Timewave DSP-232, Operating Manual

Page: 74 / 271

Chapter 5 Packet Operation
Digipeating
Sooner or later, you’ll want to connect to a packet station that’s beyond your immediate radio range or is
inaccessible from your location. If a third packet station is on the air and both you and the station you want to talk to
are in range of that third station, the third station can act as relay station for your packets—you simply enter the
digipeater routing path in your connect request. Here’s a sketch that shows how digipeating can solve a simple
problem:
KB6IUX
|
/\
/\/\/\/\
WO6P /\/\/\/\/\/\/\ KG6ZL
You’re station WO6P and you want to have a packet QSO with KG6ZL but there’s a mountain between you which
completely blocks your radio path. However, you know that there’s a packet station located on the mountaintop,
KB6IUX, which is accessible by
both you and KG6ZL.
To digipeat through (
VIA
) KB6IUX, enter:
cmd:
C KG6ZL V KB6IUX
. . . but KB6IUX doesn’t have DFROM ON , so no one can use him as a digipeater. What now? Pick up the
telephone and call your friend at KG6ZL? Not necessarily. You listen some more and you can hear another station,
KD7NM off to the side of the mountain, chatting with WF7A in a location that you know
he can reach KG6ZL. So,
you enter the linear, point-to-point path you need to use to connect to KG6ZL:
cmd:
C KG6ZL V KD7NM,WF7A
They both have
DFROM ON
, so a few seconds later you receive an ack back from KG6ZL and you’re all set.
Are You a Digipeater?
Your packet station can be a digipeater for other stations. You don’t have to “do” anything—your DSP will digipeat
other stations
unless you tell it not to using
DFROM
.
If your transmitter keys when you’re not using it or during lulls in your own conversations, you’re being used as a
digipeater by someone. Don’t worry—this won’t interfere with your chat with your partner. (As a courtesy, leave
DFROM ON
.)
If you want to see, or monitor, the text the other stations are sending through you, set
MDIGI ON .
Identifying as a Digipeater
If your DSP is being used as the primary digipeater in a local area, you may want to enable HID —it will
automatically identify your station for others to see.
You may also want to choose a simpler identifier for others to use by setting it with
MYALIAS
. Examples are: SEA
for Seattle; PTLD for Portland; LYNN for Lynnwood, and so on.
Time-stamping Packets and Messages
Monitored packets can be time-stamped if the DSP’s internal clock has been set with
DAYTIME
. To time-stamp
monitored packets, turn
MSTAMP ON
. Turning
DAYSTAMP ON
adds the date to the time-stamp provided by
MSTAMP
.
Sometimes it is useful to know what time someone connected to you—perhaps for logging purposes. To time-stamp
your packet
connects and disconnects turn
CONSTAMP ON
. As discussed in the last paragraph, turning
DAYSTAMP ON
will add the date to this time-stamp as well. The
DAYTIME
command must be set first for
DAYSTAMP
to operate.
September, 05 5-13