Timewave PK-900 Operating Manual Download Page 228

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________________________________________________________________________________

FRIck "n/n" Default: 0/0 (0 sec.)

Mode: Packet Host: FF

_________________________________ Parameters: __________________________________

"n" - 0 to 250, specifying the Frame Acknowledgment timeout for Meteor

Scatter work in 10 millisecond intervals.

________________________________________________________________________________

FRICK is a short version of FRACK, meant to be used in packet radio meteor

scatter work. If FRICK is 0 (default), the FRACK timer is then in use and the

unit operates as before, with the retry timer in units of whole seconds. If

FRICK is 1 to 250, FRICK overrides FRACK as the unit's retry timer, and the

retry timer is in units of 10 msec. up to 2500 msec. (2.5 seconds).

Unlike FRACK, FRICK does not take into account the number of digipeaters in

the connect path. FRICK assumes there are no digipeaters being used.

Note: Do not operate the unit with multiple packet connections while FRICK is

active (1-250). In contrast to FRACK, which provides one retry timer per

multi-connect channel, there is only one FRICK timer for each radio port in

the PK-900. Each logical channel will try to use the same FRICK timer,

causing interference to the operation of the other channels.

Due to the sporadic nature of meteor scatter work, a Master/Slave mode can

be enabled in the PK-900 with User BIT 18 (UBIT 18). When UBIT 18 OFF,

Frame Acknowledge operation is as in previous firmware versions.

When UBIT 18 is ON, a master/slave relationship is established in packet radio

connections. This is done to reduce the possibility of simultaneous

transmissions by both sides of a packet connection. In this mode, the master

station sends either an I-frame or a polling frame upon the expiration of

FRICK (or FRACK if FRICK = 0). The FRICK or FRACK timer then starts counting

again. The master station therefore sends packets constantly, even if all its

I-frames have been acknowledged. The slave station sends nothing, not even

I-frames, until it receives a polling frame from the master. A station becomes

the master upon its transmission of a SABM (connect) frame; a station becomes

the slave upon its transmission of a UA (acknowledgement of the SABM) frame.

Recommended settings for this method of meteor scatter work (both stations

should use these settings):

UBIT 18 ON

RETRY 0

AX25L2V2 ON (default)

MAXFRAME 1

(CHECK doesn't matter)

FRICK n, where n is large enough to allow the other station time to

send the start of an acknowledgement frame

Note: This is an experimental mode and we welcome any comments or suggestions

you might have. Please make them in writing and direct them to the

AEA Engineering Department. Thank You.

1/93 A-50

Summary of Contents for PK-900

Page 1: ...LER Timewave Technology Inc PROPRIETARY INFORMATION Reproduction dissemination or use of information contained herein for purposes other than operation and or maintenance is prohibited without written authorization from Timewave Technology Inc ...

Page 2: ... If necessary the user should consult the dealer or an experienced radio TV technician for additional suggestions The user may find How to Identify and Resolve Radio TV Interference Problems a booklet prepared by the FCC helpful To comply with FCC part 15 limits the following must be followed o YOU MUST USE SHIELDED CABLE FOR ALL CONNECTIONS o INTERNAL MODIFICATIONS TO THE PK 900 MAY INCREASE RF I...

Page 3: ... one is a diagnostic technique that will check out the rest of your station You may also try running your PK 900 in another station if possible Timewave provides email Technical Support for its line of amateur radio equipment Email addresses are techsupport timewave com and service timewave com If you call for assistance please have your PK 900 up and running beside the phone Our Support technicia...

Page 4: ...returned as the owner states in his letter if he furnishes the return cost for the method he selects Typically we will service the product in five to ten working days after it has arrived at Timewave if we have all the facts If we must call you it may take longer PLEASE include a letter stating the problem and where you can be reached by telephone If you can be reached by phone in the evening on t...

Page 5: ...mputer Terminal 2 4 2 4 Setting Up Your Communications or Terminal Software Program 2 4 2 4 1 Terminal Programs for IBM PCs and Compatibles 2 4 2 4 2 Terminal Programs for the Apple Macintosh 2 5 2 4 3 Terminal Programs for the Commodore 64 64C and 128 2 5 2 5 System Startup and Loop back Test 2 6 2 6 Detailed RS 232 Connections for Other Computers 2 9 2 6 1 Apple II Series 2 9 2 6 2 Commodore C 6...

Page 6: ... 8 3 5 2 SSB Transceiver Final Adjustments 3 10 3 6 Oscilloscope Connections 3 12 CHAPTER 4 PACKET RADIO 4 1 Overview 4 1 4 1 1 Getting Started 4 1 4 1 2 Making the Loopback Connection 4 1 4 2 Packet Introduction 4 2 4 3 VHF UHF Packet Operation 4 4 4 3 1 What You Should See 4 6 4 3 2 What It Means 4 6 4 3 3 What Happens When You Connect 4 9 4 3 3 1 Standard TNCs 4 9 4 3 3 2 Mailbox Message System...

Page 7: ...hecking Your Connect Status with the CSTATUS Command 4 26 4 6 7 The MULT LCD 4 26 4 7 HF Packet Operation 4 26 4 7 1 Where to Operate HF Packet 4 27 4 7 2 PK 900 HF Packet Settings 4 27 4 7 3 HF Receiver Settings 4 27 4 7 4 Tuning in HF Packet Stations 4 27 4 7 5 Transmitter Adjustments 4 29 4 7 6 Going On The Air 4 29 4 8 Controlling the Radio Ports 4 30 4 8 1 Selecting and Loading Modems 4 30 4 ...

Page 8: ... 5 3 5 4 Remote User MailDrop Commands 5 3 5 4 1 A ABORT 5 3 5 4 2 B BYE 5 4 5 4 3 E Edit 5 4 5 4 4 H HELP 5 4 5 4 5 J JLOG 5 5 5 4 6 K n KILL n Mine 5 5 5 4 7 L LIST Mine 5 5 5 4 8 R n READ n Mine 5 5 5 4 9 S callsign SEND callsign 5 5 5 4 9 1 Sending Other Types of Messages with SEND 5 6 5 4 10 V VERSION 5 7 5 4 11 HELP 5 7 5 5 Sample MailDrop Session The Remote User s Point of View 5 7 5 5 1 Co...

Page 9: ... characters As Sent 6 7 6 5 5 Sending Only Complete Words 6 7 6 5 6 Operating on the Wrong Sideband 6 7 6 5 7 Framing Errors 6 7 6 5 8 UnShift On Space USOS 6 7 6 5 9 Operating at Commercial or VHF Wide RTTY Shifts 6 8 6 5 10 The CODE Command for International RTTY Compatibility 6 8 6 5 11 Copying Encoded RTTY Transmissions 6 8 6 6 ASCII RTTY Operation 6 8 6 6 1 Starting ASCII Operation 6 8 6 6 2 ...

Page 10: ... 6 AMTOR MailDrop Operation 7 10 7 6 1 Special Operation Considerations 7 10 7 6 2 Settings For AMTOR MailDrop Operation 7 11 7 6 3 Starting AMTOR MailDrop Operation 7 11 7 6 4 Local Logon to the MailDrop 7 11 7 6 4 1 Remote Logon to your AMTOR MailDrop 7 11 7 6 5 Caller Prompts 7 12 7 6 6 Monitor MailDrop Operation 7 13 7 6 7 SYSOP MailDrop Commands 7 13 7 6 8 Remote User MailDrop Commands 7 13 7...

Page 11: ...TER 9 FACSIMILE FAX OPERATION 9 1 Overview 9 1 9 1 1 Facsimile 9 1 9 1 2 Slow Scan Television 9 2 9 2 Finding FAX Frequencies 9 2 9 2 1 Finding SSTV Frequencies 9 3 9 3 FAX and SSTV Analog Signal Operation 9 3 9 4 Black White FAX Operation 9 4 9 4 1 HF Receiver Settings 9 4 9 4 2 Tuning In HF Facsimile Stations 9 4 9 4 3 PK 900 Facsimile Parameter Settings 9 5 9 5 Receiving Facsimile Broadcasts 9 ...

Page 12: ...Answering an Unproto PACTOR CQ 11 6 11 6 3 1 Ending an ARQ PACTOR Contact 11 7 11 6 4 Long Path Contacts 11 7 11 6 5 LCD Status and Mode Indicator 11 8 11 7 PACTOR Operating Tips 11 9 11 7 1 ARQ Break In ACHG Command 11 9 11 7 2 Entering Your Auto Answer Back AAB 11 9 11 7 3 Operating PACTOR on Other Modem Frequencies and Shifts 11 10 11 7 4 Automatic Speed Change 11 10 11 7 5 Echoing Transmitted ...

Page 13: ...10 3 Switching Between Ports 11 17 11 10 4 More Thoughts on Port switching 11 19 11 10 5 Dual Port PACTOR Packet Maildrop Operation 11 19 11 10 5 1 Packet MailDrop Command Settings 11 20 11 10 5 2 PACTOR MailDrop Command Settings 11 20 11 10 5 3 DualPort MailDrop Operation Notes 11 20 11 11 PACTOR Switching Time Considerations 11 21 11 11 1 Suggested PACTOR Operating Settings 11 21 11 11 2 Possibl...

Page 14: ...The rest of this page is blank 3 93 TOC 10 ...

Page 15: ... o AX 25 Packet both HF and VHF Chapter 4 o Baudot and ASCII RTTY Chapter 6 o AMTOR SITOR CCIR Rec 476 and 625 Chapter 7 o Morse Code Chapter 8 o HF Weather FAX Chapter 9 o PACTOR Chapter 11 In addition the PK 900 receives the following modes o NAVTEX marine broadcasts Chapter 7 o TDM Time Division Multiplex signals Chapter 10 o Bit inverted Baudot RTTY Chapter 10 The PK 900 also has the following...

Page 16: ...using the ASCII character set Details for connecting many computers can be found in Chapter 2 of this manual 1 3 Station Requirements We presume that you already have an operating radio transceiver or Short Wave receiver to which you will connect your PK 900 In the Amateur bands most of the VHF activity occurs on the 2 meter FM band while most of the HF activity occurs on the 20 meter band An HF r...

Page 17: ... on frequency shift chosen Bandwidth 200 470 725 or 1150 optimized for operating mode CW Center frequency 750 Hz bandwidth 200 Hz Modulator Crystal controlled 1 Hz step programmable phase continuous Direct Digital Synthesis sine wave generator Output Level 5 to 100 millivolts RMS into 600 Ohms adjustable by a rear panel control Port 2 Modulator Demodulator AMD 7910 World Chip FSK Modem Modem Tones...

Page 18: ...0 300 600 1200 2400 4800 9600 and 19200 BPS 1 4 4 Controls and Indicators Front Panel Indicators Twenty segment selectable display type discriminator magic eye or zero center bargraph indicator for tuning radio port 1 Power Switch Front panel push on push off Threshold Control Front panel knob controlling DCD sensitivity of radio port 1 demodulator Status Display LCD Status Display with variable i...

Page 19: ... your Computer or Computer Terminal o a Communications or Terminal Emulation program for your computer not needed if a Computer Terminal is being used o the included RS 232 cable with a 25 pin D connector on each end o one of the included 5 pin shielded radio cables note that the radio cables may arrive as a single 10 ft cable which should be cut in half producing two 5 ft cables o The two wire Lo...

Page 20: ... If the Status display does not light then re check the above steps to insure that 12 14 VDC is available at the power plug and the center pin is POSITIVE If the Status display lights and status indicators other than the DCD indicators are displayed then the PK 900 has already been initialized If the PK 900 has been initialized it is ready to communicate with a computer or terminal at a specific b...

Page 21: ...a 9 pin serial port For these machines a DB 9 to DB 25 adapter should be obtained from a Radio Shack store or a computer dealer 2 3 2 Apple Macintosh Series of Computers AEA presently sells the program MacRATT with FAX which contains the serial cable for the newer models of the Macintosh models Mac and later If you intend to use another communications program with the PK 900 a Modem adapter cable ...

Page 22: ...these programs are Public Domain which means they are FREE Other Terminal Programs are Share ware which means you may get them from a friend and try them before you buy them Whether you are using an AEA program or one of your own choosing see the section below for the particular type of computer you plan to use 2 4 1 Terminal Programs for IBM PCs and Compatibles Although you can use almost any ter...

Page 23: ...erminal programs can be found throughout the amateur radio community and can be downloaded from Compuserve GEnie and from many telephone bulletin boards A partial list of Mac programs tested with the PK 900 includes MAC TERMINAL RED RYDER MICROPHONE SMARTCOMM II and MOCK TERMINAL Follow the installation directions that come with the Terminal program you wish to use Once installed on the computer y...

Page 24: ...sing a computer you must also have a communications program and be familiar with its operation You are now ready to begin the following PK 900 Startup and Loop back test procedure 1 Don t connect any cables to your radio yet 2 Remove the 16 gauge wire Loop back connectors from the PK 900 accessory bag 3 Plug these into pins 1 and 4 of each of the radio connectors on the PK 900 s rear panel 4 Set b...

Page 25: ...sage PK 900 is using default values AEA PK 900 Data Controller Copyright C 1986 1993 by Advanced Electronic Applications Inc Release DD MMM YY cmd Make note of the Release date on the first page of this manual This is important should you ever call AEA for technical support It should match the firmware release sticker on the bottom of your PK 900 8 If you are using an AEA program follow the instru...

Page 26: ...the following sets the HF mode of the PK 900 Type CONTROL C Type C while pressing the Ctrl key down Your monitor should respond with the command prompt cmd Then enter VHF OFF Enter Your monitor should respond with Vhf was ON ON Vhf now OFF ON Then enter HB 300 Enter Your monitor should respond with HB was 1200 1200 HB now 300 1200 12 If you are using an AEA program type HELLO SELF Enter Your monit...

Page 27: ...y find specific connection information in the sections below You will also need a Communications program to use with your computer which AEA can not provide See section 2 7 for information regarding Communication programs for many of these machines Some computers require a serial port adapter card that incorporates the necessary RS 232 C interface circuitry The IBM PC and Apple II series of comput...

Page 28: ...onsult your computer manuals to see which pins are used for Transmit Data Received Data and Signal Ground Read the manufacturer s recommendations for connecting the serial port to a modem and connect your PK 900 in the same way Your PK 900 is configured as Data Communications Equipment DCE which receives data on pin 2 of the 25 pin DB 25 connector or pin 2 of the 25 pin cable supplied with the uni...

Page 29: ...this specification Make or buy a cable that provides the following connections o The computer s serial port signal ground or common pin must be connected to pin 7 of the PK 900 s 25 pin connector o The pin on which the computer SENDS data must be connected to pin 2 of the PK 900 s 25 pin serial connector o The pin on which the computer RECEIVES data must be connected to pin 3 of the PK 900 s 25 pi...

Page 30: ...Terminal Program for the IBM PCjr The PCjr s BASIC cartridge contains a terminal program Start the program by typing TERM Refer to the PCjr s BASIC manual for details on the program For best results with the PCjr do not run the PK 900 s serial port baud rate faster than 1200 bauds 2 7 4 Terminal Programs for the Tandy Color Computer Several terminal programs are available for the CoCo We suggest t...

Page 31: ...adio and its power supply o microphone or accessory plug connector s required by your radio o soldering iron and solder if the radio connectors require it o wire cutters and strippers and or a small pocket knife 3 2 Receive Only Radio Connections If you are a Short Wave Listener SWL or only interested in receiving signals the connections to the PK 900 are simple Even if you are planning on transmi...

Page 32: ...the procedures in section 3 3 5 for each radio you will connect 3 3 1 Transceiver s Microphone or Accessory Connector The most convenient way to connect your transceiver is through a rear panel Accessory connector if one is available If the PK 900 is connected as an accessory the microphone used for voice operation can sometimes be left connected to the transceiver This makes changing between voic...

Page 33: ...st identical HF transceivers have a few optional connections that will be covered after the basic connections have been made The following table and figure will be helpful in identifying the proper basic connection points to the PK 900 radio cable _______________________________________________________________________________ Wire Pin Signal Name Color Description _________________________________...

Page 34: ...th the other four wires If this wire is not needed then leave the insulation intact 3 3 5 2 Verify the Connection Points with Your Manual Look at the connector closely with a magnifying glass if necessary and locate pin 1 Compare this to the location of pin 1 on the connector drawing in your transceiver s manual and also in APPENDIX E This is important as some diagrams show the connector from the ...

Page 35: ...icrophone audio section If you are connecting a Handheld transceiver to your PK 900 you will probably need a resistor and or capacitor to isolate this connection from the PTT Check APPENDIX E o Connect the GREEN wire to the RECEIVER AUDIO terminal on the connector For the PK 900 to operate properly we recommend at least 200 mV RMS of receive audio be available If you are connecting to an Accessory...

Page 36: ...able you just wired from the PK 900 s positive or negative keying output to your radio s CW key input connector See the Specifications on page 1 4 for maximum limits 3 3 7 Connections for Direct FSK Operation on RTTY Some HF SSB radios provide direct FSK Frequency Shift Keying for RTTY operation Direct FSK can be an advantage when using RTTY and AMTOR and can sometimes help in HF packet operation ...

