Pc pakratt software download serial#

I didnвЂ™t have any 13-pin DINs to hand to try, though, so instead I decided to go to the RJ-45 microphone connector on the front panel of the 706. At this point I became suspicious as all the other writeups I could find online showed people using the 13-pin full-size DIN accessory output from the 706, rather than the 6-pin mini-DIN data output. Was it my soldering? Another cable fault? I couldnвЂ™t see any obvious errors. Absolutely nothing was received by the TNC, judging by the lights on the front. I built the lead, tuned the radio to 144.800 MHz (the European APRS frequency) so there would be some APRS traffic to decode andвЂ¦ nothing. Note that the 706вЂ™s mini-DIN annoyingly has different pinouts for 1200 baud and 9600 baud packet, which means weвЂ™ll be hardwiring to a certain speed by doing this. It felt as though the 6-pin mini-DIN вЂdata portвЂ™ on the 706вЂ™s rear panel was the right way to do this, which meant creating an adapter lead from mini-DIN to the 5-pin molex-like plug used by the PK-232. The next step was to get a connection from the TNC to my IC-706Mk2G radio. The prompt I received showed that the firmware in the TNC dated from October 1989, about halfway through the PK-232вЂ™s production run, and certainly not the latest.

PuTTy will default to 9600 baud, 8 bit words and no parity, so you need to be careful to set the right thing or you may not see anything on your screen, or you may see gibberish.

Pc pakratt software download serial#

The вЂdefault serial port connection parametersвЂ™, which are entirely separate from the RF output speeds, used by the PK-232 are unusual by todayвЂ™s standards: 1200 baud, 7 bit word length, 1 stop bit, even parity. I fired up PuTTy and set the basic default serial port connection parameters, typed вЂ*вЂ™ and soon saw a command prompt. Once the fuse was replaced, I connected the TNC to my computer (the TNC has an old-school DB25 25-pin serial port, so youвЂ™ll probably need an adaptor), it powered on OK. Basic TNC-to-computer functionality works This was nice and easy to sort, thanks to a quick order from RS Components (part numberВ 783-3343).

The unit was dead on initial power-on, which I soon traced to the glass 1A fuse on the circuit board. Tip: Skip to the Conclusion to see the main findings, but IвЂ™d strongly encourage anyone having similar problems to follow through the thinking, which is why IвЂ™ve typed it up. Getting mine working proved to be a slightly complex exercise, having to piece together bits of information scattered around the internet and a lot of head-scratching, so this slightly long, technical, post explains what I didвЂ¦ It has been sitting in my garage ever since awaiting a project. I picked mine up a few years ago at a continental radio rally for just в‚¬10, I believe. These days, now that soundcards can often perform the role of a TNC, and with the AX.25 packet radio network largely supplanted by broadband internet services, PK-232s are widely obtainable for really not very much. It supported many modes, including AX.25, and cost a fairly substantial chunk of money too.

This was manufactured through the second-half of the 1980s into the 1990s and in its day was theВ TNC to have. Which is where the AEA/Timewave PK-232 comes in. While WinLinkвЂ™s protocols can вЂpiggybackвЂ™ on many different modes with a node-based infrastructure, weвЂ™d at least initially just use AX.25 Peer-to-Peer connections to carry the data. This is useful because, whilst we could set up wide area WiFi, long-distance WiFi tends to be based on point-to-point links rather than an omnidirectional service to cover an area.Thus, we can have email access over several miles of course, independent of any cellular coverage. WinLink provides a mechanism for email without any internet requirement. It should also help the Control station with information management. If some of this mundane, routine traffic could be moved onto an email network, the voice net would then be clearer for any less routine message exchange, and also should decrease the probability of mistakes caused by mis-hearing numbers. In particular, weвЂ™re involved in a number of marathons, cycle rides and other events where the main UHF voice net gets very busy with people passing routine messages about which participants have reached their location. The ultimate objective is to use WinLink Express with our local Raynet group. Over the past several weeks, IвЂ™ve had a project to resurrect an old PK-232MBX AX.25 packet radio Terminal Node Controller (TNC, or basically what weвЂ™d today call a MODEM) so I can send email over radio.