[FADCA] Clarification of TNC parameters DOS FPAC

[John H. Green]

Hi Bud
    Hey, you didn't want a fast reply - did you?? ;-)
Anyway, there are only two ways to set the txd - one automatic during 
boot up and one manual using the tx command.
How I came to this conclusion:

    While getting another computer ready for La Belle (the one out there 
was not responding) I decided to investigate the txd setting further. 
Once everything was ready (tnc and radio attached) I changed to the port 
in use (pt x) and entered tx (not td as indicated below) this shows the 
present setting in the cfg file - this is not really what the switch is 
using, I then entered tx 400 and the txd became very long. At this point 
I fell into the same trap that I think you did, that is I assumed that 
the txd in the cfg file was dominant -WRONG.  How do I know this - 
unfortunately the hard way.
    Since the txd was being set in the cfg file (so I thought) I removed 
the txdelay = xx in the bat file and off we went to LaBelle to replace 
the computer and add a 9k6 port back to Lake Harbor. The nice thing 
about all this is we can set the deviation by using tx 4000 or something 
like this. We got there, replaced the dead computer and added the new 
9k6 port. After some testing we reset the pc and went to Pete's house to 
help him get his packet going. After putting Packcom on his pc we did 
some playing with the switch and, boy,  the txd's were all over the 
place. The lan was over 4 seconds and the trunk east to Lake Harbor was 
so short that it barely worked. After some head scratching (carefully as 
there's not much left :-) ) we left and stopped by the switch on the way 
home. The files were all as I left them.. More scratching. We went home.
    The next day I repaired the pc we removed from LaBelle (a very dead 
power supply) and set up the test fpac here again. Since I had removed 
the txdelay from the bat file I guessed that this was the cause of all 
the problems. Adding it back in solved the problem. The tnc's were using 
what ever was the last value regardless of  whether we rebooted the pc. 
If you watch the tnc the sta led never flashes while fpac itself is 
loading only while the bat file is run (before fpac starts) and when you 
enter a tx xx command from the fpac console.
Since we had been testing the ports at LaBelle with various delays it 
explained why thing were whacko when we got to Pete's. Since I had made 
the changes to Lake Harbor it was acting crazy also. I repaired the bat 
files and reloaded both switches remotely and now every thing is back to 
normal.

So, the bottom line is:
- setkiss in the bat file sets the txd and other values during boot up.
- tx xx will change the txd value if entered from the console.
- the txd value in the cfg file should not be depended on to run the 
switch. From what I can see it's only value is what is reported when tx 
command is used the first time.
As we have recommenced in the past, always reboot the pc when leaving a 
site, especially if you have touched the keyboard.

Some additional good news:
    We now have 9k6 trunks from WPB to LaBelle.
    The Fort Meyers folks are getting serious about putting in FPAC and 
joining the network.

73  John

bud thompson wrote:

> There are three ways I know of to set TXD in DOS FPAC
>
> in the nnnnnn.cfg file on the com= line the 7th field should be 
> N*10=TXD in milliseconds
>
>> From 407277.cfg
>
> com=2 2F8  0008 0000 6  0 15 02 10 3 009C 0 0B # UHF Trunk to 
> DeLand-9.6kb)(KISS)
>                                              ^^
> in the setkiss line from nnnnnn.bat the TXD should = N*10 in 
> milliseconds.
>
>> From 407277.bat
>
> setkiss 2F8 19200 txdelay=5 persist=250 slottime=10 txtail=3
>                                           ^
> At the sysop consul, typing PTn then TD should return the TXD in N*10 
> milliseconds for port n.
> Typing TD n will change the value.
>
> The above two lines from 407277.cfg and 407277.bat result in a 15 
> being returned to the screen from typing PT2 then TD.
>
> I thought that the setkiss values were supposed to override the cfg 
> values..
>
> If from DOS I run 407277.bat, the STA LED on the TNC blinks, so it 
> appears the information is being sent.
>
> Anyone know for sure about this?
>
> bud
>
> PS Chuck- hurry with LINUX!
>
>
>
>
>
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