Page 37: ...larity Most transmitters and transceivers made in the last 15 years use Positive PTT keying However some gear especially if it contains vacuum tubes may use a negative PTT keying voltage The PK 900 is configured for positive PTT at the factory so it will operate with most equipment without changes However if necessary you can change the polarity of the PTT configuration on either Port 1 or Port 2 ...

Page 38: ... load Be prepared to monitor your transmissions with another nearby radio such as a handheld transceiver 3 Verify that your PK 900 and FM radio are connected as shown in Figure 3 5 below Figure 3 5 Radio to PK 900 Connections 4 If you are using an AEA program such as PC PAKRATT II or MACRATT you must enter the Dumb Terminal mode to access the CALIBRATE Mode as described below 5 Enter the Calibrate...

Page 39: ...nal on the monitoring receiver is slightly but noticeably reduced from the maximum level This is the proper AFSK level setting NOTE If you find the correct AFSK level setting occurs in the first 20 of the potentiometers range the adjustment may be difficult If you find this adjustment difficult the internal AFSK level jumper may be moved to the LOW setting which will improve the adjustment range o...

Page 40: ...signals 14 Reset your receiver s squelch control for normal operation 3 5 2 SSB Transceiver Final Adjustments Digital modes with an SSB radio require some different settings of the radio s operating controls for proper AMTOR and packet operation Be sure to observe the following setting recommendations o Set VOX to OFF o Set speech compression to OFF o Set AGC to FAST if available o If you wish to ...

Page 41: ...generator from Mark the lower pitched tone to Space the higher pitched tone The PK 900 has a transmit watchdog timer circuit that unkeys your transmitter automatically after sixty 60 seconds As you perform the following adjustments unkey periodically then rekey the transmitter by typing K 9 Adjust the transceiver s Microphone Gain control to its minimum setting 10 Press the K key on the keyboard t...

Page 42: ...the PK 900 s transmit audio output level and your SSB radio s microphone gain control to an approximately correct level for all operating modes NOTE For packet radio operation the radio s microphone gain control can be adjusted to produce the full output power recommended by the radio manufacturer Packet is a bursty mode and the transmitter is keyed on and off automatically by the PK 900 The resul...

Page 43: ... 1 1 Getting Started You can learn quite a bit about Packet operation with the PK 900 before even connecting it to a transceiver For your first packet practice the PK 900 will be connected in a loopback circuit as done in the Quick Check performed in Chapter 2 In this configuration the PK 900 will talk to itself which allows you to become familiar with packet before actually going on the air 4 1 2...

Page 44: ...ould indicate you are in the Packet mode 4 After you have seen the sign on message and or entered the Packet mode you must enter your own callsign with the MYCALL Command if you are to converse with any other Packet stations If you try to connect to a station without entering your call sign your PK 900 will send you the following message need MYcall If you are an SWL and do not intend to transmit ...

Page 45: ... another Amateur a Packet Bulletin Board System PBBS or a Networking Switch more on this later this initial procedure must be used to establish each and every Connection 6 Type a few characters to yourself such as Hello this is my first packet Connect My name is then press the Enter key Shortly after pressing the Enter key you should see the message you typed reappear on your screen If you had con...

Page 46: ...and reconnect your transceiver or receiver set up in Chapter 3 4 3 VHF UHF Packet Operation We will first listen to and watch some of the VHF or UHF Packet activity in your Local Area This will allow you to become a little better acquainted with packet in your area before going On The Air 1 Construct a Radio Cable for the VHF UHF transceiver you intend to use for Packet as described in Chapter 3 a...

Page 47: ...1 000 MHz 441 050 MHz 441 025 MHz 441 075 MHz You know you ve found a packet channel when you hear the characteristic Braaaaaap sound of packet transmissions 5 Once you ve found an active packet channel you must make sure you have enough receive audio volume from your transceiver to light the DCD LCD on the PK 900 when a packet is being received If the DCD LCD does not light when packets are recei...

Page 48: ... packets so users need not be concerned with them most of the time Since the PK 900 can Monitor all Packet activity on a channel we ll briefly discuss the types of packets you will most often see Skip to the next section if you do not plan on doing much monitoring Let s look at the first packet in the examples above and get acquainted with what it all means p1 N7ALW WA7GCI C The first two characte...

Page 49: ...e also see that this packet contains data by the text Goodnight John Another thing that should be noticed in this packet is the asterisk in the first line The asterisk tells which station was actually heard sending the packet In this case we can see that we actually heard the digipeating radio station N7ALW Without the asterisk we could not tell whether the transmission came from radio station K6R...

Page 50: ... and is being digipeated through N7ALW This packet indicates that K6RFK is finished talking to N7GMF and wants to Disconnect Again we see that we are not hearing K6RFK rather we are hearing N7ALW as indicated by the asterisk after the callsign p1 K6RFK N7ALW N7GMF D The following packet is an acknowledgment or simply called an ACK that lets K6RFK know that N7GMF has acknowledged the Disconnect req...

Page 51: ... the other station should then hold your message until the operator returns to his computer Later we will discuss how your PK 900 can do the same for messages it receives from others 4 3 3 2 Mailbox Message Systems Although Standard TNCs allow incoming messages to be saved there is no way for the owner to leave a message for someone who will connect at a future time The ability to both send and re...

Page 52: ...nterested in After you are finished reading messages you may want to SEND a message to the SYSOP short for System Operator or to another user To send a message simply enter S callsign where callsign is the call of the station you are sending the message to When you are finished Listing Reading and Sending messages you will want to send the Bye command to log off disconnect from the Mailbox Feel fr...

Page 53: ...n is the call of the packet station you want to connect to that is in range of the node Not everyone you want to talk to is in range of your local Node Fortunately NET ROM will learn about other nodes it can reach and allow you to connect to these nodes as well To find out what other nodes your local station can reach simply type the command NODES after you connect This will display something like...

Page 54: ... your computer then first type a CTRL C to make sure you are in the PK 900 Command cmd mode Then type the command MHEARD as shown You should then see a display similar to the one below cmd MHeard p1 N7GMF p1 K6RFK p1 SEA p1 N7HWD 8 p1 KD7NM p1 N7ALW p1 WA7GCI cmd The callsigns in the list are the stations heard by your PK 900 with the most recently heard station at the top of the list As in the Mo...

Page 55: ...utput Level control radio microphone gain and deviation are set properly as discussed in Section 3 5 1 o All cables and connectors are properly installed o Your radio s volume and squelch are set for local conditions o You are following the correct procedure for Connecting Remember that this procedure is slightly different for AEA PAKRATT programs than it is for terminals or terminal programs o Th...

Page 56: ...CD display contains information about the operation of Radio port 2 The middle of the right third of the LCD display contains system information The very bottom of the LCD display is a 20 segment bargraph used for tuning Radio port 1 Your PK 900 s front panel LCD display shows the Status of each Radio Port at a glance The following describes the function of each of the LCD annunciators NAME DESCRI...

Page 57: ... when connecting CONNECTED Packet status Lit when connected UNACKNOWLEDGED Packet status Lit when you have sent a packet that has not yet been acknowledged ACKNOWLEDGED Packet status Lit when all your packets have been acknowledged TOR AMTOR Mode Lit when TOR mode FEC AMTOR or PACTOR Mode Lit when in FEC mode ARQ AMTOR or PACTOR Mode Lit when in ARQ mode ARQ L ARQ Listen mode Lit when in ARQ L mod...

Page 58: ...ndicates system is in host mode Used for PCPackratt program MULT System Status Lit when multiple con nections exist Blinks when receive buffer is full TRANSPARENT System Status Indicates transparent mode COMMAND System Status Indicates the PK 900 is able to accept commands CONVERSE System Status Lit when the PK 900 is ready to send data MAIL Mailbox Status Lit when mailbox contains information MAR...

Page 59: ...with consideration for others As a reminder if you set the BEACON timing at a value considered too small for busy channels less than 90 you ll see WARNING BEACON too often 4 4 4 Digipeater Details You may wish to connect to a packet station that is beyond your direct radio range 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 stat...

Page 60: ...t bother your chat with your partner If you wish to monitor the other stations that are using you as a digipeater then set the command MDIGI ON 4 4 5 Monitoring Other Stations Use the MONITOR command to determine what kinds of packets you will see when you are NOT connected to another station MONITOR takes a numerical value between 0 and 6 Each higher number adds more detail to your monitoring The...

Page 61: ...trong but are not displayed setting MONITOR to 6 and MPROTO ON should show them If you are curious about the packets that do not print you may find the command WHYNOT useful When WHYNOT is turned ON the PK 900 will give a reason why each packet was not displayed If you are interested in exactly how the packets are represented turn on the TRACE command See the Command Summary for more information a...

Page 62: ...packets turn the MSTAMP command ON Turning the DAYSTAMP command ON adds the date to the timestamp provided by the MSTAMP command 4 4 6 Packet Connects When you turn your PK 900 on and enter your callsign anyone can Connect to you If you are at your terminal or computer when this occurs you will see the LCD for the appropriate channel showing the word CONNECTED When a packet connection occurs the P...

Page 63: ...me the Backspace key or the Delete key on some computers is all that is needed to edit a line before it is sent Occasionally it may be helpful to cancel the line or the entire packet you are entering with one key stroke The CANLINE character default CTRL X will cancel the entire line you are typing The CANPAC character default CTRL Y will delete the entire packet you are entering These commands ca...

Page 64: ...educed which will improve packet performance in your area You should perform the following procedure to optimize TXDELAY for your radio o Find another station who can reliably digipeat your signals o Set your UNPROTO path to TEST via the callsign of the station who can digipeat your signals Example UNPROTO TEST VIA WX2ABC o Set the MONITOR command to at least 1 o Go to CONVERSE mode and send a few...

Page 65: ...eck but this should only be done for experimental purposes 4 5 1 Unconnected Packets In order to allow amateurs to send message beacons and to call CQ the AX 25 protocol has the ability to send packets that are intended for more than one specific packet station to see Since all packets must have a destination callsign the PK 900 sends Unprotocol packets TO the callsign of CQ This can be changed wi...

Page 66: ...AIT and RESPTIME timers DWAIT forced the TNC to delay the transmission of any packet except for digipeated frames by the time selected This fixed timer helped but packet was still plagued by collisions The RESPTIME was added to help with large file transfers Still more needed to be done to reduce collisions Another attempt to reduce collisions was the introduction of AX 25 version 2 protocol On VH...

Page 67: ...one to send data to a particular station If you are using an AEA PAKRATT program this is described in the program manual If you are using a terminal the rest of this section will describe how to set up the PK 900 for multiple connections 4 6 2 The Channel Switching Character The logical channels are selected with the CHSWITCH character You must choose a CHSWITCH character that you do not normally ...

Page 68: ...racters from other stations that happen to be the same as your CHSWITCH character then set CHDOUBLE ON 4 6 6 Checking Your Connect Status with the CSTATUS Command To check what channels your PK 900 is currently set to as well as who is connected to you you may find the CSTATUS command helpful CSTATUS is an immediate command that shows you the status of all packet channels as well as the channel yo...

Page 69: ...CLEN 64 or less PACLEN 128 MAXFRAME 1 MAXFRAME 4 FRACK 8 FRACK 5 VHF OFF VHF ON HBAUD 300 HBAUD 1200 MODEM 10 MODEM 11 4 Note that the HF VHF OFF modem number is tied to the QHPACKET command and the VHF VHF ON modem number is tied to QVPACKET The Radio Port baud rate is not changed when you change modems You select the appropriate baud rate with the HBaud command You should set MONITOR to 6 on the...

Page 70: ...ry the tuning knob on your receiver and look for a display on the PK 900 tuning indicator like the one below MARK SPACE Tuning correct for discriminator indicator BAR 0 Tuning correct for magic eye indicator BAR 3 Tuning correct for center tune indicator BAR 2 If the tuning indicator looks like the one below the audio frequency from your speaker is too low for the PK 900 to copy packets Slowly tun...

Page 71: ...d in section 3 5 and 3 5 2 of this manual before transmitting These are very critical adjustments If the AFSK level and transmitter microphone gain are not adjusted properly other stations will not be able to copy your packets Check your plate or collector current or the power output of your rig before going on the air 4 7 6 Going On The Air Make sure your transmitter and antenna are tuned and adj...

Page 72: ...ust be selected using the 2MODem command Radio Port 2 Modems 1 Internal 200 1070 1270 2 Internal 200 2025 2225 3 Internal 1000 1200 2200 4 Internal 1000 1200 2200 eq 5 Internal 200 1180 980 6 Internal 200 1850 1650 7 Internal 800 2100 1300 8 Internal 800 2100 1300 eq 9 Internal option 10 Modem disconnect header 4 8 1 Selecting Modems The various modems available in the PK 900 can be seen with the ...

Page 73: ...s or information from VHF DX spotting nets The PK 900 displays monitored packets by prefacing each packet with a port designator p1 for radio port 1 and p2 for radio port 2 For instance let s say that modems 10 4 are selected and you are monitoring HF packet activity on Radio Port 1 and VHF packet activity on Radio Port 2 You might see something like the following p1 WX1AAA CQ UI WX1AAA calling CQ...

Page 74: ...is sending to WX1AAA after they have connected 4 8 3 Controlling Your Transmitted Text If you are using an AEA PAKRATT program designed for the PK 900 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 control and switch between the radio ports...

Page 75: ...en would look and suggests how you might handle such an occurrence The underlined text is the text that you have typed p1 WX1AAA CQ UI WX1AAA calling CQ on Radio Port 1 HF p1 WX1AAA CQ UI cmd C WX1AAA You attempt to connect to station WX1AAA on HF CONNECTED to WX1AAA You re connected to WX1AAA Hello name here is Bob You send him your name Hi Bob name here is Jim and the The other station responds ...

Page 76: ...d by a p1 which shows it was received on Radio Port 1 You have seen WX1AAA calling CQ and decide to connect to him on HF You simply go to the Command mode by typing CTRL C and issue the CONNECT command C WX1AAA as shown on the third line The fourth line shows that you are now Connected to WX1AAA Note that you did not have to type 0 before sending the connect request since the PK 900 defaults to Po...

Page 77: ...to change Ports After your reply to WX7EEE you change to Port 1 with 0 and send your good byes to Jim on HF Your friend WX7EEE on VHF says 73 and signs off with you After two stations agree to sign off one of them must initiate a Disconnect You decide to disconnect from WX7EEE by first switching to Port 2 with A and then entering Command mode with a Ctrl C Once you see the Command prompt cmd enter...

Page 78: ... bit binary character to be sent by your packet station You usually must use the TRANSPARENT mode to transfer binary and program files to and from other stations You can enter the TRANSPARENT mode either by typing TRANS at the cmd prompt after you connect or by setting CONMODE to TRANS Either way once in the transparent mode any character you type will be sent automatically after the PACTIME setti...

Page 79: ...ain anonymous simply set User BIT 22 OFF UBIT 22 OFF The default is ON If you wish to see who is available in your local area simply set your UNPROTO path to QRA and send a packet Within 1 to 16 seconds other stations should respond to your QRA request by sending an ID packet of their own This feature is compatible with TAPR s QRA feature introduced in the 1 1 8 firmware release 4 9 5 The CFROM Co...

Page 80: ...CII have no provision for error detection AMTOR FEC and ARQ are more resistant to errors but do not carry the full ASCII character set 300 baud AX 25 packet is undesirable because the long transmissions are prone to bit errors any one of which invalidate the whole frame PACTOR is a recent protocol improvement Packet Lite is as its name suggests an abbreviated form of packet It is designed as a tra...

Page 81: ... Modem has been selected Once these settings have been made to enable the Packet Lite protocol extensions turn the command LITE ON for the appropriate Port For example to enable Packet Lite on Port 1 type LITE ON at the command prompt You must not be connected to any other stations on that Port or you will not be allowed to change the LITE command Initiating a Packet Lite Connection Once all the a...

Page 82: ...ABM 01 3E 38 58 32 destination source CTRL PID short address The destination and the source are both 7 bytes long Everything up to the CTRL byte SABM is standard AX 25 version 2 0 The Protocol ID of 01 hex is Packet Lite s reserved value which provides a way of interpreting the following bytes This leaves room for other extensions to AX 25 in the future The short address bytes are the right justif...

Page 83: ...both long and short addresses W B 2 X Y Z 0 W A 1 A B C 0 RR P 0 01 3E 38 58 32 destination source CTRL PID short address W A 1 A B C 0 W B 2 X Y Z 0 RR F 1 01 58 32 3E 38 destination source CTRL PID short address Either station may initiate the ID exchange Disconnect W B 2 X Y Z 0 W A 1 A B C 0 DISC 01 3E 38 58 32 destination source CTRL PID short address Disconnect acknowledgment W A 1 A B C 0 W...

