTC IIlusb internal mailbox as a message store It automatically lays down if not already there a subdirectory called NAVTEX in the PTC box Data written into the mailbox by the NAVTEX processor can be accessed via PACTOR or Packet Radio The NAVTEX System in Detail As mentioned above NAVTEX messages are sent in plain language using SITOR B coding To mark the beginning end and type of message NAVTEX uses a simple convention Every message begins with the characters ZCZC followed by a space Then follows the four figure message identifier plus a carriage return The actual message now follows Every message finishes with NNNN If these end characters are mutilated the NAVTEX processor finishes writing the message at the latest after loss of receive synchronization The m
238. pole DIN socket for remote control use The pin connections are according to Table 3 15 Due to an error in the PTC Illusb main processor it is unfortunately not possible to directly read out the frequency of YAESU transceivers The following circuit however allows this error to be corrected and the readout to be done Older transceivers like the FT757 supports serial input only In this case the PTC HIusb adjusts the frequency but could not read out it Table 3 16 YAESU FT 757 Some Yaesu transceivers FT 920 FT 847 FT 1000MP have a 9 pole sub D connector and operate with V24 levels for transceiver control It s intended for direct connection to a COM port of a PC Also these transceivers can easily be controlled by the PTC IIusb Just solder a 9 pole connector to the attached cable as shown in the following table below Signal PTC Color This cable is available completely assembled Refer to chapter 15 on page 183 Table 3 17 YAESU V24 Portables like the FT 100 FT 817 FT 857 FT 897 use a 8 pin Mini DIN connection This cable is available completely assembled Refer to chapter 15 on page 183 Table 3 18 YAESU newer generation 23 3 Installation Don t forget to set thje exact transceiver type using the YType command Refer to chapter 13 20 on page 175 3 7 GPS The PTC Iusb uses a 3 pole screw terminator to connect to a GPS reciever This input is compatible with 5V TTL and RS232 V24 signal l
239. possibility of two arguments e g S C 5 that toggled switched the scan function on or off the XScan command allows particularly channel scan definition Set Scan parameter of channel 10 to NO trx XS 10 0 lt Return gt Set Scan parameter of channel 4 to YES trx XS 4 1 lt Return gt The XScan command is particularly useful in the initialization configuration file of the PTC IIusb because a new defined state can be set without knowing the current state of the scan parameter 13 20 YType Default setting 0 Parameter 0 YAESU Type FT 890 1 YAESU Type FT 990 FT 1000 2 YAESU Type FT 1000 MP 3 YAESU Type FT 100 4 YAESU Type FT 920 5 YAESU Type FT 847 6 YAESU Type FT 817 FT 857 FT 897 7 YAESU Type FT 950 8 YAESU Type FT 2000 9 YAESU Type FT 9000 Specifies a special YAESU transceiver as sub type to enable the PTC IIlusb to read back the frequency from the transceiver This command is only effective if a YAESU transceiver has been selected with the TYpe command The YAESU transceiver types 7 9 are only usable in combination with the setting KType 1 because this transceivers use an adapted Kenwood protocol The YType command must be given prior to the TYpe command See example in chapter 13 7 on page 169 175 13 TRX 13 21 External Scan Stop Signal The PTC IIlusb transfers a scan stop signal via the USB interface which the driver provides as virtual CD signal The CD signal is active as long as there is no
240. possible The JVComm transmission routine provides a buffered data exchange with handshake This dramaticly reduces the real time requirements of Win95 The PTC transmits data exactly with a rate of 1 20 Mbaud rate on the HF side DSP modem Because the data rate on account of the 10 steps byte at the serial interface could be at a maximum 1 10 Mbaud rate the PC has a lot of time to fill the transmission buffer of the PTC 8 3 1 Specifications PTC data buffer size over all 13312 byte Handshake RTS PIN 8 at the SUB D 9 socket of the PTC e Activated XOFF 10 V at 8000 byte or more in the buffer e Deactivated XON 10 V at 6000 byte or less in the buffer After XOFF the PC could still send about 5000 bytes without causing a buffer overflow Output data rate exactly 1 20 Mbaud rate A skew correction usually is not necessary because the PTC IIlusb quartz is adjusted up to some ppm 104 8 FAX 8 3 2 Reference of databytes concerning the PTC Value Reference 0 240 Normal linear frequency transmission data 0 1500 Hz 24 2300 Hz 241 Sync tone 1100 Hz 242 Sync tone 1200 Hz 243 Sync tone 1300 Hz The values 0 243 trigger the PTT and the transmission mode of the JVComm modem As soon as one of these bytes is received the PTC usually switches to transmit and keeps this condition for 2500 1 data rate seconds re triggerable At a modem baud rate of 57600 baud the TX tail has a length of 0 868 seconds 244 2
241. priate software for their particular service Windows programs listed above usually need Windows 98 or higher SCSmail SCSupdate and EasyTransfer are the only programs that have been developed by SCS The SCS CD ROM is usually updated once the year Always check if there is a newer version of your selected program available from the Internet 1 Introduction 1 5 2 Version numbering Each software component has an own version number The bootloader the firmware the programs for the PC and the user manual The different version numbers are necessary to distinguish between old and new versions 1 5 3 File types Basically the following file types extensions are used ae Gemantext o Fane Ten Deet Firmware file for the PTC Ile a Firmware file for the PTC Ilex PRO Firmware file for the PTC Ipro Table 1 2 File Types 1 6 Professional solutions The extended features of the PTC firmware ex Professional Firmware have been adapted to mobile and maritime applications They provide additional functions to ease the access to professional HF services e g email server The following overview shows the Professional Firmware features installed in the PTC IIIusb e PACTOR 3 high speed data transfer protocol e Hayes compatible command interpreter Hayes mode phone modem compatibility e PACTOR IP Bridge direct TCP IP over PPP via HF e PACTOR Free Signal Protocol collisions avoiding access system to HF
242. probability and it must be reckoned that particularly these characters would lead to a decrease in the effective transmission speed with non adaptive Markov compression The SCS team in developing PT Il came up with a simple and clever answer to these problems The Markov compression would be limited to the 16 most common leading characters All other characters result in normal Huffman compression We have thus a hybrid of Markov and Huffiman coding that we have named pseudo Markov coding The coding table remains reasonably small and the uncommon characters can no longer cause trouble due to their unstable probability results In practice 1t has been shown that PMC almost always produces a greater benefit compared to normal Huffman compression 15 4 PACTOR 2 in practice 15 4 1 General points Those experienced users of PACTOR 1 should have no trouble changing to PACTOR 2 particularly if they know the usual commands of the SCS controller for PACTOR operation Before the first try out on the air a check should be made using the MYcal1 command refer to chapter 6 62 page 70 to see that one s own callsign has been correctly loaded into the PTC IIlusb from the terminal program If this should not be the case then put in the callsign manually using the MYca11 command Other than this it is essential that the AF output level together with the maximum output power in FSK and DPSK are correctly set For this see the information contained in
243. program so that considerable differences in quality may occur 106 8 FAX 8 6 MODEM commands in detail Activating the MODEM commands is the task of the displaying programs on the PC e g JVCOMM32 or MSCAN They are not intended for direct user access If somebody tries to call for example SSTV out of terminal programs like PlusTerm he will be punished with the output of a never ending data stream of hex characters 8 6 1 Amfax Starts the AM FAX MODEM The measured amplitude of the 2400 Hz tone frequency is given over the RS 232 interface at the rate set using the MBaud command The time resolution required and filter bandwidth may be pre set using the AResolut parameter The internal amplification may be pre set using the AGain parameter The output values reach from 0 to 255 Measured values greater than 255 are limited to 255 by the PTC Illusb The data width is limited to 8 bits by the serial format With an AF input amplitude of 500 mV and a standard setting of AGain 50 the PTC Illusb gives an output value of 255 With an input of 250 mV the output value is appropriately 128 For transmission use when using AM FAX refer to chapter 8 7 1 page 110 and chapter 8 7 1 page 111 8 6 2 Fmfax Starts the FM FAX MODEM The measured instantaneous signal frequency is sent via the RS 232 serial interface at the rate set by the MBaud command The time resolution required and filter bandwidth may be pre set using the FResol
244. pty line off 1 Auto CHO after an empty line on If HCr is 1 then in hostmode a CHANGEOVER is carried out after an empty line double lt CR gt or lt Return gt 6 44 Help Remote Help without parameters gives a list of all commands The PTC contains a short description of every command so that the manual does not need to be continually consulted These descriptive messages can be obtained by using Help followed by the required command Help bau or in shortened form h bau From remote Help results in only those commands that can be remote controlled being listed A thorough description of each command can also be obtained by the remote station using Help lt CMD gt Help phase or Help bell 6 45 LFignore Default setting 1 Parameter 0 no insertion of lt LF gt 1 insertion of lt LF gt after each lt CR gt 2 multi lt CR gt supression LFignore determines whether a lt LF gt is automatically appended to each lt CR gt that is sent to the terminal For LFignore 0 the characters are passed exactly as the PTC receives them For LFignore lt LF gt s sent to the PTC are ignored refer also to command ADdl f chapter 6 2 page 45 LFignore 2 activates in addition the multi CR suppression with RTTY and AMTOR FEC reception Multiple lt CR gt in a row without other characters between are suppressed except for the first lt CR gt In the EOL End Of Line sequence in some US 63 6 Commands American contro
