18
status. This may result in poor communications efficiency by sending packets that will not be received.
4-4-12 CONSTAMP command
Abbrev.:CONS default: OFF parameter: ON/OFF
example: CONS ON
When ON, adds date and time to the displayed packet when connected or not.
ON: When the date and time is previously set using DAYTIME command, the date and time of connection will
appear on the display.
OFF: It does not appear on the display when connected.
4-5 Commands without being connected
These commands are used when sending packets without being connected to another station. Some examples of
unconnected messages might be a “CQ” message, an informational beacon, a chat session with many stations or
APRS location beacons.
In this mode, the receiving station(s) will discard incomplete data without requesting a retry and the transmitting
station does not re-transmit. Accordingly there is no guarantee of error-free transmission in this mode. In this
chapter we explain:
UNPROTO to set to send data directly or through relay stations without being connected
BEACON, BTEXT for the beacon related commands
To broadcast GPS data there are LPATH, LOCATION, and LTEXT commands. These will be explained in the
GPS chapter, but they are similar to UNPROTO, BEACON and BTEXT so that they may be used as secondary
beacons.
4-5-1 UNPROTO commands
Abbrev. U default: CQ parameter: destination’s callsign (with up to 8 with using VIA)
example: U CQ
U APRS V RELAY,WIDE
This is used to designate relay station for your unconnected transmission
4-5-2 BEACON
command
Abbrev.: B default: EVERY 0 parameter: EVERY/AFTER 0-250
Example: B E 6
This is to set the timing of the transmission of beacons. The prefix E allows that the beacon will be sent at every
interval specified by the following number. The prefix A allows that a beacon will be sent only once when nothing
is received during the time period specified by the following number. No beacon will be sent when the number “0”
is set. Each unit is a multiple of 10 seconds.
4-5-3 BTEXT command (Beacon Text)
Abbrev. BT default: none parameter: up to 159 characters.
If this parameter is left blank, no message will be sent. Use % character to intentionally leave it blank. This text
will be beaconed at intervals designated under the BEACON command
4-6
Commands to set parameters for packets
In the converse mode, characters entered from the terminal will be sent as a packet, or sequence of packets, to
the receiving station. These commands are used by the TNC to make those packets. When one of the following
conditions is satisfied, the input characters will be considered as an information frame (I frame) and sent.
The specific characters are input : SENDPAC
Relative command: CR