Page 84: ...r its UA response 4 12 Packet Meteor Scatter Extension A new packet protocol extension has been added for meteor scatter work that allows a Master Slave packet connection to be established This is done to reduce the possibility of simultaneous transmissions by both sides of a packet connection over a long meteor scatter path This experimental protocol is activated by turning User BIT 18 ON UBIT 18...

Page 85: ... operate the unit with multiple packet connections while FRICK is active 1 250 In contrast to FRACK which provides one retry timer per multi connect channel there is only one FRICK timer on each radio port of the PK 900 Each logical channel will try to use the same FRICK timer causing interference to the operation of the other channels Digipeaters should not be used when in the Meteor Scatter mode...

Page 86: ...This page is used to make the number of pages in this chapter an even number 1 93 4 44 ...

Page 87: ... Approximately 17K bytes of RAM are available to your MailDrop RAM space is dynamically allocated so that it is possible to store as many messages as you like until all the memory is filled If all 18K of RAM is used the MailDrop displays the message No free memory 5 1 2 System Commands MailDrop operation is completely under your SYSOP control from your local terminal or computer keyboard Only you ...

Page 88: ...thers No other stations can reach your MailDrop unless the MAILDROP command is turned ON In AMTOR TMAIL must be ON You have full control of your PK 900 while the MAILDROP is ON You can connect to others and carry on normal QSOs using the call sign in MYCALL provided you have entered a separate MYMAIL MailDrop callsign 5 2 1 Monitor MailDrop Operation Set MDMON to ON to monitor other stations use o...

Page 89: ...end a message 5 4 Remote User MailDrop Commands When a remote user has logged on to your MailDrop the following commands will be available to the distant station A B H J K L R S V A brief description of each command follows These MailDrop commands are described in detail in the next sections A ABORT Aborts the reading of a long message B BYE Log off the MailDrop H HELP Help for the MailDrop comman...

Page 90: ...on MT NA signifying that N7ML BBS is located in the state of Montana MT which is located in North America NA E 58 Clears message 58 s destination BBS field E 60 P Sets message 60 s status to Private E 61 B Sets message 61 s status to Bulletin E 62 T Sets message 62 s status to Traffic E 63 Y Sets message 63 s status to Has Been Read E 64 N Sets message 64 s status to Has Not Been Read E 49 F Sets ...

Page 91: ...umn header Msg Size To From BBS Date Time Title All active messages are listed under this line with the most recent message first DAYTIME must be set for the Date and Time to appear When a remote user types the LIST command the MailDrop lists only the messages that user may read including messages to ALL and QST Messages to other users are not displayed The MailDrop accepts the LM List Mine comman...

Page 92: ...p prompt and re send the message When logged on from your local keyboard if you use the S command without a call sign you ll see the error message Need callsign However a calling station may use the S command without a callsign it is understood that the message is directed to the PK 900 s SYSOP As soon as a calling station uses the S command to send you the SYSOP a message the MAIL LCD starts blin...

Page 93: ...ay also use just the all by itself as shown in the two examples below S N7ML K6RFK N6IA or S ALL In this case the PK 900 MailDrop will assign its own BID to these messages 5 4 10 V VERSION Remote only command The V command causes the PK 900 to send the sign on message and firmware date to the remote user only 5 4 11 HELP Remote only command The command sends the distant station a HELP list of all ...

Page 94: ...LL WX2BBB 01 Jun 90 10 22 APLINK AEA PK 900 16508 free A B H J K L R S V MailDrop s prompt 5 5 3 READ Messages You ve seen the list of messages and wish to READ yours You ve seen the MailDrop s prompt AEA PK 900 16508 free A B H J K L R S V MailDrop s prompt Now type R to READ the one message number to you in the MailDrop R 6 The READ 6 command The MailDrop responds Msg Size To From BBS Date Time ...

Page 95: ...the S command are considered Private unless they are sent to ALL or to QST S WX2BBB The SEND callsign command Subject MailDrop s Subject prompt I WILL BE GOING Your subject entry Enter message Z CTRL Z or EX to end MailDrop answers you YEAH I GOT THE MAILING AND WILL Type your message to WX2BBB BE GLAD TO PICK YOU UP WHAT TIME DO YOU WANT ME THERE IS MARY GOING CUL WX1AAA EX End the message with E...

Page 96: ...BBB 01 Jun 90 20 15 Hello Joe 5 BY 287 ALL WX2BBB 01 Jun 90 18 42 Question 4 BY 178 QST WX2BBB 01 Jun 90 17 30 Mailbox 1 BY 56 ALL WX2BBB 01 Jun 90 10 22 APLINK AEA PK 900 16508 free A B H J K L R S V R 6 Msg Size To From BBS Date Time Title 6 PN 184 WX1AAA WX2BBB 01 Jun 90 20 15 Hello Joe Hello Joe Did you get the notice about next month s meeting of the Radio Society at the Firehouse Will you be...

Page 97: ...operation of both you and your community BBS Operator Not all large BBSs will forward to individual users Some packet frequencies are so busy forwarding to other BBSs that they can not forward to individuals You must contact the community BBS SYSOP to determine the guidelines in your area 5 7 1 MailDrop Settings for Auto Forwarding The following must all be set properly for Auto Forwarding to oper...

Page 98: ...information that in this case designates that N6IIU is located in the state of California Enter the Subject and text of the message as described above in the Send command section Don t forget to end your message with CTRL Z or EX on its own separate line also described above Use the Edit command to set the Forwarding flag for each message that will be Reverse Forwarded to HOMEBBS This is described...

Page 99: ... to Baudot RTTY so we will describe them both in this chapter Baudot and ASCII may be operated on Radio Port 1 on the PK 900 Packet may be used on Radio Port 2 at the same time so you won t miss any connects while operating Baudot or ASCII on HF 6 2 Where to Operate Baudot and ASCII RTTY Before you can operate Baudot or ASCII RTTY you must first know where the activity is Most RTTY operation occur...

Page 100: ... HF Baudot and RTTY stations use either 170 Hz or 200 Hz Frequency Shift Keying to send data tuning accuracy is very important The command BARgraph will select the type of tuning display See below Follow the tuning procedure below carefully for the best results in tuning HF Baudot and ASCII stations o Make certain your HF receiver is either in LSB or FSK o Turn any IF Shift and Passband Tuning con...

Page 101: ... copy the signal Slowly tune the VFO and make the frequency lower MARK SPACE Tuning too high for discriminator indicator BAR 0 Tuning too high for magic eye indicator BAR 3 Tuning too high for center tune indicator BAR 2 o Adjust the THRESHOLD control so the PK 900 s port 1 DCD LCD is on when a properly tuned RTTY station is being received HINT If you adjust the THRESHOLD control so the DCD LCD go...

Page 102: ...u are using a terminal or terminal program the following will place your PK 900 and transceiver into the transmit mode o Make sure that you have selected Radio Port 1 by pressing the CHSWITCH character defined in Chapter 4 followed by the number 0 o Type X for XMIT and then press the Enter key to key your transmitter and automatically enter the Converse mode As soon as you type the Enter key you w...

Page 103: ...other station by giving his call followed by your call KZ7G DE YOURCAL Start the transmission with a line of RYs as a tuning signal for the distant station Here s an example RYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYR KZ7G KZ7G KZ7G DE YOURCAL YOURCAL YOURCAL KZ7G KZ7G KZ7G DE YOURCAL YOURCAL YOURCAL KZ7G KZ7G KZ7G DE YOURCAL YOURCAL YOURCAL CTRL D If the other station can t copy these four lines of text ...

Page 104: ...has been set 6 5 1 Changing Speed Assume you ve been receiving at 45 bauds and wish to increase the baud rate in steps From the Command mode type RB U Up followed by an Enter The PK 900 responds with RBaud was 45 RBaud now 50 The RBAUD command sets the Baudot RTTY speed The most common speed is 45 bauds on HF but other speeds including commercial speeds are supported See the Command Summary for al...

Page 105: ... you that you are on the wrong sideband you can correct your transmit signal sense with the TXREV command See the Command summary for more information on these commands 6 5 7 Framing errors Baudot and ASCII RTTY operation traditionally do not check for errors and tend to be prone to receiving garbage The PK 900 has the ability to check for framing errors on received characters which can reduce the...

Page 106: ...s that the International Telegraph Alphabet Number 2 ITA 2 must be used by U S stations when operating RTTY This corresponds to the CODE 0 command default but you may want to see the CODE command for more information on the capabilities of your PK 900 6 5 11 Copying Encoded RTTY Transmissions In the Short Wave bands many RTTY stations can be found that are not transmitting in plain text Most of th...

Page 107: ...I RTTY Operating Tips Follow the general operating procedures shown in the sections above for Baudot RTTY As in Baudot operation you can step the system through all the available receiving speeds The following Special Function Characters and immediate commands are included for ASCII RTTY operating convenience Immediate Commands From the Command Mode R Switches system to receive mode X Switches sys...

Page 108: ...K Modem 425 Hz shift M 2125 Hz S 2550 Hz 100 bps MODEM 6 AFSK Modem 850 Hz shift M 2125 Hz S 2975 Hz 100 bps MODEM 7 AFSK Modem 850 Hz shift M 2125 Hz S 1275 Hz 100 bps MODEM 10 AFSK Modem 200 Hz shift M 2110 Hz S 2310 Hz 300 bps If your license permits you can also transmit to these stations when the appropriate MODEM number and data rate is selected 6 6 5 Other RTTY Commands for ASCII Operation ...

Page 109: ...l 200 1070 1270 2 FSK 100 bps 170 2125 2295 2 Internal 200 2025 2225 3 FSK 45 bps 200 2110 2310 3 Internal 1000 1200 2200 4 FSK 100 bps 200 2110 2310 4 Internal 1000 1200 2200 eq 5 FSK 100 bps 425 2125 2550 5 Internal 200 1180 980 6 FSK 100 bps 850 2125 2975 6 Internal 200 1850 1650 7 FSK 100 bps 850 1275 2125 7 Internal 800 2100 1300 8 Analog 900 2500 8 Internal 800 2100 1300 eq 9 FSK 2400 bps 80...

Page 110: ...designated by logical channels A Z This is true whether single port or dual port operation is selected 6 7 3 Switching Between Ports If you are using an AEA PAKRATT program switching between Radio Ports is described in the program manual If you are using a terminal program this section describes how to direct your transmitted text Switching between RTTY on Port 1 and Packet on Port 2 is similar to...

Page 111: ...TTY station you are communicating with Notice that you must type an x followed by the Enter key on the keyboard to place Radio Port 1 of the PK 900 into RTTY Transmit mode When you are through sending your signal report to Jim on HF RTTY you tell the PK 900 to return to receive by sending a CTRL D The PK 900 then responds with the Command Prompt cmd The next text you see is your signal report rece...

Page 112: ...t you are currently using In the dual port sample QSOs above this was not a problem but after it has been hours or days since you have used your PK 900 you may forget which port you last used With AEA Pakratt Software programs the on screen status will always show which port you are using so this is not a problem With other programs you will have to query the PK 900 with the CSTATUS SHORT command ...

Page 113: ...When a PK 900 Radio Port is disabled the front panel LCD indicators for that port will be extinguished as a reminder 1 93 6 15 ...

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Page 115: ...arily to ships at sea Recently it has been adopted by the ARRL to send bulletins to amateurs 7 2 Where to Operate AMTOR Before you can operate AMTOR you must first know where the activity ocurrs Most AMTOR operation occurs on the 20 meter amateur band between 14 065 and 14 085 MHz AMTOR activity can be found on the other HF amateur bands as well and is most often located between 65 and 90 kHz up f...

Page 116: ...o the translation for you If you are using an AEA PAKRATT program follow the instructions in the program manual for entering the command MYIDENT If you are using a terminal then enter the following cmd MYIDENT N7ML The PK 900 will tell you MYIdent now VTMFFFF See the MYIDENT command in the Command Summary if you are interested in more information on the translation process 7 2 4 Enter the AMTOR Mo...

Page 117: ...ur PK 900 set up o Turn any IF Shift and Passband Tuning controls to the Center or OFF position o Tune your receiver carefully between 14 065 and 14 085 MHz or another band where you know there is AMTOR activity and listen for the chirp chirp of ARQ or the steady data of FEC stations NOTE When in the AMTOR Standby mode as you are now you will not be able to print the chirping ARQ signals To print ...

Page 118: ... to copy the signal Slowly tune the VFO and make the frequency lower MARK SPACE Tuning too high for discriminator indicator BAR 0 Tuning too high for magic eye indicator BAR 3 Tuning too high for center tune indicator BAR 2 o Adjust the PK 900 front panel THRESHOLD control so that the DCD LCD lights when a properly tuned FEC AMTOR station is being received After you have an FEC AMTOR station tuned...

Page 119: ...ng a terminal or terminal program the following will place your PK 900 and transceiver into the transmit mode o Make sure that you have selected your transmitted text to go to Port 1 by pressing the CHSWITCH character defined in Chapter 4 followed by a number from 0 through 9 o Type FEC then press the Enter key to key your transmitter and automatically enter AMTOR FEC transmit mode As soon as you ...

Page 120: ...ormation Sending Station ISS to the Information Receiving Station IRS and switches the distant system from being the IRS to being the ISS When your distant partner sees the he knows he can begin typing comments or traffic NOTE When discussing ARQ operation we use the terms Information Sending Station ISS and Information Receiving Station IRS instead of transmit and receive since in ARQ both statio...

Page 121: ...ive call Your transmitter will key on and off sending the distant station s SELCALL As soon as your PK 900 is synchronized with the distant station the Status changes to MODE TOR ARQ TFC RADIO 1s TX on Verify the link by typing a few Enter s watch the display Your traffic will now begin to flow as you type characters If EAS is set ON your typed characters are displayed as they are acknowledged by ...

Page 122: ... a Who Are You request to the other station CTRL F Sends call sign in Morse and shuts off transmitter CTRL N Sends FIGURES character CTRL O Sends LETTERS character CTRL T Sends the TIME if the DAYTIME clock has been set 7 4 1 ARQ Break In ACHG Command In Mode A ARQ when you re the Information Receiving Station you can use the ACHG command to interrupt the distant station s comments As the Informat...

Page 123: ...In accordance with FCC 97 69 and international regulations AMTOR is operated at 100 bauds The PK 900 does not permit other speeds For that reason Modems 1 and 3 are not recommended 7 4 5 Echoing Transmitted Characters As Sent EAS EAS has special significance in ARQ AMTOR If EAS is ON you will see characters echoed to your screen only after your partner in the AMTOR link has validated the previous ...

Page 124: ...ss you receive an error If the stations you re monitoring are sending error and RQ codes and repeating blocks of characters across their link you may see some repeated character blocks If they re having link problems the data on your screen can look very strange indeed although the two synchronized stations are getting error free copy 7 6 AMTOR MailDrop Operation The PK 900 allows AMTOR as well as...

Page 125: ...IL command controls remote access to the AMTOR MailDrop in the same way that the MAILDROP command controls remote Packet access Turn the TMAIL command ON default OFF to allow remote stations to access your MailDrop in ARQ AMTOR Turn TMAIL OFF to have normal ARQ QSOs with other stations in the AMTOR mode 7 6 4 Local Logon to the MailDrop To locally access your MailDrop use the MDCHECK command as de...

Page 126: ... the following QRA WX7BBB If no satisfactory ID occurs within 3 minutes from the establishment of the link the link is automatically shut down The third way covers experienced users Experienced AMTOR users may want to save time by simply sending QRA followed by their callsign immediately after establishing the link For example station WX7BBB may simply enter the following immediately after establi...

Page 127: ...rts the listing or reading of messages by the remote calling station as described in chapter 5 The difference in AMTOR is that the remote user must send the ACHG command first to reverse the direction of the link before he can issue the Abort command The remote user also has the ability to abort a command that may have been mis typed by typing on the same line as the bad command 7 6 8 2 B BYE The ...

Page 128: ...d in Packet mode Since CTRL Z is not available in the AMTOR character set the EX command or must be used to end all AMTOR MailDrop messages After the EX or has been detected the MailDrop will confirm that the message has been sent by returning the message FILED MSG n to the remote user An example of sending a message is shown below WX7BBB DE WX7AAA GA MailDrop prompt s wx2zzz at wx2yyy User s SEND...

Page 129: ... and then type DIR as shown DIR Enter The PK 900 will respond with the following Port 1 Port 2 1 FSK 45 bps 170 2125 2295 1 Internal 200 1070 1270 2 FSK 100 bps 170 2125 2295 2 Internal 200 2025 2225 3 FSK 45 bps 200 2110 2310 3 Internal 1000 1200 2200 4 FSK 100 bps 200 2110 2310 4 Internal 1000 1200 2200 eq 5 FSK 100 bps 425 2125 2550 5 Internal 200 1180 980 6 FSK 100 bps 850 2125 2975 6 Internal...

Page 130: ...xt Switching between AMTOR on Port 1 and Packet on Port 2 is similar to switching between Packet and Packet If you have not yet read through the Switching Between Radio Ports section of Chapter 4 please do so now and define a CHSWITCH character before reading the example below Recall from chapter 4 that the channels on Port 1 are labeled 0 9 and the channels on Port 2 are labeled A Z To select Rad...