245. quick and easy to see 1f essential characters have been changed QRT CHARACTER ASCII A ESCAPE CHARACTER ASCII 27 CONTROL CHARACTER ASCII 22 CHANGE OVER CHARACTER ASCII 25 BREAK IN CHARACTER ASCII 25 SHow P displays the essential system parameters The timing for the transceiver control and the parameters that influence the link quality are shown CS DELAY 5 TX DELAY 4 TIMEOUT PARAMETER 70 SPEED DOWN PARAMETER 5 SPEED UP PARAMETER 4 SPEED UP TRY PARAMETER 2 In CW mode the SHow command displays the present CW receiving speed 6 88 SPAce Default setting 1200 Parameter X 300 2700 frequency in Hz Allows the adjustment of the space frequency of the PTC IIIusb in 1 Hertz steps internal resolution 0 25 Hz using DDS The frequency chosen is only used when the TOnes parameter is set to 2 refer to chapter 6 95 page 88 6 89 SQuelch Default setting 45 81 6 Commands Parameter X 0 99 Value for the noise suppression 100 200 used for ZCZC NNNN autostart The trigger point for the software squelch noise suppression for Baudot RTTY can be set using the SQuelch command with values between 0 to 99 With the value 0 the squelch is always open noise suppression turned off With the value 99 the squelch is always closed all signals suppressed With a value of about 40 the squelch remains closed on a totally free channel but is very sensitive to changes in the signal sp
246. r DD Delay Help Invert Notch Peak Quit Through TOne All other normal commands are not available in the aud menu Quit or DD exit the aud menu The commands of the aud menu in detail 7 1 Bandwidth Default setting 300 Parameter X 30 1000 Bandwith in Hz Adjusts the 6 dB bandwidth of the CW filter continuously between 30 and 1000 Hz Refer also to command CWfilter chapter 7 3 7 2 Center Default setting 1400 Parameter X 300 2700 center frequency of the CW filter Sets the center frequency of the CW filter continuously between 300 and 2700 Hz Refer also to command CWfilter chapter 7 3 and the command CWTerm chapter 6 30 The Center command also adjusts the audio frequency of the CW Terminal chapter 6 30 of the PTC IIlusb send and receive sides In firmware releases prior to version 1 12 the CW Terminal used the current Mark frequency which sometimes was not particularly suitable 7 3 CWtfilter Activates the CW filter using the center frequency set by the Center command and the bandwidth set by the Bandwidth command The filter is designed as FIR with a linear phase change so that even with a bandwidth of 30 Hz it does not ring The transfer function has not been designed for maximum edge steepness but a shape delivering a signal easily readable for the human ear and the best signal noise ratio possible 97 7 Audio 7 4 DD Terminates the aud menu 7 5 Delay Default setting
247. r Figures shift to Letters This has the advantage that the manual shift switching lt Ctrl B gt or lt Ctrl gt lt B gt required with weak or noisy signals to mitigate the figures printed due to a false Figures shift being received or Letters shift being missed can be virtually dispensed with The long strings of numbers often received 92 6 Commands from DX stations instead of the actual text is now virtually a thing of the past A problem can however occur with a switched on USOs when a string of figures are received with only a space character in between and the transmitting station fails to send a new Figures shift after the space to denote that the next character s are figures 6 104 VERIfy This is identical to the RELOad command except the BBS file is NOT loaded into the PTC The checksum is calculated instead so as to check the file integrity without destroying the BBS contents 6 105 Version Remote Shows a short version and copyright message PTC IIIusb High Performance HF VHF UHF Communications Controller PACTOR Level III High Speed Data Transfer Protocol gt gt gt Professional Marine Firmware V 4 1 lt lt lt C 1994 2012 SCS GmbH amp Co KG Germany BIOS Version 2 12 detected Packet Radio Port SCS DSP MULTI MODEM detected Parameter with the version command terminal mode displays the most important modem properties in a special format This eases the automatic confi
248. r YAESU Transceivers 176 Channel EE ue 176 Preamp switching at R amp S XK 2000 Transceiver 177 Timer Attributes oocccconcccnnncccnncnicnnacanonacinonacanonaninos 177 Hex FE vind A 177 LA BA le EE 178 TRX Control Channel on Hostmode occcccncccccncccc o 178 o AA 179 Bootloader and Firmware 179 Activating the Bootloader iii 180 Bootloader commande occcccccoccccncccnoncnnnocononeneconanennos 180 es A A E AAA A AEAN ET 180 A a 180 ee 180 rs 181 UPDATE ENEE 181 Egeter 181 Bootloader SYStest commande oooccccccconnnnncccnonnnnns 181 A E 181 E Fie E EEN 181 Lei 181 Led 181 QUE WEE 181 14 4 6 15 15 1 15 2 15 3 15 3 1 15 3 2 15 3 3 15 3 4 15 4 15 4 1 15 4 2 15 4 3 16 17 18 19 Table of Contents E T y EANET E E E E A A E EEE 181 GT E 183 od AA 183 Why A RaRa ia 184 Basics of the PACTOR 2 protocol en 185 Eegeregie eiert 185 The modulation SSI EE 186 Error control e EE 188 Online data compression EE 190 AE LTE 191 General points csccisocosiinacomone reir 191 Spoed and TODUSIMOSS EE 191 CQ calls and bake caca daa dnd 192 PG COSCON OG cuco iania ean asaras 193 Technical Data EE 195 Connector PINO TT 197 CISMA rra 200 List of Figures List of Figures Figure 3 1 Figure 3 2 Figure 3 3 Figure 3 4 Figure 3 5 Figure 3 6 Figure 4 1 Figure 5 1 Figure 15 1 Figure 15 2 The ke TT E 11 Connection to ihetranscehyer 16 Connections to the transceiver 5 PIN DIN
249. r every byte with the value 170 a further byte with the value 0 is inserted The CRC calculation is only carried out on the original packet not on the stuffed packet The packet counter concerns itself always with the original length of the packet without stuffing Directly after the packet is received and thus at the lowest sub protocol level the packet receiver MASTER and SLAVE carries out a so called Byte de stuffing This removes the 0 bytes inserted by the packet transmitter The byte de stuffing begins directly after the first byte after the recognized 170 170 header After every byte with the value 170 one byte is erased providing it is a 0 byte If the following byte does not have a value of 0 then error handling is carried out refer to chapter 10 9 5 page 152 The MASTER uses a 1 bit packet counter using bit 7 of the CMD INF bytes that is incremented inverted on sending a new not repeated packet This packet counter and request flag allows the SLAVE to positively identify repeated MASTER packets The slave possesses the possibility to quickly inform the Master that the last transmitted packet should be repeated by inserting a short request packet The request packet has the format 170 170 170 85 10 9 3 MASTER protocol Definition of the MASTER condition e NACK condition When no reaction is received from the SLAVE within 250 ms after the MASTER transmitted packet has ended This is a minim
250. r impossible to apply this concept in amateur radio The use of memory ARQ is the main reason that PACTOR does not loose the link under bad conditions With memory ARQ defectively received packets or blocks are not just simply thrown away They are stored and added to other defective packets until enough data is collected to reconstruct the original packet and thus keep the link during 183 15 Basics operation The original SCS PTC uses a real analogue memory ARQ whereby the received AF tone is not simply turned into 0 or 1 data but intermediate values are also stored Therefore a more fine tuned analysis is possible than with so called digital memory ARQ 15 2 Why PACTOR 2 PACTOR Level I has established itself in the last few years as the new standard for FSK radio teletype on HF links With PACTOR 1 it was possible for the first time to utilize the possibilities of an almost ideal combination of simple FSK modulation combined with an ARQ protocol nearly perfect Even now PACTOR I with analogue memory ARQ has shown itself to be the most robust narrow band radio teletype system available using FSK modulation though another relatively similar FSK ARQ protocol has recently been developed In the meantime the signal processor technology DSP has reached a stage where the implementation of high performance modems with a reasonable price to performance ratio is possible and because of this it becomes interesting for the radio am
251. r very favourable conditions the speed improvement can exceed 5x e Maximum data throughput without compression greater than 2700 Bit sec around 5200 Bit sec if PMC online text compression is applied e PACTOR 3 is at least as robust as PACTOR 2 under extremely poor signal conditions Maximum bandwidth only about 2200 Hz Low crest factor high mean output power High spectral efficiency PACTOR 3 makes very good use of the bandwidth Fully backwards compatible to existing PACTOR I II networks 1 6 2 PACTOR IP Bridge The PACTOR IP Bridge PIB is a new Network Integration Protocol developed by SCS The dominant protocols of the Internet like TCP IP as well as the Point to Point Protocol PPP which have become standard for establishment of links between Internet applications are combined with the PACTOR modes The result of this intelligent protocol combination is a data transparent and relatively fast Internet access via HF radio using standardized user interfaces The PTC appears to an attached PC as if it were a Hayes compatible telephone modem The PTC locally takes over both the complete PPP and TCP IP handling Except for a minimum fraction of protocol overhead the physical PACTOR link only carries useful data The huge amount of overhead of the TCP IP and PPP protocols which are designed for broad banded wired links is reduced to the absolute minimum required By locally carrying out the PPP protocol between the PC a
252. rate of 115200 baud Baud rate settings in PC programs do not care 6 86 SFile The SFile command send file works exactly as the Send command except that the additional information file header EOF text Path text is not suppressed The SFile command is not available from the remote station 6 87 SHow Remote Default setting None Parameter A ALL displays all parameters C CHARACTERS displays all the control character settings P PARAMETERS displays the system parameters B BUFFER repeat of the last 12288 characters entered ATTENTION SHow B is disabled for Remote operation 80 6 Commands The SHow command without parameters displays the present link parameters The slave response time is only shown if the PTC is acting as Master i e the station that has initiated the QSO The slave response time is defined as the time between the last send bit bit end and the start of the first receive bit In CW terminal mode the present CW receiving speed is displayed instead of the link parameters In case of a PACTOR 2 link the measured frequency deviation is additionally given SH could show the following Number of RECEIVED packets control blocks TRAFFIC 2 5 REQUEST o 0 ERROR o 0 MEMO ARO o 0 SLAVE RESPONSE TIME MS 58 The link parameters remain stored after the QRT so that evaluation may be made after the QSO SHow C shows information on all the control character settings of the PTC It is thus
