PK232COM READ.ME Page 1 Read G3ZCZ.LAN for an overview of the PK232COM concept. The PK232COM files are described in the PK232COM.DOC file. YOU MUST EDIT THE PK232COM.SYS FILE BEFORE YOU CAN PUT THE PROGRAM ON THE AIR FOR THE FIRST TIME. Use your word processor in the NON-Document mode. This file tells PK232COM what is special about your station. You must edit the first 10 lines as a minimum, then read the documentation file section 4.3 for the remaining lines. The contents of the file are as follows. 4.3.1 The first line. The first line contains your callsign. Please do not use G8BTB. Replace G8BTB with yours. You may use / characters if you wish. This is the call sign that will be used in the non- Packet modes. You may thus use "portable designators" such as G3ZCZ/A, G3ZCZ/W3 or G3ZCZ/4X, which you cannot do in Packet. IF YOU DON'T CHANGE THE CALL SIGN, YOU WILL GET AN ERROR MESSAGE AND THE PROGRAM WILL NOT RUN. This is the call that will be monitored for in the Digipeat monitoring mode. In this mode which is toggled on and off by the Alt F key, if someone uses you as a digipeater while you are not connected to anyone else, the event will be logged to disk. This mode will only work if your callsign as stored in this line is a valid (uppercase only) packet callsign. For example, in the PK-232, if the callsign is G3ZCZ then the sequence >G3ZCZ> will be recognised as a digipeat and the event logged. Thus for example 4X6AA*>G3ZCZ>4Z4ZB would be logged as a digipeat event. Now if the callsign in this line is G3ZCZ/4X then the event will not be recognised as a digireat because the computer would be checking for a G3ZCZ/4X in the packet header and it would never see G3ZCZ/4X. This option is inhibited for reciprocal callsign operators due to the AX2.5 protocol itself. If you have a / character in your callsign, and use the base call for packet identifying the location in the CQ text, then the function will work if you place the "portable location" as a (c) Joe Kasser G3ZCZ PK232COM READ.ME Page 2 suffix. For example, if the call is G3ZCZ/4X and the packet identification is G3ZCZ, then the digipeat monitor will work. If the call was entered as 4X/G3ZCZ the digipeat monitor would check for 4X and would not appear to work. Store your callsign using UPPERCASE characters if you want this option to work (IE. G3ZCZ). If you use lower case (ie. g3zcz), the option will not be enabled as recognition will never take place. The PK232 automatically converts case to upper case in the non packet communications modes. If you are using an SSID (eg. G3ZCZ-8) in the packet communications mode, you should enter the whole call INCLUDING the SSID. 4.3.2 The second line. The second line contains the AMTOR SELCAL configured for your callsign. You use it again later to tell the PK232 what the SELCAL is. This line just tells it to PK232COM. 4.3.3 The third line. The third line contains the line of text transmitted by the PK-232 in a CQ call (in any mode except for MORSE). Think of this message as a CQTEXT line. Edit this line as well. 4.3.4 The fourth and fifth lines The band and power information are set up from the default values stored in the configuration file PK232COM.SYS. They are displayed in the status window. If you operate on another band or your transmitter uses a different power level change the default values in the file to reflect your custom default state. The fourth line contains the band information. The default value is 2 for 2 Meters. Use the Meter value for the band to keep the display correct. The fifth line contains the value for the transmitter power. The default value is 10 for 10 watts. 4.3.5 The sixth line The sixth line contains a number which tells the program how long to wait before transmitting a CQ call when in the beacon (automatic) mode. A value (c) Joe Kasser G3ZCZ PK232COM READ.ME Page 3 of 4 corresponds to about 2 minutes. This value of time will vary depending on the clock speed of your computer. You may have to experiment with different values. The default value is 0 which inhibits the beacon mode. 4.3.6 The seventh Line The seventh line configures the LAN store and forward capacity of the system also known as the Message Relay Capability. If it is a '0' (default state) your computer will not accept messages for forwarding. If it is a '1', it will. See Appen- dix 2 for details about LANs. Remember, if you configure your computer to store and forward messages, you have a moral obligation to deliver them. The status of this function shows up as an [R] in your status display and in the connect message which is transmitted to the other station at con- nect time, as an 'R' suffix to the message when active. 4.3.7 The eighth line This line contains the default Communications port. The default value is 1. You must leave it set to 1. THIS VERSION OF PK232COM CAN ONLY BE USED WITH COMM1. 