Page 131: ... in the middle of a QSO with Jim on AMTOR and all of a sudden your friend WX7EEE connects to you WX7EEE has connected on Radio Port 2 VHF which is shown by the A before the connect message Remember that the 26 channel designators for Radio Port 2 are A Z Before you respond to WX7EEE on VHF you send a transmission to Jim on AMTOR telling him how much power your transmitter is running When you are f...

Page 132: ...de will be sent to channel A on Radio Port 2 If you had been connected to any other packet stations the callsign and channel would have also shown in the display Sometimes you might not want to be bothered with anything from the Radio Port you are not using For these times either Radio Port may be turned OFF with the RADIO command For example let s say that in the above example QSO you wanted to w...

Page 133: ... using your MailDrop the remote user attempting the packet connection will be sent a Busy message Similarly a remote AMTOR station linking to you will be given access to your MailDrop provided no one else is using it If you or a remote packet station is using your MailDrop the AMTOR station may link to you but will not be given access to your MailDrop For this reason you may wish to disable Radio ...

Page 134: ...hat your radio equipment needs modifications o Try to work the distant station on Mode B FEC to establish that the other station s system is fully functional o Don t use VOX control use the PTT line from your interface o Turn off the AGC circuit use the RF gain control to prevent receiver blocking on stronger signals o Turn off all compression or other audio processing o Keep the AFSK audio input ...

Page 135: ...ation Identification A to Z The first character of the Preamble is a letter that identifies the NAVTEX transmitter Transmitter Identification letters can be any of the characters A through Z This limits the number of NAVTEX stations in an area to 26 The NAVSTN Command can be used to selectively monitor or reject certain NAVTEX transmitters The second character of the Preamble is the Message Classi...

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Page 137: ...low the instructions in the program manual to enter the Morse mode If you are using a terminal simply type MORSE or MO from the Command Mode followed by the Enter key to enter the Morse mode on Radio Port 1 Packet operation on port 2 is disabled when in the Morse mode The PK 900 responds by displaying the previous mode Opmode was PAcket Opmode now MOrse 8 2 2 HF Receiver Settings Set your HF recei...

Page 138: ...direct CW keying is preferred Most modern transmitters and transceivers are designed for direct CW keying and often allow additional filtering to be switched in for improved Morse reception when operating in this mode Adjust your transmitter for Morse operation as described in your transmitter s manual Make sure your antenna is tuned and adjusted for the band and operating frequency you are using ...

Page 139: ...CQ CQ DE YOURCAL YOURCAL YOURCAL CQ CQ CQ CQ CQ CQ DE YOURCAL YOURCAL YOURCAL K CTRL D o Type CTRL D at the end of your CQ call The CTRL D puts both your radio and the PK 900 into the receive mode after all the text you have entered into the Transmit Buffer has been sent o Wait a bit to see if you get a response If not you can repeat the above procedure 8 4 Morse Operating Tips The following Speci...

Page 140: ...places the value used previously The slowest Morse speed is 5 words per minute 8 4 3 Echoing Transmitted Characters As Sent EAS Since Morse can be rather slow some users like to know just when the characters are actually being sent The EAS command when turned ON will Echo characters to the display only when they are transmitted 8 4 4 Sending Only Complete Words WORDOUT Some Morse users like to hav...

Page 141: ...mprove your manual CW sending and receiving skills Set your PK 900 for Morse receive operation on Radio Port 1 and operate the hand key attached to your radio transceiver In most installations your hand keying will be sent to the PK 900 and displayed on your monitor if your radio has an audio input monitor or sidetone output and you ve turned on those monitor functions The frequency of the monitor...

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Page 143: ...Over the telephone either Group 2 or Group 3 transmission standards are used Sending facsimile by radio has some special problems so different and incompatible transmission methods are used There are two basic types of facsimile signals transmitted over radio Frequency Modulated FM facsimile is often found in the HF Short Wave bands while an Amplitude Modulated APT system is used by satellites in ...

Page 144: ...csimile operation After displaying a few images and you are accustomed to the sound of facsimile you will be able to tune the bands in search of other frequencies where perhaps different kinds of pictures may be found Weather USB 3 357 0 kHz 4 268 0 kHz 4 975 0 kHz 6 946 0 kHz 10 865 0 kHz 12 125 0 kHz 20 015 0 kHz Photographs LSB 10 680 7 kHz 17 673 9 kHz 18 434 9 kHz The following HF facsimile f...

Page 145: ...nformation may be helpful Note The Analog mode requires special display software that has been written for each family of personal computer be used Software is necessary in order to handle the gray scale FAX and SSTV images This software is not provided with the PK 900 because the unit operates with many different types of computers Without display software the Analog mode should not be used The A...

Page 146: ...F Facsimile Stations Facsimile is most often found on Upper Sideband and sounds similar to monitoring an AMTOR QSO with both stations being of equal strength The most common facsimile signals are WEFAX so we have set the PK 900 FAX default parameters to copy weather charts and many satellite photographs We recommend starting with one of the listed weather frequencies or frequencies from Popular Co...

Page 147: ...00 Facsimile Parameter Settings To start receiving WEFAX broadcasts on your computer screen follow the setup instructions in your PAKRATT WITH FAX program manual Now all that is necessary is to put the PK 900 into FAX mode by typing FAX The PK 900 will respond with Opmode now FAx 9 5 Receiving Facsimile Broadcasts The PK 900 is now in the Facsimile Standby Receive mode which means it is waiting fo...

Page 148: ...EA PAKRATT with FAX program AEA programs allow the image to be justified after it has been received To stop the display you may either exit the facsimile mode by changing to another mode or enter the RCVE command which puts the PK 900 back into facsimile standby receive Standby receive is the same as if you have just entered the FAX mode from another mode The PK 900 will wait until it receives the...

Page 149: ...e foreign services use speeds of 4 lines per second which is FSPEED 4 Speeds of 1 5 and 3 lines per second are also supported See the command summary for more information on FSPEED When different horizontal scan speeds are used the number of lines per vertical inch can also vary If nothing is done to change the number of lines displayed the pictures may appear squashed or elongated The ASPECT comm...

Page 150: ...n the PK 900 by removing the 4 screws that hold the gray top chassis in place and separate it from the bottom chassis Step 2 Reconnect the PK 900 to 13 VDC then turn it on and allow it to warm up for 30 minutes Step 3 With the help of Figure 2 below locate the variable capacitor C112 in the left front quadrant of the PK 900 circuit board It is located near the U43 and Y3 Step 4 Place the probe of ...

Page 151: ...o the radio amateur and the Short Wave Listener Whether tuning across 20 meters or searching the Short Wave bands when you find a signal SIAM will help you decide what it is and tune it in without time consuming trial and error NOTE Outside the Amateur bands many of the RTTY signals employ sophisticated encryption schemes and are not copyable by the PK 900 10 2 SIAM Operation Before entering the S...

Page 152: ...ish to use o Make certain your HF receiver is either in LSB or FSK depending on your PK 900 setup o Turn OFF any IF Shift and Passband Tuning controls o Tune your receiver carefully across the band looking for the distinctive two tone sound of an FSK signal o When you find a station slowly vary the VFO tuning knob on your receiver and look for a display on the PK 900 tuning indicator like the one ...

Page 153: ...uency from your speaker is too high for the PK 900 to copy the signal Slowly tune the VFO and make the frequency lower MARK SPACE Tuning too high for discriminator indicator BAR 0 Tuning too high for magic eye indicator BAR 3 Tuning too high for center tune indicator BAR 2 o Adjust the front panel THRESHOLD control so that the DCD LCD lights when a properly tuned RTTY station is being received HIN...

Page 154: ...t or noise which it cannot decode typing OK will cause the response bad The SIGNAL routine will run repeatedly until the operating mode is changed either by typing OK or forcing a change to another mode If you tune to a different signal during an analysis simply type SIGNAL again to restart the analysis routine 10 3 1 Copying Encoded RTTY Transmissions In the Short Wave bands many RTTY stations do...

Page 155: ...the Command Mode followed by the Enter key to enter the TDM mode The PK 900 responds by displaying the previous mode Opmode was PAcket Opmode now TDm 10 4 2 Monitoring TDM Signals The TDM command forces bit phasing do this when changing frequency to another TDM signal This is also useful when the PK 900 synchronizes on the wrong bit in the character stream which is likely on a signal which is idli...

Page 156: ... the following frequencies which should be used as a starting point when looking for TDM signals 9 125 9 LSB 11 246 5 USB 12 061 7 USB 14 623 3 USB 14 956 7 USB 18 983 6 USB 19 101 9 LSB 19 647 4 LSB The above signals were using several different shifts 1 93 10 6 ...

Page 157: ...unicate in a near error free fashion A PACTOR ARQ exchange consists of a 0 96 second burst of data from the information sending station followed by a short burst from the data receiving station that is an acknowledge ACK or non acknowledge NAK The NAK is sent by the receiving station when the CRC data test indicates an error in the data block Like packet PACTOR is mark space polarity independent a...

Page 158: ...ion in the call This allows you to properly identify when operating portable e g ZL K6RFK If you do not enter a call using MYPTCALL or MYCALL the PK 900 will not allow transmission as the default call PK900 is not a valid call The error message Need MYCALL will be displayed if transmission is attempted 11 3 2 Enter the PACTOR Mode If you are using the AEA PAKRATT for WINDOWS program follow the ins...

Page 159: ...select the type of tuning display See the command summary Appendix for a description of BAR Note the different displays below Follow the procedure below for the best results o Make certain your HF receiver is either in LSB or FSK RTTY Packet depending on your PK 900 set up o Turn any IF Shift and Passband Tuning controls to the Center or OFF position o Enter the command PTLIST for PACTOR Listen to...

Page 160: ...ator looks like the one below the frequency from your speaker is too high for the PK 900 to copy the signal Slowly tune the VFO and make the frequency lower MARK SPACE Tuning too high for discriminator indicator BAR 0 Tuning too high for magic eye indicator BAR 3 Tuning too high for center tune indicator BAR 2 o Adjust the PK 900 front panel THRESHOLD control so that the port 1 DCD LCD lights when...

Page 161: ...a terminal or terminal emulation program the following will place your PK 900 and transceiver into the Unprotocol transmit mode o Make sure that your transmitted text will go to Port 1 by pressing the CHSWITCH character defined in Chapter 4 followed by the number 0 o Type PTSEND then press the Enter key to key your transmitter and automatically enter PACTOR unproto transmit mode As soon as you typ...

Page 162: ...Enter to start a linked or connected PACTOR contact After your PK 900 has locked or synchronized with the distant station which will be indicated by the LCD display changing from PHASING to IDLE you will see a CONNECTED message on your screen You may then begin your conversation N7ML DE YOURCALL etc o When you finish typing your comments or traffic to the other station and wish to let the distant ...

Page 163: ...t until all the text has been sent then type CTRL C to return to Command Mode then type R to break the link The PK 900 will go into the PACTOR Standby mode o Type CTRL C to return to Command Mode then type R Enter R Enter to break the link immediately If there are characters left in the transmit buffer they will not be sent This method should only be used for an emergency shutdown as it does not s...

Page 164: ...aracters If EAS Echo As Sent is set ON your typed characters are displayed as they are sent The status will change back and forth from IDLE and TRAFFIC whenever your typing pauses and resumes When errors occur on the link and the distant station sends REQUEST request for repeat the status will show LCD PACTOR ARQ ERROR and or REQUEST TX and CONNECTED ERROR Your PK 900 has detected errors in the si...

Page 165: ... F Same as CTRL D but sends your callsign in Morse CTRL T Sends the TIME if the DAYTIME clock has been set CTRL Z Changes your PK 900 from send ISS to receive IRS 11 7 1 ARQ Break In ACHG Command In the linked or connected mode ARQ when you re the Information Receiving Station you can use the ACHG command to interrupt the distant station s comments As the Information Receiving Station you normally...

Page 166: ...error rate at 200 bps is excessive the data rate will automatically revert to 100 bps There may be some propagation conditions that will cause the system to vacillate between the two data rates This may be prevented by setting PT200 to OFF which will force 100 bps operation See the UCMD command to control these thresholds 11 7 5 Echoing Transmitted Characters As Sent EAS EAS Echo As Sent operates ...

Page 167: ... the microphone input in LSB 11 7 8 Little Used PACTOR Commands There are four seldom used PACTOR commands that are accessible with the UCmd command This command is of the form UCmd n x where n is the UCmd number and x is the setting Several examples are shown in the use of UCmd UCMD 5 Will show the current setting of command 5 UCMD 4 10 Will set command 4 to the value 10 UCMD 1 OFF Will set the v...

Page 168: ...rop This section of the manual talks about basic PACTOR mailbox operation Section 11 10 will discuss how to pass message traffic from PACTOR to Packet and vice versa Make sure that you understand MailDrop Operation in Chapter 5 and the basic PACTOR operation described earlier in this chapter before putting your PACTOR MailDrop on the air 11 9 1 Special Operating Considerations The PACTOR MailDrop ...

Page 169: ...Logon to your PACTOR MailDrop The PACTOR maildrop user interface is slightly different from the packet interface due to the differences between the two modes When a station links with your PACTOR MailDrop your PK 900 first identifies your maildrop by sending the amount of free MailDrop memory as shown below Type H for help AEA PK 900 17528 FREE The PK 900 then sends the user the MTEXT string if th...

Page 170: ...ng of messages by the remote calling station as described in chapter 5 The difference in PACTOR is that the remote user must send the ACHG command first to reverse the direction of the link before he can issue the Abort command The remote user also has the ability to abort a command that may have been mis typed by typing on the same line as the bad command 11 9 8 2 B BYE The B command logs the rem...

Page 171: ...ssage Z CTRL Z or EX to End MailDrop Send prompt I haven t heard from you and wondered if Message text you are going to the Hamfest next month Message text Hope to see you there 73 Message text ex User ends message WX7BBB DE WX7AAA Filed msg 1 A B H J K L R S V MailDrop prompt 11 9 8 9 V VERSION Remote only command The V command causes the PK 900 to send the sign on message and firmware date to th...

Page 172: ... 7 FSK 100 bps 850 1275 2125 7 Internal 800 2100 1300 8 Analog 900 2500 8 Internal 800 2100 1300 eq 9 FSK 2400 bps 800 1300 2100 9 Internal option 10 FSK 300 bps 200 2110 2310 10 Modem disconnect header 11 FSK 1200 bps 1000 1200 2200 12 Morse 750 cmd Any modem from the list may be loaded with the MODEM command but only the 100 or higher baud modems listed will operate in PACTOR For example to oper...

Page 173: ...ort 1 PACTOR press the CHSWITCH character you defined followed by the number 0 To select Radio Port 2 Packet press the CHSWITCH character followed by a letter from A Z For example you are conversing with an PACTOR station and are in the middle of a QSO when a station on VHF connects to you The following shows how your screen would look and suggests how you might handle such an occurrence The under...

Page 174: ...OR telling him how much power your transmitter is running When you are finished with your text you again command the PK 900 to be the IRS by sending a CTRL Z After making this transmission on PACTOR you see WX7EEE on VHF has offered you a ride to the hamfest We know this text is from Radio Port 2 since the previous packet displayed by the PK 900 was the A CONNECTED message from Port 2 Now you want...

Page 175: ...nnel would have also shown in the display Sometimes you might not want to be bothered with anything from the Radio Port you are not using For these times either Radio Port may be turned OFF with the RADIO command For example let s say that in the above example QSO you wanted to work HF packet and did not want to be interrupted with any VHF connects Typing the following command would cause Radio Po...

Page 176: ...packet connections to the MYMAIL callsign on Radio Port 2 will be sent to your MailDrop if you or a remote PACTOR station is not using it If you or any other station is using your MailDrop the remote user attempting the packet connection will be sent a Busy message Similarly a remote PACTOR station linking to you will be given access to your MailDrop provided no one else is using it If you or a re...

Page 177: ...ggested PACTOR Operating Settings If you have trouble synchronizing with another PACTOR ARQ station try some of the following operating tips before calling AEA or deciding that your radio equipment needs modifications o Try to work the distant station on the unproto mode to establish that the other station s system is fully functional o Don t use VOX control use the PTT line from your interface o ...

Page 178: ...The rest of this page is blank 3 93 11 22 ...

Page 179: ...s o End the command with a carriage return CR or the Enter key o Correct any typing mistakes before typing the final Enter A 1 2 Command Responses Whenever the PK 900 accepts a command it responds by displaying both the old and new values For example if you type XFLOW OFF you ll see the display XFlow was ON XFlow now OFF This message tells you that the value has been changed successfully A 2 Comma...

Page 180: ... value Three different types of parameters are used Boolean Numeric and Text or String A 3 1 Boolean Parameters Boolean parameters use one value out of a choice of only two possible values such as ON or OFF YES or NO or EVERY or AFTER Boolean parameters can also be toggled with an argument of TOGGLE or T This is useful for example in the case of RXREV and TXREV A 3 2 Numeric Parameters A parameter...