253. rd yet Is plugged into a free USB connector on the PC Order No 2370 Shielded cables with molded connectors on one side tinned open ends on the other side pigtail 1 5 meter Cable with 5 pin DIN connector Order No 8010 Cable with 8 pin DIN connector Order No 8020 Cable with 13 pin DIN connector Order No 8070 For price information please refer to our Internet homepage at http www scs ptc com or contact SCS 194 Audio input impedance Audio input level Audio output impedance Audio output level Audio processing Central processor ROM RAM System monitoring Front panel Rear panel Power Supply Dimensions Weight Operating temperature A Technical Data Appendix A 17 Technical Data 47 KQ 10 mVp p 2Vp p 1kQ Max 3 Vp p open circuit adjustable in 1 mV steps Digital signal processor DSP56303 clocked at 100 MHz 768 kByte additional DSP RAM for data and program Motorola MC68360 QUICC 32 bit CMOS CPU clocked at 25 MHz Max 256 kByte CMOS FLASH ROM for easy updates Static 2 MByte CMOS With an internal processor watchdog Labelled A total of 8 LED s splitted into various functional groups ON OFF Touch sensor switch Labelled Input for power supply Socket for connection to the transceiver Socket for transceiver remote control connections GPS connector as 3 wire screw terminal USB connector 10 to 20 V DC 300 mA max Reverse polarity protected Fuse
254. rection parameter to the hardware clock in ppm Quartz For example a system clock running 10 ppm too fast can be compensated by typing 10 The entered correction parameter becomes valid when the next PACTOR contact is started During slave mode the PTC software automatically issues the appropriate phase correction setting so that exact synchronization between the master and slave station will be established within a few minutes after start of the contact provided the initial clock difference did not exceed 30 ppm When called without an argument the actual total phase correction manually and system generated initial values are displayed This is a powerful feature that you can use for aligning your PTC crystal oscillator without any measuring instruments following these steps Perform a master call to a station with a known highly accurate PTC clock frequency After at least five minutes of contact you can read out the phase correction data from the reference station by sending a remote control P command Enter the phase correction data from the reference station as a new initial value for the Phase command inverting the preceding factor i e 78 becomes 78 If a timeout occurs under 5 minutes your system clock offset is probably too great to be compensated by the automatic phasing In this case the data readout will only show a tendency 6 71 POSition Remote Default setting none Parameter NMEA Requests NMEA raw data When
255. res in private to observe the large number of STTV transmissions on 20 and 80 m In the early days of SSTV it was only possible to transmit relatively low definition Black and White pictures The new generation of SSTV standards under good propagation conditions offer an astoundingly good high resolution true color picture In the last few years two variants have established themselves as de facto standards MARTIN 1 in and around Europe and SCOTTIE 1 in the US and US influenced areas of the world Both standards are very similar and differ only in small details In order to allow high definition and also color transmissions to be made the new standards have a transmission time of approximately 2 minutes per frame as against only 8 seconds for the original Black White SSTV pictures One of the main problems of the old steam SSTV was the persistence of the CRT on which the pictures were viewed In this digital age with electronic storage the problem is no longer there The developer has more or less a free choice and is virtually only dictated by the wishes of the user Unfortunately this freedom in transmission times has led to an unnecessary number of different SSTV sub standards some of which are poorly documented A real technical requirement for these multiplicity of standards is not to be found By limiting the SSTV practice to a few modes it is possible to keep a reasonable overview of the entire SSTV scene Like in the early
256. rmware 5 9 2 GPS position request As soon as a GPS receiver is connected the PTC IIIusb evaluates the incoming data and saves the actual position with the corresponding GPS time The PTC IIusb accepts messages in formats GPRMC GPGLL ITRMC and ITGLL RMC has priority over GLL The user can call up this position data with the POSition command in the cmd menu The POSition command is also a remote control command and available for use via PACTOR and PR It can also be called up by users of the PTC box Hostmode programs can use the channel 249 to directly access the NMEA data of a connected GPS receiver refer to chapter 10 8 on page 149 5 10 APRS APRS Automatic Position Reporting System was developed 1992 from Bob Bruninga WB4APR as a special operating mode of Packet Radio as the name implies for automatic transfer of position data APRS is mainly used for tracking of mobile objects For that the actual position is read out from a GPS receiver GPS operation But also without GPS receiver connected fix position data can be transmitted FIX operation In this case the position needs to be entered manually The PTC IIusb operates this mode stand alone and without being connected to a PC To setup the APRS features the command APRS in the pac menu is available refer to chapter 9 8 1 on page 121 Also here the parts of the commands written in capital letters are necessary to enter to invoke the command The fi
257. rnal frequency scanners are AirMail and WinLink2000 These PC programs subsequently search for incoming user calls on some different channels changing the actual frequency by its own without the aid of the internal PTC scanner trx menu Thus there exist a small risk that a frequency change occures when the internal scanner would not allow perform a frequency change or more generally speaking when a frequency change is prohibited due to a special actual state of the modem e g when the modem has already detected the beginning of a user access on the PACTOR HF port In principle this problem can already be solved by using the scan stop signal the PTC provides but only if the external scanner immediately recognizes the scan stop signal Unfortunately so called latency time Windows is introduced in practise Latency time delays the scan stop signal and thus can cause prohibited frequency changes An example of a typical szenario A user calls on channel A The PTC has already detected that it is being called and asserts the scan stop signal but unfortunately some time latency elapses until the external scanner finally receives the scan stop information Therefore it s not unlikely that the scanner still changes the frequency during the latency period to channel B although the PTC has already indicated that the scanner should stop operation The result is catastrophic The system responses on channel B although the user called on chann
258. roximately 10 to 20 Volts DC at a maximum of 500 mA PIN 7 Not connected PIN 6 Not connected PIN 8 Not connected For immediate connection of the PTC to the transceiver use one of the cables you find in the accessories catalog chapter 16 page 193 Use the attached 8 pole DIN cable to connect the PTC IIIusb to the transceiver Table 3 1 Cable Colors 8 pole DIN cable The socket is wired as follows Viewed from the rear of the PTC IITusb Pin 1 Audio output from the PTC to the transmitter Pin 2 Ground Pin 3 PTT output to transmitter PTT line Pin 4 Audio input from the receiver to the PTC Pin 5 Optional power supply input Pin 6 Not used Pin 7 Not used Pin 8 Not used Figure 3 2 Connection to the transceiver NOTE Unfortunately there are 8 pole plugs with different pin numbering for the PINs 7 and 8 The PTC IIIusb needs an 8 pole plug with U shaped contact footprint Plugs with circular contact footprint don t fit or can only be connected to the PTC Illusb with damaging force One should not blindly rely on the printed numbers on the plug The connections as shown here in the handbook should be used as a reference The 8 pole DIN socket is mechanically designed that a 5 pole DIN plug 180 may be plugged into it too It is possible to use a 5 pole DIN plug if an 8 pin is not available If a 5 pin DIN plug is used then the connections are as shown 16 3 Installation Pin 1 Audio ou
259. rst argument following the APRS command usually acts as a sub command and selects a function The final parameters are defined with the arguments following this sub command If there is no sub command given and the numeric parameter follows directly to the APRS command then this parameter defines the APRS main mode APRS digipeating is not supported directly but the normal digipeating features can be used for simple APRS digipeating as well An universal APRS digipeater can also be established using a free program like Ul View APRS data is always transmitted using the modulation defined with the command Baud or B in hostmode refer to chapter 9 8 2 on page 124 and chapter 10 4 27 on page 144 5 11 Robust HF Packet Up till now Packet Radio over shortwave has been basically a non starter has even been heavily criticized because of the low effective throughput and many repeats due to missing robustness AX 25 is for shortwave not an ideal protocol but with automatic FRack setting and a small MAXF rame value the protocol should however function much better on a shortwave channel than has previously been the case generally APRS is registered Trademark of the APRS Engineering LCC USA 39 5 PTC Firmware One cannot of course expect an asynchrony protocol to reach the same efficiency as a small synchrony ARQ protocol e g PACTOR but for some applications a multi user service with very uncritical transmit receive switching as well
260. s from message number 4 onwards in the PTCPLUS directory 6 79 RELOad RELOad overwrites the present BBS contents RELOad enables a BBS backup file to be read back into the BBS After the RELOad command the PTC waits for a valid Backup file As soon as the PTC receives a correct header PTCBAK it begins to load the BBS file The RELOad procedure is prematurely aborted if the file header is faulty or if the file is too large for the RAM fitted It is impossible to reload a PTC backup of 2 M RAM into a PTC with 512k RAM even if there is no message in the box But it is not a problem to reload the PTC backup of a 512k RAM into a 2 M RAM of a PTC for example after the installation of a RAM extension At the end of the loading procedure the PTC performs a checksum comparison and then gives a message saying whether during the BAKup RELOad procedure an error had occurred or not The RELOad procedure can then be ended with a Plus character 78 6 Commands 6 80 REMote Default setting 1 Parameter 0 Remote control disabled 1 Remote control enabled 2 Remote control enabled to the TRX command set This command permits the access to the remotable control commands for a distant station With REMote 1 the remote commands are enabled The other station can now use all the commands signified with Remote All these commands must however have the remote control characters prefixing the commands e g Write test or Dir Th
