[Premium-Rx] Racal A6A1 Board Setup Help Needed

[Geoff Fors]

There are many different serial communication protocols although 8N1 seems
most common.  I don't have specific experience with your application, but
most serial problems other than baud rate, stop bit and parity/data choices
are wiring errors.  A standard serial setup has a number of lines labeled
"RTS", "RX" "TX" etc. and some systems require all of them while others do
not.

It sounds like your cable has some non-standard connectors, but you might
check and make sure you have all the wires connected as are necessary for
your setup. In some cases, the host will not do anything unless it receives
a "ready" signal from the slave, and so forth.

There are probably some serial experts on this list who could be more
specific.  I have found that in almost every case, I had to add a jumper or
configure a line to the right pin to get the pieces talking to one another.
You also have to use the same baud rate on each item connected.

One other arcane problem is that Windows based serial communication programs
don't always function in 1980's vintage applications.  For example, Motorola
radio programming software wants an old DOS based 286 machine with a serial
port, and trying to run it on a modern laptop with a Windows/DOS method
won't work.  That's unrelated to your use but I bring it to your attention
to point out that old and new are not always compatible.

Geoff