Page 181: ...e the Port 1 value of a two argument command type the command name followed by the new argument For example to set the Port 1 value of TXDELAY to 30 for VHF packet type the following at the command prompt cmd TXDELAY 30 TXDelay was 12 30 TXDelay now 30 30 To change the Port 2 value of a two argument command place a forward slash in front of the argument typed after the command name For example to ...

Page 182: ...PK 900 or every time you turn the PK 900 on if the battery jumper is removed The message will also appear in response to the RESET command cmd This is the Command Mode prompt When this prompt appears the PK 900 is waiting for you to issue a command Anything you type after this prompt is interpreted as a command to the PK 900 was now Whenever you change one of the PK 900 s parameters both the previ...

Page 183: ...ot enough You didn t type enough arguments for a command that needs several range You typed a numeric argument too large or too small for that command too many You typed too many arguments for the command to accept too long You typed a command line that is too long For example if you type a BTEXT or CTEXT message that is too long you ll receive this message need ALL NONE YES NO This message indica...

Page 184: ...ing Packet related commands need MYcall This message appears if you attempt to make a packet Connection but have not yet entered your callsign in MYCALL not while connected You attempted to change MYCALL or AX25L2V2 while in a connected state not while disconnected You tried to set CONPERM while disconnected LINK OUT OF ORDER possible data loss You are CONPERMed to another packet station but the l...

Page 185: ...f the TXDELAY timer has been set too short to send at least one complete flag before the start of a packet WARNING AUdelay TXdelay This Warning message appears if the AUDELAY timer has been set equal to or greater than the TXDELAY timer A 4 4 Packet Link Status Messages Link status messages show you the status of AX 25 connections in which your PK 900 is involved CONNECTED to call1 via call2 call3...

Page 186: ...p What You have entered a command that the MailDrop does not recognize Need callsign You have tried to send a message but not specified who you want to send it to Message not found You have tried to List or Read message s that the MailDrop could not find This also appears if you try to List messages when there are no messages in your MailDrop No free memory You have tried to send a message but the...

Page 187: ...rictly true however the Baudot mode will be displayed on Port 1 of the LCD Status display RXREV RBAUD and the MODEM number must be set properly for the monitored transmission SIGNAL is helpful in determining whether a transmission is 5 bit and the settings for RBAUD and RXREV but typing OK after SIGNAL selects BAUDOT not 5BIT Do not change modes directly between BAUDOT 5BIT and 6BIT Go through som...

Page 188: ... In AMTOR and PACTOR UserBIT 9 UBIT 9 controls the Auto Answerback feature Type AAB 24 character text to store your AnswerBack in memory ________________________________________________________________________________ ABaud n Default 110 bauds Mode ASCII Host AB _________________________________ Parameters __________________________________ n Specifies the ASCII data rate or signaling speed in bau...

Page 189: ...CKPRIOR OFF PPERSIST ON PERSIST 63 SLOTTIME 30 RESPTIME 0 MAXFRAME 4 FRACK 5 The following are the recommended command settings for Priority Acknowledge 1200 baud VHF packet 300 baud HF packet ACKPRIOR ON ACKPRIOR ON PPERSIST ON PPERSIST ON PERSIST 84 PERSIST 84 SLOTTIME 30 SLOTTIME 8 RESPTIME 0 RESPTIME 0 MAXFRAME 1 7 MAXFRAME 1 FRACK 8 FRACK 15 HBAUD 1200 HBAUD 300 VHF ON or TONE 3 VHF OFF or TO...

Page 190: ... OFF The send packet character is NOT added to packets ________________________________________________________________________________ When ACRPACK is ON default all packets sent in Converse Mode include the SEND PACket character normally CR as the last character of the packet When ACRPACK is OFF the send packet character is interpreted as a command and is not included in the packet or echoed to ...

Page 191: ...milliseconds to handle the PTT Push to Talk delay of different transmitters In most cases the default value of 4 40 milliseconds is adequate for the majority of the popular HF transmitters If the AMTOR signal strength is good and you observe periodic errors caused by loss of phasing shown by rephase cycles in the middle of an ARQ contact during contacts it may be necessary to adjust the ADELAY val...

Page 192: ...nary file transfers ________________________________________________________________________________ ALFDisp ON OFF Default ON Mode All Host AI _________________________________ Parameters __________________________________ ON A line feed character LF IS sent to the terminal after each CR OFF A LF is NOT sent to the terminal after each CR ___________________________________________________________...

Page 193: ...RTTY is set ON when transmitting Baudot or ASCII RTTY a line feed character is added and sent automatically after each CR character you type Use this option when you are typing into the transmit buffer and don t want to be bothered worrying about line length You should NOT use this option when retransmitting text received from another station for example ARRL Bulletins o ALFRTTY has no effect in A...

Page 194: ...em command ALTModem 1 selects the radio port 2 internal optional modem A 9600 baud K9NG G3RUH compatible internal modem is available ________________________________________________________________________________ AMtor Immediate Command Mode Command Host AM ________________________________________________________________________________ AMTOR is an immediate command that switches Radio Port 1 of ...

Page 195: ... cause the PK 900 to produce a frequency of 1500 Hz A binary value of E0 causes 2300 Hz to be produced This allows for fax transmissions with 128 shades of gray To use the Analog mode the program should first set ANSAMPLE then enter the ANALOG mode ANALOG initializes in the receive state The following commands function in other operating modes and now control the ANALOG mode as well R Receive Rece...

Page 196: ...the two AMTOR systems synchronize and begin the Mode A ARQ AMTOR handshaking process See the MYSELCAL and MYIDENT commands to enter your 4 and 7 character SELCALLs Other AMTOR commands are ACHG ACRRTTY ADELAY ALFRTTY ARQTMO EAS HEREIS and RECEIVE An ARQ transmission may be terminated by typing CTRL D ________________________________________________________________________________ ARQE Immediate Co...

Page 197: ...nsition may be in tenths of a bit milliseconds If the transition occurs further away than expected the received block is counted as an error even if all three characters in the block appear to be valid AMTOR characters The default value of ARQTOL 3 is the equivalent of the fixed tolerance of previous firmware releases ARQTOL should be set to a low number tighter tolerance for applications that req...

Page 198: ...shapes received in the right proportion On other transmissions you may want more resolution See the table below for suggested settings CCITT IOCs for narrow and wide carriage printers are given for each ASPECT setting below ASPECT CCITT IOC narrow CCITT IOC wide 1 1100 1788 2 550 Weather Charts 576 894 3 367 Wirephotos 352 596 Weather Charts 576 4 275 WEFAX Satellite 288 447 5 220 358 Wirephotos 3...

Page 199: ...by a setting of 10 For example you have determined that a TXDELAY of 20 works well for your transceiver Subtracting 10 from 20 yields 10 which is the recommended setting for AUDELAY If a setting of AUDELAY of 10 is too short then set both TXDELAY and AUDELAY higher ________________________________________________________________________________ AUTOBaud ON OFF Default OFF Mode Command Host Ab ____...

Page 200: ...ord length takes effect Do NOT change AWLEN unless the terminal can be changed to the same setting ________________________________________________________________________________ Ax25l2v2 ON OFF ON OFF Default ON ON Mode Packet Host AV _________________________________ Parameters __________________________________ ON The PK 900 uses AX 25 Level 2 Version 2 0 protocol on Port x OFF The PK 900 uses...

Page 201: ... value for n if you re using a repeater that hasn t been used for packet operations before If other packet stations have been using the repeater check with them for the proper setting AXDELAY acts together with AXHANG ________________________________________________________________________________ AXHang n n Default 0 0 000 msec Mode Packet Host AH _________________________________Parameters _____...

Page 202: ...Port 1 Baudot RTTY operation is very common around the world and is the basis of the telex network and most radio press weather and point to point message services The Baudot Murray and ITA 2 character sets do not contain lower case or the special punctuation and control characters found in ASCII Because the Baudot ITA 2 code requires only five information bits to define each character it will gen...

Page 203: ...ten seconds have passed without packet activity If you set the BEACON timing less than 90 a value judged as too short for busy channels you ll see the following message at each command prompt WARNING BEACON too often Use Beacons with care and consideration for other users of the Packet channel ________________________________________________________________________________ BItinv n Default 00 Mode...

Page 204: ...cifies the brightness of the LCD backlight _______________________________________________________________________________ The bright ness command controls the brightness of the LCD backlight The number n controls the duty cycle percentage of the backlight The PK 900 power consumption is dependent on the brightness of the display The total display backlight current with n 100 is 240 ma ___________...

Page 205: ...high tones D Toggles between transmitting a continuous tone or alternating the mark and space tones at a rate set by the radio baud HBAUD rate ________________________________________________________________________________ CANline n Default 18 CTRL X Mode All Host CL _________________________________ Parameters __________________________________ n 0 to 7F 0 to 127 decimal specifies an ASCII chara...

Page 206: ...CX _________________________________ Parameters __________________________________ n 0 to 2 specifies how your PK 900 sends characters to your terminal ________________________________________________________________________________ CASEDISP allows you to set the case of the characters your PK 900 sends to your terminal CASEDISP offers three possible modes CASEDISP 0 As is characters are not chang...

Page 207: ...ignal To reject all call requests on both Radio Ports type CFROM NONE NONE Your PK 900 sends the calling station a DM packet or busy signal To accept calls from one or more specific stations on Radio Port 2 type CFROM YES followed by a list of calls signs Connects will be accepted from stations whose call signs are listed after CFROM YES For example cmd cfrom yes WX1AAA WX2BBB WX3CCC WX4DDD To rej...

Page 208: ...en CHCALL is ON the same contact has the additional underlined information 0 N7ML hi John data from Radio Port 1 hello Mike how goes it A N7GMF CONNECTED to N7GMF data from Radio Port 2 Amust be a dx record ge John ________________________________________________________________________________ CHDouble ON OFF Default OFF Mode Packet Host CD _________________________________ Parameters ___________...

Page 209: ...oes not get an answer to the check packet after RETRY 1 attempts it will attempt to reconnect to the distant station See the RELINK command for related information ________________________________________________________________________________ CHSwitch n Default 00 Mode All Host CH _________________________________ Parameters __________________________________ n 0 to FF 0 to 255 decimal specifies...

Page 210: ... n times 10 seconds following the last characters typed The following diagram illustrates this timing _____________________________________________________________ last first second third PK 900 now terminal COMMAND COMMAND COMMAND in Command input character character character Mode entry entry entry longer shorter shorter n than n than n than n ____________________________________________________...

Page 211: ...raph Alphabet Number 2 five unit teleprinter code The Baudot characters and are NOT permitted for use by US Amateurs CODE 0 International In Morse this means the International Morse Code For Baudot and AMTOR this means the ITA 2 teleprinter code which is internationally recommended for Baudot and TOR communications and shown below LOWER CASE SET UPPER CASE SET 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Q W E R T Y U I O...

Page 212: ...3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Q W E R T Y U I O P Q W E R T Y U I O P A S D F G H J K L A S D F G H J K L Z X C V B N M Z X C V B N M The differences between ITA 2 and US teleprinter codes are listed below Baudot ITA 2 U S Character CODE 0 CODE 1 FIGS D WRU FIGS F FIGS G FIGS H FIGS J BELL FIGS S BELL FIGS V FIGS Z 3rd Q q Please Note that for U S Amateurs the F C C regulations require Baudot and AMTOR transmis...

Page 213: ...hen set CODE to either 0 or 3 Another interesting side effect of being able to send and receive in CODE 2 is that it is now possible to send and receive both upper and lower case text in Baudot and AMTOR modes To do this both stations must have CODE 2 enabled and of course both must be running 1992 or later firmware in their PK 900 s Other users will see only upper case characters and not be aware...

Page 214: ... AWLEN 8 PARITY 0 and 8BITCONV ON CODE 5 Transliterated Katakana This is similar to CODE 4 except that the extended ASCII is transliterated into English equivalents for easier reading The Morse characters are translated into 2 and 3 letter syllables CODE 6 European This is primarily for users with German language terminals The differences in Morse coding are as follows Morse CODE 0 CODE 6 5B 5B 5C...

Page 215: ...nd Mode See the CMDTIME command for related information ________________________________________________________________________________ CONMode CONVERSE TRANS Default CONVERSE Mode Packet AMTOR and PACTOR Host CE _________________________________ Parameters __________________________________ CONVERSE Your PK 900 enters Converse Mode when a Packet connection or AMTOR Link is established TRANS Your...

Page 216: ...e your packets to destination station call1 Don t type the brackets or quotation marks VIA call2 call3 call9 You can type the command CONNECT at any time to check the status If you are trying to connect to another station you will see the message Link state is CONNECT in progress If the distant station doesn t ack your connect request after the number of tries in RETRY the CONNECT attempt is cance...

Page 217: ...__________________________________ CONVERSE is an immediate command that causes the PK 900 to switch from the Command Mode into the Converse Mode The letter K may also be used Once the PK 900 is in the Converse Mode all characters typed from the keyboard are processed and transmitted by your radio To return the PK 900 to the Command Mode type the Command Mode entry character default is CTRL C ____...

Page 218: ... of all ten logical channels on Radio Port 1 designated 0 9 and all 26 logical channels on Radio Port 2 designated A Z as well as the current input output channel as follows NOT CONNECTED TO ANY STATION CONNECTED TO TWO STATIONS cmd cs cmd cs Ch 0 IO DISCONNECTED Ch 0 IO CONNECTED to WX1AAA Ch 1 DISCONNECTED Ch 1 DISCONNECTED Ch 2 DISCONNECTED Ch 2 DISCONNECTED Ch 3 DISCONNECTED Ch 3 DISCONNECTED ...

Page 219: ..._______________ Parameters __________________________________ The CWID command lets you change the send CWID control character typed at the end of your RTTY dialogue When the PK 900 reads this character embedded in the text or keyboard input it switches modes and sends your call sign in Morse code at the keying speed set by MSPEED As soon as your call sign has been sent in Morse the PK 900 turns o...

Page 220: ...socket Then re install the RAM IC in the socket provided by the SmartWatch Be sure and remove the PK 900 Battery Jumper JP3 when the SmartWatch is installed The DS 1216C will automatically back up the installed RAM IC with its own battery Leaving the PK 900 battery jumper JP3 connected may deplete the on board lithium battery ________________________________________________________________________...

Page 221: ... as a digipeater DFROM is set to all all when you first start your PK 900 Type DFROM to display the ALL NONE YES_list NO_list status of station s call signs whose packets will or will not be repeated To prevent all stations from digipeating through Radio Port 1 of your station type DFROM NONE To permit one or more specific stations to digipeat through Radio Port 2 of your station type DFROM YES fo...

Page 222: ...0 8 Analog 900 2500 8 Internal 800 2100 1300 eq 9 FSK 2400 bps 800 1300 2100 9 Internal option 9600 bps 10 FSK 300 bps 200 2110 2310 10 Modem disconnect header 11 FSK 1200 bps 1000 1200 2200 12 Morse 750 Hz center frequency _________________________________________________________________________________ Disconne Immediate Command Mode Packet Host DI _______________________________________________...

Page 223: ..._____________ DISPLAY is an immediate command When DISPLAY is typed without a parameter the PK 900 responds with a short list of often used parameters See also DISPLAY A B C F I L M R T Z Connect Link state is DISCONNECTED Opmode PAcket FRack 5 5 5 sec HBaud 1200 1200 MAXframe 4 4 Monitor 4 4 UA DM C D I UI MYcall PK900 PK900 MYSelcal none PACLen 128 128 RBaud 45 TXdelay 30 30 300 msec Vhf ON ON Y...

Page 224: ..._________________________ Parameters __________________________________ ON Echo characters when actually sent on the air by the PK 900 OFF Echo characters when sent to the PK 900 by the computer ________________________________________________________________________________ The ECHO AS SENT EAS command functions in all modes except packet EAS lets you to choose the way data is displayed on your m...

Page 225: ...e the error character used by the PK 900 for Morse ARQ FEC NAVTEX and TDM ________________________________________________________________________________ n is a hex value 00 7F default 5F underscore This is the character that the PK 900 displays when it receives a mutilated character in Morse ARQ FEC NAVTEX or TDM The user may wish to set this character to 2A asterisk 07 bell 20 space or 00 null ...

Page 226: ...ly of black as in a satellite photo In this case it might help to save your printer ribbon as well as accentuating features such as cloud cover FAXNEG ON is NOT the same as RXREV ON RXREV reverses the entire signal including the sync pulses FAXNEG keeps the sync pulses so that they can be recognized but reverses the image data _______________________________________________________________________...

Page 227: ...gment timeout in 1 sec intervals ________________________________________________________________________________ FRACK is the FRame Acknowledgment time in seconds that your PK 900 will wait for acknowledgment of a sent protocol frame before retrying that frame FRACK may be different for each Radio Port and in fact a setting of 8 is recommended for HF packet operation After sending a packet requir...

Page 228: ...e other channels Due to the sporadic nature of meteor scatter work a Master Slave mode can be enabled in the PK 900 with User BIT 18 UBIT 18 When UBIT 18 OFF Frame Acknowledge operation is as in previous firmware versions When UBIT 18 is ON a master slave relationship is established in packet radio connections This is done to reduce the possibility of simultaneous transmissions by both sides of a ...