261. s set using the BE11 command of the cmd menu refer to chapter 6 11 page 50 10 4 18 V Gives a longer version string 10 4 19 W Default setting 100 Parameter X 1 30 000 slot time in milliseconds Defines the slot time for the transmitter control The PTC Iusb can transmit at particular times only W Slottime defines the period between these times 10 4 20 Y Default setting 4 Parameter X 0 31 number of users Limits the number of channels available for remote users Y 5 limits the number of connects from outside to five so if the PTC is presently connected to by 5 stations and a further station attempts to connect this connect request will be refused The Y command allows any incoming PR connect to be transferred to the PTC IIlusb PR mailbox but only if Y has to be set to 0 This will allow for example that on exiting the terminal program e g automatic de initialization with YO in GP the PTC IIusb can be brought to a condition where a connect using the normal MYCALL i e without the 8 will be transferred to the mailbox This is useful as many potential users would use the normal MYCALL to connect to the PTC Illusb If the terminal is off line and the configuration is correct YO then all calls irrespective of if they are the normal MYCALL the MYALIAS or the BBS MYCALL will be transferred to the PTC mailbox The Y command has no effect on self initiated connects the number of channels is not lim
262. s set with MY Level The second line displays the link level of the current or last link This may be useful 1f PC software wants to test in which link level PACTOR links runs or ran 70 6 Commands 6 64 MYSelc Default setting ROM Selcall Parameter ADDR Own selcall of the PTC It is identical to the MYcall command with activated AMTOR prompt whereby under the cmd prompt the AMTOR selcall may also be defined Without a parameter the actual selcall is displayed 6 65 NAVtex Various arguments allow the complete configuration of the NAVTEX processor A short run down over the possible arguments can as usual be obtained with the command cmd HELP NAVTEX lt Return gt If the command NAVtex is given without argument the PTC IIusb displays the present configuration of the NAVTEX processor The two most essential things to be set up are e The maximum number of files allowed in the NAVTEX directory If this number is greater than 0 then the NAVTEX processor is activated e The type of messages A to L see above that the NAVTEX processor should store The following default values are preset for instance after a RESTART of the PTC e Number of AUTO NAVTEX directory entries 0 AUTO NAVTEX is DISABLED e Selected NAVTEX area s ALL e Selected MESSAGE TYPES A Navigational Warning B Meteorological Warning D Search and Rescue Info E Meteorological Forecast L Navigational Warning 2 6 65 1 Activating the NAVTEX Proce
263. s step by step software expansion If a too high value is chosen that cannot be interpreted by the PTC due perhaps to an older firmware version the PTC answers with an error message code byte 2 which contains the maximum possible argument value MO0 Switches the hostmode terminal expansion off This command is normally not needed by the terminal program as the M parameter is automatically set to 0 at hostmode start M1 delayed echo is output with Code byte 8 With PR up until now even with M1 no delayed echo has been given as this function is better done over the monitor channel data stream which can even handle self sent packets Note Code byte 8 is not defined in WA8DED hostmode and is used to define a special extension of the PTC IIIusb Terminal programs which wish to work with the delayed echo in hostmode must logically be appropriately extended to contain this feature and choose the extension required automatically Manual switching of the hostmode expansion is not to be recommended due to possible incompatibilities 10 4 33 O Performs a CHANGEOVER This command can also be used in the receiving condition SIRS In this case it leads to a BREAKIN During transmission JSS the SO will be executed when all characters in the transmission buffer are completely sent and confirmed 10 4 34 Q Q basically has the same function as O over command i e it puts an over token to the end of the PAC
264. se ratio is thereby increased The maximum resolution is as follows 0 1680 pixels sec 1 2500 pixels sec 2 3400 pixels sec 8 8 3 FResolut Default setting 2 0 1000 Pixel sec 1 1500 Pixel sec 2 2000 Pixel sec 3 2800 Pixel sec Gives the maximum possible time resolution of the received signal in FM FAX Also the FResolut parameter adjusts the bandwidth of the input bandpass filter appropriately With noisy signals it is recommended that the FResolut parameter is set to 0 as the effective signal to noise ratio is thereby increased The maximum resolution is as follows 0 1000 pixels sec 1 1500 pixels sec 2 2000 pixels sec 3 2800 pixels sec Parameter 112 8 FAX 8 8 4 SResolut Default setting 2 0 1000 Pixel sec 1 1500 Pixel sec 2 2000 Pixel sec 3 2800 Pixel sec Gives the maximum possible time resolution of the received signal in SSTV Also the SResolut parameter adjusts the bandwidth of the input bandpass filter appropriately With noisy signals it is recommended that the SResolut parameter is set to 0 as the effective signal to noise ratio is thereby increased The maximum resolution is as follows 0 1000 pixels sec 1 1500 pixels sec 2 2000 pixels sec 3 2800 pixels sec 8 8 5 FSKBaud Default setting 3 Parameter Parameter 2 200 Baud 3 300 Baud 4 400 Baud Gives the maximum possible baud rate that the NFSK demodulator can process without inter symbol interference ISI signal smearing With
265. service provider The email client e g Airmail automatically does most of the configurations needed and lets you successfully transfer email at a fraction of knowledge which this book presents So don t feel bothered by the thickness of the book but have a look into the documentation of your email client which will provide a well tailored description of all you need for HF email 1 5 The SCS CD ROM The SCS CD ROM contains software to operate the PTC IIIusb in various modes and the USB driver for your modem 1 5 1 The programs The PTC IIIusb offers many modes of operation of which most are related to the exchange of text or data In addition picture modes like FAX and SSTV are supported To access and operate your PTC UIusb you must run a software program on your computer PC Although very simple terminal software i e Windows HyperTerminal will control a PTC IIIusb it is much more convenient to use a program which has been specially created to operate the SCS PTC series Many of the programs have been written on a voluntary base and are available free of charge to all users and distributed via the Internet With the permission of the authors we have included the programs on our SCS CD ROM Third party programs are not developed by SCS and SCS cannot provide support for them If you have problems or questions concerning the programs please contact the author directly Table 1 1 below gives you an overview on the software available for
266. shift keying DQPSK Every step of course then carries two bits of information With eight or sixteen allowable phase changes the modulation is called 8 DPSK or 16 DPSK each step containing three or four bits of information respectively The required signal to noise ratio however climbs rapidly as the number of allowable phase changes increases Table 1 shows the total bit rates for the PT 2 modulation scheme without data compression 187 15 Basics Modulation Scheme Total bit rates Bit s DBPSK 200 DQPSK 400 8 DPSK 600 16 DPSK 800 Table 15 1 Total Bit Rate The complex PT 2 modulation scheme is totally different to the simple FSK Therefore it is IMPOSSIBLE to use the FSK modulators found in some transceivers to generate the signal The PT 2 signal must always go via the indirect route by using SSB to generate the HF signal This has actually no disadvantages providing the transceiver is not overdriven see below A further very essential difference between the older FSK modulation and the multi tone DPSK modulation has to be mentioned With FSK modulation the output power of the transmitter remains constant during the entire transmission because alternating square wave pulses of each tone are transmitted and mathematically the total amplitude adds up to a constant function This could be called a constant envelope As the amplitude remains the same non linear amplifiers or even class C power amplifiers
267. sible enabling a very flexible time control of various functions E g T3T2T7P0 Everything written for timer attribute T is also valid for timer attribute P except the P attribute concerns PRIORITIY times This means that during an active P time window the scanner stays ONLY on this ONE channel and does not scan With the given example of timer 0 an attribute P0 in a channel attribute would mean that between 14 00 and 15 00 the system would sit on that channel It is therefore best to be careful with the P attribute so that the scanner is not mistakenly disabled The P attribute also allows cascading and overlapping The P attribute is however very suitable for use with time controlled NAVTEX reception If the T or P attributes are used for a non defined TImer number then the PTC IIlusb just ignores them 13 23 3 Hex Attribute We recommend that only experienced PTC users utilize the h attribute because improper usage can cause a general malfunction of the transceiver remote control 177 13 TRX With the aid of the new channel attribute h arbitrary binary data can be transferred to the transceiver through the TRX port For example a different IF filter bandwidth can be assigned to each scan channel and thus automatically be changed during scanning Changing the bandwidth is useful when narrow PACTOR 2 only channels and wideband channels are supported simultaneously The binary data must be appended directly to
