[Kenwood] Testing the TNC in a Kenwood TS2000

[Bob Burns W9BU]

Connect a serial cable from your computer to the DB-9 connector on the 
radio. As I recall, there is also a few set up items in the radio's menu 
to enable the internal TNC and set its baud rate (use 1200). Put the 
sub-band on a 2m packet frequency.

Run a terminal emulation program, such as PuTTY or TeraTerm, on your 
computer and have it connect to the COM port that is connected to the 
radio. Try setting the terminal program to 9600 baud and hit the enter 
key a few times or cycle power on the radio. You should see a copyright 
message from the firmware in the TNC. You should also get a "cmd:" prompt.

There may be packet activity in your area that you don't know about. 
Tune to 145.01, 145.03, or 145.05 and listen. The radio's internal TNC 
should decode whatever local packet activity the radio hears. You can 
also tune to 144.39 MHz to see if there is local APRS activity. Your TNC 
will decode that, too. You may have to send the MON ON command at the 
cmd: prompt to get the TNC to display what it hears.

If you get that far, then we can take further steps.

Sorry, I can't help you with SkyCommand as that's not something I ever 
messed with.

Bob...


On 10/4/2017 1:31 PM, John Geiger wrote:
> Is there an easy way to test whether the TNC in the TS2000 is working or
> not?  We don't have a DX cluster in town, so I can't use the DX spots
> function.  Will the TS2000 decode APRS data, and if so, how do I have to
> set that up?
>
> Also, I have a Kenwood TH-D7A HT that does packet.  Is there a way to set
> it up to send a message to the TS2000 that the TS2000 could decode if the
> TNC was working?  I am trying to get the TS2000 going on Sky Command, and I
> have all the settings correct, as far as I can see, but I can't get it
> working, and I am wondering if the TNC in the TS2000 isn't working
> correctly.  The TH-D7A is decoding other's APRS messages, so it is decoding
> ok, and when I try to start Sky Command, the TH-D7A does sent out a packet
> burst, and the TS2000 shows that it is receiving the signal on the
> subreceiver, but it never seems to send any data back to the TH-D7A.
>
> Any help on how to test the TNC in the TS2000 would be most appreciated.
>
> 73 John AF5CC
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