Page 229: ...arious scan speeds and carriage widths FSPEED LPM Standard carriage Wide carriage 0 90 183 dpi 113 dpi 1 60 275 dpi 169 dpi 2 120 138 dpi 85 dpi 3 180 92 dpi 56 dpi 4 240 69 dpi 42 dpi ________________________________________________________________________________ FUlldup ON OFF ON OFF Default OFF OFF Mode Packet Host FU _________________________________ Parameters _______________________________...

Page 230: ...72 100 24 27 60 120 144 240 60 72 28 29 60 120 32 35 60 120 120 240 80 72 90 36 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 40 43 60 120 120 120 60 72 144 44 47 72 144 144 72 72 72 72 48 51 80 160 80 80 80 80 80 In using the various GRAPHICS densities above the user should be aware that not all the combinations or parameters work especially with the slower printers 100 CPS or less For example a combination of PRTYPE 2 F...

Page 231: ...5 50 57 75 100 110 150 200 300 400 600 1200 2400 4800 and 9600 bauds ________________________________________________________________________________ HEAderln ON OFF Default ON Mode Packet Host HD _________________________________ Parameters __________________________________ ON The header in a monitored packet is printed on a separate line from the text OFF The header and text of monitored packet...

Page 232: ... to be sent in the middle of transmitted text ________________________________________________________________________________ If you wish to send your own AAB string for identification during a transmission simply enter the HEREIS character default CTRL B Also see the command AAB ________________________________________________________________________________ HId ON OFF ON OFF Default OFF OFF Mod...

Page 233: ..._____________ The HOST command enables the computer friendly HOST communications mode over the PK 900 s RS 232 link To cancel HOST mode send 3 CTRL C characters as if exiting the Transparent mode or type CTRL A O H O N CTRL W Sending a Break signal will not cause the PK 900 to exit from the HOST mode Bit 0 Controls whether the HOST mode is ON or OFF If bit 0 is equal to 0 HOST is OFF If bit 0 is e...

Page 234: ... Because the ID command is immediate the message Transmit Data Remaining will be displayed if any unsent data remains in the transmit buffer In Packet ID is an immediate command that sends a special identification packet The ID command allows you to send a final identification packet when you re taking your station off the air HID must also be set ON Be sure that you select the correct Radio Port ...

Page 235: ...lf inches the facsimile image will be moved closer to the edge of the paper ________________________________________________________________________________ The number 0 25 is in units of half inches or 1 16 of standard 8 paper width In most cases entering JUSTIFY n will move the image to the left If LEFTRITE is OFF then JUSTIFY will move the image to the right For example if the left hand edge of...

Page 236: ...nd checksum enabled Note that KISS ON enables standard KISS operation for compatibility with existing applications Extended KISS mode adds these commands to the standard commands x0 x5 xC signifies data to be transmitted Unlike the x0 command the xC byte is followed by two frame ID bytes then the data when the TNC transmits the frame it notifies the host application by echoing back FEND the xC byt...

Page 237: ..._____________________________________________ LAstmsg n Immediate Command Mode Packet MailDrop Host LA _________________________________ Parameters __________________________________ n 0 to 999 specifies the message number of the last MailDrop message ________________________________________________________________________________ The number 0 999 is the number of the last message sent by a remote...

Page 238: ...ausing FIGURES to be displayed FAX This is a manual start command for FAX Normally the transmitting station starts a FAX image with sync pulses so that the receiver automatically lines up with the edge of the paper If you tune in a signal too late or there is so much noise that the sync pulses are not detected you can start reception manually with the LOCK command If you issue a LOCK to the PK 900...

Page 239: ...e Baudot and AMTOR operator to detect and display every character including LTRS and FIGS sent by the other station The ACRDISP and ALFDISP may be turned off to prevent extraneous carriage returns and Linefeeds from being sent to the display If this data is retransmitted ACRRTTY should be 0 and ALFRTTY should be OFF The CTRL O and CTRL N characters will send LTRS and FIGS respectively ____________...

Page 240: ...s to be monitored n 0 to 15 indicating an optional SSID ________________________________________________________________________________ The MBX command permits you to read or record useful or needed data without having to connect or log on to the source station s MBX filters the received packet data so that only packets from the selected station s are shown without headers or repeated frames MBX ...

Page 241: ...displayed Use this for an unproto roundtable type QSO This setting also display beacons 2 Numbered I frames are also displayed Use this to monitor connected conversations in progress 3 Connect request SABM or C frames and disconnect DISC or D frames are also displayed with the headers 4 Unnumbered acknowledgment UA of connect and disconnect state frames are also displayed with either the character...

Page 242: ...__________ Set MDMON to ON to monitor activity on your MailDrop MDMON permits you to monitor activity on your AMTOR or packet MailDrop showing you both sides of the QSO Packet headers are not shown while a caller is logged on When no one is connected to your MailDrop channel activity is monitored according to the setting of MONITOR Set MDMON OFF to cancel MailDrop monitoring Note that MailDrop con...

Page 243: ...e the ASCII codes for the characters you want to filter The special value of 80 default filters all characters above 7F and all control characters except carriage return 0D linefeed 0A and TAB 09 ________________________________________________________________________________ MFrom ALL NONE or YES NO call1 call2 ALL NONE or YES NO call1 call2 Default ALL ALL Mode Packet Host MF ___________________...

Page 244: ..._________________________________________ If n is set to some value from 1 to 250 the PK 900 will periodically issue a 20 wpm Morse ID on any given Radio Port For example an MID of 0 177 would cause a Morse ID every 1 770 seconds 29 5 minutes on Radio Port 2 A Morse ID will only be transmitted if a packet was sent since the last Morse ID The Morse ID uses TXDELAY PPERSIST and DCD If MID is set to ...

Page 245: ... 11 for Radio Port 1 and modem 3 for Radio Port 2 enter the command as MODem 11 3 The modems included in the PK 900 can be shown with the DIRECT ory command and are listed below Radio Port 1 Radio Port 2 1 FSK 45 bps 170 2125 2295 1 Internal 200 1070 1270 2 FSK 100 bps 170 2125 2295 2 Internal 200 2025 2225 3 FSK 45 bps 200 2110 2310 3 Internal 1000 1200 2200 4 FSK 100 bps 200 2110 2310 4 Internal...

Page 246: ... frames are also displayed I frames are numbered in order of generation and result from a connected transmission Use this to monitor connected conversations in progress 3 Connect request SABM or C frames and disconnect DISC or D frames are also displayed with the headers 4 Unnumbered acknowledgment UA of connect and disconnect state frames are also displayed with either the characters UA or DM and...

Page 247: ..._________________________ MRPT affects the way monitored packets are displayed for each radio port When MRPT is ON default the call signs of all stations in the digipeat path are displayed Call signs of stations heard directly are flagged with an asterisk as shown W2JUP 4 WA1IXU W1AW 5 W1AW 4 I 0 3 When MRPT is OFF only the originating station and the destination stations are displayed are display...

Page 248: ...TAMP is OFF the packet header display looks like this W2JUP 4 KA2EYW 1 AI2Q I 2 2 When MSTAMP is ON and DAYSTAMP is OFF the display looks like this 22 51 33 W2JUP 4 KA2EYW 1 AI2Q I 2 2 ________________________________________________________________________________ MTExt text Default See sample Mode AMTOR PACTOR Packet MailDrop Host Mt _________________________________ Parameters _________________...

Page 249: ... You can include optional SSIDs specified as n after the call sign If MTO is set to NO N6IA any combination N6IA 0 N6IA 15 will NOT be monitored If MTO is set to YES N6IA 1 then only N6IA 1 will be monitored When MFROM and MTO contain different arguments the following priority applies 1 ALL 2 NO_list 3 YES_list 4 NONE Clear MTO with or OFF as arguments _____________________________________________...

Page 250: ...0 n 0 to 15 an optional substation ID SSID ________________________________________________________________________________ MYALIAS specifies an alternate call sign in addition to the call sign specified in MYCALL for use as a digipeater only a MYALIAS In some areas wide coverage digipeater operators change their call sign to a shorter and easier to remember identifier ____________________________...

Page 251: ...______________________________________________________________________ MYIdent aaaaaaa aa Default none Mode AMTOR Host Mg _________________________________ Parameters __________________________________ aaaaaaa aa Specifies the 7 character SELCALL as described in CCIR Rec 625 ________________________________________________________________________________ The MYIDENT command holds the CCIR Rec 625 ...

Page 252: ...optional substation ID SSID or extension ________________________________________________________________________________ Call is the call sign of the MailDrop default none Call may have an optional SSID and must not be the same call sign and SSID as MYCALL If you do not set MYMAIL the MailDrop will use the same call sign and SSID as entered in MYCALL For example if you have set MYCALL to N7ML the...

Page 253: ... the convention is to form the SELCALL from the call sign your PK 900 can include any AMTOR character in the SELCALL In accordance with CCIR Recommendation 491 four or five digit numbers may be entered the PK 900 automatically translates the numeric entry to your four letter alpha SELCALL ________________________________________________________________________________ NAVMsg all none Yes No letter...

Page 254: ... mode The PK 900 can accept only or lock out certain message classes and transmitting stations with the NAVMSG and NAVSTN commands described above For logging purposes NAVTEX mode uses the setting of DAYTIME to print the date and or time in front of the preamble if MSTAMP and DAYSTAMP are ON ________________________________________________________________________________ NEwmode ON OFF Default ON ...

Page 255: ...LL characters ARE NOT sent to the terminal following CR s ________________________________________________________________________________ The NULLS command sets the number of NULL characters that will be sent Some older printer terminals require extra time for the printing head to do a carriage return and line feed NUCR ON solves this problem by making your PK 900 send NULL characters ASCII code ...

Page 256: ...________________________________________________________________________________ OK normally follows the SIGNAL command after it has determined the class and speed of the received station Typing OK will change the commands RXREV RBAUD or ABAUD and OPMODE to their proper value If the SIGNAL command did not reveal any useful information typing OK produces the bad error message Typing OK when not in ...

Page 257: ...e out occurs when n times 100 milliseconds elapse without input from the computer or terminal ________________________________________________________________________________ The PACTIME parameter sets the amount of time in 100 msec increments that the PK 900 will wait for a character to be received on the serial port before sending a packet in Transparent Mode The PACTIME parameter is always used...

Page 258: ...e included in a packet or ASCII text string ________________________________________________________________________________ PASSAll ON OFF ON OFF Default OFF OFF Mode Packet Host PX _________________________________ Parameters __________________________________ ON Your PK 900 will accept packets with valid or invalid CRCs OFF Your PK 900 will accept packets with valid CRCs only __________________...

Page 259: ...ameters for p persistent CSMA instead of the older DWAIT CSMA procedure PPERSIST may be enabled or disabled on each Radio Port When your computer has queued data for transmission the PK 900 monitors the DCD signal from its modem When the channel clears the PK 900 generates a random number between 0 and 255 If this number is less than or equal to PERSIST the PK 900 transmits all frames in its queue...

Page 260: ...otocol To start a PACTOR connect type PTC followed by the other station s call sign Example PTC N7ML or for longpath stations use the exclamation point before the call PTC N7ML As soon as the CR is typed the PK 900 will begin keying your transmitter on Radio Port 1 with the PACTOR connect sequence ________________________________________________________________________________ PTHUFF n Default 0 M...

Page 261: ...r conventionally CTRL Z that is used to change the direction of data transmission in a linked PACTOR operation When you are finished transmitting information and you are ready to receive information from the other station use the PTOver character Also see AChg ________________________________________________________________________________ PTSend n x Default 1 2 Mode PACTOR Host PD _______________...

Page 262: ... QO _________________________________ Parameters __________________________________ n Modem number to be selected when the MORSE mode is entered ________________________________________________________________________________ QMORSE sets the PK 900 modem that will automatically selected when the Morse mode is entered See the MORSE and MODEM commands for more information ___________________________...

Page 263: ...dem 2 Mode AMTOR Host QT _________________________________ Parameters __________________________________ n Modem number to be selected when the AMTOR mode is entered ________________________________________________________________________________ QTOR sets the PK 900 modem that will automatically selected when the AMTOR mode is entered See the AMTOR and MODEM commands for more information ________...

Page 264: ...sable one or both of the Radio Ports when operation on that port is not desired The RADIO command allows full control by you over operation of each Port The first argument controls Radio Port 1 When the first argument is 0 zero Radio Port 1 is Disabled When this first argument is a 1 Radio Port 1 is enabled The second argument controls Radio Port 2 When the second argument is 0 zero Radio Port 2 i...

Page 265: ...orse Host RC _______________________________________________________________________________ RCVE is an immediate command used in Morse Baudot ASCII ARQ FEC and FAX modes to switch your PK 900 from transmit to receive o You must return to the Command Mode to use the RCVE command o PACTOR A single R will generate a protocoled receive while RR will cause an immediate end of transmission and will not...

Page 266: ...s OFF The PK 900 will not attempt to re establish the failed link ________________________________________________________________________________ Set RELINK ON if you want the PK 900 to automatically try to reconnect to a distant packet station if the link fails This is settable for each radio port ________________________________________________________________________________ RESET Immediate Co...

Page 267: ...______________________________________________________ The AX 25 protocol uses the retransmission of frames that have not been acknowledged as a means to insure that ALL transmitted frames are received The number of retries that the PK 900 will attempt is set by the RETRY command default 10 If the number of retries is exceeded the packet link may be lost The number of retries allowed on each Radio...

Page 268: ...t 12 characters had framing errors Copy resumes when the most recent 12 characters are error free This should significantly reduce the copying of garbage characters when no signals are present When RFRAME is ON characters are copied based on the recent history of framing errors ________________________________________________________________________________ RXRev ON OFF Default OFF Mode Baudot and...

Page 269: ...o each unit the same as the 6BIT command The 6 bit unit is a compromise between hexadecimal and 8 bit binary output The 6 bit unit yields shorter disk files than 4 bit hexadecimal characters but encounters no interference from terminal communications programs and the TNC s Converse and Command modes The 6 bit unit s range of 30 6F falls within the printable ASCII range allowing the TNC to insert e...

Page 270: ..._____________________________ Parameters __________________________________ n a hex number used to access a Segment in the PK 900 s memory and I O location map ________________________________________________________________________________ The SEGMENT command selects the start of a 64k segment of memory that programmers may want to access This command is used by programmers in conjunction with th...

Page 271: ..._____________________________________________________________________ The SLOTTIME parameter works with the PPERSIST and PERSIST parameters to achieve true p persistent CSMA Carrier Sense Multiple Access in Packet operation The value for each Radio Port defaults to 30 300 msec for VHF operation For HF packet operation a value of 12 is recommended See the PPERSIST and the PERSIST commands for more ...

Page 272: ...ket transmissions when there is 0 volts applied to the squelch input pin on the appropriate Radio connector ________________________________________________________________________________ SRXall ON OFF Default OFF Mode AMTOR Host SR _________________________________ Parameters __________________________________ ON Receive ALL selective SELFEC transmissions OFF Receive only SELCALL addressed SELFE...

Page 273: ...s the baud rate you are using to communicate with the PK 900 from your terminal or computer Set TBAUD to specify the terminal baud rate to be activated at the next power on or RESTART A warning message reminds you of this Be sure you can set your terminal for the same rate The TBAUD command supports the following serial port data rates of 45 50 57 75 100 110 150 200 300 400 600 1200 2400 4800 9600...

Page 274: ...plexed TDM signal n can be set to 0 3 but only some of these have unique effects 1 channel No effect 2 channel 0 and 2 show Channel A 1 and 3 show Channel B 4 channel 0 shows Channel A 1 shows Channel B 2 shows Channel C 3 shows Channel D _______________________________________________________________________________ TDm Immediate Command Mode TDM Host TV __________________________________________...

Page 275: ...dded control code default CTRL T reads the time of day from the PK 900 s internal clock and then sends the time to the radio in the data transmission code in use at that time If the DAYTIME has not been set and a control T will cause the PK 900 to send an asterisk When DAYSTAMP is set ON the date is transmitted with the time NOTE The TIME command cannot be embedded in CTEXT BTEXT MTEXT or AAB ____...

Page 276: ...e AX 25 protocol display When TRACE is ON all received frames are displayed in their entirety including all header information The TRACE display is shown as it appears on an 80 column display The following monitored frame is a sample W2JUP TESTER UI This is a test message packet Byte Hex Shifted ASCII ASCII 000 A88AA6A8 8AA460AE 6494AAA0 406103F0 TESTER0W2JUP 0 x d a 010 54686973 20697320 61207465...

Page 277: ..._____________________________ When TRFLOW is ON the type of flow control used by the computer RECEIVING data in Transparent Mode is determined by how START and STOP are set When TRFLOW is OFF only hardware flow control RTS DTR is available to the computer RECEIVING data from the PK 900 in Transparent Mode If TRFLOW is ON and START and STOP are set to values other than zero software flow control is...