268. sing the long path option the throughput decreases to approximately 90 of the usual throughput 53 6 Commands If the long path option was used for last PACTOR connection or the last MASTER connect attempts exclamation mark before the callsign all of the following Connect commands without an argument will start a call using the long path option 6 22 2 Robust Connect A Robust Connect can be started by prefixing the call sign argument of a connect command of the distant system with a sign e g cmd cC DLIZAM lt Enter gt This is also valid for WA8DED hostmode In terminal mode the PTC II e will respond as following NOW CALLING DL1ZAM ROBUST CONNECT 6 22 3 AMTOR With an active AMTOR prompt the Connect command starts a connect attempt trying to establish an ARQ link mode A Certainly the AMTOR selcall of the distant station has to be entered instead of the callsign For example C DFCJ The station with the selcall DFCJ will be called in AMTOR ARQ If the call is repeated then the selcall can be omitted 6 22 4 Direct frequency entry With starting a PACTOR connect optional a frequency value separated by a comma can be entered after the target callsign This is valid for the connect command in the terminal mode e g PlusTerm as well as in the host mode cmd C dilzam 3582 60 lt Return gt In this example first of all the PTC will send the frequency information to the TRX the TRX sets the VF
269. smit receive switching 6 25 CTExt Default setting PTC lIusb DSP QUICC System Maildrop QRV Parameter String of 249 characters maximum There is only one connect text for PACTOR and AMTOR The Connect text is transmitted when CMsg is set to 1 and the PTC receives a connect In this case the PTC immediately switches into TX mode As the CTEXT input happens using the command interpreter one convention for the lt CR gt character has to be followed A lt CR gt is represented in the CTEXT string by a This is DL6MAA in Mindelheim The terminal is at the moment not active 73 de Peter The following text has to be entered cmd CTE This is DL6MAA in Mindelheim terminal is at the moment not active 73 de Peter lt Return gt The command interpreter buffer is 256 characters long Command with argument should not contain more than this number of characters otherwise the Connect text will be truncated 6 26 CTrlichr Default setting 22 Ctrl V Parameter X 1 127 decimal ASCII code of a character Defines the Ctrl character 55 6 Commands If the Ctrl character is immediately followed by a z or A Z the PTC will transmit a control code ASCII 1 26 via HF channel With this simple convention control characters that are used by your own terminal can also be sent to the other station If Ctrl W should be transmitted to the other station the following keys have to be entered lt Ctrl gt lt V gt or lt
270. specific applications 1 Introduction Modes Special Support for g lo BECH E S PA E E E 58 38 58 2 2 5 7 5 8 2 8 5 5 28 B 8 73 3 z 2 Program 3 3 z a E E E S E E Z HIA a I I lt A ol el ae a Z Airmail Y IO Y Y 0 O JVV s s WA Alpha Y IO Y IO ls IO BI EasyTransfer Y IO Y O JO O Y 4 JO O O O EasyUpdate olollololololololvylolo JVComm32 O IVY OJO O O O O O O O Mscan Meteo Fax O IVY O OS 1071010 VE ER 103 Mscan Meteo Pro Y Y 9 Y 0 O 0 O 0 Y Mscan SSTV O IVY O lIoloilioloilioiliojjolo Paxon O y ololsy YV O O O O RCKRtty Y IO Y IO ls olsy IO 0190 SCSmail Y IO Y Is OI I IOlIOlO SC update O IO oOoOloliolololiols 1010 Simple32 Y IO Y olsy li e olsy ol XPWin Y O Y OY IVY O YY O 0190 Agenda Y Special and comfortable support provided O Possible but no special support provided O Not possible with this software Table 1 1 List of programs We are frequently asked What is the best program for the PTC IIlusb This question cannot be answered easily as it is similar to someone asking What is the best car or What is the best operating system It s a question of personal preference and depends on the application If HF email is your application for your PTC IIIusb it may not be necessary to study Table 1 1 In most cases your HF email service provider supplies or recommends the appro
271. ssor The NAVTEX processor is TURNED OFF as default and must be first turned on to be used It is easy to turn on it is only necessary to give an argument between 1 and 200 after the NAVtex command cmd NAV 100 lt Return gt 100 thereby defines the maximum number of files allowed in the NAVTEX directory and also activates the NAVTEX processor 71 6 Commands 6 65 2 Setting the types of messages required If the default setting is not appropriate to ones wishes the message types can be set directly by typing the appropriate letter s after the NAVtex command cmd NAV ACBL lt Return gt The example quoted will allow Navigational Warnings Meteorological Warnings and Ice Reports to be received All other message types are ignored by the PTC It is essential that no spaces are present between the letters The order of the letters however is unimportant The argument ALL is a special argument which allows ALL message types to be received instead of typing in a long list of letters cmd NAV ALL lt Return gt The two arguments Maximum number of entries in the NAVTEX directory and List of letters for choosing the message types can be entered together The order of input is of no importance E g cmd NAV ABDE 50 lt Return gt cmd NAV 70 CDEF lt Return gt cmd NAV ALL lt Return gt 6 65 3 Choice of the message area codes If one wishes to receive messages from a few special coast stations these can b
272. stem test command without switching to the SyS menu The command virtually has been fed through This command for example would show the PTC IIIusb RAM expansion cmd SYS Ram lt Return gt For a detailed description of the SYStest commands see chapter 12 page 161 84 6 Commands 6 92 Term Default setting 0 Parameter 0 Simple terminal mode 1 Terminal mode with delayed echo 2 Split screen terminal mode 3 Enhanced split screen 4 5 Split screen with command prompt recognition Split screen also for Packet Radio With this command it is possible to make the PTC IIIusb support split screen terminals In simple terminal mode text is not sent to the terminal when the PTC receives commands from the user The text stream is interrupted by the first command given At maximum 2000 characters are stored The terminal must have local echo half duplex Terminal mode 1 is for use with simple split screen terminals The incoming text and the text to be sent out should be displayed in separate windows on the screen All transmitted characters are echoed by the PTC as soon as they are transmitted and correctly confirmed by the station the PTC is connected to delayed echo In terminal mode 2 the PTC completely controls the switchover between the windows on the screen Therefore the screen is divided in two areas In the upper area the system information of the PTC and the text to be transmitted appears The lower window shows the re
273. t DFCJ If the call only contains 3 letters the first one is used twice Mycall without argument returns the call or Selcall as currently set After power on the firmware checks if there is a valid setting for the PACTOR MYCALL available If it is the case that means that the setting is different to SCSPTC it copies the PACTOR MYCALL into all PACKET channels which still contain SCSPTC and replaces it by the valid MYCALL The same procedure is performed if the MYcall command is executed with a valid call as argument in the cmd menu This ensures that after a RESTart or after the first power on all calls are set to a valid value 6 63 MYLevel Default setting 3 Parameter 1 The PTC IMlusb behaves as a Level 1 controller The PTC IIlusb behaves as a Level 2 controller and will switch to PACTOR 2 when the other station is so fitted 3 The PTC IIIusb behaves as a Level 3 controller and will switch to PACTOR 3 when the other station is so fitted This command serves to maintain the highest possible PACTOR level The parameter should only be set to 1 or 2 for test purposes The default value 3 leads to a very reliable and automatic level choice procedure during the link initialization so that the link always proceeds using the highest possible level There are no disadvantages incurred by using this auto negotiate procedure MYLevel without argument leads to a 2 line output The first line displays the maximum possible link level 1 3 a
274. t can give several dB additional gain compared to hard decision Another point which occurs often in connection with coding is so called interleaving This is nothing more than a shuffling of the data All codes irrespective of whether block codes or convolutional codes when developed for maximum gain in noise react more or less over sensitively to short error bursts On HF channels the error burst QRN clicks short fadeouts etc is about the most prevalent form of error found In any optimized error correction method for shortwave use it is obligatory to use interleaving Usually the transmitted data is dismembered into short blocks e g 16 bit long strings that are stacked one over another in a memory The data is then transmitted not in the original sequence but in vertical rows At the receiver exactly the reverse operation occurs If during transmission an error burst takes place this is cut into relatively widely spaced single bit errors by the interleaving de interleaving process These bit errors resemble noise during the de coding which the decoder is designed to handle easily 189 15 Basics PACTOR 2 is based on a convolutional code with a constraint length of 9 and a Viterbi decoder with soft decision The coding rate varies between 1 2 and 7 8 The four possible speeds are shown in Table 15 2 Modulation Net absolute throughput bit sec DBPSK DQPSK 8 DPSK 16 DPSK Table 15 2 The four speed settings and codi
275. t and Status The usual Baudot RTTY prompt is displayed except that a P is used as an abbreviation Pp x SCSP gt here SCSP is the AMTOR selcal This prompt addition is only displayed for compatibility reasons The expanded command prompt in terminal mode 5 TERM command has the code cmd 5 or binary 00100101 In the status byte refer to STatus command chapter 6 90 page 82 the PTC displays RTTY CW as there are no further free codes available here to be used 11 6 Hot keys Control of the PSK31 terminal operation is done as with the CW terminal refer to chapter 6 30 page 57 with so called Hot keys These are specially defined control codes produced with the lt Ctrl gt Ctrl L The Receive carrier frequency is increased by 1 Hz Only in the receive condition Ctrl K The Receive carrier frequency is decreased by 1 Hz Only in the receive condition Ctrl X Erases the Transmit or type ahead buffer The PTC acknowledges the command with CLR Ctrl C or Ctrl I Switches the squelch between normal operation and continuously open In normal operation it is possible for even very weak PSK31 signals to open the squelch Switching to continuously open Garbage on the screen even when no PSK31 signal is present should only be necessary in exceptional circumstances The PTC IIIusb acknowledges the command with SQUELCH ON or SQUELCH OFF Default value Squelch in normal condition GON