4.3.8 The ninth line (TNC type) This line tells the program which TNC you are using. The PK232 command set is slightly dif- ferent to those of TNC2 in the packet mode. Thus the command dialog has to be changed somewhat to make the 'SOLO, TRAFFIC, CQ/BEACON and MAIL' ter- minal modes work correctly for different TNC's. NOTE that program does not check the TNC in the Non Packet modes, so for example if you try to set a TNC2 to AMTOR, PK232COM will send the PK232 commands to the TNC2 which should then return an error message. Valid TNC's are PK232 TNC1 TNC2 (don't type the '.'). The TNC2 used to test PK232COM 1.41 was an MFJ 1274. 4.3.9 The Tenth line (Terminal Baud Rate). This line tells PK232COM what baud rate the TNC (c) Joe Kasser G3ZCZ PK232COM READ.ME Page 4 is set to. This is the baudrate on the RS-232 line between the TNC and the computer. Valid baud rates for PK232COM are 1200, 2400, 4800 and 9600. If you specify something else PK232COM will default to 1200. If the TNC does not use an interrupt driven serial port you may experience problems when using baud rates greater than 1200. The PK-232 does not like baud rates faster than 2400, and sometimes not even that. Use 1200 until you have tested and are sure that a faster one will work. This program has been tested on a TNC2 using a terminal baud rate of 9600 bauds and worked correctly. 4.3.10 The QTC _Snatch or Automatic Connect Attempt Flag. If the value entered on this line is a 1, then the QTC_Snatch Flag is enabled. if the value on the line is a 0, then the flag is disabled. If the QTC_Snatch flag is enabled, PK232COM scans the contents of packets appearing in the Inwindow on the screen while the terminal is disconnected. Should it recognise the three text strings 'PK232COM', ':QTC:', and 'your callsign' in the packet, it will then issue a connect request to the callsign of the PK232COM station that origin- ated the beacon transmission. If the connect is made, the other station will send you the message automatically which PK232COM will capture to disc. The connect will time out and terminate a few minutes later. Hopefully it will not try to connect to you if it hears your beacon with your call in it (someone left you a message) via a digipeater. The normal connect request will be made DIRECT to the station. A digipeat path will not be invoked as this feature is designed to trigger a normally silent station standing by on the LAN (good operating practice). If you expect messages from stations you can only connect with via a digi- peater, place the path in your PK232COM.DIR directory file. It should be there anyhow if you connect to the station regulaly. For example, if you expect messages from 4Z4ZB whom you can only work if digipeated via 4X1AA then place an entry like 4Z4ZB 4Z4ZB V 4X1AA in the PK232COM.DIR file. (c) Joe Kasser G3ZCZ PK232COM READ.ME Page 5 4.3.11 The remaining lines The remaining lines contain commands to the PK- 232. For further information about them refer to the TNC manual. The example in the PK232COM.SYS file is as follows. CONSTAMP ON CHCALL ON CHDOUBLE ON CMSG ON daystamp on DCD ON eas on echo off flow off newmode on NUCR ON nulf on If you use a different TNC (other than the PK232) you will have to edit this command list. NOTES to a YAPP user. PK232COM uses the PK232 in a different configuration to the way that YAPP does. In particular, PK232COM uses software flow control. To facilitate conversion from YAPP to PK232COM a YAPP.CNF file is provided in this package. YAPP.CNF is a configuration file for YAPP Version 2 that will configure the PK232 for YAPP and then back to PK232COM. If you are currently using YAPP, replace your YAPP.CNF file with this one and load YAPP. Then terminate the program in the normal manner by using the Alt-X key. You should then be able to load and run PK232COM without any problems. Each time you sub- sequently want to run YAPP, YAPP will set up the PK232, execute and then reconfigure the PK232 back for PK232COM. PK232COM resets the PK232 configuration depending on which mode it is working in. If you are using a YAPP.DIR file, rename it to PK232COM.DIR. My system is a PC Clone which uses a Hercules Clone display card. It has also run on an IBM-PC with a CGA adaptor/color monitor, a clone with turbo in operation and an AT clone. Joe Kasser G3ZCZ @ N8BMA. (c) Joe Kasser G3ZCZ PK232COM READ.ME Page 6 To: Joe Kasser G3ZCZ P O BOX 3419 SILVER SPRING MD 20904. CALL ________________ TODAY'S DATE _____________ NAME ______________________________________________ ADDRESS ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ CITY ___________________________________________ STATE _________ POSTCODE ______________________ TNC TYPE _____________________ I enclose a check for $35.00. Please send me the latest version of PK232COM customised to my call and TNC, and resister me as a user of PK232COM. I am currently using Shareware Version _____ which I obtained from _________________________________________. The first 10 lines of my current PK232COM.SYS file are listed in the blank space below. Signature (c) Joe Kasser G3ZCZ