Page 278: ...____________________________________________________________________ TXFlow ON OFF Default OFF Mode Transparent Host TF _________________________________ Parameters __________________________________ ON Software flow control for the PK 900 is active in Transparent Mode OFF Software flow control for the PK 900 is disabled in Transparent Mode _________________________________________________________...

Page 279: ...F The PK 900 will receive a packet regardless of the DCD status UBIT 1 OFF Entering the command MONITOR ON or MONITOR YES causes the MONITOR command to be set to 4 ON Entering the command MONITOR ON or MONITOR YES causes the MONITOR command to be set to 6 UBIT 2 ON A Break signal received on the RS 232 line forces the PK 900 into Command mode from all modes except HOST mode OFF A Break signal on t...

Page 280: ... with the low tone being key down and the high tone representing key up Use this setting to keep other stations from sending a packet during the Morse ID UBIT 13 OFF MailDrop Connect status messages are always sent to the local user regardless of the setting of MDMON ON Remote user dialog and Connect status messages with the MailDrop are shown only if MDMON is ON UBIT 14 OFF In Packet the transmit...

Page 281: ... Two 4 bit samples are then packed together to form an 8 bit byte before being sent to the computer UBIT 21 Not used in the PK 900 UBIT 22 ON In the Packet mode the PK 900 will respond to the receipt of an UNPROTO frame addressed to QRA by sending an UNPROTO ID packet frame within 1 to 10 seconds This feature is compatible with TAPR s ANSWRQRA command OFF The PK 900 does not respond to UNPROTO fra...

Page 282: ...eturns the present status of UCMD 5 UCMD 4 5 Sets user command 4 to the value 5 UCMD 12 OFF Sets user command 12 to the value of 0 UCMD ON Restores user command 8 to its default value UCMD Shows the setting ofthe last UCMD entered Listed below are the UCMD functions and the default states that presently have been assigned The default state of each UCMD is always shown first UCMD 0 This is a PACTOR...

Page 283: ...ations can be monitored by setting MONITOR to a value greater than 1 and setting MFROM to ALL The UNPROTO path and address is also used for beacon packets ________________________________________________________________________________ USers n n Default 1 1 Mode Packet Host UR _________________________________ Parameters __________________________________ n 0 to 10 specifies the number of active s...

Page 284: ..._____________________ ON The modem selected in QVPacket is automatically selected OFF The modem selected in QHPacket is automatically selected ________________________________________________________________________________ Use the VHF Command for immediate software control of the PK 900 s modem selection This command makes changing between HF and VHF packet modems on each radio port easier Rememb...

Page 285: ...me had errors and PASSALL was off preventing the packet from being displayed to the screen DCD Threshold The DCD LCD was off when the packet was received MONITOR The MONITOR value was set too low to receive this frame MCON MCON was set too low to receive this type of frame MPROTO MPROTO was set to off and the received packet was probably a NET ROM or TCP IP frame MFROM MTO The frame was blocked by...

Page 286: ...u type is held in a buffer until you type a space a carriage return a line feed ENQ character 05 CTRL E or the You can edit words before the transmit buffer s contents are sent to the radio When WORDOUT is OFF each character you type is sent to the radio just as you typed it without any delay ________________________________________________________________________________ WRu ON OFF Default OFF Mo...

Page 287: ... changing modes to ASCII Otherwise the PK 900 will attempt to receive ASCII at 45 bauds To help reduce the chance of this error occurring the PK 900 will disable XBAUD by setting it to 0 every time the SIGNAL Identification mode is used and the command OK is entered The XBAUD command supports data rates from 1 to 9600 bits per second although the PK 900 internal modem only supports data rates to 1...

Page 288: ...nctions PTT line are active OFF Transmit functions PTT line are disabled ________________________________________________________________________________ When XMITOK is OFF the PTT lines to your transmitter on both Radio Ports are disabled the transmit function is inhibited All other PK 900 functions remain the same Your PK 900 generates and sends packets as requested but does not key the radio s ...

Page 289: ...____________ This command is primarily of interest to HOST mode programmers ZFREE is an immediate read only command that returns the amount of data RAM that is available in the PK 900 n is the number of free internal memory blocks Each memory block holds 28 bytes of data Use the ZFREE command to avoid the situation in which a host mode application sends a block of data to be transmitted but the co...

Page 290: ...and Maildrop command is in progress in progress 2 No maildrop messages The maildrop contains for local sysop messages for local sysop 3 7 Reserved Reserved ZSTATUS is meant to be a read only command for use by host applications in determining the status of the unit although the user may write a value to ZSTATUS if desired Bit 0 shows whether all characters have been transmitted in non packet modes...

Page 291: ...t jitter tolerance in ARQ AMTOR AScii Immediate Command Starts the ASCII RTTY mode ASPect 2 576 Sets the received aspect ratio in FAX AUdelay 2 2 20 msec Sets delay before audio is applied after PTT AUTOBaud OFF Enables Autobaud routine at every power on AWlen 7 Sets ASCII word length to RS 232 terminal Ax25l2v2 ON ON Sets AX 25 Version 2 0 packet protocol AXDelay 0 0 zero Sets packet Repeater key...

Page 292: ...sses DWait 16 16 Sets the delay for digipeated packets EAS OFF Echoes characters as sent non packet modes Echo ON Echoes typed keyboard characters ERrchar 5F _ Sets AMTOR Morse displayed error character EScape OFF Sends ESC character 1B to display as 24 FAx Immediate Command Enters the facsimile mode FAXNeg OFF Reverses the black white FAX sense FEc Immediate Command Starts an AMTOR FEC transmissi...

Page 293: ...of all packet protocols MRpt ON ON Shows digipeaters in packet headers MSPeed 20 Sets the Morse speed in WPM 5 99 MStamp OFF Time stamps monitored packet frames MTExt see text Sets a 120 character MailDrop sign on message MTo None None Calls Monitors packets TO other station callsigns MWeight 10 Sets the Morse transmit dot weighting MXmit OFF Monitors transmitted packet frames MYAlias None None Se...

Page 294: ...n Rcve Immediate Command Selects the receive mode Morse RTTY AMTOR RECeive 04 CTRL D Selects the receive character used in text REDispla 12 CTRL R Re displays current terminal input buffer RELink OFF OFF Re connects after link fails due to retries RESET Immediate Command RESETs PK 900 and bbRAM to factory defaults RESptime 0 0 Sets the minimum delay before sending an ACK RESTART Immediate Command ...

Page 295: ...rs 1 1 Sets allowed number of packet multi connects USOs OFF Sets RTTY unshift on space Vhf ON ON Selects VHF Packet wide 1000 Hz shift VOltage Immediate Command Displays PK 900 critical voltage levels WHYnot OFF Displays reason why packet not displayed WIdeshft OFF Selects RTTY wide or narrow 200 Hz shift WOrdout OFF Sets Word output in RTTY AMTOR PACTOR modes WRu OFF Enables auto answerback AAB ...

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Page 305: ...APPENDIX C PK 900 Display Board PARTS PICTORIAL 1 93 C 1 ...

Page 306: ...PK 900 Main Board Logic Section PARTS PICTORIAL 1 93 C 2 APPENDIX C ...

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Page 313: ...on pin 8 In this case pin 8 is unused We suggest you make the connection as diagrammed even if your radio does not have receive audio available at pin 8 so that if you change to a newer model lcom radio the cable will be ready to use without modifications If you make this connection and are unable to receive use the speaker jack on the rear panel of the radio as a source of receive audio Note 4 If...

Page 314: ...TR 22 7 TR 3 8 TR 33 7 TR 4 8 8 TR 4C 8 8 TR 4CW 8 TR 6 8 8 TR 7 7 UV 3 7 ICOM Figure Note IC 02 SERIES 5 2 IC 03 SERIES 5 2 IC 04 SERIES 5 2 IC 12 5 2 IC 120 12 3 IC 1201 12 3 IC 1271 SERIES 12 3 IC 1275 SERIES 12 3 IC 12G SERIES 5 2 IC 2 SERIES 5 2 IC 20 10 IC 202 11 IC 21 10 IC 211 15 IC 215 11 IC 22 10 IC 228 SERIES 12 3 IC 229 SERIES 49 IC 22A 10 IC 22S 11 IC 22U 12 3 IC 230 10 IC 2330 SERIES...

Page 315: ...729 12 3 IC 729 16 IC 730 12 3 IC 735 12 3 IC 735 16 4 IC 737 12 3 IC 737 16 IC 740 12 3 IC 740 13 IC 745 12 3 IC 745 13 IC 751 12 3 IC 751 13 IC 761 12 3 IC 761 17 4 IC 765 12 3 IC 765 17 4 IC 781 12 3 IC 781 17 4 IC 901 12 3 IC 970 16 4 IC D1A 9 IC P2 SERIES 5 2 IC P3 SERIES 5 2 IC P4 SERIES 5 2 IC U2 SERIES 5 2 IC U4 SERIES 5 2 IC V21 SERIES 5 2 IC W21 SERIES 5 2 IC W2A 9 IC X21 SERIES 5 2 IC X...

Page 316: ... 35 TS 430 3 TS 440 3 TS 440 34 TS 450 3 TS 450 38 TS 450 54 9 TS 490 11 TS 50 39 TS 50 53 7 TS 520 11 TS 530 11 TS 60 39 TS 60 53 7 TS 670 3 TS 680 3 TS 680 35 TS 690 3 TS 690 35 TS 700 11 TS 701 3 TS 711 3 TS 711 34 TS 780 3 TS 790 3 TS 790 35 TS 811 3 TS 811 34 TS 820 11 TS 830 11 TS 850 3 TS 850 39 TS 850 55 9 TS 900 11 TS 930 3 TS 940 3 TS 940 34 TS 940 56 9 TS 950 3 TS 950 39 TW 4000 3 TW 41...

Page 317: ...FT 2400 30 FT 26 5 2 FT 270 26 FT 2700 27 FT 290 MK I 26 FT 290 MK II 18 FT 290 MK II 27 FT 2F 22 FT 311RM 27 FT 33 5 2 FT 41 5 2 FT 411 5 2 FT 415 5 2 FT 416 5 2 FT 470 5 2 FT 4700 27 FT 480 18 FT 5100 18 FT 5100 48 FT 5200 27 FT 530 5 2 FT 6200 27 FT 650 18 FT 690 MK I 26 FT 690 MK II 18 FT 690 MK II 27 FT 703 5 2 FT 707 18 FT 708 29 FT 709 5 2 FT 711RH 27 FT 712 18 FT 7200 18 FT 726 18 FT 727 5...

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Page 324: ...s or units submitted for replacement under this warranty must be paid by the purchaser Correct maintenance repair and use are important to insure proper performance from this product Carefully read the Instruction Manual This warranty does not apply to any defect AEA determines is caused by 1 Improper maintenance or repair including the installation of parts or accessories that do not conform to t...

Page 325: ...listen modes show link and connect at tempts Automatic selection of AMTOR or PACTOR modes when a received signal is tuned with the ARXTOR command Enhanced packet MHEARD function identifies TCP IP NET ROM and The Net stations MYALIAS has been expanded to enable the two ham family to use more than one packet callsign with their PK 900 PACTOR roundtable operation has been enhanced with the PTROUND co...

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Page 327: ...ame packet sent by the source station needed to be received correctly by the digipeater s and the destination station The acknowledgement of the packet is also neededtopassfromthedestinationstationthroughthedigipeater thenarriveatthe source station intact If there were any errors during a hop or if one of the stations in the digipeating path failed to forward an ack packet the whole packet acknowl...

Page 328: ...3 Once connected to your Gateway a user deals with a command processor similar to that in a regular node Command responses from your Gateway start with toshowthatthey recomingfromyourGatewaycommandprocessor ratherthanthe fromyourTNC waschosenbecausethe ispresentintheAMTOR character set while the other examples are not Operation Here s what a user would see when using your Gateway as a packet node ...

Page 329: ...n as the source but with a difference the user s SSID is decremented by one to avoid protocol conflicts on the same frequency Here is an example of the frames sent in establishing a typical connection with the MONITOR command set to 5 USER GATE C GATE USER UA GATE USER I N7ML Gateway Type for help de GATE B C D J L N S USER GATE RR USER GATE I c remote GATE USER RR USER 15 REMOTE C REMOTE USER 15 ...

Page 330: ... Connect command The Disconnect command may be usedatanytimebeforetheconnectionisestablished regardlessofany preceding commands Once a connection is established and your Gateway is in the Converse mode the user can end the connection either by sending a B ye command to the destination station if that station supports it or by issuing a Disconnect request to the user s own TNC If the user disconnec...

Page 331: ...ume and the DCD threshold control must be set so that the DCD display is lit if and only if signals are present RADIO must be set to RADIO 1 2 both ports enabled Modems using the MODEM command supporting the appropriate OPMODE on Port 1 and packet on Port 2 must be selected XGATEWAY must be ON Packet in Packet out Here is what a user sees when using a cross port Gateway as a packet node cmd C N7ML...

Page 332: ...ssing the AMTOR mode through Port 1 of your Gateway ex N7ML 7 cmd C N7ML 7 CONNECTED to N7ML 7 N7ML Gateway Other port 1 is AMTOR Type for help You are on Port 2 1200 bps Packet Your ID is KB7B 15 de N7ML 7 B C D J L N P S p 1 Cross Access to Port 1 AMTOR Your ID is KKBB de N7ML 7 B C D J L N P S At this point there are two ways for KB7B to establish an AMTOR link the first is to call a known stat...

Page 333: ...s PACTOR Type for help You are on Port 2 1200 bps Packet Your ID is KB7B 15 de N7ML 7 B C D J L N P S p 1 Cross Access to Port 1 PACTOR Your ID is KB7B de N7ML 7 B C D J L N P S One way the user can establish a PACTOR link is to call a station directly cmd C WF7A STAY CONNECTED to WF7A at N7ML 7 Note Over CTRL Z End CTRL D You re sending HI RICH The other way is to call CQ in PACTOR Broadcast mode...

Page 334: ...f a packet user is already connected to your Gateway on Port 2 and has issued the PORT 1 command to access AMTOR the Gateway detects AMTOR calls only to the packet user s selcall not your MYSELCAL There is no PORT command for AMTOR access The AMTOR user is given access to packet on Port 2 automatically An AMTOR station linked to the Gateway command processor doesn t need to send tolettheGatewaytra...

Page 335: ...BBShaswastedtimewaitingforthenextcommand preventing other stations from using the BBS L isten Port 2 packet frames are shown to the user as if MONITOR and MCON were set to a value of 4 UI I C D UA and DM frames Some TNC monitoring characters are translated for AMTOR L LISTENING ON KB7B DE N7ML 7 GA P2 N7BCD W1AW C P2 N7BCD W1AW D L LISTENING OFF KB7B DE N7ML 7 GA S end The Gateway sends UI frames ...

Page 336: ... user Once a packet connection has beenestablishedonPort2 theGatewayseizesthePACTORlinkonPort1onlywhen it has data to send to the user then it gives the link back Here s what a PACTOR user sees when connecting to your Gateway cmd PTCONN N7ML N7ML Gateway Type for help You are on Port 2 1200 bps packet Your ID is KB7B 15 KB7B de N7ML B C D J L N S One way to establish a packet connection is to call...

Page 337: ...ers Range PORT command argument not 1 or 2 Callsign No argument in the Connect command What Unrecognized command VIA Connect command second argument wasn t STAY or VIA Not during connect While a connect attempt was in progress the user issued a Listen a Send or another Connect command or tried to change Ports the user must first disconnect Already disconnected The user tried to disconnect when no ...

Page 338: ... Port 2 The MDMON command controls the monitoring of Gateway activity in addition to monitoring Maildrop activity To operate AMTOR or PACTOR modes normally no gateway disable the cross mode gateway by setting XGATEWAY OFF Subsequent user connect attempts to your MYSELCAL or MYPTCALL will go to the TNC not the Gateway Making changes in the OPMODE RADIO or MODEM command settings while a user is conn...

Page 339: ... command has been added to enhance PACTOR operation When ARXTOR isturnedON yourDSP1232willrecognizeeitherPACTORorAMTORlinkattempts In addition when monitoring PACTOR stations with PTLIST AMTOR stations will also be heard if ARXTOR is ON ARXTOR is also useful for those running the PACTOR or AMTOR Maildrop When ARXTOR is ON remote stations can connect to your maildrop in either PACTOR or AMTOR See t...

Page 340: ...detected by ALIST and PTLIST modes as well as AMTOR Standby mode There are two methods of FEC mode recognition AMTOR Standby ALIST and PTLIST all use FEC idles to recognize FEC transmis sions However in the AMTOR Standby mode FEC text patterns are recognized as an additional quick recognition method which may speed locking onto a FEC signal ARXTOR ON enables PTLIST mode to monitor AMTOR ARQ transm...