276. t because it yields exactly ONE status byte the old normal status byte Therefore a maximum of 4 status bytes can be requested by the application software The contents of the status bytes is as following Byte 1 normal old usual status Byte 2 PACTOR connect level 0 not connected 1 PACTOR I 2 PACTOR IL 3 PACTOR 3 Byte 3 Speedlevel submode of a PACTOR level 0 1 on PACTOR I 0 3 on PACTOR II 0 5 on PACTOR 3 Byte 4 Signed actual receive frequency offset Value 128 128 is invalid and thus should be ignored by the application software This helps to avoid glitches because the frequency byte only gets valid after the frequency detector has obtained a stable estimate of the frequency offset Auto status is triggered by a change of the contents of byte 1 or byte 3 10 6 1 Auto status in hostmode If the status format is set to 2 please refer to the STatus command chapter 6 90 the PTC provides an automatic status also in the hostmode This mode leads to an inclusion of channel 254 if a G poll is performed to channel 255 in the extended hostmode and any 148 10 Hostmode change of the status has occurred in the meantime The output could thus be 255 01 255 0 This means that new status information is available on channel 254 The channel 254 in the G poll list of channel 255 extended hostmode is cleared after polling of channel 254 When any status change occurs channel 25
277. t operate in PSK31 mode One exception from the rule above is the ESCAPE character ESCchr The ESCAPE character has always priority over the PSK31 hot keys This convention ensures that it is always possible to leave the PSK31 mode and return to the command mode cmd 11 7 Receiver Tuning With the PSK31 terminal activated the QUAL and LOCK TUNE LEDs serve as tuning indicator This tuning indicator is only working when the signal to be decoded fits within a range of 100 Hz around the center frequency It is recommended to use a small IF filter in the radio to pre select the input signal The QUAL LED is lit permanently red for frequency too low or the TUNE LED for frequency too high Carefully dialing the VFO knob into the correct direction decreases the frequency offset When the offset is below 15 Hz the PTC IIlusb automatically synchronizes to the signal and starts to decode The QUAL and LOCK TUNE LEDs start to flicker alternatively in the rhythm of the PSK31 signal Flickering red means that 159 11 PSK31 the tuning and the signal quality are not yet at optimum Flickering green means well tuning and good signal quality 11 8 CW Identification The CWID of the PSK31 terminal always is activated in the Audio Only mode i e the PTT is active during the whole time and only the tone signal is keyed according to the rhythm of the CW characters The special pulse wave shape of the CW character generates a relatively n
278. t restore it The optimum value of MAXSum depends on the condition on the HF channel The worse the condition the higher should MAXSum be set in order to be able to pass any information at all 6 58 MAX Try Default setting 2 Parameter X 1 9 maximum number of speed up attempts MAXTry determines how often the PTC repeats a packet with the next speed level during an attempt to speed up the transfer rate 6 59 MAXUp Default setting 4 Parameter X 2 30 number of error free packets before up speed Selects the up speed parameter for automatic speed changing MAXUp determines how soon the system steps up under good channel conditions 2 fast 30 slow Example MAXUp 3 i e the PTC switches to a higher speed after receiving 3 correct packets in a row 6 60 MOde Default setting 2 Parameter 0 ASCII mode with no compression 1 Huffman mode amp Auto ASCH if necessary Level I compression 2 Full Level II compression with Huffman Pseudo Markow and run length coding and Auto ASCII if required 68 6 Commands The 8 bit ASCII mode allows to transmit all characters from 0 to 255 8 bit inclusive the IBM special characters Defined special characters e g Idle CANGEOVER characters etc can be transmitted using the Ctrl character refer to chapter 6 26 page 55 In the Huffman mode only the ASCII characters 0 127 7 bit can be transmitted To transfer certain IBM special characters umlauts the PTC converts th
279. t to moderate adjustment of the frequency response of the PACTOR 3 transmit signal Some IF filters used in standard SSB transceivers already attenuate the edges of only 2 kHz wide signals due to a poor frequency response As a countermeasure EQ allows to compensate for this effect Please do only use the EQ command if you really know the actual transmit frequency response of your transceiver X leads to the fax menu The command prompt takes the form fax in the fax menu other modes are also available so basicly ist not meant as a FAX only menu The following commands are available in the fax menu Mode commands Amfax Fmfax Jvfax Sstv FSk Comparator PR300 Parameter commands AGain AResolut FResolut SResolut FSKBaud Deviation MBaud SMode HSynch JSynch TXcomp All other normal commands of the PTC IIIusb are no longer available for use in the fax menu You can leave the fax menu with the Quit or the DD command For a detailed description of the FAX and SSTV commands refer to chapter 10 6 41 FEc This command starts an AMTOR FEC transmission Mode B When the AMTOR prompt is active then this command has the same effect as the CHANGEOVER character After approx 4 minutes of pure idle transmissions an automatic QRT is carried out 6 42 FSKAmpl Default setting 60 Parameter X 30 3000 AF output voltage peak to peak in mV This serves to set the Audio output transmitted signal of the PTC I
280. t values The Quit command closes the PSK31 terminal and returns to the normal STBY condition Text input may be carried out whilst in the receive condition and is placed in the type ahead buffer This can be deleted at any time with lt Ctrl X gt 11 3 Carrier Frequencies The audio carrier frequency for receive and transmit are calculated using the settings for MARK frequency SPACE frequency 2 If one has MARK 1400 Hz and SPACE 1200 Hz then the carrier frequency is 1300 Hz A special command for the PSK31 AF carrier frequency is thus not required The transceiver connected to the PTC IIlusb can operate with the same settings as for PACTOR or AMTOR etc The PSK31 carrier when correctly tuned lies exactly in the middle of the IF filter pass band When the squelch is open Hot key lt Ctrl F gt the PTC IIIusb adjusts the receive carrier frequency slowly max approx 1 Hz 5 sec automatically to match that of the received signal A manual drift correction is not required Refer also to chapter Hot keys NET operation 157 11 PSK31 11 4 Level Setting The PSK31 output level Transmit level may be adjusted with the FSKA command Normally however the levels previously set for PACTOR AMTOR operation can be used as the PSK31 peak power is the same as that produced for FSK operation As however the amplitude is not constant the transmitter must on no account be over driven otherwise an EXTREMELY wide spectrum is produced 11 5 Promp
281. tches the Scan status for the given channel number If the Channel 5 of the frequency list has not been defined as a scanned channel up until now Scan Status NO then it may be declared as such with the command Scan Ch 5 lt Return gt Through this command Channel 5 then obtains the Scan Status YES in the frequency list A new input of the command Scan Ch 5 lt Return gt toggles the Scan status back to NO whereby Channel 5 would be skipped again on scanning If a beep is heard during frequency input or scanning that s not the PTC IIusb that s 171 13 TRX the transceiver Refer to the transceiver manual to switch off the beep for confirmation 13 15 Timer It is possible to define 10 timers Timer number length of time with start and stop times Each time window can be taken as an individual timer and thus in the following text the words time window and timer are synonymous There are various input formats possible trx TI 1 4 00 5 00 lt Return gt trx TI 5 0700 0930 lt Return gt trx TI 2 23 00 3 00 lt Return gt The first argument is the number of the timer 0 to 9 that one wishes to view or change The second is the time period in hours and minutes indicating the start and stop times The end time can also be earlier than the start time which means the timer remains active through midnight and into the next day It is essential that hours and minutes are given i e at least three places e g
282. tect PACTOR 2 signals were recognized The PTC IIIusb reacts well even to short QPSK BPSK sections so that even the short PACTOR 2 acknowledgement signal is sufficient for the channel to be recognized as busy This function is essential for automatic stations e g WinLink systems An occupied HF channel is indicated by a status value of 247 Channel busy being given over the serial interface After the PTC IIusb channel busy status has been activated it remains so for at least 3 5 seconds An optical output is also given with the TFC LED lighting up when the channel is busy The Channel busy status is only given in the STBY condition not in Listen mode L 1 6 91 SYStest The system test is not normally required by the PTC user but has been included here for the sake of completeness SYStest is purely a tool to diagnose and rectify faults in defective PTCs In normal operation this function is not needed The command SYStest without argument activates the system test menu SyS menu The command prompt takes the form sys Within the SyS menu the following systemtest commands are allowed Audio AUDPerm DD Fsk Help Kill Led MONitor PLl1 Ptt Quit Ram SERNum Trxtest All other normal commands are not available The SyS menu may be ended with Quit or DD The SYStest command may also be followed by an argument which should be a command from the SyS menu In this case the PTC carries out only that given sy
283. text especially when the computer is heavily loaded This is due to the overflow of sometimes non existant buffers and also timing problems on the RS 232 interface itself The CRC hostmode solves all these problems in that every hostmode data packet has a highly secure integrated CRC check sequence included Errors can therefore be easily detected The CRC hostmode protocol also allows the request for and the automatic re transmission of packets recognized as containing errors 10 9 1 Extended CRC hostmode The command JHOSTS enables the extended CRC Hostmode This is compatible to JHOST4 but allows data packets to be transferred with a lengh of max 1024 bytes on the FAX channel 252 in the direction PTC to PC The added 2 length bits are bit 4 and bit 5 of the code byte JHOSTS especially enhances weather FAX receiption with the use of the Bluetooth interface by compensating the probably occuring higher latency time Certainly also with the use of the USB or RS232 interface the FAX receiption timing becomes less critical with the use of JHOSTS With slower PC s the probability of gaps in received pictures decreases 10 9 2 Basic principles The term send packet or receive packet has nothing to do with the data actually transmitted or received via the HF link They concern themselves only with data present on the RS 232 interface The character means Binary byte The protocol is based on the extended hostmode A number of data
