[FARC] FM Packet

[Bob Moroney]

Kirk,
Vanilla AX.25 VHF packet radio seems to be used a lot less these days 
than in the past.  For Hams, packet used to serve the same purpose as 
dial-up BBS's back in the day, with the same basic types of activities 
(email, bbs postings, small file up/download, etc), mostly (but not 
exclusively) Ham-oriented.

Nowadays, packet seems to get a good workout mainly during DX contests 
when reports of band openings and rare station/country activities are 
passed around via packet networks.  Some rig control programs can even 
read these formatted reports and tune one of the transceiver's VFOs to 
the active freq., no doubt saving many contesters from the nasty effects 
of carpal tunnel syndrome from too much manual dial twisting. 

Packet might get fired up again during emergencies and/or drills, but 
there seems to be less of that sort of activity as well in recent years, 
at least in this area.  As was discussed during the last FARC meeting, 
the emphasis seems to be moving toward APRS vs. plain old packet for 
emergency uses.

I've dabbled in packet, but not recently, so I can't give you any 
current specifics on what's happening with it locally.  There are some 
folks in the Club who have used packet extensively in the past and who 
can probably give you a quick run-down on current connectivity and 
activity in the area.  Rolan, Anthony and Joe have already offered 
input, so perhaps one of them or someone else will jump in here or 
contact you directly with info.  Alternately you can put your questions 
out at the FARC meeting next week. 

In the meantime, you can go to http://www.tapr.org/ for a lot of info on 
packet/APRS, and find even more via Google by searching on "using packet 
radio" and the like.

73, Bob K9CMR
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kirk Talbott wrote:
> Yep Bob, you're right. I checked out the MIXW user manual PDF for packet and 
> got it minimally set up for packet use. I can connect successfully to 
> W3FDK-2 and do not need any connection to the Kenwood TS-2000's RS-232 data 
> port.  That whole exercise of configuring and setting up the internal TNC on 
> the Kenwood was wasted time and effort.  Now that I'm on to W3FDK-2, now 
> what?  How does one use Packet?
>
> 73
> KB3ONM
> Kirk
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Bob Moroney" <windbrkr at erols.com>
> To: "Frederick, Maryland ARC" <farc at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Monday, August 13, 2007 10:29 AM
> Subject: Re: [FARC] FM Packet
>   
>> Kirk,
>>
>> Have you checked out the MIXW manual at
>> http://k6ix.net/MixW/MixW%20Manual.pdf?  It seems to go into some detail
>> about configuring the program to do packet.
>>
>> I think what Anthony N1IG is saying is simply that you don't need to do
>> anything with the TS2000 data port.  If you've got everything working
>> for the other modes, you're ready to go, other than configuring MIXW for
>> AX.25 with your call and the other setup stuff that seems to be
>> described in the manual.
>>
>> 73, Bob K9CMR
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> Kirk Talbott wrote:
>>     
>>> Yes, I can do PSK31, RTTY, CW, transmit and receive using the Kenwood
>>> TS-2000 and Rigblaster Plus. My connections are soundcard connections, I
>>> have nothing connected to the TS-2000's RS-232 data port. What's the 
>>> next
>>> step?
>>>
>>> 73
>>> KB3ONM
>>> Kirk
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Anthony C" <n1ig at hotmail.com>
>>> To: "Frederick, Maryland ARC" <farc at mailman.qth.net>
>>> Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2007 4:43 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [FARC] FM Packet
>>>
>>>       
>>>> if you are able to TX psk & rtty with the rigblaster and the ts2000, 
>>>> you can do packet as well with the same setup.  you'll be using mixw and the
>>>> rigblaster to put packet tones into and out of the radio.
>>>> are you able to do psk & rtty TX & RX now?
>>>>
>>>> Anthony  N1IG