Page 341: ...tomatically switching from PACTOR to AMTOR and back again the modem isn t changed ATxrtty n Default 0 Mode Morse Baudot and ASCII Host At Parameters n 0 to 250 signifying the length of time in units of 100 msec to delay before sending text ATXRTTY allows Morse Baudot or ASCII characters to be transmitted automati cally whenever they re typed and the TNC is in the Converse mode When all the charact...

Page 342: ...nally codes new punctuation characters using NULL as an escape while in FIGS case Thus CODE 8 supports all 95 printable ASCII characters 20 7E plus CR LF space and ENQ while in AMTOR operating mode but not BELL backspace and TAB At the moment this protocol is used only on links between mailboxes forwarding messages It could be used with the AEA AMTOR to Packet Gateway if all users had CODE 8 CODE ...

Page 343: ...e commands The error message for an Expert command is now separate from the unknown command mes sage cmd FRICK EXPERT command In Host mode all commands are available regardless of the setting of EXPERT This command will not affect operation of AEA PAKRATT programs The following DISPLAY lists denote when a command is available while EXPERT is OFF Novice Retain means the command keeps its setting du...

Page 344: ... Novice Retain MYIdent Novice Retain MYPTcall Novice Retain MYSelcal Novice Retain WRu cmd DISPLAY L ACRPack ALFPack Ax25l2v2 CFrom Retain CONMode CONPerm Retain DFrom Retain FUlldup GUsers Novice HBaud Novice Retain LIte MAXframe Novice NEwmode NOmode PACLen Novice PASSAll RAdio Novice RELink REtry Novice SQuelch TRIes Novice Retain USers Novice Vhf Novice XGateway Novice XMITOk Novice cmd DISPLA...

Page 345: ...cmd DISPLAY T ACKprior AUdelay AXDelay AXHang CHeck CMdtime CPactime DWait FRack Novice FRIck PACTime PErsist Novice PPersist RESptime SLottime Novice TXdelay Novice GUsers n Default 0 Mode Packet AMTOR PACTOR Host GU Parameters n 0 to 3 specifies the maximum number of users allowed on the gateway GUSERS allows up to n number of stations to connect to the callsign in MYGATE for gateway operation T...

Page 346: ...d n n Default 0 0 0 sec Mode Packet AMTOR PACTOR Host Mi Parameters n 0 to 250 specifies the Morse ID timing in units of 10 second intervals Morse ID now works in AMTOR and PACTOR modes on both ARQ and broadcast trans missions At intervals you set your TNC identifies itself in Morse Code while maintaining the internal timing for AMTOR or PACTOR Because of the nature of these operating modes the de...

Page 347: ...L as the source callsign MYGate call n Default none Mode Packet Host MY Parameters call Packet Gateway and Node callsign used by other stations n 0 to 15 an optional substation ID SSID Call is the callsign of the Gateway or Node function of your TNC See the Gateway section for a description of the AEA Node and cross mode gate way features OVer Immediate Command Mode AMTOR PACTOR Host OV An immedia...

Page 348: ...ode supports iden tification within the calling blocks no source callsign can be shown PTRound ON OFF Default OFF Mode PACTOR Host Pr Parameters OFF Returns the TNC to the PACTOR Standby mode after a PTSEND transmission ON Returns the TNC to the PACTOR Listen mode after a PTSEND transmission PTROUND facilitates PACTOR roundtable conversations with multiple stations using the PTSEND FEC mode as opp...

Page 349: ...entification and Acquisition Mode SIAM The PK 900 now identifies the PACTOR mode WOrdout ON OFF Default OFF Mode Baudot ASCII AMTOR PACTOR and Morse Host WO Parameters OFF Typed characters are sent directly to the transmitter ON Type characters are held in the PK 900 s transmit buffer until a space CR LF TAB RECEIVE CWID ENQ or character s is typed With WORDOUT OFF the backspace character is trans...

Page 350: ...s OFF Stations connecting to your MYGATE callsign don t have access to the other radio port ON Stations connecting to your MYGATE callsign can cross connect to the other radio port XGATEWAY must be turned on to allow cross port connections the PORT command see GUSERS must be enabled in order to accomplish this ...

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Page 352: ...PK 900 Gateway Option Supplement 28 ...

Page 353: ... receivers can be remotely programmed via the TNC The TNC s internal time and date can be set from the information obtained from the GPS re ceiver There are provisions for an external input to cause the sending of NMEA strings such as from a radio control head button The TNC can even operate packet and GPS at the same time using the commercial mode See You re in Command chaper G section for GPS co...

Page 354: ...This also lets you send and receive messages within APRS All Timewave TNCs can be part of a system such as this This configuration allows anyone with any Timewave TNC who is run ning APRS software in their computer to take part in this GPS technology You don t need a GPS receiver to pull down location information from the satellites because you enter your position manually on the APRS computerized...

Page 355: ...of the vehicles would receive short messages from the coordinator such as Runner down 4th and Main Vehicle 2 respond These short messages appear on the individual driver s computer screen much like typical Packet messages The messages can also be accompanied by com puter beeps to alert the driver to an incoming message APRS includes a bulletin feature where all vehicles could receive messages simu...

Page 356: ...ing the directions in Chapter 2 2 Type MY your call sign 9 then press ENTER For example if your call sign is WA7GCI you would enter MY WA7GCI 9 then press ENTER The 9 will cause others to see you as a car on the APRS map 3 Program the UNPROTO command to UN APRS via RELAY then press ENTER This programs your unproto path to APRS via RELAY 4 Type GLOCtx 6 then press ENTER This causes the TNC to trans...

Page 357: ...of the PK 12 Connect Ground to pin 1 Connect the GPS receiver or ULTIMETER II NMEA output to pin 2 Momentary closure to ground causes TNC to immediately parse and transmit its location pin 4 This option not essential for operation gives you the ability to configure a radio head button to transmit position information at anytime 9 When done using the TNC as a Stand Alone Tracking Device connect you...

Page 358: ...for HSP operation follow these steps 1 Connect your TNC to your computer and to your GPS receiver using the Timewave APRS Adapter Cable following the steps noted previously Get the computer running APRS software and the TNC running Leave the GPS receiver off until you are ready to receive the NMEA string 2 Press ALT S to bring up the setup menu 3 Now press G for GPS 4 Press H for HSP 5 Now press A...

Page 359: ...sed to switch the adapter to the GPS receiver Once the GPS string is received the computer running APRS releases flow control switching back to the TNC A pre made and tested cable can be purchased from Timewave for 30 00 plus shipping and handling Visit the Timewave website http www timewave com An APRS adapter cable can be made from the following components and schematic Item Item Item Item Item ...

Page 360: ...er 2 2 Type MY your call sign then press ENTER For example if your callsign is WA7GCI you would enter MY WA7GCI then press ENTER 3 Type UN APRS via RELAY then press ENTER This programs your UNPROTO path to APRS via RELAY 4 Type GLOCtx 60 then press ENTER This causes the TNC to transmit the weather infor mation every 10 minutes The seconds can range from 0 disabled to 255 in ten second in crements ...

Page 361: ...LTIMETER II Change your terminal baud rate to 2400 baud to match that of the TNC 10 Now type GPSMode 2 then press ENTER Now press ENTER again to enter the stand alone weather station mode Now disconnect the serial cable and connect the ULTIMETER II and you are ready to transmit weather information in an APRS system TNC Commands GENDchar n Default 0D CTRL M The default GENDchar of 0D requires the s...

Page 362: ...signs this polling feature will not work When a packet is received addressed to the GPOLLCall callsign the TNC will begin pars ing the programmed NMEA command or commands When the NMEA headers are successfully received the TNC will transmit the GPS data as a UI Frame This GPOLLCall can also be used for digipeating GPSAuto ON OFF Default OFF ON When powered up or restarted the TNC switches to GPSMo...

Page 363: ...he TNC successfully parses one or both of its NMEA sentences it will transmit the information parsed as a single UI frame If there is no data received from the GPS re ceiver within four seconds it will reset its GLOCtx timer and continue Mode 2 TNC connected directly to an ULTIMETER II The TNC will begin parsing its programmed NMEA sentences under the following conditions 1 GLOCtx timer expires 2 ...

Page 364: ... UI done Note that the TNC in the vehicle replied with the message done This indicates that the com mand was properly received and the parameter was changed The following is a list of additional messages and their meaning Remote programming messages Message Meaning done the parameter was programmed bad not supported incorrect format or bad data too many too many parameters entered range numeric en...

Page 365: ...TNC GPS Upgrade Addendum 13 13 13 13 13 ...

Page 366: ... many stations If you operate in a traffic net then changes in the AUdelay at both ends of the connection may further optimize traffic flow You may also require a bit more drive to the radio using the TX Level 1 control for the same level of drive that you had before upgrading the PK 900 To take advantage of the new CW filters you can set the 50 100 200 Hz filters by selecting the proper CW modem ...

Page 367: ... the steps in the upgrade procedure 1 Remove Power 2 Remove 4 screws holding chassis top 3 Locate and remove U36 U37 and U44 See figure A Slide the flat blade of the screwdriver under the chip and elevate carefully Do the same thing at the other end of the IC and it will pop out cleanly BE SURE the screwdriver is between the IC and the chip socket NOT between the chip socket and the board 4 Locate...

Page 368: ...essary b Peel paper back from the plastic standoff and insert in the hole in the upper right hand side of the DSP board near U5 The standoff is inserted from the bottom of the board c Carefully insert the DSP board into sockets U36 and U44 See Fig A 8 Re install screw removed in step 6 through the board into standoff to secure the board 9 Solder the wires from the DSP board as follows See fig B Th...

Page 369: ......

Page 370: ...Figure B REMOVE VIA ...

Page 371: ...7 6 16 7 15 8 9 10 20 19 18 J1 PK900 16V8 HD0 HD1 HD2 HD3 HD4 HD5 HD6 HD7 Vd 5 HD0 HD1 HD2 HD3 HD4 HD5 HD6 HD7 Vd 5 HA0 HA1 HA2 HA3 HA4 HA5 HA6 HA7 HA8 HA9 HA10 HA11 HA12 HA13 HA14 HA15 HA16 HA0 HA1 HA2 HA3 HA4 HA5 HA6 HA7 HA8 HA9 HA10 HA11 HA12 HA13 HA14 HA15 HA16 Vd 5 C6 10uF HD0 HD1 HD2 HD3 HA3 HA4 HA5 HA6 HA7 HA2 HA0 HA1 Vd 5 IORD IOWR DSP_D10 DSP_D9 DSP_A0 DSP_D11 Vd 5 DSP_A1 DSP_WR DSP_CS DS...

Page 372: ...4 BMS 21 CMS 25 PF0 MODA 94 D9 68 D10 69 D11 70 D12 72 D13 73 D14 74 D15 75 D8 65 D3 58 PF1 MODB 93 PF2 MODC 89 ELIN 49 ELOUT 48 ECLK 47 PF6 29 PF3 88 PF5 27 PF7 30 FL0 87 FL1 86 FL2 85 CLKIN 13 XTAL 14 CLKOUT 16 DT1 37 TFS1 38 SCK1 42 RFS1 39 Vdd 36 Vdd 59 Vdd 67 Vdd 90 GND 3 GND 12 GND 17 GND 28 GND 41 GND 60 GND 66 GND 80 GND 92 Vdd 18 GND 71 A0 97 RD 20 WR 19 DR1 40 DT0 31 TFS0 32 SCK0 35 RFS0...

Page 373: ...1 PK 900 PSK Sound Card Interface Upgrade Kit A 06265 Installation and Operation Manual ...

Page 374: ... for damage caused by accidents abuse misuse improper installation or unauthorized attempts to repair the unit This warranty does not cover any parts of the PK 900 except the A 06265 Timewaveserviceworkperformedinconnectionwiththiswarrantyiswarranted to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for 30 days from the date of rerpair All other terms of the limited warranty apply to the servic...

Page 375: ...Introduction 1 PSK Sound Card Interface Board Installation 2 PSK Sound Card Interface Board Settings 3 PSK Sound Card Interface Connections 4 PSK Sound Card Interface Operation 5 PSK Sound Card Interface Schematic Diagrams ...

Page 376: ...his kit is A 06265 Follow the instructions carefully and you should have no problem in getting the unit on the air If you do have questions Timewave has technical support available at 651 489 5080 and service timewave com Please read before installing this upgrade kit If your PK 900 has a version A mainboard contact Timewave for installation in structions ...

Page 377: ...ve CD ROM also contains this document in pdf format Here are the tools you will need Wire Cutters Phillips Screwdriver Needle nose pliers Flat head screwdriver 3 16 hex nut driver Solder pencil and solder Solder sucker tool or solder wick for cleaning the pads on C40 C89 and the R253 Clear an area to work on your PK 900 You should take standard anti static electricity precautions when working on a...

Page 378: ...m the PK 900 8 Remove the remaining screws on the bottom of the chassis that fastens the motherboard to the chassis 9 Remove the motherboard from the chassis 10 If you have a 9600 baud board installed near the back panel carefully remove the 9600 baud board by removing the four screws holding it down and gently pulling it upward to remove it from its socket Be very careful not to bend the 20 pins ...

Page 379: ...y burn the board or damage the pad or barrel in the hole When hole and the lead are clear of solder gently remove the component from the top of the board In some cases it may be easier to remove the component by clipping the leads of the component close to the body of the component before desoldering it Then while holding the lead with the needle nose pliers CAREFULLY heat the solder just until th...

Page 380: ...ar Pad on PK 900 main board 5 Connect J3 RX audio out white wire to the pad on the PK 900 DSP board labeled C89 Rear 6 Connect J7 TX audio in brown wire to the C40 left pad on PK 900 Main board 7 Connect J4 TX Audio out orange wire to the C40 right pad on PK 900 main board 8 If you have one re install the 9600 baud board Be very careful not to bend the 20 pins on the bottom of the board Fasten the...

Page 381: ...mend that you remove the capacitors and resistors by desoldering them from the back of the board Remove the solder from the holes with a solder sucker tool or solder wick Use care not to overheat the board You may burn the board or damage the pad or barrel in the hole When hole and the lead are clear of solder gently remove the component from the top of the board In some cases it may be easier to ...

Page 382: ...udio out white wire to the C89 Front pad on the PK 900 main board 6 Connect J7 TX audio in brown wire to the C40 left pad on PK 900 Main board 7 Connect J4 TX Audio out orange wire to the C40 right pad on PK 900 main board 8 If you have one re install the 9600 baud board Be very careful not to bend the 20 pins on the bottom of the board Fasten the board with the four screws removed when the board ...

Page 383: ...11 ...

Page 384: ...12 ...

Page 385: ...the receiver audio signal output level to the sound card input Use this trimpot to reduce the signal level to the soundcard if your received signal level is overdriving your sound card input Check the sound card input level indicators on your computer audio control program Trimpot RV2 adjusts the Sound Card audio signal output level to the transmitter audio input Use this trimpot to reduce the sig...

Page 386: ...ne plug tip and ring are the signal connections The tip is the factory default connection To select the ring use Jumper JH1 on the Jack PC board mounted on the back panel Phone plug sleeve is the signal return connection FROM From Sound Card Audio Ouput to transmitter audio input OUTPUT Insert phone plug into sound input card jack green ring around jack on most sound cards The phone plug tip and r...

Page 387: ...omputer CPU Isolation Transformers Serial RS 232 Sound Card Audio Port PTT IN AFSK IN Radio Port 1 DSP Filters IN OUT AFSK OUT Sound Card Adaptor System Block Diagram PK 900 PSK Multimode Controller PTT Data Audio Sound Card Data Audio PK 900 Data Audio Serial RS 232 To Computer Speakers ...

Page 388: ...minal for a quick check of your data controller Read the ModemSwitch help file for more information Be sure to download the latest upgrade for ModemSwitch See the Timewave document PSKSoftware pdf for more third party software information on Sound Card programs Both are on the Timewave CD and the the Timewave website http www timewave com A new command has been added to the PK 900 to select the so...

Page 389: ...17 Section 5 PK 900 PSK Sound Card Interface Schematic Diagrams ...

Page 390: ... Speaker Out Sound Card Audio in From RX Audio out To TX Audio in From PK 900 From PK 900 From PK 900 Audio out To PK 900 Audio in RV2 500 R1 0 R2 10K R9 10K RV1 500 J8 PAD J9 PAD J10 PAD D2 LED R10 3 3K 3 2 1 8 4 U1A OPAMP_DUAL 5 6 7 U1B OPAMP_DUAL R3 10K R12 20K R4 10K C5 10 uF C6 10 uF C7 10 uF C8 1 uF JH3 RX Gain R13 47K JH4 RX Gain default on VI 1 ADJ 4 VO 2 VO 3 VO 6 VO 7 U2 LM317_SO8 R14 27...

Page 391: ...900P 1 PK900JAC Title Size TW P N Date File Sheet of A Engineer Project Timewave Technology Inc R Gawtry J1 PHONEJACK STEREO J2 PHONEJACK STEREO J3 PHONEJACK STEREO J4 PAD J5 PAD J6 PAD J7 PAD C5 1 nF C6 1 nF C7 1 nF C8 1 nF 1 2 3 JH1 JHS3 1 2 3 JH2 JHS3 ...

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