PACKET
11
Monitoring and Calling CQ
If you turn the MONITOR command ON, you will begin to see other people's packets on your
screen. You will notice two callsigns at the beginning of each packet separated by a
>
. The first
callsign is the station the packet is from. And the second callsign is the station the packet is to. An
Unproto packet may have a name or CQ for the second callsign.
To set what what will be seen as the "to" callsign of an Unproto packet, you use the the UNPROTO
command. This comes default as CQ, but if you wanted to put in your name instead, you would be
sure you are in Command Mode and issue a command similar to this:
u
name
<CR>
where
u
is short for unproto,
name
is your name and
<CR>
is the return or enter key on your
computer keyboard. In order to call CQ you must get into the Convers Mode, so that what you are
typing to the TNC will be interpreted as data to be sent out on the air and not as commands. To
do this, type:
k<CR>
or, if you have a version earlier than 2.84, this shortcut is not available and you must type:
conv<CR>
Now anything you will be packetized and sent out on the air. Remember to get back to Command
Mode you enter a
Ctrl-C
(default) by holding down the
control key
while pressing
c
. You will be
going between Command and Convers Mode depending on if you want to talk to the TNC or have
the TNC packetize what you type to go out on the air.
A Simple Connect
Once you see a station you would like to connect to, be sure you are in Command Mode, and issue
a connect request, example:
c
callsign
<CR>
where
c
is short for connect and
callsign
is the callsign of the station you wish to connect to. If for
any reason the connection fails, the TNC will send the following message to your screen:
*** RETRY COUNT EXCEEDED
*** DISCONNECTED
When your TNC does receive an acknowledgment for a connect packet it will display a message on
your screen like:
*** CONNECTED TO callsign
and your TNC will change to the Converse Mode (dependent on setting of NOMODE and
CONMODE). Now what you type will be interpreted by the TNC as data to be sent to the other sta-
tion and not commands to the TNC. The MCON parameter comes defaulted to OFF. Therefore once
you are connected all you will see is what you type and what the other person sends you. Any
packets sent by other people will not be monitored.
Two things determine when the data will be packetized. One is the parameter SENDPAC. This is
defaulted as the return or enter key you are telling the TNC to make a new packet. A second pa-
rameter, PACLEN, determines the maximum length of any packet. If you enter data longer than
this length, a packet will be made even though you have not pressed the return or enter key.