284. th the firmware version 2 4 and higher The data transparency certainly includes all characters being attached to special functions in the terminal mode The consequence is Using the hostmode the CHANGEOVER character or the BREAKIN character does not cause any change of direction at the PACTOR connection anymore Keyboard macros e g in GP which generate these special characters are ineffective In the hostmode for changeovers the commands 0 or 1 have to be used 42 5 PTC Firmware 5 13 Audio Functions For special processing and filtering of Audio signals Audio from the Transceiver the PTC IIIusb presents its own submenu the so called Audio Denoiser menu aud menu The PTC IIIusb is thus also suitable for SSB operation automatic notch filter and for CW listening Automatic peak filter CW filter and has very useful options The Audio is presented to the PTC as usual via PIN 4 of the 8 PIN HF radio connector so that no changes compared with normal RTTY PACTOR operation are required The processed or filtered signal is presented at PIN 1 of the HF radio connector The very high computing capacity of the PTC IIIusb is shown to be very advantageous for the Audio processing algorithm In comparison to the usual simpler and cheaper Audio Denoiser units several times as much computing power can be used to optimize the result All functions of the aud menu that process the AF input signal use a 4 stage signal level matching 22
285. the PTC mailbox as well as the log are not deleted 6 82 RESTart Causes a complete re initialization of the PTC to factory defaults This command may be used at any time and causes an uncontrolled disconnect while connected Customized parameters are replaced by the defaults from the ROM and the mailbox messages as well as the log are erased 79 6 Commands 6 83 RLe Default setting 1 Parameter 0 Run length coding off 1 Run length coding on RLe allows the automatic run length coding for PACTOR 2 links to be switched off 0 or to be reactivated 1 This command is usually only used for testing purposes speed comparisons etc and is only implemented for completeness 6 84 Send Remote The Send command operates exactly the same as the Write command for remote operation for compatibility with other mailbox systems The Send command whilst connected allows the sysop to send a file to the other station All additional information concerning the file File header EOF text path text is suppressed so that for example station descriptions and other fix texts may be received as per the original on the screen of the other station Send in the disconnected condition is identical to the Read command Again here all extra information file header EOF text path text is suppressed 6 85 SERBaud Default setting auto Parameter baudrate auto The USB driver of the PTC I usb is pre set to the given baud
286. the contact adjusts synchronously both the RX and TX frequencies relative to the measured offset of the RX frequency to the set value Depending on the cycle length and actual signal ratio as well as on the size of the QRG error variegates the frequency adjustment speed On average it tends to be around 15 Hz per minute 6 6 ARX Default setting 1 Parameter 0 AMTOR phasing disabled 1 AMTOR phasing enabled With ARX 0 it is not possible to obtain an AMTOR connect in the standby mode Also the reception of AMTOR FEC and NAVTEX is disabled 47 6 Commands With ARX 1 the SCS PTC reacts on an AMTOR connect attempt in the standby mode Reception of AMTOR FEC and NAVTEX is enabled provided that the BC parameter is set to 1 The next table explains the interrelationship between ARX and BC 0 X AMTOR Connects AMTOR FEC NAVTEX reception disabled 1 O AMTOR Connects enabled AMTOR FEC NAVTX reception disabled AMTOR Connects AMTOR FEC NAVTEX reception enabled Table 6 1 AMTOR and NAVTEX reception 6 7 AUdio The audio denoiser menu aud menu is available from the main menu of the PTC Iusb and is activated with the AUdio command The command prompt takes the form aud The following commands are available in the audio menu Bandwith Center CWfilter DD Delay Help Invert Level Notch Peak Quit Through TOne The usual commands of the PTC IIIusb are no longer available for use You can leave the
287. titasking Therefore often new improved and enlarged versions are available FLASH Special type of ROM which can be programmed new within the circuit FlexNet Software concept for digipeater which usually runs with the RMNC hardware A time ago the FlexNet packet was transferred onto the PC hardware using the name PC FlexNet Further information about FlexNet and PC FlexNet are available via Internet FSK Frequency Shift Keying GPS Global Positioning System Hot key The hot key is a key or a key combination a reaction of the system follows immediately Idle Transmission of idle characters to keep the connection alive 201 Glossary ISI Inter Symbol Interference Interference of information symbols caused by distortions at the channel ISR Information Receiving Station The current information receiver ISS Information Sending Station The current information transceiver NRZ Non Return to Zero NRZI Non Return to Zero Inverse Prompt The input request The prompt indicates the readiness of the system to receive commands The PTC IIIusb indicates e g the readiness with cmd TNCs using TheFirmware will display only an asterisk as a prompt Using DOS for example the prompt looks like C DOS gt PSK Phase Shift Keying RAM Random Access memory RMNC The short expression for Rhein Main Network Controller A special hardware especially developed for the use as a digipeater ROM Read Only Memory In the SCS PTC
288. tput from the PTC to the transmitter Pin 2 Ground Pin 3 PTT output to transmitter PTT line Pin 4 Audio input from the receiver to the PTC loudspeaker or appropriate AUX socket Pin 5 Optional power supply input Figure 3 3 Connections to the transceiver 5 PIN DIN 3 5 1 Connection to ICOM transceivers Most ICOM transceivers that use 8 pin DIN plug ACC can be connected this way PIN 3 PIN 4 This cable is available completely assembled Refer to chapter 16 on page 193 Table 3 2 ICOM 8 pin connection The smaller ICOM transceivers e g IC 706 often use a 13 pin DIN plug for ACC PTT This cable is available completely assembled Refer to chapter 16 on page 193 Table 3 3 ICOM 13 pin connection ICOM marine radios e g IC M801 M710 GMDSS use a 9 pin SUB D connector 1 This cable is available completely assembled Refer to chapter 16 on page 193 Table 3 4 ICOM 13 pin connection 17 3 Installation 3 5 2 Connection to Kenwood transceivers Most Kenwood transceivers that use 13 pin DIN plug ACC2 can be connected this way Kenwood Table 3 5 Kenwood 13 pin connection The TS 50 can only be connected via the microphone jack Kenwood Table 3 6 Kenwood TS 50 connection The TS 480 has a 6 pin Mini DIN connector Color YAESU GND PIN 7 white PIN 2 violet This cable is available completely assembled Refer to chapter 16 on page 193 Table 3 7 KENWOOD
289. tted along with the required data so that the redundancy of the signal is increased The greater the efficiency of the redundancy employed the better the code and the greater its error correcting abilities The ratio of useful information to total information useful 188 15 Basics information plus redundancy is called the code rate A very simple code the 7 4 Hamming code for example has a code rate of 4 7 as for every four useful bits of information three redundancy bits are added It can correct exactly one bit error per block of seven bits If however two or more bits have their polarity changed in transmission then this simple code fails The coding theory distinguishes between two main classes of codes The block codes and the convolutional codes In block codes e g Hamming codes the Golay code or Reed Solomon codes the data stream is chopped into relatively small pieces called blocks The coding rules or algorithm is then carried out on these blocks Block codes were the first to be developed due to their simplicity Unfortunately in practice they have all proved to be rather weak as only a very few bits per block can be corrected The 24 12 Golay code for example can only correct a maximum of three bits in a block of 24 even though there is a redundancy of twelve bits contained in each block The coding rate is therefore classed as 1 2 for insiders The problem with block codes is mainly that they do not adhere to one of
290. tually all TNC s but is only used when the PTC IIIusb is connected to a computer and controlled by a special hostmode program e g GP SP WinGT WinPR TNT etc After starting the WASDED hostmode the PTC IIIusb displays in the monitor channel a short startup message with version number of the firmware and the PTC IIIusb BIOS Additionally all installed modems and the baud rates being set are displayed 135 10 Hostmode kkkkkkkkkxkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk kkkkkkkkxkxk SCS PTC IIIusb Multimode Controller Firmware Version V 4 1 Level 3 BIOS Version 2 90 C 1994 2012 SCS GmbH Germany kkkkkkkkkxkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk kkkkkkkkxkk PR PORT SCS DSP MULTI MODEM at 1200 baud Display 10 1 1 hostmode Start message If you want to control the PTC IIIusb directly after starting with a hostmode program the baud rate should be set with the SERBaud command to a fixed value refer to chapter 6 85 page 80 Please refer for more information to chapter 5 14 page 43 and the explanations according to the TNC command chapter 6 94 page 87 10 2 Modern Times We hope you have already recognized the following warning The PTC Iusb expects a time input in milliseconds The settings of the time parameters are very important for proper Packet radio operation How long to wait for the confirmation F How long is the time until it is checked if the other station is still available T3 etc The fun
