Timewave DSP-232, Operating Manual

Page: 62 / 271

Chapter 5 Packet Operation
Chapter 5
Packet Operation
Overview
In the brief time that packet radio has been around, it has grown to become the most popular digital mode found on
the amateur bands today. Although packet can be found on the HF bands, most of the activity lies in the VHF and
UHF FM frequencies. This chapter will begin with general packet operation for the VHF and UHF frequencies, then
HF packet operation. (If you’re interested in packet just for HF, read the VHF section, first—many of the
commands found there are also used in HF packet.) If you are interested in Global Positioning System (GPS) or
Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) applications, refer to
Chapter 6: Global Positioning System
Operation. Mailbox information can be found in Chapter 7: Mailbox Operation. Chapter 4: Terminal
Commands
will give you information on general DSP-232 commands. The last few pages of
Chapter 4
contain a
list of all DSP-232 commands and the page numbers they can be found on.
Before you plunge ahead, a minor “caution”: as you can see below, there are a
lot of commands available to you in
this mode, some of them quite esoteric. The average packet user, however, only has to be familiar with about a
dozen commands, and of those most of those only need to be set once. If you’re a newcomer, set the
EXPERT
command to its default ( OFF ) so you can filter out the “complicated” commands that you needn’t concern yourself
with at this time. The commands you should initially familiarize yourself with are:
CBELL
,
CMSG
,
CONNECT
,
CTEXT , DISCONNE , MHEARD , MONITOR , MYALIAS , MYCALL , MYGATE , MYMAIL , PACLEN , and
UNPROTO
. Other commands not mentioned here that are useful to a beginner can be found later in this chapter.
Once you’re comfortable with basic packet operation, you might want to explore these commands:
8BITCONV
,
ACKPRIOR , ACRPACK , ALFPACK , ALTMODEM , AUDELAY , AX2512V2 , AXDELAY , AXHANG ,
BBSMSGS , BEACON , BTEXT , CANPAC , CASEDISP , CFROM , CHCALL , CHDOUBLE , CHECK ,
CHSWITCH
,
CONMODE
,
CONPERM
,
CONSTAMP
,
CPACTIME
,
CSTATUS
,
DAYSTAMP
,
DAYTIME
,
DCDCONN , DFROM , DWAIT , FRACK , FRICK , FULLDUP , GUSERS , HBAUD , HEADERLN , HID ,
HOMEBBS
,
ID
,
ILFPACK
,
KILONFWD
,
KISS
,
KISSADDR
,
LASTMSG
,
LITE
,
MAILDROP
,
MAXFRAME
,
MBELL , MBX , MCON , MDIGI , MDMON , MDPROMPT , MFILTER , MFROM , MID , MMSG , MPROTO ,
MRPT
,
MSTAMP
,
MTEXT
,
MTO
,
MXMIT
,
PACTIME
,
PASS
,
PASSALL
,
PERSIST
,
PPERSIST
,
RAWHDLC , RELINK , RESPTIME , RETRY , SENDPAC , SLOTTIME , SQUELCH , TRACE , TRIES ,
TXDELAY , TXFLOW , USERS , WHYNOT , XMITOK . Packet specific commands are listed and defined at the end
of this chapter.
Switching Between Radio Ports
If you are using an AEA PakRatt program designed for the DSP-232, switching between Radio Ports is described in
the program manual. If you are using a computer terminal, terminal program or the “Dumb Terminal Mode” of an
older PakRatt program, this section will describe how to switch between the radio ports.
The RADIO command allows either radio port 1 (default) or radio port 2 to be selected. To operate on radio port 1,
simply type
RADIO 1 (or RAD 1 ) at the DSP-232 command prompt. To select radio port 2, simply type RADIO 2 .
September, 05 5-1