291. um time The PTC Illusb answers within a few milliseconds With very slow TNCs the waiting time can be changed in the MASTER program Note Timeout watchdog is stopped as soon as a packet header is received i e the packet starts being read in The maximum useable data length of a null terminated packet must not exceed 256 If a packet header is identified within 250 ms a packet is read in and a CRC error takes place If a request packet is identified e ACK condition If a data packet with the correct CRC is received 151 10 Hostmode Reaction of the MASTER to various conditions e Reaction of the MASTER to an NACK condition Repetition transmit of the buffered last packet with the request bit unchanged e Reaction of the MASTER to an ACK condition A new packet can be sent to the slave if available The request flag is inverted before the transmission Note this packet must also be buffered in case a repetition is requested 10 9 4 SLAVE protocol Definition of the SLAVE condition e NACK condition If a packet header is identified but a CRC error takes place e ACK condition If a packet is correctly received CRC OK and the request flag is different compared with the last correctly received packet If bit 6 in the CMD INF byte is set then the condition of the request flag in the last correctly received packet is ignored Every correctly received packet with bit 6 in the CMD INF byte causes an ACK co
292. ut parameter The steepness of the FM detector may be pre set using the Deviation parameter The output values reach from 0 to 255 Measured values smaller than 0 are output as 0 Values greater than 255 are limited to 255 by the PTC IIlusb The center frequency is exactly 1900 Hz With a frequency of 1900 Hz as AF input the PTC IIusb always gives out the appropriate value of 128 With the standard setting of 400 Hz shift Deviation 400 then an output value of 255 is obtained with an input frequency of 2300 Hz and the input frequency of 1500 Hz gives an output value of 0 For transmission use when in FM FAX operation refer to chapter 8 7 1 page 110 8 6 3 Sstv Starts the SSTV MODEM This MODEM resembles very closely the FM FAX MODEM see Fmfax MODEM command It consists of an FM detector with a center frequency of 1900 Hz and a pre set shift of 400 Hz Independent from the Deviation Parameter The Black and White limit frequencies are appropriately 1500 and 2300 Hz The maximum possible resolution and input filter bandwidth may be pre set using the SResolut parameter Unlike the FM FAX Modem values smaller than 0 measured frequency lower than 1500 Hz or greater than 255 measured frequency higher than 2300 Hz are not just limited to 0 or 255 In SSTV It has been found advantageous to fold back incorrect values into the correct area If the system for example measures a frequency of 2700 Hz then it does not give out a value of
293. ween the two sides using standard drag and drop actions In addition to FTP EasyTransfer has a chat mode to exchange hand typed messages With that EasyTransfer is the ideal tool to exchange computer data via HF and over unlimited distances With the verson 3 0 EasyTransfer also supports autoforwarding of files Autoforwarding means that maximum 16 user definable sub directories can be automatically observed for new files appearing These sub directories are each associated with a destination callsign and a frequency If a new file appears in one of these sub directories because another application has created it or copied it there EasyTransfer automatically establishes a connection to the station associated and transfers the file s to the destination After the task is done the connection is terminated again With this EasyTransfer also controls the frequency of the HF transceiver only with modems with TRX control capability This feature is used to automatically transfer and distribute data without user access being necessary 1 6 4 SCSmail SCSmail has been developed to enable users of our radio modems to easily establish an own email system without additional costs It runs in an MS Windows XP or later environment and can be used as server and as client which is decided simply with one mouse click in the setup SCSmail provides unique flexibility for email over radio Use your standard email client e g MS Outlook Express a
294. x access from PR side 2 mailbox access from PACTOR side and 3 usage of the PR gt PACTOR gateway A detailed description of the priorities is omitted for the moment The following functionality is available PR Box priority Smaller 3 only reading of own and public files is possible Larger or equal 3 reading of all files is possible 95 6 Commands PT Box priority Smaller 3 only reading of own and public files is possible Larger or equal 3 reading of all files is possible PR GATE priority Smaller 3 Access to the PR gt PACTOR gateway is denied Larger or equal 3 Free access to all gates is provided Detailed information will be available in later versions Concerning to the user list and the details explained above users being not covered by the list are e g not able to use the PR gt PACTOR gateway because the PR GATE priority for the callsign ALL is 2 On the other hand the user DK9FAT is able to use the PR GATE but has no access to foreign private files The XUser command is used to manage the user list XUser has various functions depending on the kind and number of added arguments XUser without argument Displays the complete user list XUser Deletes the user list and sets the priority of the callsign ALL to default 3330 XUser CALLSIGN Displays the priority assigned to the callsign CALLSIGN The length of callsigns could be up to 8 characters but in practice they should not be longer than 6 because in PR the lengt
295. y as the twenties a mathematical model that described exactly the relationship between bandwidth and the maximum step speed which finally led to his sampling theory Stemming from his work a special step or impulse waveform was found that contained the ideal characteristics for data transmission over an electrical circuit A special version of this waveform with even better characteristics led to the so called raised cosine waveform For insiders the form of the spectrum is equal to the squared cosine function or the cosine function plus one The special properties of the raised cosine pulse are as follows 1 The spectral bandwidth of a carrier modulated with the RC pulse is ideally only double the symbol rate in hertz without any spillover or nearby spurious responses In practice it is possible to reach a spurious attenuation of around 50 dB 2 At the sampling points e g every 10 ms for a step speed of 100 sec the RC pulse presents a zero crossing to all except the correct sample point This means that the impulse can be completely overlapped at the sampling distance although the pulse itself may exhibit a multiple of the computed step length This leads to a very high information density To clarify this point Fig 3 1 shows the sampling points of a 100 baud RC pulse 3 Even the complete signal comprising numerous overlapping RC pulses always shows a zero crossing between the sampling points This zero crossing en
296. y of extensions the WA8DED hostmode has two basic weak points which can cause serious problems with data corruption or loss during operation 1 There is no reasonable possibility for a resynchronization of the hostmode operation if through any reason the synchronization is broken Even if a new synchronization does occur it is highly probable that it will cause defective data transfer during the synchronization phase In the worst case it only needs one destroyed bit in the data flow between the PC and the TNC to cause a hostmode crash 2 Defective data cannot be uniquely identified and it is not possible to request repetition of destroyed data The data security in the link between the PC and the TNC has a weak point here A correct transfer of sensitive data such as program data in 7PLUS formator direct binary data via an insecure WA8DED hostmode cannot therefore be fully guaranteed 149 10 Hostmode 3 Data transmission via multiple nodes e g WINLINK forwarding increases the potential for error due to corruption via the RS 232 links Possible sources of error e During active transmitter operation HF can corrupt data e Short spikes due to heavy loads being switched on or off on the AC power line or through close lightning strikes etc They can all cause error bursts especially on longer RS 232 lines e Slow or wrongly configured multitasking systems WINDOWS tend to swallow a character or even complete pieces of
297. zed two 170 in a row must follow so that this exception can work again This would be in the case 170 170 170 10 9 6 Start of the CRC hostmode e The command that switches a TNC PTC into hostmode is lt ESC gt JHOST4 lt CR gt e After the start of the CRC hostmode the internal REQUEST bit in the SLAVE PTC should be set to not defined so that either 1 or 0 are valid as REQUEST BIT in the first transmit packet from the MASTER Thus when the CRC is correct at the SLAVE an ACK condition follows Independent of the above it is recommended that the first transmit packet from the MASTER after a hostmode start or program start should have bit 6 set to ensure that a correctly received packet at the SLAVE always leads to an ACK condition This allows the MASTER to start the protocol without having to know the condition of the old buffered RQ flags at the SLAVE 153 10 Hostmode 10 9 7 Example source code for CCITT CRC16 HDLC Example program in Turbo PASCAL Program CCITT CRC VAR crc_table ARRAY 0 255 OF Word dynamically built up cre word Procedure CALC_CRC_CCITT b Byte BEGIN crc crc SHR 8 AND ff XOR crc_table crc XOR b AND ff END Procedure InitCRC Var index Byte j accu Data Word BEGIN FOR index 0 TO 255 DO BEGIN build CRC table accu 0 Data index FOR j 0 TO 7 DO BEGIN IF Odd Data XOR accu THEN accu
298. zed in this mode by the PTC IIusb Directly after switching to JVFAX operation the PTC IIIusb is in Modem mode FM FAX using a shift which has been preset using the Deviation parameter normally 400 Hz 108 8 FAX The following Byte commands are accepted by the PTC IIlusb when in JVFAX mode 49 Switches to AM FAX 4A Switches to AM FAX 4B Switches to SSTV 41 Switches to FM FAX with 150 Hz shift 42 Switches to FM FAX with 200 Hz shift 43 Switches to FM FAX with 300 Hz shift Switches to FM FAX with 350 Hz shift 45 Switches to FM FAX with 400 Hz shift 46 Switches to FM FAX with 500 Hz shift Table 8 1 JVFAX Control Bytes All shift settings done via the control sequences changes the shift for the moment local The value of the Deviation parameters remains unchanged 8 6 5 JVComm Starts the JVComm modem of the PTC IIIusb Arguments are only accepted to keep compatibility to the PTC II but are ignored 8 6 6 FSK Starts the NFSK Modem This is very similar to the FM FAX demodulator This detector however is designed for a very much slower data rate compared to the FM FAX detector The input bandpass filter can be considerably narrower than that for FAX operation The base band low pass filter at the output of the demodulator may be changed to 200 300 or 400 baud signal rate by using the FSKBaud Parameters command The PTC IIIusb is therefore highly suitable when used in the MODEM

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